Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-12-10
THE EXTREMITY.
The Psalmist's Personal Experience and
His Trust in God.

The Psalmist's Personal Experience and
His Trust in God.
The forty-second Psalm is full of in.
tense personal experience which is
probably that of David at the time OF
his exclusion from the sanctuary as a
devout worshiper, in consequence of
Absalom's distressing rebellion, in
which there was much to oyerwhelm
and almost crush the unhappy father
of that unnatural son. He feelingly
lamentS his Punishment from God S
presence. which was greatly aggravated
by the cruel tauntS of his enemies. and
his own tender recollections of his
former privileges; and in all his deep
depression of spirits he confidently an
ticipated the restoration OF his lost en-
joyments. while he calls upon his soul
to trust and hope in God.
From the lowest depths of his sor-
rowful detection he could breathe forth
his mistaken confidence in God. The
eternal God was still his God. whom he
could address, saying: 20 my God"
Amid all the multiplied troubles which
broke over him like wave upon wave.
he still found refuge in God. to whom
his soul sincerely turned with ardent
longings. There is strong personal
preference and filial trustfulness eX-
pressed in the language which he ad-
dressed to God, Whom he preferred
above al other objects OF his regard.
Thus he could say: ''As the heart pant
eth after the water-brooks. so panteth
my soul after Thee, o God. Ny soul
thirsteth for God, for the living God;
when shall | come and appear before
God?'
Notwithstanding this confiding APP
preparation of God, he was suffering
under very great depression which gave
utterance to the sorrowful words: My
soul is cast down within me-" This is
a strong expression of disconsolateness
and dependency. He had just been ex-
postulating with himself, saying:
"Why art thou cast down, o my soul?
and why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God; for shall yet praise
Him for the help of His countenance."
In spite, however, of this self-remon-
STRANGE his heaviness of heart con-
tinued, and he was compelled to say in
tHc Ncly HeAG Dltdtu. " ILL., uOu, lily
soul is cast down within me-"
He who was thus ''cast down" was
not destroyed. So far from being ut
terly disheartened by all that was ex-
ceedingly trying and depressing to him
he even makes his discouragements
subservient to his more abundant en-
couragement. Accordingly he says:
80 my God, my soul is cast down with
in me; therefore will l remember Thee
from the land of Jordon, and of the
Hermonites, from the hill Mizar." The
indefinite expression Gland of Jordon"
probably means the tract of country
through which the River Jordon flowed
it being spoken of as we speak of the
valley of the Mississippi.
The reference is, presumably, to that
part of the country in which the dis
trcssed King was then sOrrowful
exile. its desolateness, to him, lying on
the east side of the river Jordan-the
wilderness side, as may be inferred
from the mention of the Hermonites.
or Hermons, signifying the range of
mountains east of Jordan, which are
spoken of in the plural number, as we
speak of the Alleghanies. The whole
region east of Jordan, which did not
properly belong to Canaan, may thus
be designated.
Mizar, which signifies little or little
ness, whether it is taken as a proper
name or a descriptive epithet. may be
merely contemptuous expression. The
sense in which the Psalmlst would be
understood. seems to be this: Whether
/ roam in the wilderness beyond Jor-
dan, or climb the mountains of Her.
mon. fugitive from my foes, and an
exile from my friends and home: or
whether l retire to the most obscure
and insignificant spot on earth. in order
to escape my prosecutors, yet will /
still remember God, and maintain COM
munion with Him, though in the most
unfavorable and forbidding conditions
and situations.
Nathaniel Cotton. an English poet of
a century or more ago, sang:
Why. o my soul. ON. why depressed,
And whence thine anxious fears?
Let former favorS fix thy trust
And check thy rising tears.
"Afiiiction is a stormy Deep
where wave succeeds to wave:
Though DER my head the pillows roll,
know the Lord can save.
"On Him l trust and build my hope,
Nor murmur at His rod:
In vain the waves of trouble roll
While He is still my God"
Boston Wdtchman.