Psalm 101:2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I. WHAT A COMPREHENSIVE RESOLUTION THIS IS! "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way." 1. With a full knowledge of all the care and circumspection it entailed on himself, add with as clear an apprehension of all the risks of popularity it involved among his subjects, this was David's deliberate choice. Influenced by the grace of God he, like his son Solomon after him, chose wisdom as the principal thing, and accounted the fear of the Lord as the choicest safeguard. 2. This deliberate choice of David was no doubt suggested by a sense of necessity. He felt that he needed to behave himself wisely. He was to be a king, and a foolish king is no ordinary fool. Oh, parents and heads of households, masters of factories, managers of business houses, and you, too, ye working men and servants, ye all need wisdom, and you must have it, or you will make shipwreck. If the fisherman's little boat be wrecked through mismanagement, it is as bad for him, especially if he be drowned in it, as if he had lost the greatest steamship that ever ploughed the waters, and perished with the vessel. It is his all; and your all is embarked in the momentous voyage of life. You need to behave yourselves wisely whatever your vocation in the world may be. 3. Moreover, David recognized that to behave oneself wisely one must be holy; for he says, "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way." He felt he could not be wise if he were unacquainted with the true ideal of absolute unblemished perfection; wisdom lay there. The wise man will keep along the king's highway, cost what it may. But you do not need to be a philosopher, and consult huge books, to discover how you ought to act under any circumstances. The way to act in every case is to fear God and keep His commandments. II. But now the text is interrupted. There is a break; there is a piece inlaid, as it were, of a different metal. It is AN EJACULATION. "Oh, when wilt Thou come unto me?" Many inspired writers, without diverging from their train of thought, interline their purpose with a prayer. There is an old proverb that "kneeling never spoils silk stockings." Prayer to the preacher is like provender to the horse. It strengthens and cheers him to go forward. As the scribe halts to mend his pen, or the mower to whet his scythe, without loss of time, but rather with more facility to do his work; so you expedite instead of hindering your business by stopping in the middle of it to offer a word of prayer. So here it is written, "Oh, when wilt Thou come unto me?" It is a crying of his soul after Divine teaching, Divine direction, Divine assistance; nor less, I believe, is it a yearning after Divine fellowship. You know we never walk aright unless we walk with God. As I have said that holiness is wisdom, so let me say that communion is the mother of holiness. We must see God if we are to be like God. "Oh, when wilt Thou come unto me?" seems to me a question full of solicitude. Lord, it may be Thou wilt come on a sudden with a surprise, for Thou hast told me that in such an hour as I think not Thou wilt appear. Am I ready? Am I able to give in a satisfactory account as to what I have done as Thy servant, in my general walk and conversation? Come, let me press these thoughts upon myself, and then upon you. "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way;" and well I may, since Thine eye is on me, O my God, and Thy day is coming when I must be put into the balances, and if I am found wanting, terrible must be my doom, for other eyes than mine shall search my heart, and other scales than I am able to use shall give the final test, and settle once for all my endless state. God grant you to order your lives by His grace. You cannot do so without the power of the Holy Spirit. Oh that whenever the Lord shall come you may meet Him with joy. III. After a parenthesis of devotion, he returns with more intense earnestness to his resolution. IN A MOST PRACTICAL MANNER HE CONCENTRATES HIS AIM — "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." With his house or household in view, for which he felt a deep responsibility and a yearning anxiety, he applies himself with a delicate consideration to the state of his own heart. "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." A very wise thing. If any man were to say to you, "I mean to be a good husband, a good father," — if any woman shall say, "I mean to be a good mistress," or "a good servant," that will not do, unless you understand that the heart must first of all be altered. If the heart be right, other things will surely follow in their place. Now, the heart, if we are to walk rightly, must show itself in the house. "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." The heart must be perfect, and then we must show our heart in our actions. Oh, a house is all the better for having a heart inside it, and a man is a man, and he is more like God when there is a heart inside his ribs. When he gets home the children feel that father has got a heart, and as they climb his knees and smother him with kisses, and when he greets his dear relatives, especially those that are part and parcel of himself, he has got s soul that goes beyond his own little self, and is enlarged and inspires the whole of the family. Oh, give me heart, and that is what David meant when he said he would behave himself wisely. But when he was in his own house he would walk with a perfect heart. He would be hearty in everything he did and said. Well, now, the next thing is that the conduct at home must be well regulated. "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." The Christian man at home should be scrupulous in all departments within his house. We may have different rooms there, but in whatever room we are we should seek to walk before God with a perfect heart. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. |
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