The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-11-28

next, and once 70 Il taken it is never
dropped. lie says. God of my life. and
God my rock" There arc five "mya" n
the iorty.thlrd PSALM my cause" my
God" You n,ver really appreciate God
until YOU begin TO apply Him To- your life,
and He will be 90 you Just what ven wish.
lie Is like a locked caskct filed with lew.
els. You may have such a casket IN your
possession. Only the key unlocking Il
can reveal TO you the preciousness Of your
possession. This possessive pronoun Is the
key IN this case, "my Cod" and when
stand against YOU David speaks of Jor.
dan, the Hcrmonitcs and Mizar. AT Jor
dan the water rolled back on the Her.
monites, the kings were defeated near to
Mizar, the law was given, and he may
have meant 10 say difficulties as great as
Jordan, enemies as strong as the kings,
none Of these things shall move me, He Is
my God; or it may mean that since these
places are farthest from the tabernacle
David is saying. what If / am afar off,
no trial can be too severe for me-"
".
God Of my life" This is further on in
the line Of truth. You will notice that
the two preceding expressions are thus put
together One who is learning Of God Is
like child learning his alphabet He
knows his letters, but who is there that
knows all the words into which the letters
may be shaped and who has read all the
books which they can make up. 1t is so
with God, He is the God Of my life. What
if ] am forsaken, He is my Father; what
If / am eomfortless, He is like my mother;
what if / am cast down, lie is my re-
storer; what if / am hopeless and undone,
He is my hope.
"God nv rock" David was a fugitive
and had little meang OF defense. He is
continually pursued by his enemies and
since the country is full of mountains and
caves of refuge are on every side Of him
they become to him the picture of God.
He calls Him my rock The names Of God
are suited to every circumstance in life.
Nothing is more fitting for us than to get
hold of this expression Of Davids. You
viii be tempted on every side, the enemy
is too strong for you, but literally David's
expression is, Good is my cliff" That is,
He rises above the things of this world,
and He wants His children to understand
that wherever there is a heart big with
sorrow, wherever there is an eye filled
with tears or lip quivering with agony
His ear is wide open to all their cries.
He marks down every necessity in His
memory; He viii not forsake His own.
VI.
God my strength" This means my
strength belongs to God, and / must use
it only for His glory He is taking note of
all that do, and one day | shall be called
to an account, God might if He pleased
wrap Himself about with night as a gar
ment. He might dwell alone far above
this world, and look down with indiffer-
ence upon the dcings of His creatures.
We might look up into the heavens and
behold the stars and say, 81 am nothing
compared with these, and God does not
care foB me" but not so, He notices
every one of us. He knows our names,
has numbered the hairs of our head, and
not a sparrow falls to the ground except
beneath the gaze Of His eye. Whatever
we do or bear or suffer the eye of God is
upon us.
One Of the most interesting pictures in
the Louvre is that of Christ with eyes so
wonderful that walk which way you will
the gaze is upon you, and so God is the
God of my strength and one day l must
answer to Him for it,
God my exceeding joy" This includes
all that has gone before, and it exceeds all
Ounef5, ufSU, IN us nature, IOF IL IS NOT
happiness, that depends upon circum-
stances It is JOY of which David speaks
which may be ours, though the night is
upon US and the burden is really too heavy
for us to bear, 1t exceeds all others in its
duration, for it never ends. This can be
said Of no other experience, all others have
their boundaries, but this is an illimitable
sea reaching beyond the bonds of time and
lasting through eternity. 20 Cod" this
is a souls cry. "the living God" no one
else can satisfy. my God" He is mine,
and nothing can separate me from Him.
"God of my life" He will be whatever |
long to have Him be. God my rock"
He is my defense in every time of need.
"God my strength" All that have is
His. "God, my exceeding Joy" He is be.
yond all that the world can give, and
when that JOY fills the soul earth is
changed to heaven.