A soul shut up to God.
The word "therefore," or the term in the Revised Version, "but as for me," marks the transition from a terrible necessity to a priceless privilege. It was a time when it was needful to be suspicious of those who ought to have been worthy of unlimited confidence. Neither a companion nor a familiar friend, nor even a child or a wife, could be trusted (Micah 7:5, Micah 7:6). Such had been the experience of many in the past. Samson had been betrayed by his tribesmen, his friend, hie father-in-law ( 14:20), and her that "lay in his bosom." David had found his confidence betrayed by the men of Judah (1 Samuel 23:12, 1 Samuel 23:19), by Joab (2 Samuel 3:22-39), by Ahithophel, and by Absalom. As it was in the days of Micah, so would it be in the days of Jesus Christ, when many of his disciples would go back and walk no more with him, and when an apostle would betray him. No wonder that some of his servants are called to a similar experience (Matthew 10:24, Matthew 10:34-36). The prospect manward is thus dark and depressing in the extreme. Note what a disintegrating and destructive force sin is. It not only separates between man and God (Isaiah 59:2), but has a tendency to alienate friends, to break up families, to destroy human confidences, and gender a pessimism which finds expression in the passionate, though not deliberate, verdict of the psalmist, "All men are liars." If we cannot repose confidence in others, can we trust in ourselves? Our consciousness of sin and utter failure forbids this (verses 8, 9; Jeremiah 17:9). Thus we are utterly shut up to God. A military man, suffering from some obscure disease of the mind, was in the habit of promenading in a certain track on the ramparts, after sunset. When he walked eastward, and had nothing but the dark sky to look on, extreme dejection oppressed his clouded mind. But no sooner did he turn towards the west, where his eyes caught the brightness left by the sun that had set, than hope and peace revived in his heart. There are times when, if we look anywhere but towards God, our Sun, we may feel ready to despond or despair. Then we know what it is to be shut up to God. "But as for me, I will look unto the Lord." That look implies hope: "I will wait;" and faith: "My God will hear me." When we thus look, wait, trust, our thoughts may express themselves in the following thoughts about God, and our "meditation of him shall be sweet."
I. HOW MUCH WE HAVE IN GOD.
1. His name, Jehovah, describes his nature. He is the eternal, unchangeable, faithful, covenant keeping God. He revealed himself by that new name when he came as the Redeemer of his distressed people. And this Jehovah is "my God." Martin Luther remarks, "There is a great deal of divinity in the pronouns." The theology taught in the term "my God" is worth more than all the lectures ever given on "the attributes."
2. The figures employed for God remind us of the treasure we have in him. Look, for example, at a single group of figures in the sixty-second psalm. There God is described as "my Rock," on which I can safely rest and securely build; as "my high Tower" (Revised Version); "my strong Habitation, whereunto I may continually resort" (Psalms 71:3); and therefore as "my Refuge," where I may be safe from the sword of the avenger of blood, or from any other foe. The city of Metz prided itself in the name "La Pucelle," the virgin fortress; but in October, 1870, its fair fame was tarnished by its fall, and its inhabitants were at the mercy of their foes. But no such disaster can ever overtake those who can say of the Lord, "Fie is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; in him will I trust."
II. HOW MUCH WE MAY EXPECT FROM GOD. "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him." Among the blessings we may expect are the two crowning mercies which the prophet claims by faith.
1. Answers to prayer; which will be definite, appropriate, decisive ("My God will hear me"), such as God's servants of old received; e.g. Jacob (Genesis 32:1-32.), Moses (Numbers 14:18-20), Asa (2 Chronicles 14:11, 2 Chronicles 14:12), Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:1-37.). These prayers will bring:
2. Deliverance; for "my God" is "the God of my salvation." Thus in the midst of dangers from without or from within we can say, with the psalmist," I shall not be greatly moved" (Psalms 62:2). Like the rockingstones on the Cornish coast, we may at tunes be slightly shaken but not "greatly moved;" moved, but not removed. Like the magnet, we may oscillate for a time, and be slightly affected by changing conditions, but never greatly moved from our purpose of witnessing faithfully for God and his truth. Yet our confidence in regard to our stability is not in ourselves, but in our God, in "the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
III. HOW WORTHY HE IS OF UNLIMITED CONFIDENCE. "I will look;" "I will wait;" "My soul, wait thou only upon God;" "Trust in him at all times." "It is comparatively easy," says Dr. Edward Payson, "to wait upon God, but to wait upon him only—to feel, so far as our strength, happiness, and usefulness are concerned, as if all creatures and second causes were annihilated, and we were alone in the universe with God is, I suspect a difficult and rare attainment." This is the unlimited confidence to which we aspire. Then we may not only wait upon God, but wait for God, leaving the tune and method of our deliverance to him (Psalms 37:7-9; Psalms 130:5, Psalms 130:6). Then we shall not only be shut up to God, but shut in with God (Psalms 91:1). With God on our side we are in the majority. "How many do you count me for?" asked an ancient commander of an officer who was alarmed at the disparity of the forces they could array against the foe. "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."
