The Experience of a Deeply Distressed Soul
S. Conway Psalm 116:3, 4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold on me: I found trouble and sorrow.… The psalm is the utterance of the glad gratitude of some devout Israelite on his deliverance from mortal sickness. But it is capable of many applications. In the temple service it was used as a psalm of thanksgiving for God's deliverance of Israel from their exile. Many have seen in it the setting forth of the sufferings of our Lord, and have applied the psalm generally to him. Others, again, take it, as do we, as describing, in vivid, impressive way, the experience of a soul that has known deep distress, but has been delivered therefrom by God's exceeding grace. Therefore note - I. THE DISTRESS. It is told of: 1. As the sorrows of death and the pains of hell, or the grave. Some render it "the snares," others, "the cords," of death. But the meaning is much the same, however the word be rendered. It must he remembered that the psalm was written in the dim light of the Old Testament as to the believer's condition after death. And, compared with our own, that light was very dim. To the faithful servant of God now, who "dies in the Lord," there are no sorrows of death. Christ hath abolished death; and still less are there any pairs of hell. But the writer of this psalm did believe in them, as did all the saints of his day. And they meant for him, not burning flames or purgatorial fires, but exclusion from the presence of God (see Psalm 115:17, and parallels; Psalm 31:22, etc.). These were the sorrows they dreaded. In death they would no more see - so they feared - God's power and glory as they had seen them in the sanctuary (Psalm 63:2). The grave was to them the pit, the land of darkness and the shadow of death. These were the sorrows of death and the pains of hell, and they caused the deepest spiritual distress. 2. And there are the like of these still. When the soul feels itself shut out from God; when it has no hope; when nothing but the Divine condemnation seems possible to it; when it knows and feels itself to be utterly and hopelessly wrong; when it gazes wistfully upon the blessed promises of God, but is in abiding despair as to ever realizing them - is certain it never shall; and that for it there is nothing but the fearful looking for of God's indignation and of his fiery wrath. Souls not a few have passed, and are passing, through experience like that. 3. It is caused in various ways. Sometimes through deep conviction of sin when first the soul is awakened. And it is well for the after-life of the soul that there should be deep conviction wrought by the Holy Spirit, for then there is likely to be a permanent work done, and not a mere ephemeral and superficial one, such as is all too common. And oftentimes this experience is the result of back sliding from God (see Peter after his denial; Judas after his betrayal of the Lord). "Keep me, O Lord, as the apple of thine eye," let every Christian pray. At other times it is through a perverse habit of mistrust and doubt. The melancholy mass of miserable Christians are nearly all begotten of this wretched and God-dishonoring habit. And sometimes it is the result of disease in mind or body, or both. Then it is a pure affliction, and has to be accepted as such. But this is not often the case. II. THE DELIVERANCE. 1. See how thorough it was. (Ver. 8.) "My soul from death." Sin is death, and until we are not free from that, whatever else we may be, we are not saved. "Mine eyes from tears." There has come peace and joy in God instead of anguish of soul. "My feet from falling." I not only begin the better life, but go and keep on in it. God's salvation means this for us. 2. How it was won. Through prayer (ver. 4). How direct, definite, and to the point, this prayer was! So is all real prayer. 3. And how evident. (See vers. 9, 13.) When we are saved, people will know it. Walking is a very visible act, as is the walking before the Lord. There is no invisible religion. III. THE DIVINE TEACHING FOR US ALL IN ALL THIS. 1. If till now you have never been convicted of sin, be thankful for your soul-distress, remembering its gracious intent. 2. If you are in Christi pray that you may never come into the soul-agony that the backslider knows. 3. If from any cause such distress be on you, despair not, but turn to God in prayer, earnest and definite, and persevere in faith till the deliverance comes. 4. If you have been delivered, go and declare to others what God has done for your soul. 5. And let your life show your love to God. - S.C. Parallel Verses KJV: The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. WEB: The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.