The text this evening is found
in the 119th Psalm and verse 109. The 119th Psalm and verse
109. My soul is continually in my
hand, yet do I not forget my Lord. My soul is continually in my
hand, yet do I not forget thy law? Here we have the Psalms
of David, not at all of the Psalms were written by David as their
human instrument. There are others who wrote the
Psalms. We know that Psalm 90 for example is a prayer of Moses,
the man of God. But it is David who is the author
of the majority of this book, this remarkable portion of Holy
Scripture. And as we turn to this verse
tonight, I want us to consider what David is saying with regards
to his own experience, and we see two things in this particular
verse. He speaks of how his life is
in his hands, but he also indicates at the same time that God's law
was in his heart. My soul is continually in my
hand, yet do I not forget my Lord. So following that very
simple twofold division, in the first place let's consider what
we're to understand by the first clause, where David speaks of
his life being in his hands. The Puritan Joseph Carroll, tells
us that this expression is an Hebraism. It's a peculiarity
of the Hebrew language in other words. And the Puritan tells
us that the statement signifies that David is speaking of his
life being in a state of the most extreme peril. When he says my soul is continually
in my hand, he means that his life is in the greatest of danger,
that he is likely at any moment to lose his life. If we have something in our hands,
we know that really it's got a very secure place. It can be wrestled, of course,
out of our grip. Our hand is very different to
the hand of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ could say
concerning those sheep that the Father had given him, that they
would all be kept safe. No man is able to pluck them
out of my hand, he says. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all. No man can pluck them out of
my father's hand. That might be true with regards
to God, God the Father and God the Son. But we would be very
foolish to imagine for a moment that anything that we are holding
in our own hands is also safe and secure. Often times of course
we lose grip. and the thing can so easily slip
out of our hand and so here David is speaking of how his very life
is in grievous danger. We read those words in the historic
book of 1st Samuel when he says to his friend Jonathan in that
20th chapter of 1st Samuel that there is but a step between me
and death. Any moment I will be making my
last step, my life will be forfeited, my life will be gone, but one
step between me and death. And remember how Jonathan, his
friend, was there seeking to persuade Saul, his father, who
was constantly threatening the life of David in those jealous
rages, how Saul strangely changes from one mood to another. David
knows not how the mood might take the king, how he would at
times be so kind and so friendly to him and yet the next moment
he'd be seeking to take his life and Jonathan says he will speak
on behalf of David to Saul and he does so and in speaking to
him as we saw he reminds King Saul of the great exploits that
David had performed had he not gone out and ventured against
the champion of the Philistines. He had entered into conflict
with the giants, Goliath. And there in that 5th verse of
the 19th chapter of 1st Samuel, as Jonathan speaks to Saul, he
says concerning David, he put his life in his hand. all my
soul is continually in my hand here is an example of it he did
put his life in his hand and slew the Philistine and the Lord
wrought a great salvation for all Israel thou sawest it and
didst rejoice wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent
blood to save David without cause he was willing to venture forth
and to risk his life in conflict against the great giant Goliath
and he was spared but it wasn't the first time of course that
he had manifested such bravery. He was the one who kept the sheep
of his father Jesse and how faithful he was in seeking to care for
the sheep when any wild animals would come and prey against them. When he goes out against the
giant Goliath he Tal saw previously how he had acted so bravely in
defending the sheep. There in 1 Samuel 17 verse 34,
Thy servant kept his father's sheep and there came a lion and
a bear and took a lamb out of the flock and I went out after
him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth and when
he arose against me I caught him by his beard and smote him
and slew him my servants slew both the lion and the bear and
this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them seeing
that he hath defied the armies of the living God he was willing
you see even as a young man as a shepherd boy to take his life
in his hand as he was defending the sheep of his father and so
he will go forth boldly against the great champion the giant
Goliath He was a man then who knew what it was many times to
be in the greatest and the gravest of danger. But besides those
obvious dangers that he'd known something of, he also had to
endure secret plots against his own life. Saul, as we saw in
our reading there in that 19th chapter of 1st Samuel, had the
house of David watched. He had been given Saul's daughter,
Mochal, to be his wife, and that was a great favour, of course,
by the king to give his daughter to David, to wife. But in his
Jealousy against David Saul arranges to have the house watched and
he sends messengers to his daughter Micah but she's faithful to David
there and she warns him that he's able to escape but how there
was constantly this plotting against David these devices,
these schemes even when he flees from the presence of Saul and
goes and tries to hide himself amongst various Gentiles. They on occasions will betray
