Penitence and hope.
We have the psalmist hero in—
I. THE DEPTH OF SOME GREAT DISTRESS. It may be some severe loss he has sustained, and consequent loneliness of soul; or it may be some great disappointment of his hopes or defeat by the enemy; or it may be the persecution of those who reproach him for serious inconsistency; or it may be peril in which his cause or his life is threatened; or it may be a sad sense of personal unworthiness. Bat, whatever it may have been, it calls forth—
II. AN APPEAL TO GOD. When we are in any great distress, we look up to heaven; our appeal is instinctive; even the unbelieving and the profane cry to God "out of the depths." It may be inarticulate, with little or no foundation of intelligence; it may be nothing more than the outburst of a suffering spirit, making its appeal to Divine power and pity. But it is a relief even to the undevout. It usually and naturally takes the form of—
III. A HUMBLE CONFESSION OF SIN.
1. Sometimes the trouble is the direct and palpable consequence of sin, as when vice ends in sickness, or extravagance in straits, or crime in conviction.
2. Sometimes the sorrow is the painful and piercing conviction of moral guilt, of transgression against God, and condemnation by him—it may be the publican in the temple bowed down with a sense of sin.
3. Sometimes it is the deep and general conviction that all sorrow is ultimately due to sin, and that when we are in a very pitiful condition it is both proof and reminder that we have sinned against the Lord, and that we deserve whatever kind of distress we may be experiencing. Sorrow proceeds from sin and points to it.
IV. THE HOPE OF THE PENITENT. This is not in God's justice, but in his mercy. If God were to "mark iniquities," i.e. to mark them for immediate punishment, according to their desert, no man could "stand in his sight" (Psalms 76:7). There must be withdrawal from his presence, banishment from his hand. But our God is a God of patience, of forgiveness; he gives opportunity to the penitent. While unqualified severity would drive us into abject terror and hopeless exile, Divine mercy draws us near in true and manly confession, in hope of restoration, in return to his service. There is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared, that he may be approached, and that we may be restored.
1. With God, as he is revealed to us in Jesus Christ, there is "plenteous redemption." No guilty man, however deep his stain, need remain in the distance; he may draw nigh with a strong assurance of forgiveness and restoration.
2. The hope of the penitent rests on the sure basis of God's inviolable Word (Psalms 130:5). Heaven and earth may pass away, but not the word of Christ's promise. "Come unto me, all ye that labor … I will give you rest;" "Him that cometh … I will in no wise cast out;"—these assurances constitute an immovable rock on which the troubled soul may build.
3. The true attitude of the penitent and believing spirit is that of confident expectation. As surely as the morning comes after the night, so surely will God's delivering grace follow the earnest prayer of the penitent. Let there be the earnestness of the watching sentinel, or of the shipwrecked sailor as he longs for the light of the morning, and there may be perfect confidence that he will not seek or wait in vain.
V. THE BLESSED ISSUE. Not merely recovery from sickness, or removal of trouble, but "redemption from all iniquity" (Psalms 130:8; Titus 2:14).
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY