Bible Commentaries

Psalm 94:9-10

These verses assert that in due time God will Psalm 94:9-10

"He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know?" These verses made a strong impression on the mind of Sophia the Electress of Hanover, a woman of decided mental power, and were adopted with approbation by her friend the philosopher Leibnitz in his opposition to Atheism. The principle on which he reasoned was, that as the stream cannot rise above its fountain, intelligence in man implies an intelligent source. Thought must come from thought. Descartes had already given expression to the same idea in his Meditations, III.: "Now it is manifest by the light of nature that there must be as much reality in the efficient cause as in the effect; for whence could the effect draw its reality but from the cause? And how could the cause communicate the power to it, if it had it not in itself? And from this it follows, not only that nothing can be produced from nothing, but also that what is more perfect cannot be a result of, and dependent on, what is less perfect."

—J. K.

References.—XCIV:12.—J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii. p219. Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons (2Series), p39. XCIV:16.—J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii. p219.

The Christian's Hidden Sources of Delight

Psalm 94:19

Our thoughts form the hidden sources of our lives, whether for good or for evil.

I. I am sure it will be good for us if we can find the track along which ran David's thoughts which gave him such great power and such sources of delight that his wonderful career was possible. The first of these thoughts of David he makes very clear to us in this Psalm. It was the thought of an immanent God in the world, one who hears and sees and cares. "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?" Here is the starting-point of David's hidden source of joy. God is in his world. He made it and He rules it. Here is the source of courage that will never grow weary.

II. Another thought that was a constant source of delight to David was the conviction that God was the defender of those who trusted Him. He cries out in this Psalm 94:19

This Psalm is a cry for help against the insolence and cruelty of Israel's oppression, evidently at a time when the nation has been under the heel of heathen conquerors. There is a Divine purpose to be wrought out through all the struggles and the sorrow, a purpose of moral discipline.

I. The Psalmist questions his soul by his comforting faith. With spiritual insight he sees something of the meaning of discipline, and sees the hand of God in the dark passage through the cloud as well as in the brightness of the ultimate deliverance. He sees that if the Lord had not been his help all would have been ended long since. "When I said, My foot hath slipped, Thy mercy, O Lord, was holding me up." It is a vivid figure of compassing grace. Amid wickedness, rampant and triumphant, enmity without and trouble within, he entered into peace through the assurance of God's presence.

II. Times alter and circumstances change, but the essentials of life remain, and this cry of a wounded heart is the human cry, and we can interpret the Psalm for our own individual needs and personal situation. The way to peace for us today, as in this echo of a long past time, is in the assurance of God. This is the one need of man's heart. There can be no abiding consolation and no complete solution of the riddle of life, no safe refuge, except somewhere within where the soul can find rest. If life is meaningless, empty of any spiritual purpose, the world is a place of despair as much to us as the terrible situation depicted by the Psalmist of old. We, like him, and as much as him, need the comfort of God's love for the multitude of our cares. There is nothing the heart of man needs more than a message of courage and hope and confidence. And where is such a message possible except as a message of faith? The world is built as if for discipline, and its one need is comfort of some sort.

III. The only cure for care is the cure of faith. What is this faith which has such magical power? It simply means to fall back upon God, to trust to His love and live in the secret of His presence. We learn to cast our care upon God when we know that He cares for us, and this is the meaning of our Communion. It has many a message and many a lesson, but its deepest message and sweetest lesson is that of comfort. The deepest lesson of Holy Communion, however we interpret it, is the Real Presence of Christ. What trouble or distress is there in life that will not be dissipated by the light of that faith? The remedy for care is to know the love of God in Christ, and that remedy is open to us, not fitfully and casually, but always and everywhere.

—Hugh Black, Christ's Service of Love, p42.

References.—XCIV:19.—A. Tucker, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xix. p510. J. Bunting, Sermons, vol. ii. pp214 , 229. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv. No883. Ibid. vol. xix. No1116. J. S. Boone, Sermons, p23. J. Thomas, Myrtle Street Pulpit, vol. ii. p305. XCIV.—International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p287. Expositor (2Series), vol. vi. p273.