him. He goes to the Ziphites and the
Ziphites are only too ready to betray him to King Saul. There in the 23rd chapter of
1st Samuel we're told quite specifically how they will deliver him over
to the King. Verse 19 of chapter 20, through
then came up the Ziphites, the sword to Gibeah, saying, Does
not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the wood in
the hill of Achela, which is on the south of Jeshimun? Now
therefore, O King, come down according to all the desire of
thy soul to come down, and our part shall be to deliver him
into the king's hand. And Saul said, Blessed be ye
of the Lord, for ye have compassion on me." They would have betrayed
him. That was their desire, to fit in with the desires of King
Saul that David might be destroyed. Wherever David goes in his life,
it would seem, is in the grave. He's in danger, yet God spares
him. It was determined, of course, that he must become the king
after Saul had been anointed by the prophet Samuel. And so,
in due course, he is crowned king first over the tribe of
Judah and then over the twelve tribes of Israel and he establishes
his capital city there in Jerusalem and he reigns as king but even
as king later in his life we see how his own son Absalom also
plots against him, my soul he says is continually in my hand,
it was so before he was king and it was also the case after
he became the king in 2 Samuel chapter 15 we are told how David's
son Absalom began to steal the hearts of the people of Jerusalem
and he plots against his own father and seek to usurp the
kingdom. 2 Samuel 15 He came to pass after
this at Absalom prepared in chariots and horses and fifty men to run
before him. And Absalom arose up early, and
stood beside the way of the gate. And it was so, that when any
man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then
Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou?
And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right,
but there is no man the fugitive of the king. Absalom said, moreover,
O that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath
any suit or clause might come unto me, and I would do him justice. And it was so that when any man
came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took
him and kissed him. And on this manner did Absalom
to all Israel that came to the king for judgment sow Absalom
store the hearts of the men of Israel. And then there's that
great conspiracy and the Hithophel David's counsellor is in the
plot and David has to flee from Jerusalem to escape in order
that his life might be preserved. My soul, he says, is continually
in my hand how he was aware that the whole city was set against
him and so what does he say here in this psalm in previous verses
verse 95 the wicked have waited for me
to destroy me he says and then again in the verse next to our
text tonight verse 110 the wicked he says have laid all my soul is continually in
my hand. This was very true of David then
in a very real sense, in a literal sense. Before he was the king,
when he was the king, his life was one that was constantly in
danger. He was a great warrior king.
Many times his life could have gone but it did not. But there
is of course a deeper meaning to the words that we have here,
there is a spiritual significance to what David is saying in this
clause, my soul is continually in my hand. The Protestant Reformer,
John Calvin, remarks with regards to the whole book of Psalms that
the Psalms are an anatomy of the soul. What we have in the
Psalms might on the surface describe very real literal situations
that the psalmist like David is brought into. But ultimately
the psalms are dealing more with matters of the soul, dealing
with David's spiritual life. And it is interesting to take
account of the very language that he uses here, he speaks
of his soul. My soul, he says. Well, what
is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his
own soul, says Christ? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? That part of man that distinguishes
him from brute beasts? When God made man, he formed
his body out of the dust of the earth but he breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul. we are taught. And it is there
of course in Adam's soul that we are to discern the image of
God. God is not physical, God is a
spirit. We are not to think that the
likeness of God, the image of God in man is something physical,
it is in the soul. And David is speaking here of
his soul, my soul is and he speaks of something that is taking place
constantly, continually. My soul is continually in my
hand, not just thinking then of external matters, the threats
that he might know from King Saul, or the betrayal that he
might experience at the hands of various Philistines. or the
conspiracy of his own son, or the treacherous of his great
friend Ahithophan. He is speaking more of those
things that transpire in his own heart, in his own soul. There is a spiritual significance
then to the words of the text. David's spiritual mind is ever
under threat, and that is true, is it not, with all spiritual
life. When God gives to his children spiritual life, that life is
often a pride. There's that word that God speaks
to the friend of Jeremiah, Baruch. Jeremiah chapter 45, that short
chapter at the end we read of Baruch, And the word that God
gives to His servant Barak is this, Seekest thou great things
for thyself? Seek them not, for I will bring
evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord, but my life will I give
unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. Now it's
the same truth as we have here in the text. Barak is told his life will be
given for the prey in all places whithersoever he goes. David
says, my soul is continually in my hands. But there the word
that God gives to his servant Barak is clearly a spiritual
promise. God will give him life. God gives
to his children spiritual life. The sinner must be born again,
says the Lord Jesus Christ. He must be born from above. He
must come to know that life of God in his soul. There must be
that communication then of eternal life. And that life can never
be destroyed. They shall never perish, says
the Lord Jesus Christ. If they should perish the life
would evidently not be an eternal life, an everlasting life. The
fact that it is so described is indicative that that life
cannot be taken away. I give unto them eternal life,
says the Lord Jesus Christ. And this was the life that was
given to David. Thy life will I give unto them. But that life is a life that
is being preyed upon. It is given for a prize. And so too with David. Here is
the man after God's own heart. He is a spiritual man. He knows
the Lord. He communes with the Lord. The
Psalms tell us something of the devotional life of David. or
the earnest desires and the longings and the yearnings that he has
after God, how he grieves over the hidings of God's face. How
David is so evidently a spiritual man. Though that life of God
in the man is constantly under threat, there's the devil. There's the devil himself. Peter tells us the devil is a
roaring lion, walkers of ants, seeking whom he may devour. Now the devil hates man. Why? Because man has been made
in God's image after God's likeness and the devil is the great enemy
of God and so he hates man who is made in God's likeness. This
is why he comes to our first parents there in Genesis chapter
3 in the garden and there's a temptation, there's the fall But how the
devil will then pursue those who have that image of God restored. Those who are partakers of the
divine nature. How he will come after believers. How he will pursue Christians
and seek to destroy Christians. And we are not to be ignorant
of his devices. David can say in another psalm,
my soul is among lions, Now that was true in a literal sense when
he was a shepherd boy, as we saw, he had to fight with the
lion. But that's also true, is it not,
with regards to his spiritual life. The devil, that roaring
lion, was seeking to devour him and in the psalm he uses the
plural. He doesn't say my soul is assaulted by a lion, he says
my soul is among lions. Or there are many threats and
great threats that come upon him from without. But there's
not only those outward foes that David had to contend with, there
were also inward foes. Now he feels that that spiritual
life of God that is now in his soul is under assault. Is he going to see that life
preserved? Is that life going to be lost?
Or my soul is continually in my hand, Paul knew the same truth,
did he not? For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing." How Paul feels it
there in Romans 7, that conflict between the old nature and the
new nature, The Lord Jesus tells us in John chapter 3 that that
which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. Paul says that these are contrary
one to the other. That you cannot do the thing
that you want. How the one lusts against the
other. How the flesh will lust against
the spirit and the spirit will lust against the flesh. Am I
working contrary one to the other all the time continually? My
soul is continuous in my hand. All the opposition then that
comes from within, that rises out of a man's own heart. You think of the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ himself in the Gospel. There in the 7th
chapter of Mark for example, he said that which cometh out
of the man that defileth the man for from within out of the
heart of men proceed evil thoughts adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from
within. Anger, fire, demise. What is
our fallen nature? It's the very sink of iniquity.
And here is the soul, the side center, And that soul is continually
in his hands. Peter says, if the righteous
scarcely be saved. That's the most strange statement
that Peter makes in the end of 1 Peter chapter 4. If the righteous
scarcely be saved. Now it doesn't really mean that
there is some doubt in Peter's mind concerning that salvation. We've already referred to those
words of the Lord Jesus in John chapter 10. No man is able to
pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them to
me is greater than all. None can pluck them out of my
Father's hand. Those who are saved are secure.
They are secure for time and for eternity. Oh thank God there
is such a truth as the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints,
the preservation of the saints. They do endure, he that shall
endure to the end, the same shall be saved. What are we to make
then of that word? Scarcely. If the righteous scarcely
beside. Richard Sibbes, one of the Puritans,
says this, that scarcely is not a word of doubt, but of difficulty. It indicates to us the difficulties,
you see. My soul is continually in my
hands. For the words that we have to
bear in Jeremiah 45, thy life will I give unto thee for a prize. Now that spiritual life is being
preyed upon, assaulted. Satan comes with his temptations.
The world is about us and the world is so alluring, so attractive. Very attractive to the fallen
nature and that that is within us. Or the way you see is one of
difficulty. But in the midst of all those
difficulties isn't the believer constantly cast upon the law?
my soul is continually in my hand. David's life then is in his hand. But
let us turn in the second place to God's law in his heart. God's
law in his heart, my soul is continually in my hand, yet do
I not forget my law How is the law of God remembered? What does it mean to remember
the law of God? Well, we must think upon it.
