Life-long convictions.
Happy the man who holds to his faith in God through all changes and chances of this mortal life! Religion to him is a reality. He speaks of what he knows. He commends what he has proved to be good. He can rejoice in the assurance that God, who has been with him hitherto, will keep him safely to the end, and that the portion which satisfied his soul in this life will satisfy his soul eternally. We may take the psalm as expressing certain life-long convictions.
I. THAT GOD IS TO BE TRUSTED AS THE SUPREME GOOD. Man is prone to seek happiness apart from God. This proves both his littleness and his greatness: his littleness in turning from God; his greatness, as nothing earthly can satisfy him, and his soul is restless till it finds rest in God. "Thou art my Lord" is the true response to God's declaration, "I am the Lord thy God" (Exodus 20:2; Psalms 73:25).
II. THAT THE SAINTS ARE TO BE REGARDED AS EARTH'S TRUE NOBLES. When God has his right place, man gets his right place also. He is valued, not for his wealth, but for his worth; not for his circumstances, but for his character; not for his high standing among men, but for his near relation in love and holiness to God. If we love God, we shall love what God loves. If we delight in God, we shall delight in what God delighteth in. As a poet of our own has taught us—
"'Tis only noble to be good.
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood."
III. THAT WICKEDNESS, WHATEVER IT PROMISES, MUST IN THE END BRING WRETCHEDNESS. The wicked may be many; they may seem to prosper; they may appear as if they were to prevail, and have their own way in everything. There will be at times strong temptations to join them—to live as they live, to eat, drink, and be merry. But the heart that has known God recoils with horror from such a thought. What can come of forsaking God, but misery? This is the witness of history, observation, and experience. And we should be thankful that it is so. It is a proof of God's love, as well as of God's righteousness. That "the way of transgressors is hard" puts for many a warning in their path, and sounds for many a merciful call in their ears. "Turn ye: why will ye die?" (Ezekiel 33:11; Isaiah 55:1-7; Job 33:27-30).
IV. THAT THE DESTINY OF THE GOOD IS DIVINELY ORDERED. Life is not fixed by chance, or by blind fate, or by man's own designing and devising. It is of God's ordering (Proverbs 19:21). As it is with the stars above, so it is with souls beneath. They stand as God ordains (Psalms 119:91; Psalms 147:3, Psalms 147:4). As it was with Canaan, which was divided among the tribes by lot (Numbers 26:55; Joshua 13:6), so it is with the inheritance of God's believing people; it is settled by the hand of God. In many things—as to our birth, and kinsfolk, and associations, and so on—we have no choice. [But trusting in God, we cheerfully accept the place which he has appointed for us. And when we are free to choose, we seek counsel of God, and gladly and gratefully rest in his will (Hebrews 13:5). What the King of Babylon did according to his lights when at the parting of the ways (Ezekiel 21:21), we do, in a higher way (Acts 9:6).
V. THAT GODLINESS HAS THE PROMISE BOTH OF THIS LIFE AND OF THAT WHICH IS TO COME.
1. This life. (Psalms 16:6-8.)
2. Guidance. (Psalms 16:7.)
3. Protection. (Psalms 16:8.)
4. The life to come. (Psalms 16:11.)
This truth, dimly revealed of old, shines out brightly and beautifully in the gospel.—W.F.