"Be thou my God, and the whole world is mine;
Whilst thou art Sovereign, I'm secure;
I shall be rich till thou art poor;
For all I fear and all I wish, heaven,
Earth, and hell are thine."
E.S.P.
God the Vindicator of the penitent.
The truths here taught might be applied to the people of Israel, with whom the prophet identifies himself, when humbled before exulting foes like the Edomites (Obadiah 1:8-15) or their Chaldean conquerors. Light came to them in Babylon, through the witness borne by Daniel and his friends, the ministry of Ezekiel, the favour of Cyrus, and above all by their deliverance from the curse of idolatry before their restoration to their land. They may be applied also to a Church in a depressed or fallen state. A godly remnant could yet look forward to deliverance and revival. E.g. Sardis (Revelation 3:1-5). We may also use the words as describing the experience of a sinner humbled before God and man. Notice—
I. HIS PRESENT STATE.
1. He has fallen. Then he had stood before. He has been no hypocrite, but a pilgrim on the highway from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Like Christian in Bunyan's immortal allegory, he has been confronted by Apollyon. In the struggle he has been wounded in the head, the hand, and the foot. "Then Apollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to Christian, and, wrestling with him, gave him a dreadful fall; and with that Christian's sword flew out of his hand." Prostrate and powerless, he seems "drawn unto death and ready to be slain."
2. He sits in darkness. A hardened sinner in such a crisis may have a light, such as it is ("Walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled," Isaiah 50:11). But the fallen Christian is heard bemoaning himself (Job 29:2, Job 29:3). The sun, the light of God's countenance, is gone. It is a night of mist. Not even a star of promise can be seen except when the mist is for a moment or two dispersed before a rising breath of the Divine Comforter, who, though grieved, will not depart.
3. He is exposed to the indignation of the Lord. He cannot attribute his darkness to sickness or nervous depression. In the gloom caused by conscience he sees the shadow caused by the righteous anger of God. "Therefore we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness," "For our transgressions are multiplied," etc. (verses 9, 12).
4. He has to bear the scorn of men. His enemies rejoice. This makes the cup of bitterness overflow. The self-righteous formalist thanks God he is not as other men, or even at this Christian. The profligate man finds one more excuse for asserting that there is no such thing as real religion (cf. Psalms 35:15, Psalms 35:16, Psalms 35:21, Psalms 35:25). We can imagine the morbid curiosity in the streets of Jerusalem, when it began to be whispered that a dark deed had been committed in the palace of King David, and that Uriah's death had been procured by foul means. Would not the men of Belial mock at the royal psalmist—seducer—murderer Samuel Ezekiel 12:14)? How the soldiers and the servants round the fire within the judgment must have chuckled while Peter was weeping without! The world may hold its most riotous carnival, not when martyrs are burning at the stake, or their dead bodies are lying in the street of Sodom, but when the Saviour is wounded in the house of his friends, and the Church is mourning over the lost reputations of its fallen members (Luke 17:1).
II. THE GROUNDS OF HIS CONFIDENCE FOR THE FUTURE. The fallen Christian looks forward to rising again. He anticipates a new day when the Sun of Righteousness shall again rise on him. He speaks boldly (Ezekiel 12:8). This is either the grossest presumption or the noblest faith. It is like Samson's boast, "I will go out as at other times;" or like David's trustful anticipation, "Then will I teach transgressors thy ways," etc. That these words are no vain vaunting we learn from the grounds of his confidence.
1. He resolves quietly to endure God's chastening strokes. Such submission is one sign of genuine repentance. Illust.: The Jews in captivity (Le 26:40-42, "and they then accept, the punishment of their iniquity; then will I remember my covenant, etc.); Eli (1 Samuel 3:18); David, all through his long chastisement (see e.g, 2 Samuel 12:20; 2 Samuel 15:25, 2 Samuel 15:26; 2 Samuel 16:11; cf. Job 34:1-37 :81; Lamentations 3:39; Hebrews 12:5-7).
2. He puts his trust entirely is God. He has just before (Ezekiel 12:7) spoken of himself as shut up to God. Again he returns to him and repeatedly expresses his faith, "The Lord shall be a Light unto me: he shall plead my cause: he will bring me forth to the light." His godly sorrow and cheerful submission are signs that there is a mystic film, a spiritual cord that binds him, even in his fallen state, to his Father-God And he has promises to plead (Psalms 37:24; Proverbs 24:16). Illust.: Jonah (Jonah 2:3, Jonah 2:4), St. Paul (Romans 7:24, Romans 7:25). Grievous as are the sins of God's adopted children, they are provided for: "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin"—if any one of you little children sin, grievous and aggravated as your sin may be—"we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the Propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:1, 1 John 2:2). God vindicates such a penitent. He restores his soul. He renews his peace. He re-establishes his tarnished reputation. He puts a new song in his mouth (Psalms 40:1-3; Isaiah 12:1, Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 57:18, Isaiah 57:19).—E.S.P.