The abiding sense of the Divine presence.
"I fall asleep, exhausted with the effort of counting thy thoughts or desires; and when I awake I find myself still engaged in the same spiritual arithmetic, which is my dearest delight."
I. IT IS THE SUGGESTION OF DELIGHTFUL THOUGHTS. The psalmist exclaims, "How precious are thy thoughts unto me!" This may mean, "my cherished thoughts of thee," or, "thy loving thoughts of me, of which I have the most comfortable assurance." Probably the psalmist meant the former. "Thy presence wakens in me such loving, tender, trustful thoughts concerning thee." "We cannot conceive how many of God's kind counsels have been concerning us, how many good turns he has done us, and what variety of mercies we have received from him." The sense of God's presence excites meditation; and what is lacking in modern Christian life is that which meditation can supply.
II. IT IS THE ASSURANCE OF DIVINE SECURITY. Compare the absolute confidence of the psalmist when he sings his refrain, "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge." Compare apostolic assurances: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" "For he hath said, I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee." If God is with us, we can always have this confidence—whosoever would deal adversely with us must take account of God, and deal with him; and
"He is safe, and must succeed,
For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead."
III. IT IS THE INSPIRATION OF NOBLE ENDEAVOR. It is not just a cold doing of actual duty, "as ever in the great Taskmaster's eye." The loving child-soul never talks about the "great Taskmaster." It is a parental presence that wakens everything noble and beautiful in the child. And God's presence is peculiar in this, that it brings to us the sense of power. It makes us feel that we can do whatever he inspires us to do. "I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me."
IV. IT IS THE COMFORT OF EVERY TROUBLE. The hardest thing in trouble is to have to bear it alone. It is eased if another sympathetically shares it with us. We are never alone in trouble-bearing if we cherish the sense of God's presence.—R.T.
Our thoughts.
"Know my thoughts." This psalm contains the finest utterance of human feeling about the Divine omniscience that has ever come from human lips. God sees everything and everywhere. He sees the hidden mystery, man's secret thought and purpose. To the God-fearing man that is no trouble; it is rather a source of satisfaction and holy joy.
I. THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR THOUGHTS. The wise man says, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." A man is as his thoughts. Man cannot rightly judge the thoughts of his fellow-man; but God is the "Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Many religious people cherish the notion that they have no control over the suggestions that are made to their minds, no responsibility for the contents of their thoughts—only for cherishing thought, only for letting thought inspire conduct. This, however, is only true within certain narrow limits, which need to be very carefully defined.
1. The importance that attaches to our thoughts we may realize from our observation of men. We have to do with them, but we cannot be said to know them until we come into such relations as reveal to us their thinking. We can only be said to know our friends, in whom is the "mirror of an answering mind."
2. The experience of Christian life impresses us with the importance of our thoughts. It is difficult to restrain and mould aright our conduct and conversation; but the supreme difficulty is to control and purify our thoughts. There are two hard things we have to do—"patiently continue in well-doing;" and "keep the heart with all diligence." And the latter is the harder of the two. Its hardness has driven men and women into convent and hermit-cells, as providing the only hopeful conditions. The scheme of redemption is really a heart-regeneration, a purifying of the very springs of thought and feeling. It does deliver us from outward foes; but its supreme interest lies in its going right down to the very root of the mischief in man. It proposes to deliver man from his own evil self. It reaches to the very fountains of our thoughts, and cleanses them.
II. THE CONTROL WHICH WE SHOULD HAVE OVER OUR THOUGHTS. We must have some measure of control over them, or we could have no responsibility in relation to them.
1. We have control over the material of our thoughts. It is commonly assumed that thoughts and suggestions are absolutely put into our minds either by God or by Satan. But thought is really the comparison, selection, and association of the actual contents of our mind in the power and activity of our will. All that has impressed us during our lives, by the eye, the ear, or the feeling, has passed into our mental treasury. It is all there, and all linked together by the most subtle connections. The contents of each of our minds today is the sum of past impressions and associations; and we are adding to that sum day by day. What we call "thinking" is taking up a portion of these contents, and recombining and rearranging them to form new ideas. Then we must be, in some measure, responsible for the contents of our minds. Not wholly, because we have been placed in circumstances and under influences over which we had no control. We can, however, put ourselves where we shall receive evil impressions, and we can put ourselves in the sphere of good impressions. No man needs to fill his mind with evil things, which sooner or later must become the material of evil thoughts. We need not choose evil companionships, or read demoralizing books. Oar lives are so far in our hands that we can to a large extent settle what shall be the materials of our thoughts. We might fill up our souls with good things.
2. We have control over the course and the processes of our thought. We can deliberately choose to think about evil things or about good things. If our will is a renewed and sanctified will, then we ought to expect it to gain presidency over our thoughts.
III. THE HELP WHICH GOD IS EVER READY TO GIVE US IN THE EXERCISE OF SUCH CONTROL. This help the psalmist sought, "Try me, and know my thoughts." Our self-trusting attempts to regulate our thoughts are sure to bring us a feeling of depression, almost of hopelessness. The work proves to be beyond us. It is not beyond us when God is our Helper. And his gracious response ever freshly comes to the trustful, up-looking soul. He does "cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit."—R.T.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT