Verse 24. Peter in prison, in chains, between two soldiers, on the eve of his probable execution, when there seemed but a “step between him and death.” Yet in such a place, in such company, at such a moment, did he lie down so fearlessly and sleep so sweetly, that even the shining light failed to disturb him, and an angel’s stroke was needed to awaken him.—Bridges.
Surely the way to sleep quietly in this world is to be asleep to the world; his sleep is sweetest, when he is asleep, who, when he is awake, doth sweetly sleep in a neglect of worldly crosses or contentments.—Jermin.
Verse 25. So safe will all thy ways be that to fear will be a sin.—Plumptre.
From the terms before used, respecting the final destruction of the wicked, it is most likely that to it the reference is in this verse.—Wardlaw.
“Be not afraid” is at once a precept and a promise to the godly. They shall have no cause to fear evil tidings, therefore it is their privilege that they are not to fear them (Psa. cxii. 7; xci. 5).—Fausset.
The Christian is threatened by the sinners in all their ills, whether for them or by them. Sin breeds the whole of them; and the wise man would magnify the grace by saying that they are all equally indifferent. “Let cares, like a wild deluge come.”—Miller.
Let a David “walk through the vale of the shadow of death” he will not fear, no, though he should go back the same way; “for Thou art with me,” saith he. He had God by the hand, and so long he feared no colours.—Trapp.
Verse 26. Beware of mistakes here. Do not say God is your confidence, if He be only your dread. An appalling amount of hypocrisy exists in Christendom, and passes current for devotion. He who is himself most worthy is often more disliked than any other being, and, as if this ingratitude were not enough, men double the sin by professing that they have confidence in Him. I have observed that sea-going ships do not trust to themselves in the windings of a river. Where they are hemmed in between rock and quicksand, grazing now on the one and now the other, they take care to have a steam-tug, both to bear them forward and to guide them aright. They hang implicitly upon its power. They make no attempt at independent action. But as soon as they get clear of the narrows—as soon as they have attained a good offing and an open sea—they heave off and hoist their own sails. They never want a steamer till they come into narrow waters again. Such is the trust in God which the unreconciled experience. In distress they are fain to lean upon the Almighty. While they are in the narrows they would hang on the help of a Deliverer. . . . The line of their dependence seems ever tight by their constant leaning. But when they begin to creep out of these shoals of life they heave off and throw themselves upon their own resources. . . . This is not to have confidence in God.—Arnot.
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 27–29.
Doing Justice and Loving Mercy.