Bible Commentaries

DISCOURSE: 796

THE NAME OF THE LORD A STRONG TOWER

Proverbs 18:10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

IN the Proverbs of Solomon we must not expect to find long and accurate statements of Divine truth, nor elevated strains of devotion founded upon it: the scope of the book is rather by brief sentences to fix upon the mind truths already acknowledged, and to shew the excellency of them in their effects. The passage before us is very instructive in this view, namely, as illustrating the blessedness attendant on true piety. But it commends itself to us yet more forcibly, by exhibiting a contrast between the dispositions and habits which religion inspires, and those which are indulged by the whole ungodly world. The text informs us what “the righteous man” does: the verse following our text informs us what the worldling does: the one makes God his refuge; the other trusts in his wealth, or some other idol equally vain: the one founds all his hopes on God, as made known to us in the Scriptures of Truth; the other, on some vanity, that has no title to confidence but “in his own conceit.”

It was to mark this contrast that the blessedness mentioned in our text was confined to “the righteous.” Solomon did not mean to intimate, that an unrighteous man, if he would flee to this tower, should be shut out: for the most unrighteous man in the universe is invited to come to it: and, like the cities of refuge, its gates stand open day and night for the admission of all who desire to flee to it for refuge. But the truth is, that none but the righteous will run to it: none but they who are sensible of their guilt and danger, and are fleeing in earnest from the wrath to come, will enter in. All others deny the necessity of submitting to so humiliating a measure: they think they are safe enough without it. The believing penitent, on the contrary, is thankful for such a refuge, and is in the habit of running to it on every occasion: and therefore to him, and to him alone, is the security confined.

To elucidate the passage, we will endeavour to unfold,

I. The character of God—

By “the name of the Lord” we are not to understand the mere word, Jehovah, as though that would afford us any security. This is a vain and foolish superstition, that has no foundation whatever in the Oracles of God. But, by “the name of the Lord” we must understand his character; as we learn from that expression of David, “They that know thy name,” i. e. thy character, “will put their trust in thee [Note: Psalms 9:10.].” Consider then the character of Jehovah,

1. As described by himself—

[God, in infinite condescension, was pleased to make himself known to Moses, and by an audible voice to “proclaim his name [Note: Exodus 34:5.]:” “The Lord passed by and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty [Note: Exodus 34:6-7.].” Now we would ask the trembling sinner, What character he would wish Jehovah to bear? Would he wish God in no instance to testify his displeasure against sin, but to treat all men alike, putting no difference between “the guilty” who are going on in all manner of wickedness, and the penitent, who are turning from all iniquity? No: there is not a penitent in the universe that would wish God to act in a way so unworthy of his Divine Majesty. But if he desire to be assured of mercy to returning penitents, it is not possible that any words he could devise could more richly portray this attribute, than those which God himself has used. Consider them distinctly and separately, — — — and see how constantly they have been verified towards you hitherto, and how abundantly they contain all that you can desire.]

2. As revealed to us in Christ Jesus—

[The Lord Jesus Christ is “Emmanuel, God with us;” and he is particularly called, “The image of the invisible God.” because in him the whole character of the Deity is made, as it were, visible to mortal men. He is “the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person;” and his whole character is marked in the name given him before he was conceived in the womb [Note: Matthew 1:21; Matthew 1:23.]. The name “Jesus” is the same with Joshua, or “Jehoshua,” that is, Jah Hosea, Divine Saviour. What a glorious and comprehensive name is this! All that he has done and suffered for us, and all that he has promised to us, is contained in it; together with his perfect sufficiency for all that he has undertaken to effect. The trembling sinner finds in the very name of Jesus a pledge of all that he wants. Besides, whilst we contemplate him in the whole of his work and offices, we are expressly authorized to apply to ourselves the benefit of them all, and to call him, “The Lord our Righteousness [Note: Jeremiah 23:6.].” Follow this idea in all its bearings, and what unsearchable mysteries of love and mercy will it unfold to our view!]

Such being the name and character of God, let us contemplate,

II. The interest we have in it—

It is indeed “a strong tower”—

[Consider every perfection of the Deity: there is not one which is not “a chamber where we may hide ourselves till every calamity be overpast [Note: Isaiah 26:20.].” The wisdom, the goodness, the love, the power, the faithfulness of Jehovah—who that is encompassed by them does not feel himself in an impregnable fortress? Truly they are not merely a wall, but “a wall of fire” round about the righteous; of fire, which whilst it protects the fugitive, will devour the assailant. — — — What a tower too is the Lord Jesus Christ in the whole of his work and offices! Well is he said to be “a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall [Note: Isaiah 26:4.].” Yes, “the man” Christ Jesus, in his Mediatorial character, is such “a hiding-place [Note: Isaiah 32:2.],” where no adversary shall “ever penetrate.”]

All who run to it shall “be safe”—

[Who shall ever approach “to harm” those who are thus protected [Note: 1 Peter 3:13.]? Surely “they shall be kept in perfect peace.” They are “safe:” safe from the curses of the broken law: for “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus [Note: Romans 8:1.]” — — — They are safe too from the assaults of Satan; for “their lives are hid with Christ in God,” where Satan can never come [Note: Colossians 3:3-4.] — — — In a word, they are safe from every kind of evil: for God has said of those who make the Most High their habitation, that “no evil shall befall them [Note: Psalms 91:9-10.]” — — — The persecutor may touch their body, but cannot reach their soul [Note: Luke 12:4-5.]: they shall sooner be fed with ravens, than be suffered to “want any manner of thing that is good [Note: Psalms 34:9-10.].” And if any thing occur that has the semblance of evil, they may be assured that it shall work for their present and eternal good [Note: Romans 8:28. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.]. Like Elisha, they are surrounded with horses of fire and chariots of fire [Note: 2 Kings 6:14-17.]: and any assaults made upon them shall only terminate as in Elijah’s case, with the confusion and ruin of their enemies [Note: 2 Kings 1:9-14.].]

“Suffer now a word of exhortation”—

1. Study much the character of God—

[“To know God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, is,” as our Lord informs us, “eternal life.” All other knowledge is mere vanity in comparison of this. Without this we have nothing to warrant our hopes, or to dissipate our fears — — — “Acquaint then yourselves with God, and be at peace” — — —]

2. Maintain constant and intimate communion with him—

[You know how a child runs to his parent on every occasion: do ye in like manner run unto your God. This is the very character of the true Christian; “The righteous runneth unto God as his strong tower.” Get to him under every fear, and every want, and every distress: and “cast your care on Him who careth for you” — — —]

3. Assure yourselves of the safety which you are privileged to enjoy—

[Well may you say, “If God be for me, who can be against me?” See how David exulted in his security [Note: Psalms 18:1-2; Psalms 27:1.]! — — — and learn like him to glory in your God: for it is God’s desire that you should enjoy all possible consolation [Note: Hebrews 6:18.]. Your Saviour has assured you, that “none shall pluck you out of his hands:” lie there then in peace and safety, “knowing in whom you have believed, and that he is able to keep that which you have committed to him” — — — When he has lost his power to save, then, and not till then, shall any enemy prevail against you.]

DISCOURSE: 797

A WOUNDED SPIRIT

Proverbs 18:14. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity: but a wounded spirit who can bear?

MAN being placed in a world where troubles of various kinds continually await him, he is endued with a firmness, of mind suited to the occasion, so that he is enabled to bear them with a considerable measure of composure and ease. Previously to the arrival of afflictions, they appear more formidable than they really are. We should suppose that poverty, and sickness, and pain, and losses of friends and relatives, would produce a permanent depressure of mind: but this is not found to be the case: time soon heals the wounds that are inflicted by them; and habit soon reconciles men to the burthens which they are called to sustain. Where piety is superadded to natural fortitude, and the grace of God is in full activity, a man can support any load, however heavy. What an accumulated weight of afflictions came on Job! yet he not only blessed God for them, but, when his wife urged him to renounce his allegiance to God on account of these visitations, he, with wonderful composure, answered, “Shall we receive good at the Lord’s hands, and shall we not receive evil?”

Yet there are bounds beyond which a man cannot go, without almost miraculous assistance. The spirit, like the body, may be borne down by a weight beyond its strength: and when the spirit, which ought to support a man under all his other trials, is itself broken, he must fall of course.

