Bible Commentaries

DISCOURSE: 737

LIBERTY DESIRED

Psalms 142:7. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name!

GREAT are the changes which, from time to time, we observe in the material world; namely, from darkness to light, from barrenness to fertility, from death to life. Such likewise take place in the spiritual world; for men, by the Gospel, are “turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” Nor is this spiritual change less visible than the other. There are signs whereby we may “know that we have passed from death unto life,” and been “translated from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.” When David penned the psalm before us, he was hid in a cave, and was every moment in danger of being discovered and destroyed by his potent enemy, King Saul. But there was also a spiritual bondage to which he was reduced by means of the persecutions he endured; and hence he offers the petition in my text, “Bring my soul out of prison!” And for what end did he desire this deliverance? Was it merely on account of the relief which it would afford to him? No: he had higher and nobler feelings; and was actuated by a concern for God’s honour far more than by any personal consideration whatever.

That I may mark this peculiarity in David’s experience, I will shew,

I. Under what circumstances we may well offer this petition—

It is not needful that we should be immured in a dungeon, or shut up in a cave, from whence there seems to be no way of escape. We may offer this petition,

1. Under the pressure of unpardoned guilt—

[Truly, a soul under the dread of God’s everlasting wrath is in a state of sore bondage. All in an unforgiven state are said to be “concluded,” or shut up, “under sin [Note: Romans 11:32.]:” and, in fact, there are no bonds so painful as those which sin has forged for a guilty conscience. Hear David, under a sense of guilt: “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer [Note: Psalms 32:3-4. See also Psalms 40:11-12.].” Indeed, whoever has felt the burthen of sin, and how impossible it is for any but God to take it off, will pant for “the glorious liberty of the children of God,” and rejoice from his inmost soul in that promise, that “the Son, even the Lord Jesus Christ, will make us free [Note: John 8:32; John 8:36.].”]

2. Under those various trials to which, as Christians, we are exposed—

[All are more or less under persecution from man. And what bondage that brings, the psalm before us will abundantly declare. In truth, the embarrassment occasioned to children by their ungodly parents, to servants by their oppressive masters, and to subjects by persecuting magistrates, exceeds all that can be conceived: for, who can draw the precise line between our duty to God and to man, when their conflicting orders seem to render a resistance to the one or to the other of these governors unavoidable? And to what sad alternatives have the children of God been often brought, through the enactment of unrighteous laws!

Under temptation from Satan, too, are multitudes reduced to sad extremities! Behold the Apostle Paul, when under the buffetings of Satan; with what repeated cries he pleads with God for deliverance [Note: 2 Corinthians 12:7-8.]! Even our blessed Lord himself was so harassed by this wicked adversary, that he scarcely knew what to say, or what to do: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name [Note: John 12:27-28.].” And who can tell what thousands have suffered through the devices of this great adversary, and from the fiery darts with which he has pierced their souls [Note: Ephesians 6:11; Ephesians 6:16.]?

Nor must I omit to mention the yet sorer bondage which is sometimes experienced through desertion from God. For wise and gracious reasons, God is sometimes pleased to hide his face from his people, and for a season to appear to them as an enemy and an avenger. Hear the complaint of Heman, in the 88th Psalm: “My soul is full of troubles; and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me; and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted, and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; Thy terrors have cut me off [Note: Psalms 88:3; Psalms 88:6-7; Psalms 88:14-16.].” But hear our blessed Lord himself, from whom all that man could inflict drew no complaint; yet, in the hour of dereliction from his heavenly Father, he poured forth this bitter cry: “My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me [Note: Matthew 27:46.]?” And so it is with many a pious soul, when “the arrows of the Almighty are within them, the poison whereof drinketh up their spirit; and when the terrors of God do set themselves in array against them [Note: Job 6:4.].”

In all these instances, then, the afflicted soul may well pour forth the petition in my text: “Bring my soul out of prison!”]

Yet let me shew you,

II. What, in offering it, should be the chief object of our desire—

I am far from saying that deliverance is not to be desired for its own sake: for God himself condescends to acknowledge, that, whatever be the ultimate design of his chastisements, “affliction is not at the present joyous, but grievous [Note: Hebrews 12:11.]:” and to require man to be so divested of all personal feeling as not to desire ease and freedom for their own sake, is, in my apprehension, an unscriptural refinement. But, beyond a doubt, we should, in all our desires, have a higher object in view, even as our Lord had when praying for the removal of the bitter cup, yea, and “praying for it with strong crying and tears [Note: Hebrews 5:7.];” he was content to drink it, that God’s will might be done, and his name be glorified [Note: Matthew 26:38-44.]. Thus David in my text prays, “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name!” This was uppermost in his mind, even when his life was in the utmost jeopardy: and this must always be the most influential principle in our minds.

1. The frame of mind itself is most desirable—

[A man possessing a spirit of gratitude and praise cannot but be happy. Under the greatest sufferings, it will alleviate our pain, and enable us to “rejoice under the heaviest tribulations.” We see Paul and Silas, when immured in a prison, with their feet fastened in the stocks, and their backs torn with scourges, singing praises to God at midnight: and who, I ask, were the happier, they, or their ungodly persecutors? We wonder not, then, that David, under all his troubles, laid the chief stress on this, as the ground on which he sought deliverance: “Have mercy upon me, O Lord! consider the trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death; that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation [Note: Psalms 9:13-14.].”]

2. It is that frame by which we most glorify our God—

[This frame of mind shews the power and efficacy of divine grace. A man whose soul is thus made free, whatever be the bondage in which his body is held, is “free indeed.” This is the state of mind which is pre-eminently characteristic of the true Christian, who “neither lives to himself, nor dies to himself; but living, lives unto the Lord; and dying, dies unto the Lord; that, whether living or dying, he may be the Lord’s [Note: Romans 14:7-8.].” In a word, then only do we honour our profession aright, when our one great concern is, “that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ [Note: 1 Peter 4:11.].”]

3. It is that frame by which we are best prepared for heaven—

[Heaven is a state of incessant praise. The heavenly hosts “rest not day nor night from pouring forth their acclamations and hosannahs to God and to the Lamb.” And here, we are tuning our harps, and beginning to learn their song. Now, the very end for which God sends us affliction is, to purge away our dross, and to prepare us for heaven; and therefore we then best answer his design in afflicting us, when we take occasion from our troubles to abound more and more in thanksgiving to our God.

In every view, then, the desire expressed by David, in our text, was that which we ought most to cherish, as most worthy of our holy profession; as being most excellent in itself, most honourable to God, and most conducive to our eternal happiness.]

Application—

1. Be thankful that you are where you may offer this petition, with a certainty that it shall be answered—

[We read of “spirits in prison,” to whom deliverance can never come [Note: 1 Peter 3:19.]. But you, Beloved, are “prisoners of hope,” to whom mercy maybe accorded, not only “double” the amount of all your desert of punishment, but “double” the amount of all your most sanguine expectations [Note: Zechariah 9:12.]. Your blessed Saviour came on purpose to deliver you [Note: Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 61:1-3.]; and if only you cry to him, “he will save your souls with a great deliverance.”]

2. If you have experienced deliverance, be sure you improve it for the honour of your God—

[When our Lord healed the cripple, he said to him, “Behold, thou art made whole! sin no more.” So, if you are brought forth from bondage of any kind, take care not to “use your liberty as a cloak of licentiousness, but as the servants of God [Note: 1 Peter 2:16.],” that ye may run with more enlargement the way of his commandments.]