You Are the One Who Has Done This!

"I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for You

are the one who has done this!" Psalm 39:9

In the words you may observe three things:

1. The person speaking, and that is, David. David

a king, David a saint, David 'a man after God's own

heart,' David a Christian. And here we are to look

upon David, not as a king, but as a Christian, as a

man whose heart was right with God.

2. The action and carriage of David under the hand

of God, in these words--'I was silent; I would not

open my mouth.'

3. The reason of this humble and sweet carriage

of his, in these words--'for You are the one who

has done this!'

The proposition is this: That it is the great duty and

concern of gracious souls to be mute and silent under

the greatest afflictions, the saddest providences, and

sharpest trials that they meet with in this world.

David's silence is an acknowledgment of God as the

author of all the afflictions that come upon us. There

is no sickness so little, but God has a finger in it;

though it be but the aching of the little finger.

David looks through all secondary causes to the first

cause, and is silent. He sees a hand of God in all, and

so sits mute and quiet. The sight of God in an affliction

is of an irresistible efficacy to silence the heart, and to

stop the mouth of a godly man.

Men who don't see God in an affliction, are easily

cast into a feverish fit, they will quickly be in a flame;

and when their passions are up, and their hearts on

fire, they will begin to be saucy, and make no bones of

telling God to His teeth, that they do well to be angry.

Those who will not acknowledge God to be the author of

all their afflictions, will be ready enough to fall in with

that mad principle of the Manichees, who maintained

the devil to be the author of all calamities; as if there

could be any evil or affliction in the city, and the Lord

have no hand in it, Amos 3:6.

If God's hand be not seen in the affliction, the heart

will do nothing but fret and rage under affliction.

Those who can see the ordering hand of God in all their

afflictions, will, with David, lay their hands upon their

mouths, when the rod of God is upon their backs!

They see that it was a Father who put those bitter cups

in their hands; and love that laid those heavy crosses

upon their shoulders; and grace that put those yokes

around their necks--and this caused much quietness

and calmness in their spirits.

When God's people are under the rod, He makes by His

Spirit and word, such sweet music in their souls, as allays

all tumultuous motions, passions, and perturbations.

"I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for You

are the one who has done this!" Psalm 39:9