If we would remember it, we must meditate in it. We must hide
it in the heart. we are able to remember and not
forget the Lord of God by hiding it in the heart. Look at what David says in the
previous verse, verse 11, My word have I hid in mine heart
that I might not sin against them. In other words, I will
not forget thy Lord, I will remember it. I have laid it up in my heart How important it is, friends,
that we seek to fill our minds and our hearts with the Word
of God. Now, I'm sure many of you are
aware of the structure of this particular psalm, the longest
of all the psalms, Psalm 119. And it's divided into these various
sections, and at the head of every section we have the letters
of the Hebrew alphabet. In fact, the whole psalm is an
acrostic. And in the original, which appears
under the letter Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet
in the original, all of those eight verses begin with that
letter Aleph. and then verses 9 to 16 we have
the second letter, the letter B and in the Hebrew all of those
verses begin with the letter B these letters of course in
many ways are equivalent to our AB and so on through the whole
psalm. The psalm is structured around
the Hebrew alphabet And of course it's the letters of that alphabet
that make up the words, the inspired words of God in the Old Testament. When God gave the Old Testament
scriptures, when he inspired those holy men of God, it was
through the Hebrew tongue that God first gave his word. What
we have here is a translation we have it in our own tongue
we have it in the English language but it was not inspired in English
it was inspired in the Hebrew and the whole psalm is in many
ways a celebration of the word of God because in every verse
throughout the psalm with just two exceptions There is some
reference to God's Word. Various synonyms are used. It
doesn't always use the word Word. Sometimes it's Law or Statutes,
Commandments, Precepts, Judgements and so on. but the whole variety
of synonyms are used but they all amount to the same thing
they are a reference to the word of God and just two verses 122
and 132 there is no reference to God's words but the whole
psalm set before us the importance of the word of
God and there we should be those friends who would seek to hide
it in our hearts, to meditate in it, that we do not forget. I do not forget thy law, I do
not forget thy word. Do we want to remember the word
of God? Do we want to be able to record it to mind? Isn't this one way in which we
can deal with the assaults of Satan, we're not to be ignorant
of his devices? Remember how the Lord withstands
you. When he tempts Christ, what does Christ do? It is written. Oh, he answers Satan with the
Word of God. Yes, Satan can come and he can
misuse the Word of God. He does do that with Christ.
But Christ corrects him. Christ tells him those things
that are truly written. all we need to be those then
who would seek to hide this word in our hearts if our soul is
in our hand what is our safety against all the assaults of sin
and satan our safety is to have God's word in our hearts. Now let us just observe two things
with regards to God's law in the heart first of all God's
law in the heart comes to convince. That is the peculiar work of
the law of God, to convince, to convict. Now look at what
it says in the verse, my soul is continually in my hand, yet
do I not forget my law? We have two clauses, and the
clauses are connected by that little word yet. And we see there's
a connection between the two parts of the verse. Here is the
soul, it's continually in the hand yet. The suggestion here
surely is this, that it's because of the Lord of Gods. And the
effect that the Lord is having in the soul, that one feels that
the soul is in danger, that the soul is in the hand. What does
the Lord do? He convinces. By the law is the
knowledge of sin, says Paul. I have not no sin, but by the
law. This is the ministry of the Lord. It's a ministration of condemnation. It's a ministration of death. When Paul makes that comparison
between law and gospel in the third chapter of 2nd Corinthians
that's how the apostle speaks of the law it ministers condemnation
and death to the soul and yet it's a very necessary ministry there at verse 7 The third chapter of 2 Corinthians,
if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones,
was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance,
which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceeding glory. Here is the contrast. You see
the Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit. It is the ministration
of righteousness. The Lord is the ministration
of condemnation, the ministration of death. But we have to know
what sin is and we have to know what it is to feel the condemnation
of sin before ever we are going to have a desire to know that
ministration of righteousness. Christ came not to call the righteous
in. but sinners to repentance. There is a ministry of the law. When that law comes into the
soul of the sinner, how the sinner feels that his life is utterly
undone, he is lost. His soul really is in a perilous
state. His soul is continually in his
hands. God's law comes, God's word comes,
the entrance of thy law give us light, we read in another
part of this psalm. What happens when the light comes?
