A Grateful Confession of Divine Aid
S. Conway Psalm 119:89-96 For ever, O LORD, your word is settled in heaven.… How fitly this section follows on the foregoing one! There was darkness, indeed; but here is light. The psalmist celebrates - let us do so with him - the help of God. I. IT IS SETTLED IN HEAVEN FOREVER THAT SUCH AID SHALL BE FORTHCOMING. (Ver. 89.) Therefore: 1. No power of man can hinder it. It is "settled." 2. Nor any lapse of time. Generations may come and go, but that matters not. God's promise abides, even as the earth which he has established. 3. Nor any events or changes whatsoever. (Ver. 91.) Divine decrees have ordained them, and all have to serve and minister thereto. Here is great consolation for the tried soul. II. IT SUSTAINS THE SERVANT OF GOD IS UTTERMOST PERIL. (Ver. 92.) But for God's settled love, which was full of delight for his servant, he could not have lived. God has ways and means by his Holy Spirit to so write his Word on our hearts, that they shall be filled with delight, and all the power of hell cannot destroy us. So was it here; so will it be with all like-minded men. III. THE EXPERIENCE OF ITS POWER MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE MEMORY TO LET IT GO. (Ver. 93.) If we have been "quickened" by it, as was the psalmist, memory and heart and will cleave to it with a tenacity which never relaxes, but ever tightens its hold. Nothing but the experience of religion in the heart will do this. Creeds and rituals and sacraments, religious profession and work, have all been proved frail and feeble in this respect; but he who knows by actual experience how God can quicken his soul will simply never leave him. IV. AND LEADS TO ABSOLUTE SELF-SURRENDER AND CONFIDENT TRUST. (Ver. 94.) "I am thine." The man is no longer his own. "Save me" - I know thou wilt; such is the implied meaning. V. IS AN ANTIDOTE TO ALL FEAR. (Ver. 95.) What matters it that the wicked wait, etc.? He will consider the testimonies of God, those borne to him by redeemed souls, those borne by them in the psalmist's own soul. Such considering banishes fear. VI. THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT. All human schemes and teachings are naught compared with thy commandment. - S.C. Parallel Verses KJV: LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. WEB: Yahweh, your word is settled in heaven forever.