Now there are many things which inflict so deep a wound upon the spirit, as to destroy all its energy, and incapacitate it for its proper office: and that we may provide an antidote against them, and afford some consolation under them, we will,

I. Consider the case of a wounded spirit—

A spirit may be deeply wounded,

1. By nervous disorders—

[The mind may be disordered, as well as the body, and indeed through the medium of the body: and it is certain that there are disorders which so operate upon the nerves as to weaken and depress the animal spirits, and to sink a man into the very depths of despondency. This is often mistaken for religious melancholy: but it frequently has nothing to do with religion: it is found in persons who never turned their minds at all to the subject of religion: and, as it comes with, and by, a bodily disease, so it ceases with the removal of that disease. But in its effect it is inexpressibly painful, unfitting persons for every duty, indisposing them for all the proper means of relief, and leading them to put away from themselves all manner of consolation. They constrain their kindest friends to apply to themselves that proverb. “As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a heavy heart [Note: Proverbs 25:20.].”]

2. By great and long-continued afflictions—

[Job himself, who had so nobly sustained all his complicated afflictions, sank at last, and cursed the day of his birth. Nor is it at all uncommon for men of the greatest fortitude thus to sink. To produce this, is the tendency of calamities of any kind, personal, domestic, or public. See the Apostle’s caution to the Church of Corinth respecting their conduct towards a member whom they had excommunicated from among them. As they had been formerly too backward to punish his offence, so now they were too backward to restore him; on which occasion St. Paul says to them, “Ye ought rather to forgive him, and to comfort him, lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with over-much sorrow [Note: 2 Corinthians 2:7.].” Here the grief was purely personal: but in Jacob it was of a domestic nature. He had, in his own apprehension, lost his favourite son, Joseph; and now he was afraid of losing Benjamin also: that, he said, would fill up the number of his sorrows, and “bring down his grey hairs with sorrow to the grave [Note: Genesis 42:38; Genesis 44:31.].” How many at this day have ground to adopt this complaint, in reference to their children! Public calamities, it is true, do not so often press with an unsupportable weight upon the mind: yet have we several instances of their depressing, almost to the lowest ebb of sorrow, persons of the strongest and the holiest minds. How were Moses and Joshua discouraged, when unexpected circumstances arose to render doubtful the ultimate success of their mission [Note: Exodus 5:22-23. Joshua 7:7-8.]! Nor was it a love of life, or a fear of death, that made Hezekiah so extremely dejected at the prospect of his approaching dissolution, but an apprehension of the evils that would accrue to his country in the event of his removal; and that one consideration reduced him to such a state of grief as would in any other view have been utterly unworthy of him as a saint of God [Note: Isaiah 38:13-14.].]

3. By guilt upon the conscience—

[What terrible effects did this produce on the mind of the traitor Judas! He could not retain the wages of his iniquity, nor bear his own existence; but sought in suicide a termination of the sorrows he could no longer endure [Note: Matthew 27:3-5.]. Nor is it at all uncommon for persons who once “made a mock of sin,” to feel so bitterly the torments of an accusing conscience, as to be driven by them to habits of intoxication, and even to death itself, as a refuge. Even good men, previous to their having received a renewed sense of God’s pardoning love upon their souls, have been brought to such terrors and despondency, as to find within their own souls a foretaste of hell itself. David’s experience in this particular is a just, but lamentable, exhibition of this painful truth [Note: Psalms 31:9-10; Psalms 38:1-8; Psalms 40:12.] — — —]

4. By violent temptations—

[Satan, though he can no longer possess the bodies of men as formerly he did, has yet great power over their souls. “His fiery darts” can inflict the deadliest wound. Paul himself was not able to endure “the buffetings” of that malignant enemy, till, by repeated cries to his Divine Master, he had obtained from him augmented supplies of grace and strength [Note: 2 Corinthians 12:7; 2 Corinthians 12:9.]. As for Job, though he was a perfect man, yet he sank entirely under the assaults of this great adversary [Note: Job 6:2-4; Job 7:2-4; Job 7:13-16.] — — — Even the Lord of Glory himself, when he had assumed our feeble nature, was so exhausted in his first conflicts with Satan, that he needed to have “angels sent from heaven to strengthen him [Note: Matthew 4:11.].” And in his last hours, when all the powers of darkness made their united assault upon him, he was constrained to say, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” What wonder then if Christians of ordinary stature be on some occasions unable to bear up under the wounds which he inflicts upon them?]

