Bible Commentaries

The Grand Doxology

Psalm 147:2-5

Every revelation of the nature or attributes of God must be of supreme value to men who are not utterly debased in thought and feeling. God must ever be the one object about which our highest faculties are excited to their most resolute and vehement endeavours to know the truth. Granted that it is possible for the creature to know the Creator, then every other subject must have its value determined by its relation to that one sublime possibility. There are subjects which clear for themselves large spaces, so to speak, and define the proportions and limitations of a great many other subjects. See how this is constantly illustrated in ordinary life. A man proposes to build a house in a most lovely situation: the scene is variegated by hill and dale; it is quiet, simple, and charming altogether. He will build. His heart is set upon the project. Already in imagination he sees the edifice which is to be consecrated as his home. Timber is at hand, stones are within reach, the painter and decorator await but a call. But, but, but what? Why, there is no water! Not a well can be found. To sink for water would cost him more money than he can afford; so, though everything else be forthcoming, the scheme must be abandoned for want of one thing!—What if a man should attempt to build a house upon principles contrary to geometry? Suppose he should discard the square, the plumb-line, and the rule? Every inch of his progress would be one inch nearer ruin. In building the meanest hovel you must work according to the laws which unite creation; if you quarrel with astronomy or geometry, you build a structure which no mortal ingenuity or strength can prop; the worlds are against you; the stars fight for God.—In building a life he only is wise who consults the Creator; who reverently inquires into his nature and sovereignty, and prays the Infinite to protect and teach the finite. History is the revealer of God. Experience, wide and deep knowledge of truth in actual life, teaches man the spirit and method of God's purpose and government. We cannot find out God abstractly; we cannot know him as he is, except through the medium of what he does; and herein is the value of spiritual testimony, the worth and power of the experience which has tested the mercy and wisdom of God.—Take the text as an example. This testimony is more than an abstract argument, it is the solemn oath of men who have lived this most blessed experience, or have so watched the ways of God as to speak as emphatically of the stars as of hearts that have been healed. It is the healed heart that most clearly sees the hand of God amongst the stars. The heart teaches the intellect; the heart says, "See! the God who cares for thee cares also for the frail lily, the flattering bird, the shining star." So the life of man becomes the practical interpreter of God, and experience sees his presence everywhere.—Let us regard the text in the light of our own consciousness and experience, that we may see how unchangeable is God in the might of his arm and the tenderness of his heart.—The text reveals the constructive side of the divine government.—I. As shown in the building up of the Church.—"The Lord doth build up Jerusalem," etc. That he should do shows (1) that the church is self-demolished; (2) that it is self-helpless; and (3) that God is the gatherer, the redeemer, and the builder of the church.—It is not God's purpose to destroy. It is his very nature to preserve, extend, complete, and glorify. He does destroy, but never willingly. His arm does not become terrible until his heart has been grieved, until his patience has been exhausted, and until the vital interests of the universe have been put in peril.—II. As seen in the gentle care of human hearts.—"He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." Still, you see how constructive and preservative is God. His work is edification, not destruction. Who cares for brokenhearted men? Who has patience with the weak and faint? The greater the nature, the greater the compassion. "It is belter to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men." Learn from this gentle care of human hearts.—First: The personality of God's knowledge. He knows every bruised reed. Hearts suffer in secret; there is nothing hidden from God!—Second: The infinite adaptations of divine grace. Every heart, whatever its grief, may be healed! There is "a sovereign balm for every wound." Are we wounded on account of sin? are we writhing under the agonies of penitence? are we tortured by circumstances over which we have no control—the waywardness of children, physical prostration, the opposition of bad men, and the like? For every wound there is healing in the grace of God! Third: The perfectness of divine healing. Other healers say, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace." Others "heal the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly." God complained to Ezekiel , "One built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar." We are not healed until God heals us. God offers to heal us; our disease and our sorrow are challenges to prove his grace. What of the responsibility of refusal?—III. As seen in the order, the regularity, and the stability of creation.—"He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." Creation is a volume open to all eyes. Read it, and see the might of gentleness, the wisdom and patience of God. "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth." Jesus Christ taught us to reason from the natural to the spiritual: "Consider the lilies," etc.; "Behold the fowls or the air," etc.—(1) God takes care of the great universe, may I not trust him with my life?—(2) Where God's will is unquestioned, the result is light, beauty, music: why should I oppose myself to its gracious dominion?—In the grandeur, stability, perfectness of the universe, we see what God would do in our lives, did we call him to the throne of our love.—The subject has applied itself as we have proceeded from point to point; still we may linger one moment more on flowers laden with such honey. Let the church be of good courage: "When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory." "The gates of hell shall not prevail."—Are we truly broken in heart? Hear, then, the Saviour: "He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,"—sent his Son to heal us!—Are we contrite, humble, penitent? "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Our brokenness attracts Him. The cry of our sorrows brings him down from heaven. "Ah Lord God i behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: thou showest loving-kindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: The great, the mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name; great in counsel, and mighty in work!"