Unless your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
Parallel Translations
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Unless your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
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Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
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Unless Thy law had been my delight, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Psalms 119:92 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through perseverance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
- Proverbs 6:22-23 When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
- Psalms 119:143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me. Your commandments are my delight.
- Psalms 94:18-19 When I said, “My foot is slipping!” Your loving kindness, Yahweh, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul.
- Psalms 119:77 Let your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.
- Psalms 119:24 Indeed your statutes are my delight, and my counselors.
- Psalms 27:13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 92. Had not thy law been my delight The…
92. Had not thy law been my delight The prophet continues to prosecute almost the same theme; affirming, that he would have been undone, had he not in his calamities sought consolation from the law of God. The adverb, אז az, signifies then; but as it is sometimes used for a long time, it is equivalent here to long ago; unless some may prefer to consider it as a significant and emphatic pointing to the thing, as if he were still in the state which he describes. He confirms from his own experience what he had previously said, to make it manifest that he did not speak of things with which he was unacquainted, but that he asserts what he had really experienced, — namely, that there is no other solace, and no other remedy for adversity, but our reposing upon the word of God, and our embracing the grace and the assurance of our salvation which are offered in it. He here unquestionably commends the very same word, which he had but now said dwelt in heaven. Though it resound on earth, enter into our ears, and settle in our hearts, yet it still retains its celestial nature; for it descends to us in such a manner, as that it is not subject to the changes of the world. The prophet declares that he was grievously oppressed by a weight of afflictions enough to overwhelm him; but that the consolation which he derived from the Divine Law in such desperate circumstances, was as life to him.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 119:92 Unless thy law [had been] my delights,…
Psa 119:92 Unless thy law [had been] my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
Ver. 92. Unless thy law had been my delight] Unless it had been settled in my heart (as well as it is in heaven) for my singular comfort, I had been crushed.
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I should then (or long since) have perished] The Landgrave of Hesse told me at Dresden, saith Melancthon, that it had been impossible for him to have borne up under the manifold miseries of so long an imprisonment, nisi habuisset consolationem ex verbo divino in suo corde, but for the comforts of the Scriptures in his heart (Joh. Manl. loc. com. 139).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Then; at the very instant; I could not have…
Then; at the very instant; I could not have outlived one stroke of thine afflicting hand.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here is, 1. The great distress that David was…
Here is, 1. The great distress that David was in. He was in affliction, and ready to perish in his affliction, not likely to die, so much as likely to despair; he was ready to give up all for gone, and to look upon himself as cut off from God's sight; he therefore admires the goodness of God to him, that he had not perished, that he kept the possession of his own soul, and was not driven out of his wits by his troubles, but especially that he was enabled to keep close to his God and was not driven off from his religion by them. Though we are not kept from affliction, yet, if we are kept from perishing in our affliction, we have no reason to say, We have cleansed our hands in vain; or, What profit is it that we have served God? 2. His support in this distress. God's law was his delight, (1.) It had been so formerly, and the remembrance of that was a comfort to him, as it afforded him a good evidence of his integrity. (2.) It was so now in his affliction; it afforded him abundant matter of comfort, and from these fountains of life he drew living waters, when the cisterns of the creature were broken or dried up. His converse with God's law, and his meditations on it, were his delightful entertainment in solitude and sorrow. A Bible is a pleasant companion at any time if we please.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I have seen an end of all perfection,.... An…
I have seen an end of all perfection,.... An end, limit, or border, to every country, as the Syriac version; as there is to every kingdom and state, and to the whole world; but none to the commandment of God: or an end of all created beings, the finished works of God, the most perfect in their kind. Manythings had already fallen under the observation of the psalmist: he had seen men of the greatest strength, and of the most consummate wisdom, and that had attained to the highest degree of power and authority, of wealth and riches, and yet were all come to nothing; he had seen some of the most flourishing states and kingdoms brought to desolation; he had seen an entire end of them: he saw by the Spirit of God, and by the word of God, and faith in it, that all things would have an end, the heavens and earth, and all that is therein; for so it may be rendered, "I see an end of all perfection" (b); or that the most perfect things will have an end, and that the end of them is at hand; see Pe1 4:7. Moreover, he had looked over the wisdom of this world, and the princes of it, which comes to nought; he had considered the several political schemes of government, the wisest digest and system of laws, made by the wisest lawgivers among men, and found them all to be limited, short and shallow, in comparison of the word of God, as follows: the Targum is,
"I have seen an end of all that I have studied in and looked into.''
