Bible Commentaries

Psalms 138:8

(with Psalms 56:4; Psalms 61:2)

I. The hand of God is in everything. No point is more distinct to a trustful, relying spirit, no truth is more settled, than this. There are no fortuities in this world; there is not an event which has not its meaning, its connections, and its end. The confidence which gives peace, and fixedness, and strength to the mind fastens upon the views which the Bible gives of God, His agency and His purposes, as a God who is concerned with everything, and who acts in everything in reference to an end worthy of Himself.

II. The word of God, in which faith rests, contemplates man in all the various circumstances of his being, in every possible or supposable condition in which he may be placed. The promise of a Saviour, and of all good in Him, covers all our interests; hence the word which is given to us is full of promises, and they are "exceeding great and precious"—great in their range, because there is no circumstance which they do not reach; precious in their character, because there is no exigency in our affairs to which they are not adapted.

III. All these promises are promises in Christ Jesus; and herein we have the evidence of their certainty, the assurance of their fulfilment.

IV. The Christian's confidence has been actually tested by experiment, and has never yet failed. Confidence in God always ministers peace and joy to the human spirit.

E. Mason, A Pastor's Legacy, p. 124.

References: Psalms 138:8.—J. J. West, Penny Pulpit, No. 1441; A. Maclaren, Old Testament Outlines, p. 152; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 144; Ibid., Sermons, vol. v., No. 231, and vol. xxv., No. 1506; J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 145; A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 158. Psalm 138—Bishop Thorold, Clergyman's Magazine, vol. xx., p. 23.