Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

TITLE, "A PSALM OF ASAPH." He was a great singer, but he could not always sing. In the first part of the Psalm he felt rather like groaning than singing—and you shall find that those who sing the sweetest the praises of God sometimes have to hang their harps upon the willows and are silent. The strong temptation through which Asaph passed is one which is very common. You find another account of it in the 37th Psalm. It may help your memory to notice that it is the 37th and the 73rd Psalm (transpose the figures) which are both upon the same subject—the temptation caused to the people of God by the prosperity of the wicked.

Verse 1. Truly, God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart It must be so. Whatever argument my soul may hold about it, I will set that down, to begin with as a certainty—"Truly, God is good to Israel." He cannot be unkind or unfaithful to His own people! It cannot be possible, after all—however things may look—that God is a bad God and a bad Master to His own servants!

2. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well near slipped. Am I, then, one of His people or not? I know He is good to them, but how about myself? Perhaps some here will never question themselves in that way, and if they were led to do so, they would think it was of the devil. I do not think so. I think it is rather of the devil to keep us from questioning ourselves. I remember what Cowper said—

"He that has ne ver doubted of his state, He may—perhaps he may—too late." Let us delight in full assurance, but let us keep very clear of presumption and that assurance which cannot bear self-examination is presumption, depend upon it! When a man declines to search himself and test himself, there is something doubtful, if not rotten in his estate—and it is time he began to say, "As for me, my feet were almost gone: my steps had well near slipped." This is how it came about—

3. ForI was envious at the foolish, when Isaw the prosperity ofthe wickedI know that wicked men are fools. Asaph and David had often said that before. Yet says he, "I was a greater fool, still, that I was envious of these fools—when I saw the prosperity of the wicked."

4, 5. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Many of them keep up a hypocritical profession through a long life and die in a stupefaction—so that conscience never awakens and they pass out of the world loaded with guilt—and yet talk about being accepted before God! How can this be? Where is the justice of it?

6. Therefore pride compasses them about as a chain. As kings wear chains of gold, so is their pride to them.

6. Violence covers them as a garment They are not ashamed of it. They get to be so bold in sin that they wear it as an outside cloak!

7. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish Superfluities! They never have to ask where a meal will come from. They have more than they need.

8. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens.Such big mouths—such blasphemous words—have they, that they attack God Himself! There is nothing too high for them to drag it down—nothing too pure for them to slander. "They set their mouth against the heavens."

9. And their tongue walks through the earth.Like the lion seeking its prey, they take long walks in their slander. Nobody is safe from them.

10. 11. Therefore his people return here: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?'God's sorrowing children have to drink of the bitter cup while these proud ones are eating of the fat of the land!

12-14. Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all the daylong have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. When Asaph got into this unbelieving state of mind, it looked as if all his care of his character and all his desire to serve God were wasted, for the wicked prospered, while he was chastened! It is a strong description which he gives of his state. "All the daylong have I been plagued." Not by the half-hour, but by the whole day—plagued and weeping as soon as he was out of bed—chastened every morning! He almost seemed to be sorry that he was a child of God, to be so roughly handled. He almost, but not quite, wished that he could take the portion of the wicked, that he might enjoy himself as they did and might prosper in the world as they did.

15. If I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have offended against the generation of Your children. That was very wise of Asaph. He thought, but he did not speak. Some persons say, "You may as well out with it." You may as well keep it in! No, a great deal better—if you have it in your own heart, it will grieve yourself—but if you speak it out, you will grieve others. If you wear sackcloth, Brothers and Sisters, wear it round your own loins, but do not wear it as your outside garment. There is enough sackcloth in the world without your flaunting it before everybody else's face! If you must fast, remember your Master's words, "You, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that you appear not unto men to fast." He gave us that precept in order to avoid Pharisaic ostentation, but we may also follow it from another motive, namely, that we may not spread sorrow in the world. There is enough of depression of spirit, enough of despondency, enough of heartbreak without our saying a word to increase it among the sons of men—

"Bear and forbear, and silent be— Tell no man your misery,"

lest you bring another into it, unless, indeed, you meet with a strong man who can help you. Then you may tell your sorrow to get relief. But tell it not to the children.

16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. "Too painful" to keep it. "Too painful" to speak it out and grieve other people.

17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood their end. Asaph went to his God. He got to Christ, whom he foresaw, for the Person of Jesus Christ is the sanctuary of God! Some people call these buildings sanctuaries. They have no authority for so doing. "God dwells not in temples made with hands." He may have done so under the Old

Covenant, but not now. Christ is the sanctuary of God and when we get to Him and come into fellowship with God in Him, then we begin to learn something! "Then understood I their end."

