November 5

When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me: until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. - Psalms 73:16-17.

WE have here the infirmity and excellency of a good man. What a state heaven will be when “that which is perfect is come, and that which is imperfect is done away!” The present is a mixed condition, during which we feel like a man under his recovery, thankful for his deliverance and his hope, yet feeling the sad remembrance of his former complaint; so that he cannot do the things that he would, nor enjoy himself as he would, and longing for the day of his restoration.

Observe, first, The source of his perplexity. As a general principle he was constrained to make the admission, “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart;” but here he erred, as he was unable to harmonize the principle with some of the dispensations of Divine Providence; namely, the prosperity of the wicked and the adversity of the righteous. These have generally proved a stumbling-block to pious men in all ages, and the enemy of souls has never been backward to avail himself of it. Even Jeremiah said: “Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee, yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? “Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?” So it was here with Asaph; he says, “My feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.”

Observe, secondly, The principle which cheered him, and which led him to conceal what he could not help feeling. “If I say I should speak thus, behold I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this, it was painful for me.” Ah! they were dear to him, and they should be dear also to us; and they will be dear to us if we are born of God, for the Apostle John says: “He that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.” And then we should remember that it is beneath a Christian to regard only his own satisfaction of mind, or even conscience, in many things: he should regard the satisfaction of others, and be willing to make sacrifices. “Let every one,” says Paul, who himself acted upon the principle, “please his neighbour for his good to edification, for even Christ pleased not himself.”

Thirdly, Observe the source of his relief. “I went into the sanctuary, then understood I their end.” Thus, in every perplexity, we should repair like him to the temple of revelation: we should turn away from science to faith; we should inquire what the end will be; for, as the proverb says, “All is well that ends well.”

Fourthly, Observe the candid acknowledgment he makes of his mistakes and miscarriages: “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.” A good man is not infallible, and therefore liable to err. There is life and principle in that man. Painting is not dying; the bough may be borne down by the violence of the flood, but when the pressure has rolled off, it will retain its erectness, and point towards heaven. To know therefore whether the infirmities of a man be the spots of God’s children, we must not dwell on the things themselves, but we must look beyond; we must know the man afterwards. Is he open to conviction? Is he willing to retract? Does he say to God, “What I know not teach thou me. If I have done iniquity, I will do so no more?”

Old Mr. Eyland has remarked that the three hardest words to pronounce in the English language are I was mistaken, but they are noble ones. They imply much wisdom, much concern for improvement. Frederick the Great was generally victorious, but he lost one great battle, going contrary to a council of war which he called. But when he wrote home to the senate, he made no scruple of saying, “I have lost a great battle entirely through my own fault.” On which the historian of his life says: “This did him more honour than any of the victories which he had gained.” And here, so “ignorant was I, I was as a beast before thee.”