Bible Commentaries

Psalm 121:8

Between these two things—the exits and the entrances of the day—lie the whole problem and struggle of existence.

I. Get into the habit each morning and evening of meeting God for a moment on the threshold as you go out and come in, and though you may not see it, others will begin to see a new element of strength and tenderness in your character. The man and the woman who keep tryst with God at the threshold for just a moment each day as they go out and come in are ready for every contingency.

II. Of course, to offer that kind of prayer means that you and I are determined to live a certain kind of life. There are three definite blessings on which we may surely count every day as we go out and come in, if we live this religion of the threshold.

(a) It will redeem the monotony of the day, and will sweeten its drudgery.

(b) It will make us ready for the unexpected things in life.

(c) It will hallow our evenings and sanctify our moments of rest. A simple religion, this religion of the doorstep, but death will be sweeter if we have learned to keep tryst with God as we go out and in.

—D. S. Mackay, The Religion of the Threshold, p25.

References.—CXXI:8.—H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No2241. CXXI.—International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p446. CXXII:3.—Canon Barnett, A Lent in London, p114. CXXII:4.—S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year (2Series), vol. iii. p242. CXXII:6-9.—J. Bowstead, Practical Sermons, vol. ii. p80. CXXII:8 , 9.—H. M. Butler, Harrow School Sermons (2Series), p183. CXXII. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p448. CXXIII:2.—J. Keble, Sermons for the Sundays After Trinity, p1. Expositor (3Series), vol. iv. p80 CXXIII.—International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p450.