Thoughts, Divine and human.
With some apparent abruptness, the psalmist calls our attention
I. THE THOUGHTS OF GOD.
1. Their manifoldness.
2. Their preciousness.
Everything we see and hear and touch is a manifested thought of God; it must have existed in his mind before it took shape, color, substance. It adds deep interest to all natural scenery to think of sea and sky, of flower and tree, of the wooded glen and the snow-clad mountain, as thoughts of God. So also of ourselves, of our wonderful, complex nature, of manhood and womanhood in their strength and beauty, in their intellectual and spiritual maturity. And so also of the profoundest, of the loftiest, of the most beautiful and entrancing thoughts we have ever entertained in our minds. They are there because they were first in the mind of God. They are thoughts that have passed from the Divine to the human intelligence. How elevating and enriching must it be to be daily receiving the thoughts of God into our souls! What a new aspect is given to all study, in every sphere of knowledge, by looking at all objects and processes in this light! How near it brings God to us! We are never far from him whose uttered thoughts are around us on every hand—shining in the sun, singing in the song of birds, etc. At all times we are with him—as we walk, and as we work, and as we rest; and "when we awake we are still with him."
II. OUR THOUGHT ABOUT HIM. (Psalms 139:19-22.) The psalmist cannot tolerate the idea of men living to deny, to blaspheme, to disobey, to grieve God. His anger is stirred against them; they are an offence to him; he would like to have them removed from the earth. Jesus Christ has taught us a "more excellent way" than that of destroying such men. He bids us go forth and win them; conquer their disobedience, their rebelliousness; capture their will for wisdom and worth; bring them into that captivity to truth and righteousness which is freedom itself and lasting joy. But the root-thought of the psalmist is true. It is deep sympathy with the Divine; it is the identifying of ourselves with the Divine Object of our love. We love them that love him; we hate (are grieved with and are opposed to) those that hate him. The Christian man regards all things as they affect Jesus Christ and his kingdom; he looks with a profound dissatisfaction and sorrow on lives that are dissociated from the service of Jesus Christ. He feels that something vital is wanting to those who do not call Jesus Lord and Friend. He is separated by an immeasurable distance from those who speak ill of his Master. His soul is stirred to its depths by conduct or language which is irreverent or antagonistic toward him. His prayer is for their conversion; he hopes that such may be convicted and ashamed.
III. A WISE THOUGHT FOE OURSELVES. (Psalms 139:23, Psalms 139:24.) "Who can understand his errors?" There is no maxim more difficult to obey than that which seems the simplest of all, "Know thyself." For we are all of us subject to the law which makes familiarity blunt the sense of importance; and we are all of us liable to form the habit of excusing ourselves those duties which are disagreeable, and lessening the guilt of these sins to which we are inclined; and the result is that our measurement of ourselves is often very far from being the true one. We do not see ourselves as others (who judge without prejudice or passion) see us, or as God sees us. There may be within us, awakening and arising to power, some "wicked way," some evil habit, some strong craving, which, if not eradicated or subdued, will gain a mastery over us, and will destroy us. Or if not that, there may be within our heart, or in our life, some distinct imperfection or inconsistency which goes far to diminish our worth and to nullify our influence for good; and we may be unconscious of it. We do not know ourselves. We may be making a very serious, if not fatal, mistake about ourselves. Hence the wisdom of accepting, modestly and even gratefully, the counsel of the wise and true; hence the wisdom of asking the Searcher of hearts to try us and to cleanse us, and to lead us in "the way everlasting." If we do thus honestly and earnestly ask God's interposition, we must be prepared for his answer. That may take a different form from what we expect or desire. It may come in the shape of trouble, of loss, of affliction, of humiliation. But however it come, it is infinitely better to be led back into the way of everlasting life than to be allowed to go on and down in the path of sin and death.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY