Divine providence.
Does righteousness answer? Is piety rewarded? Is the good man much the better for his goodness? That is the question, both old and new, suggested by the psalm. The reply is in the affirmative; but the fourth verse indicates that the writer's mind is not altogether untroubled by what he has seen. Nor is ours. There is much that, at first sight, perplexes us. We may see the usurper break his oath, cut down his countrymen with the sword, seize the reins of office, and reign for many years upheld by military power; we may see the statesman climbing by unscrupulousness and stratagem to the highest post in the kingdom, and maintaining himself there by the same devices; we may see the fraudulent merchant or director, the charlatan, the unprincipled adventurer, making himself rich at the expense of his dupes. Iniquity, impiety, roguery, triumphs. On the other hand, we sometimes see the good man brought down from the place of honor and of influence, the devout man struggling hard with financial difficulties or domestic trials, the whole company of afflictions gathering at the door and saddening the heart of the holy. And we say—Does not the red which belongs to the wicked rest on the lot of the righteous? Does God do good to those that are good? The answer is found in such truths as these. We find when we look on and in, that—
I. SIN, WRONGDOING, IS REWARDED AS IT DESERVES TO BE. It is not only that:
1. High-handed wrong is usually punished in the end; that the guilty empire goes out in defeat and disaster; that the unscrupulous statesman falls from power and is dishonored; that the fraudulent merchant and scheming adventurer come to exposure and ruin. That is very frequently, perhaps ordinarily, the case; for "the sword of Heaven is not in haste to smite, nor yet doth linger." But it is true that:
2. Sin is always tending downward. Vice, sloth, cruelty, fraud, falsity,—these lead down, step by step, to poverty and want, to sickness and suffering, to dishonor and disgrace, to early death. And:
3. Sin means misery. Unhappiness, arising not only from reduced circumstances, but from the condemnation and abandonment of the good, and from the stings and smarts of conscience. Moreover—and this is too often overlooked:
4. Sin means inward and spiritual ruin. Even if the human judge passes no sentence, and the guilty man enters no prison-door, is there no penalty paid? There is—in moral and spiritual degradation; in the sinking of the soul into a condition in which all is lost that makes manhood a noble thing, in which the spirit bears nothing of the image of its Maker, in which nothing is left of a character but what is mean and base and ugly in the sight of heaven. The rod that belongs to the wicked rests on the wicked. Guilt bears its penalty; the soul that sinneth dies.
II. GOODNESS, WORTH, IS REWARDED AS IT DESERVES TO BE. It is true that the good man is not always fortunate or successful, has not always abundance of gold and silver. Should we wish that he had? Should we wish that piety and purity, that unselfishness and nobility of spirit, that mercy and patience, were always paid in cash, or even in human honor or in high position? Should we like holiness to have its price in the market? No. Our God is too wise and kind to place it at that level. To do that would be to dishonor it and to injure us. What he does for his own is, nevertheless, very much and very great. Consider:
1. The evils from which he saves them. The good man looks back and thanks God with fervent spirit for saving him from the worst evils into which he might have fallen; not only from suffering and sorrow, but from remorse and shame, from darkness and degradation, from the wreck and ruin into which he has seen many of his fellows fall. He has trusted in the Lord, and he has been as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed; he has been preserved in his integrity. God's upholding power has been beneath him, his Divine protection has been around him, even as the mountains are round about Jerusalem.
2. The positive good which he does them.