The Cynic's Query Answered
J. Wesley Davis, D. D. Psalm 4:6 There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift you up the light of your countenance on us. The Cynics were a sect of Greek philosophers founded by Antisthenes. He was a proud, stern, and unfeeling man, of such a snarling temper as to be named "dog," kunos, and his school, "the dog school." He appeared in threadbare attire and was reproved by , who told him that his pride spoke through the holes of his clothes. His follower, Diogenes, outdistanced him, and appeared at noonday with a lantern, seeking, as he pretended, to find a man. When Alexander compassionately asked him on one occasion, "What can I do for you?" he replied, "Stand out of my sunlight." He was an incarnate sneer. "Who will show us any good? Is there any good? Are we not all dupes of delusions?" The text answers the scorner's query — "Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us." We learn that there is good. It can be unfolded and recognised. God is its root, blossom, and fruit. The Cynic is silenced. Satire has its place and function. It may cut to cure, may lacerate yet heal, may lash popular vices and effect good. But satire is earnest, while cynicism is not. Let us, therefore, look at this good which may be defended. Life is not a blunder. It is not a mirage, a stream that runs on only to be buried in sand. Good we can define and know it sharply. It can be made a part of ourselves, and we thereby be made rich and strong. We are not drifting clouds floating away to melt into nothingness. Human life may be opulent, and human destiny glorious. I. THIS GOOD WE ARE TO THINK ABOUT IS PERSONAL. It is something realisable, actual, to be recognised by us all. The genesis of it is in God. God is the Saxon word for good. It is in the light of His countenance that we are to realise the possession of genuine good. God does not throw at us as a king in his chariot may fling coin to the crowd about him, but enriches us by reason of our likeness and affinities with Him. We are His children. The paternity of God broods over each life and blesses it. Supposing on one of these spring days there was held a council of the trees and grasses, and each leafless tree and spire of grass should say, "We must have the sun, the dewfall and the rain if we are to live. We must have not one warm shower, but many, if we are to lead on the beauty and bounty of summer. Are we certain of these things?" The sun whispers to each, "I will not forget you, but speak the word to the sea, which shall give of its waters to the cloud, and the cloud shall drop the rain. The dew shall also come, and I, the sun, the father of the earth, will shine upon you. Fear not, I will care for you." But is not God the primal force, the unseen Creator? He speaks by sun and sea, by cloud and dew. So in the moral world He is the atmosphere in which we are to live. Warmed by His light we shall rejoice and bring forth fruit. II. NOTICE THE FORM WHICH THIS GOOD HAS TAKEN. God's beneficence is incarnated. Its concrete form is the living Christ. He is the answer to the query, "Who will show us any good?" He, the express image of God, meets man's spiritual nature perfectly, shining into and enriching it as the sun vitalises and fructifies the earth. This higher nature needs Divine ennobling. We live in the lower too much. We materialise ourselves too much and forget our spiritual selfhood to which the abiding good must minister. He comes, not as a transient, but perennial supply; not to a transient need, but to our permanent wants as immortal beings. It is not food or raiment which we most need. Christ gives character. If that be built up in man he is a recognised child of God. It is not an easy work, the toil of a day, but that which requires earnest endeavour so long as life shall last. There are endless possibilities in each of us. What possibilities with God indwelling! A good man is a God-man. This is the grand outcome. He dwelleth in us. When then the peering, muttering cynic comes groping round with his lantern asking, "Who will show us any good?" our answer is, A GOOD MAN! III. HOW IS SUCH A GOODNESS BUILT? Only through the same line that Christ passed Himself. Every noble soul grows into other lives. Goodness grows by giving itself away. A good life is a great argument. As the sun streams into a dark cloud and washes out its gloom, clothing it with splendour, so does the Sun of Righteousness shine into a human life and make it glorious with the Divine lustre of the heavenly life. IV. GOD IN CHRIST TAKES HOLD OF THE WHOLE OF US, AND THE POSSESSION IS PERPETUAL. (J. Wesley Davis, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. WEB: Many say, "Who will show us any good?" Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.