18. Surely You did set them in slippery places. There they are—on a mountain of ice, bright and glittering! Up aloft, where others see, admire and wonder at them. But oh, how dangerous their pathway!

18. You cast them down into destruction. They are not left to slip, but a hand overthrows them—flings them down from the heights of their prosperity to the depths of unutterable woe!

19, 20. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, O Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image. As if God slept today and let these images of prosperity exist as in a dream, but by-and-by He wakes. His time of judgment comes and where are these prosperous men? They have gone. The "baseless fabric of a vision" has melted into thin air and "left not a wreck behind." It is not. It is gone!

21. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. I felt a heart-pain. I felt my whole nature go amiss, as if there had been calculi causing the deepest possible misery in my reins.

22. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before You. I saw no farther than a goose! Like a beast that cannot look into the future, I judged these men by today—by the pastures in which they fed and the fatness which they gathered there. "I was as a beast before You." Now notice the splendid connection of these two verses. I will read them again—the 22nd and the 23rd. "So foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before You."

23. Nevertheless I am continually with You: You have held me by my right hand. What a strange mixture a man is! And a godly man is the strangest conglomerate of all! He is a beast and yet continually with God. View him from one side—he is ignorant. View him from the other and he has an unction from the Holy One and he knows all things! View him from one point of the compass and he is naked, and poor, and miserable! View him from another quarter and behold he is complete in Christ and "accepted in the Beloved!" They know not man who do not know that every true man is two men!

24. You shall guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to Glory. I, the fool that envied fools, yet, "You shall guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to Glory."

25. Whom have I in Heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside You. Now he has got out of the temptation! He is not going to seek for prosperity that he may rival the wicked in their wealth. No! He sees that in having God, he has all he needs. Even though he should continually be plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning, his portion in God is quite enough for him. He will not murmur anymore!

26. My flesh and my heart fails. I see what a poor thing I am. I allowed my flesh and my heart to get the mastery over me and I got caught in this trap.

26, 27. But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. For, lo, they that are far from You shall perish: You have destroyed all them that go a whoring from You. A strong word, but none too forcible, for every heart that seeks delight away from God is an unchaste heart. It has got away from true purity even for a moment in pouring out its love upon the creature.

28. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works.

PSALM 37. Verse 1. Fret not yourself because of evildoers, neither be you envious against the workers of iniquity. A common temptation. Many of God's saints have suffered from it. Learn from their experience. Avoid this danger. There really is no power in it when once the heart has come to rest in God. But it is a sad affliction until the heart does get its rest. "Fret not because of evildoers."

2-4. For they shallsoon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed. Delight yourself also in the LORD. Make Him your delight, and take care that you do really delight. Feel a fullness of joy in Him.

4. And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Because when the heart delights in God, then its desires are all such as God can safely grant. He does not say to every man, or even to every praying man, "I will give you the desires of your heart," but, "Delight yourself in the Lord," and then He will.

5. Commit your way unto the LORD. Give it up to Him to rule it, and to guide you and lead you in every step. "Commit your way unto the Lord."

5, 6. Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday. It is better to trust our character with God than with the ablest counselor. Scandal may pass over a fair name for a while and cloud it, but God is the avenger of all the righteous! There will be a resurrection of reputations, as well as of persons at the Last Great Day. Only we must commit it to God.

7, 8. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him: fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not yourself in any wise to do evil A fretful spirit soon comes to be an angry spirit—and when we begin to be jealous of evildoers, we are very apt to become evildoers ourselves! Many an honest man has snatched at hasty gain because he was envious of the prosperity of the unrighteous. And then he has pierced himself through with many sorrows in consequence. But "fret not yourself in any wise to do evil." There is an old proverb that it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright. Therefore, when you are in temporal trouble, ask the Lord to fill you with His Grace, for then you will stand upright and, by-and-by, you shall be delivered.

9. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shallinherit the earth. If there is anything good to be had here, men that wait upon God shall have it! If there is any grain of wheat amidst these heaps of chaff, Believers that are trusting the Lord shall find them!

10. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. How transient are their joys! Their wealth which they accumulate, the beauty which they think is upon their estate—all this is but as the painted colors of the bubble, which is scarcely seen before it vanishes. Will you envy this? Will you envy a little child his playthings, which will be broken in an hour? Will you envy a madman the straw crown which he plaits and puts upon his head when he thinks himself a king? Oh, be not so foolish! Your inheritance is eternal and you are immortal! Why should you envy the creature of an hour? "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be."

10. Yes, you shall diligently consider his place. His mansion, his house, the grand figure that he cut in society.