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but thy commandment is exceeding broad; the word of God is a large field to walk and meditate in; it is sufficient to instruct all men in all ages, both with respect to doctrine and duty, and to make every man of God perfect; it has such a height and depth of doctrine and mysteries in it as can never be fully reached and fathomed, and such a breadth as is not to be measured: the fulness of the Scripture can never be exhausted; the promises of it reach to this life, and that which is to come; and the precepts of it are so large, that no works of righteousness done by men are adequate and proportionate to them; no righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ, is as large and as broad as those commandments; wherefore no perfection of righteousness is to be found in men, only in Christ; who is the perfect fulfilling end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes, Rom 10:4.
(b) Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 92. Unless thy law had been my delights]…
Verse 92. Unless thy law had been my delights] Had we not had the consolations of religion, we should long ago have died of a broken heart.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 119:92-95. Unless thy law had been my delight…
Psa 119:92-95. Unless thy law had been my delight — Unless I had known, believed, and delighted in it, as the subject of my meditation; I should then — At the very instant; have perished in mine affliction — My heart would have failed me, and I should have been undone; I could not have outlived one stroke of thine afflicting hand. I will never forget thy precepts — I will always retain a remembrance of, and a regard to, thy word, as my rule; for with them thou hast quickened me — Revived and cheered me when my heart was ready to sink and die within me. I am thine — By creation, redemption, and manifold obligations; as also by my own choice and designation. I have devoted myself to thy service, and committed myself to thy care. Save me — Both from sin and ruin. Those that in sincerity give up themselves to God, to be his subjects and servants, obeying his will and living to his glory, may be sure that he will protect them and preserve them to his heavenly kingdom, Mal 3:17. The wicked have waited to destroy me — Watching for an opportunity so to do; but I will consider thy testimonies — As my best counsellors and comforters, and also my defenders against the designs and assaults of mine enemies.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Unless thy law had been my delights - See…
Unless thy law had been my delights - See Psa 119:16, note; Psa 119:24, note. Unless I had had pleasure in thy law, thy word, thy truth; unless I had derived support and consolation in that.
I should then have perished in mine affliction - I should have sunk under my burden. I should not have been able to hold up under the weight of sorrow and trial. How often the people of God can say. this! How often may each one in the course of his life say this! “I should have sunk a thousand times,” said a most excellent, but much afflicted, man to me, “if it had not been for one declaration in the word of God - ‘The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.’“
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 92. then] emphatically, in that case. But for the…
92. then] emphatically, in that case. But for the refreshment of God’s law, he would have utterly lost heart in affliction (Isa_40:29-31). This had revived him (Psa_119:93), in this (Psa_119:95) he had found consolation when his life was in peril.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Unless thy Law had been my delights, I should…
Unless thy Law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction (comp. vers. 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77). Only a real love of God"s commandments can sustain men under severe affliction.
The supreme strain of affliction.
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This verse Luther selected as the motto for his own Bible, which is now in the museum at Berlin. So long as affliction keeps in the sphere of a man"s circumstances it is endurable. We make too much of human afflictions when we fix our attention on them, and miss estimating the ways in which men are affected by them. What affliction is to a man, what amount of strain it involves, depend on the man"s emotional nature, the condition and character of his will and affections. We often observe that things are afflictions to one man which are no afflictions at all to another; and that the same afflictions affect men differently at different times. Here the psalmist recognizes that his afflictions would have altogether overwhelmed him, but for the condition of his heart, cheered as it was by the assurances and promises of the Divine Word.
I THE STRAIN OF AFFLICTION DEPENDS ON ITS RELATIVITY TO A MAN"S INWARD CONDITION. This can be shown by illustrating what affliction is to a man when he is in a normal condition of bodily, mental, and moral health. Then nothing seems to be overwhelming; there is an activity of endurance and resistance which prevents a man"s "perishing in his affliction." But man is seldom, if ever, found in this normal state. We can conceive it; but it is seldom realized. Man is usually below it, and therefore affliction becomes such a strain. Sometimes below it through untrained natural disposition; through temporary states of bodily health; or through neglect of spiritual life. So man is unfitted, and affliction overwhelms. Man may be above the normal; and this he is by the infusion of Divine life through the Word. Then he is a nobler self. He has a consciousness of power which masters the strain. The power brings a joy and delight which put a man above himself.