The light shines in the darkness. What does the believer see in
the light of that Word of God that comes into his soul? He
sees all the ugliness of what he is as a sinner. He is shocked
at the sight. And he has to cry out, can ever
God But here it's not only that his sin is exposed to his view
by the light, but he's made also to feel something of it. You
know, he hates it. He feels it. To see sin smart,
but slightly to only live confession is easier still, but all to feel,
cuts deep, beyond expression. That's what the believer experiences
and he feels the awfulness, the horror of his sin. My soul is
continually in my hand. How so? By the Lord of God. Yet,
yet do I not forget thy law. He can't forget it. He remembers
it. It's that word that has come
into his soul, that word of God which is quick and powerful and
sharper than the two-edged sword and pierces to the dividing of
soul and spirit and the joints are narrow and it's a discern
of the thoughts and the intents of his heart. He feels these
things. He knows that the law works wrath in his soul and he
feels it. My soul is continual in my hand. God's word is that that convinces
the man of what he is. But here is the positive also. That word of God also brings
comfort. And that's why he must not forget
it, he cannot forget it. My soul is continually in my
hand yet. Yet do I not forget thy law,
that law that has convinced me. It has been wisely observed that
where we get our wounding there we find our healing. The very
word of God that brings conviction into the soul is the same word
in the gospel that will also bring comfort. it will bring comfort also. And
this is the end, the gracious end that God has in view. Look at verse 75, I know O Lord
that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness
hast afflicted me. When God convinces you of the
awful reality of sin and you feel that your soul is most vulnerable
and you're going to go to hell. Why does the Lord do it? Because
he's going to bring comfort. Don't forget the Lord of God,
don't forget the Word of God. Where the conviction has come
there also you will find the comfort. It's the same God. Deuteronomy
32 and verse 39 we read these words, See now that I even I am he and there is no
God with me, I kill and I make a life, I wound and I heal, neither
is there any that can deliver out of my hand. All this comforts
you, sir. The very God who kills is the
God who also brings life. The one who wounds He is the
same one who also brings healing to the soul. For the believer is brought to
this, he comes to an end of himself. Verse 96, I have seen an end
of all perfection. How do we see an end of all perfection?
We see it in the light of God's holy law. We see in the light
of that holy law of God that we are nothing but sin. I have
not known sin, Paul says, but by the law. Or he says, the Lord is spiritual,
but I am carnal, I am full of all carnality, all sin. I have
seen an end of all perfection. But thy commandments is exceeding
broad. It is word of God, you see, that
brings us to see what we are. We see our true selves. You see,
our selves, of course, as if in a mirror, the mirror of the
word of God, that mirror that James speaks of. The Bible being
to us a revelation of God. And as it is a revelation of
God so in a strange way it's also a revelation of ourselves
because in Adam we were created in God's image and in God's likeness.
But we look at what we are now, fallen in Adam. And not only
sinners in Adam, but sinners in our own persons. And instead
of God's image being reflected in the glass, we see only the
ugliness of our sin. Those words at the end of James
chapter 1, Be ye doers of the Word, and not hear us only deceiving
your own selves for if any man be a hearer of the word and not
a doer he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in
a glass for he beholdeth himself and goeth away and straightway
forgeteth what manner of man he was let us not forget what
we are we are sinners But whoso looketh into the perfect law
of liberty and continueth therein, he be not a forgetful hearer. O mark the words, not a forgetful
hearer. Yes, will I remember thy law. Not a forgetful hearer, but a
doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. And what is that deed that we
are blessed in? Well, when we're trusting in Christ, it's not
what we do, it's what Christ has done, and it's our resting
in Him. When we come to this Word, when we meditate in this
Word, what do we see? Ultimately, the Bible, as I've
already intimated, is the revelation of God. But where do we see God? We see Him in the face of Jesus
Christ. He is the image of the invisible
God. He said, search the Scriptures. in anything that you have eternal
life. The Jews thought they had life
in the scriptures. But he says to them, these are they that
testify of me. It's not the written word, it's
the incarnate word. That we must ultimately see Christ
revealed to us here in the scriptures. Well, time has really gone, but
you see, we could look at this verse so differently, we could
understand it in terms of the ministry of the Lord Jesus gave
me the type of Christ. As in Christ's name, my soul
is continually in my hands. Yet do I not forget thy law. How the Jews were constantly
bent upon his destruction. How many times would they have
stoned him, but his time was not yet come. His life continually
in his hands. He was so offensive to them. Why? Because his was the righteous
life. He didn't forget the Lord of
God. God's law was ever in his heart. Did he not come from heaven
to do the will of him that had sent him to finish his work?
And this is the one you see ultimately that we have to look to. This
is the one in whom we find true comfort. The blessed consolations
of the Gospel. We see ourselves, we see what
we are as sinners. And how our souls are so vulnerable
because of our sins. The sentence of death, an eternal
portion in hell. My sword is continually in my
hand, yet, yet do I not forget my Lord. It might be those then
who desire above all things that we might discern Christ, that
we might see Christ. and that we might be those who
are looking on to him, who is the author and the finisher of
life. The Lord bless his word for his
namesake. Amen. In closing we shall sing hymn
305 and the tune is St Bernard number 219. The goals that were
to Jesus pressed must fix his firm and sure that tribulation
more or less he must and shall endure. Number 305.