Many are our persecutors and enemies.

Posted : 26 Aug, 2013 02:18 AM

Psalm 119:157 Many are my persecutors and my enemies; yet do I not decline from Your testimonies.





David's experience is common to us all. Many, indeed, are our

persecutors and enemies. This is a solemn cost. Let those

who are setting out in the Christian course count it well. From

neglect of our Lord's rule of Scriptural calculation, many seem

to begin well; but they have been "hindered"-they turn back;

they are zealous but inconsiderate; warmhearted, but ignorant

of themselves, their work, and their resources. They were

allured at first, perhaps, by an interest in the Gospel-some

delusive excitement of love to the Savior-the picture of the

paths of "pleasantness and peace," or the joys of heaven. The

cross was out of sight, and out of mind. But this promise of ease and happiness was no less foolish and unwarrantable,

than that of a soldier, utterly forgetful of his profession, and

who should promise himself peace at the very time that he

was called out to the wars. Surely, if like God's ancient

people, we begin our road in sunshine, it is well to be provided

against the storms, which will soon overtake us. We would

say therefore to all-specially to sanguine beginners-Let your

course be commenced with serious consideration, and

zealous self-scrutiny. Beware of hasty determinations. See to

it, that your resources are drawn, not from your own

resolutions, or from the sincerity and ardor of your love; but

from the fullness that is treasured up in Jesus for your present

distress. Feel every step of your way by the light of the sacred

word. If you expect Christian consistency to command the

esteem of an ungodly world, you have forgotten both your

Master's word and example; and you will soon be ready to

exclaim-Many are my persecutors, and my enemies. For if

their hostility is not always active, the enmity "is not dead, but

sleeps." If, however, their unexpected surprisals and

inveteracy should daunt you in the conflict, you are again

forgetting the word of cheering support in the most awful

crisis-"My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made

perfect in weakness." Thus the word of God will be "the armor

of righteousness on the right hand and on the left."

Presumption is cast down, self-confidence is humbled, and

the trembling simplicity of dependence upon an Almighty arm

is upheld and honored.

Count then upon the difficulties that beset the heavenly path.

You will never pluck the Rose of Sharon, if you are afraid of

being pierced by the thorns which surround it. You will never

reach the crown, if you flinch from the cross in the way to it.

Oh! think of the honor of bearing this cross. It is conformity to

the Son of God. Let the mind be deeply imbued with the

remembrance of his daily cross of suffering and reproach; and

we shall gladly "go forth without the camp, bearing His reproach," yes-even "rejoicing, if we are counted worthy to

suffer shame" with Him and for Him. Indeed, what is our love,

if we will not take up a cross for Him? How can we be His

followers, without His cross? How can we be Christians, if we

are not confessors of Christ before a world that despises His

Gospel?

But a steady, consistent profession is no matter of course.

The crown is not easily won. Many are our persecutors, and

our enemies. Persecution, to the false professor, is an

occasion of apostasy; to the faithful servant of Christ, it is the

trial of his faith, the source of his richest consolations, the

guard of his profession, and the strength of his perseverance.

It drives him to his God. He casts himself upon his Savior for

immediate refuge and support; and the quickening influence,

which he had just been seeking, enables him to say-Yet do I

not decline from Your testimonies. Thus did the great Apostle,

at the time, when his persecutors were many, and human help

even from his friends had failed him, maintain an unshaken

confidence in the service of his God-"At my first answer"-he

tells us-"no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.

Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened

me." David himself often acknowledged the same principle of

perseverance under similar trials-"Lord, how are they

increased that trouble me! Many are those who rise up

against me. Many there be, which say of my soul, There is no

help for him in God. But You, O Lord, are a shield for me; my

glory, and the lifter-up of my head. O God the Lord, the

strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the

day of battle."

But have we never taken a devious path in declining from the

Lord's testimonies, to escape the appointed cross? Do we

never shrink from "the voice of him that reproaches" and

blasphemes, by reason of the enemy and the avenger? Can

we always in the integrity of our heart appeal to an Omniscient God-"All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten You,

neither have we dealt falsely in Your covenant; our heart is

not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Your

way: though You have sore broken us in the place of dragons,

and covered us with the shadow of death?" This profession is

not the foolish confidence of boasting; but the fulfillment of the

covenant promise-"I will put My fear in their hearts, that they

shall not depart from Me." So beautifully does the promise of

perseverance connect itself with the duty of persevering! And

so clearly in this, as in every other way, does the "wrath of

man" ("howbeit he means not so, neither does his heart think

so") "praise God." How glorious is the display of the power of

His grace in the constancy of His people! like the rocks in the

ocean, immoveable amid the fury of the waves; like the trees

of the forest, "rooted and established" by every shaking of the

tempest! Must not the world, in witnessing the total defeat of

their enmity against the Lord's people (or rather its eventual

results in their increased prosperity), be constrained to

confess to the honor of God, "Surely there is no enchantment

against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel:

according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel What has God wrought!"



by

Charles Bridges

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