“I will help thee.” Remember David’s words, “My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped.” [90d]
“I will uphold thee.” But will He really uphold us through trials and temptations? Will He really keep us fast in the right hand of His righteousness, and that when our faith is weak? Turn to Asaph’s experience. He says of himself, “As for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped.” [90e] But now look at the upholding arm. “Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.” [90f] So, then, this promise has been practically fulfilled. God has been true to His word, and men have found Him so. His truth has never failed, and will He fail us? Will he fail the weakest amongst us? Will He cease to uphold His people? Let us trust Him. We are not worthy to do so. If He had treated us as we have deserved, He would long since have cast us off. But He has not treated us as we have deserved. He has loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, so we may trust Him, and leave all in His care; and of this we may rest perfectly assured, that the strong arm will never give way.
THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE
“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”—Psa. xxiii. 5, 6.
It is a very delightful thing to be able to say “Surely” when we look forward. Now, this sureness for the future depends on our present relationship to God, and the confidence expressed in verse 6 is the blessed result of the unspeakably precious gifts described in the earlier verses of the Psalm. It depends on the connection between the present and the future, a connection resulting from the unchangeableness in the character of God. In order, therefore, to understand the last verse which relates to the future, let us study the one preceding it, which describes the present. We may thus combine the present and the future, and I think the result will be what our Church describes as a “sure and certain hope.”
THE PRESENT
As I have just said, our confidence for the future depends on our present relationship to God; and, accordingly, the Psalm opens with the words, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” The holy relationship between the Shepherd and the flock is described as being already established, and by both parties recognized, and all that follows is the result of that relationship. We have not time to study the whole Psalm; but look at the three results taught us in verse 5.
I. All Wants are Supplied.
Even if there are enemies, they cannot interfere with the full and sure supply which God has provided for His servant. When he reaches the end of his journey, he will find that the Lord has prepared a place for his rest; and now that he is in the midst of it, he may rejoice in that the same most blessed Saviour has prepared a table for his daily supply.
This refers, doubtless, to our daily wants, and it describes His fulfilment of our supplication in the Lord’s Prayer. We pray day by day, “Give us this day our daily bread;” and when we really enter into the spirit of this Psalm, we as much as say that the prayer is answered, the bread provided, and the table spread.