5. By spiritual desertion—

[This, after all, is the most overwhelming to a pious soul. With the presence of his God a man may bear any thing: but when “God hides his face from him, he must of necessity be troubled [Note: Psalms 30:6-7.].” In this respect also David shews us what an insupportable affliction this is, and how impossible it is for the strongest or most pious mind to endure it [Note: Psalms 77:2-4; Psalms 88:3-7; Psalms 88:11-16.] — — — But in our blessed Lord himself we see the most awful exemplification of this truth: for when all his other afflictions together had not been able to extort from him one complaint, this forced from him that heart-rending cry, “My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me [Note: Matthew 27:16.]?]

Seeing then that many may be fainting under the agonies of “a wounded spirit,” we will,

II. Administer some balm for its relief—

There is no wound that can be inflicted on the soul in this life, which may not, by an application of the proper remedies, be healed. Consider then,

1. There is no affliction which is not sent by God for our good—

[Afflictions, of whatever kind they be, “spring not out of the ground:” they are all appointed by God, in number, weight, and measure, and duration. If it be disease of body, it is he that inflicts the wound: if the trial come from any other quarter. it still is his chastening rod that strikes us, with a view to our spiritual good, “that we may be made partakers of his holiness.” Convictions of sin are the work of his Spirit, to prepare us for the final restoration of his favour: and Satan himself, as in the case of Job and of Peter, is restrained by God, so as ultimately to display the triumphs of divine grace, and to benefit the souls which he endeavours to destroy: and God himself, in the hidings of his face, seeks only so to humble and purify our souls as to prepare us for the fuller manifestations of his love and mercy [Note: Isaiah 54:7-8.]— — —

Now it must be granted, “that afflictions are not for the present joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterwards they work the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby.” “If we be in heaviness through manifold temptations,” God sees that there is “a needs be” for them [Note: 1 Peter 1:6.]; and that by putting us into the furnace, we shall be purged from our dross, and come out of it as vessels better fitted for his service [Note: Malachi 3:2-3.]. Well therefore may the consideration of the end for which they are sent, and of the benefit to be derived from them, reconcile us to the pressure of them, and dispose us patiently to wait for the removal of them. Could Job have foreseen the issue of his troubles, they would have been deprived of more than half their weight.]

2. Our afflictions, of whatever kind they be, will endure but a little time—

[The Apostle speaks of all, even the heaviest afflictions, as light and momentary [Note: 2 Corinthians 4:17.]. Even life itself is but as a shadow that declineth; or a weaver’s shuttle, which soon finishes the piece that is to be severed from the loom. And when once this frail life is ended, there is an everlasting termination of all our sorrows. If only we have believed in Christ, and sought an interest in him, we enter immediately into “his presence, where is fulness of joy for evermore.” Into that blissful world nothing that is afflictive can ever enter to disturb their peace: “all tears are wiped away from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away [Note: Revelation 21:4.].” And, as no created evil can then impair their bliss, so no created good can add to it: “The city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to lighten it; for the glory of God does lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof [Note: Revelation 21:23.].” How little will the transient clouds that once occasioned a momentary gloom be remembered, when our dwelling is for ever fixed in the full splendour of the Sun of Righteousness. Surely we need not be much cast down at trials, however painful to flesh and blood, when we consider that their duration is but as the twinkling of an eye, and that they will so soon terminate in inconceivable and everlasting felicity.]

3. There is in Christ a full sufficiency for every wound—

[We need not go to the eternal world for consolation; for we may find it here. What says the Prophet Jeremiah? “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no Physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered [Note: Jeremiah 8:22.]?” Did we but cry to Jesus, as Paul did, we should find “his grace abundantly sufficient for us.” “If we cast our burthen upon him, he would sustain us.” See the experiment tried by David, and the account which he gives of the result: how soon was he “taken out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and a new song was put into his mouth, even praise unto our God [Note: Psalms 40:2-3.]!” The very office which our blessed Lord undertook, was that, not of a Redeemer only, but of a Comforter: “to comfort them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness [Note: Isaiah 61:2-3.].” Let all then look unto him, whatever their affliction now be: even though, like David, they were under the depths of dereliction, they shall soon, with him, have occasion to say, “Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing; thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness [Note: Psalms 30:11.].”

The Lord Jesus “will not break a bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax, but will bring forth judgment unto victory;” and, if we confide in him, “our heaviness may indeed continue for a night, but joy shall come in the morning.”]