Even into that lowest darkness, where man feels, even for one moment,
that God is nothing to him, and he is nothing to God—even into that Jesus
condescended to go down for us. That worst of all temptations, of which
David only tasted a drop when he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?” Jesus drained to the very dregs for us.—He went down
into hell for us, and conquered hell and death, and the darkness of the
unknown world, and rose again glorious from them, that He might teach us
not to fear death and hell; that He might know how to comfort us in the
hour of death: and in the day of judgment, when on our sick bed, or in
some bitter shame and trouble, the lying devil is telling us that we are
damned and lost, and forsaken by God, and every sin we ever did rises up
and stares us in the face.
Truly He is a king!—a king for rich and poor, young and old, Englishmen
and negro; all alike He knows them, He feels for them, He has tasted
sorrow for them, far more than David did for those poor, oppressed,
sinful Jews of his. Read those Psalms of David; for they speak not only
of David, now long since dead and gone, but of the blessed Jesus, who
lives and reigns over us now at this very moment. Read them, for they
are inspired; the honest words of a servant of God crying out to the same
God, the same Saviour and Deliverer as we have. And His love has not
changed. His arm is not shortened that He cannot save. Your words need
not change. The words of those psalms in which David prayed, in them you
and I may pray. Right out of the depths of his poor distracted heart
they came. Let them come out of our hearts too. They belong to us more
than even they did to the Jews, for whom David wrote them—more than even
they did to David himself; for Jesus has fulfilled them—filled them
full—given them boundlessly more meaning than ever they had before, and
given us more hope in using them than ever David had: for now that love
and righteousness of God, in which David only trusted beforehand, has
come down and walked on this earth in the shape of a poor man, Jesus
Christ, the Son of the maiden of Bethlehem.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account