II. The delightful change experienced. 1. The Divine displeasure is removed. “Anger turned away.” The cloud blotted out; no longer under condemnation, &c. This necessarily supposes a change in the creature. His enmity and opposition to God have ceased; he has seen the evil of sin; confessed and forsaken it; and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. A state of unbelief exposes us to the Divine wrath; a state of faith brings upon us His favour. God abhors the high and proud spirit; but He looks in pity on the lowly and contrite. 2. The Divine favour is enjoyed. “Thou comfortest me.” We cannot stand in a neutral state with respect to God. The instant His anger is removed, His favour is enjoyed. Guilt, remorse, the burden of sin, are gone; and in their stead there is a sweet assurance of acceptance with God. This comfort is real, not visionary; suitable, abiding, and inexpressibly precious; it is associated with all good, both in this life and that which is to come; it is the precursor of everlasting felicity.
III. The grateful return presented. “I will praise Thee.” Acceptable praise, 1. Includes the offering of a thankful heart. It must arise from within; it must be the expression of the affections of the soul. Heart gratitude is alone real, and that which God will receive. 2. It must be free and spontaneous. “I will.” Not I ought, or should, but “I will.” 3. It must be constant (Eph. v. 20; 1 Thess. v. 18; Ps. xxxiv. 1).
Application.—Let the text be 1. The test of our state. Can we use it? Is it so with us? Is God our reconciled friend? 2. The test of our spirit and conduct. Do we love and bless God? Is it our delight to do so? 3. Let it be attractive to the convicted, mourning sinner. There is a way to Divine peace, and to real and heavenly comfort. Christ is that way. Come now to God through Him.—Jabez Burns, D.D.: Pulpit Cyclopædia (iii. 221–224).
In this verse we have a representation—I. Of the natural condition of sinful men. An object of Divine anger. 1. The nature of the emotion described; 2. The cause of this anger; 3. How much it is to be feared. Unlike the anger of man it is changeless, and behind it is boundless wisdom and irresistible power. II. Of the change effected in the state of believers by Divine grace. They are blessed, 1. By the removal of the Divine displeasure, effected by the work accomplished for them by the Son of God, and in them by the Holy Spirit. 2. In the enjoyment of Divine consolation. III. Of the adoring thankfulness which the change demands and calls forth. 1. The individual character of the declaration: “Thou shalt say.” 2. The vocal proclamation: Thou “shalt say.” True gratitude is never silent (Ps. lxvi. 16, &c.) 3. The delightful burden of the song.—George Smith, D.D.
In this verse we have three pictures. I. God angry with the sinner. II. God reconciled to the sinner. III. God comforting the sinner.—H. F. Walker.
Wells of Salvation.
xii. 3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Salvation is the great theme of the Bible, and thus it meets man’s great need. Think, I. Of the wells, the sources of salvation. Clearly these are not found in man himself. Salvation originated in the eternal love of God for man; it flows to sinners through the work of Jesus; it is by the influence of the Holy Spirit that the sinner is made willing to partake of it. These truly are wells of salvation; not rills that may dry up; not even rivers, which may fail because the streams from the mountains have failed; but wells, fountains over-flowing, inexhaustible as the nature of God. II. Of the water. A beautiful symbol of a great reality. Excepting the air we breathe, there is no element so widely diffused, nor so essential to life, as water. Imagine a great city, a whole district, a ship’s crew without water.[1] 1. Water revives. How the traveller dying from thirst begins to revive the instant water touches his lips; so the salvation of the gospel imparts new life to the soul; an invigoration, moreover, that shall not pass away (John iv. 14). 2. Water cleanses. So does the salvation of the gospel (Rev. i. 5; Heb. ix. 14; Ezek. xxxvi. 25; Zech. xiii. 1). 3. Water fertilises. The water of salvation enriches and fertilises the spiritual soil, so that the blossoms of hope in the early spring-time of piety, and the matured fruits of holiness in the autumn of life, adorn the garden of the Lord (Isa. lviii. 11; Jer. xxxi. 12; Ps. i. 3; Num. xxiv. 6). III. Of the joy. 1. This can only be experienced by such as draw water out of the wells of salvation. Necessarily it is a matter of experience. There are many things that must be felt to be known, and this is one of them. 2. This joy may be expected in the very act of drawing the water of salvation. If you were to overtake a traveller in a sandy desert dying from thirst, he would begin to enjoy the very moment he became conscious of the touch of the precious fluid. So with the Christian (Rom. xv. 13). And as he may and ought to be constantly drawing from the wells of salvation, his life should always be a happy life (H. E. I. 3037–3051; P. D. 2085).
Our text may be regarded—1. As giving full permission to do that of which it speaks. However unworthy we may be, we may come to the wells of salvation, and draw as much as we need (Rev. xxii. 17; H. E. I., 2331, 2361, 2362, 4086). 2. Nay, as a command. When a sovereign prepares a banquet, and issues his invitations, those invitations have the force of commands. God has graciously provided salvation for your souls in Christ: will you turn away and despise His love?—John Rawlinson.
Salvation—let us not think of it meanly. It has past, present, future aspects. Too often we content ourselves with the past view of it, and that in a selfish way. Twenty or thirty years ago, we “believed” and were “saved,” i.e., got out of harm’s way. What is God’s grace doing for us? Is it making us purer, nobler? And what are our aspirations and prospects? Are we imitators of the great Apostle? (Phil. iii. 13, 14).