The sense of what is acceptable with God.
This psalm expresses the meek humility of the pardoned and restored sinner. But taken as expressing the sentiment of the restored nation, it suggests the mood of cherished feeling that keeps us in right relations with God. It is not a mood of submission, or even of submissive obedience only. It is a mood of willing submission, of delighted obedience; of submission that has ceased to be a strain, and has become the free, natural, joyous expression of the self. The "heart is not haughty;" so there is no resistance to what is felt to be the duty.
I. SUBMISSION THAT IS STILL A STRAIN CAN ONLY BE PARTIALLY ACCEPTABLE WITH GOD. And very much that is called submission is really only submission in the making. Indeed, if we speak with absolute precision, we must say that submission wholly free from strain can never be the experience of men while they are under human conditions and limitations. We have no instance of perfect submission save that of the Divine Man, the Lord Jesus Christ; and even in his case we have to notice that strain and struggle continued up to Gethsemane, and that absolute entireness of obedience was won only on Calvary, where even the very life was surrendered. We can, therefore, while we are on earth, never gain more than a qualified Divine acceptance. There is peace, and promise, and power, and joy in the measure of acceptance we can gain; but it is always an inspiration, not a satisfaction. Very many good people never get above or beyond this apprehension of Christian life; "they submit because they must." They never can rise to get duty glorified. Indeed, there are many who try to persuade themselves that their submission cannot really be submission unless they feel the strain of it. But it is with this grace as with the digestive process—it is only healthy when we know nothing about it.
II. SUBMISSION THAT HAS CEASED TO BE A STRAIN IS FULLY ACCEPTABLE TO GOD. The will may persistently force attitudes and acts of submission. Then man is but a dual being. The goodness is forced. The man may submit with a reserve. He is willing to go so far. The man is wholly willing to submit sometimes and in some things. It is clear that none of these cases can be fully acceptable to God. When a man's heart is in the submission, then the man's will is rightly swayed, and a man's conduct is in harmonious order. The man is a unity in his submission; strain of resistance is gone, and the full Divine smile can rest upon him.—R.T.