II THE GRACE OF GOD BEARS RELATION TO A MAN"S INWARD CONDITION. Therefore in it is found both the relief and the sanctifying of affliction. God makes and keeps the heart right, fills it with the joy of his Word and promise, and then man becomes master of all circumstances. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 92. Unless thy law had been my delights,…
Ver. 92. Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. That word which has preserved the heavens and the earth also preserves the people of God in their time of trial. With that word we are charmed; it is a mine of delight to us. We take a double and treble delight in it, and derive a multiplied delight from it, and this stands us in good stead when all other delights are taken from us. We should have felt ready to lie down and die of our griefs if the spiritual comforts of God's word had not uplifted us; but by their sustaining influence we have been borne above all the depressions and despairs which naturally grow out of severe affliction. Some of us can set our seal to this statement. Our affliction, if it had not been for divine grace, would have crushed us out of existence, so that we should have perished. In our darkest seasons nothing has kept us from desperation but the promise of the Lord: yea, at times nothing has stood between us and self destruction save faith in the eternal word of God. When worn with pain until the brain has become dazed and the reason well nigh extinguished, a sweet text has whispered to us its heart cheering assurance, and our poor struggling mind has reposed upon the bosom of God. That which was our delight in prosperity has been our light in adversity; that which in the day kept us from presuming has in the night kept us from perishing. This verse contains a mournful supposition "unless"; describes a horrible condition "perished in mine affliction"; and implies a glorious deliverance, for he did not die, but live to proclaim the honours of the word of God.
Ver. 92. Unless thy law had been my delights, etc. This text sets out the great benefit and comfort which David found in the law of God in the time of his affliction. It kept him from perishing: "Had not thy law been my delights, I had perished in ray affliction"...David speaks this (saith Musculus) of the distressful condition he was in when persecuted by Saul, forced to fly to the Philistines, and sometimes to hide himself in the rocks and caves of the earth. It is very likely (saith he) that he had the book of God's law with him, by the reading of which he mitigated and allayed his sorrows, and kept himself pure from communicating with the heathen in their superstitions. The Greek scholiasts say that David uttered these words when driven from Saul, and compelled to live among the Philistines, etc. For he would have been allured to have communicated with them in their impieties had he not carried about him the meditation of the word of God.
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The word of God delighted in is the afflicted saint's antidote against ruin and destruction. The word of God is the sick saint's salve, the dying saint's cordial, a precious medicine to keep God's people from perishing in time of affliction. This upheld Jacob from sinking, when his brother Esau came furiously marching to destroy him (Ge 32:12). He pleaded, "And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, " etc. Thus the promise of God supported him. This also upheld Joshua and enabled him courageously to fight the Lord's battles, because God had said, "He would never leave him nor forsake him" (Jos 1:5). Melanethon saith that the Landgrave of Hesse told him at Dresden that it had been impossible for him to have borne up under the manifold miseries of so long an imprisonment, Nisi habuisset consolationem verbo divino in suo corde, but for the comfort of the Scriptures in his heart. Edmund Catamy (1600-1666) in "The Godly Man's Ark."
Ver. 92. Certainly the reading of most part of the Scriptures must needs be a very comfortable thing; and I think a godly heart (disposed as it ought to be) can hardly tell how to be sad while it does it. For what a comfort is it for a man to read an earthly father's letters sent to him, though they were written long ago? With what care do we keep such letters in our chests? With how much delight do we ever and anon take them out and look upon them? and with how much sorrow do we lose them? Is my love to my earthly father so great, and shall my love to my heavenly Father be less? Can my heart choose but rejoice and my bones flourish like an herb, as oft as I look upon my Redeemer's last will and testament, whereby I know that he me so much and that he doth so for me continually, and that I shall be ever with him.
How is David ever and anon talking of his delight in the law of God, and in his statutes and testimonies. It was to him instead of all other delights; standing by him when all delights else left him; "Unless thy law had been my delight (or, my very great delight), I should then have perished in mine affliction, "Ps 119:92. Let princes sit and speak against him never so much; yet will he meditate in God's statutes, Ps 119:23. Let him have never so many persecutors and enemies; yet will he not decline from God's testimonies, Ps 119:157. Let him be in a strange place, there shall God's statutes be his song, Ps 119:54. Let him be a stranger in the earth all his life; so that he be not a stranger to God's commandments he cares not, Ps 119:19. Although he should have never so much contempt cast upon him, yet will he not forget God's precepts, Ps 119:141. Although his soul should be continually in his hand, yet that should not make him forget God's law. Yea, although he became like a bottle in the smoke, yet will he not forget God's precepts, Ps 119:83. And therefore was it that he rejoiced, because he had been afflicted upon this account, that it made him learn God's statutes. He cared for no other wealth. "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart, "Ps 119:111. Neither cared he much for life, but only to keep God's word, Ps 119:17. Whatever he had said before, or meant to say next, he still cries, "Teach me thy statutes, "and, "I have longed for thy precepts, "&c.; or some such expression or other. He could not forbear to speak of them, for they were still before him, Ps 119:30. No wonder, then, that he meditated upon them so often, as he saith he did. "O how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day, "Ps 119:97. And "Thy testimonies are my meditation, "Ps 119:99. God's commandments were to David sweeter in his mouth than honey, to talk and discourse of them, Ps 119:103. Zachary Bogan, 1653.
Ver. 92. The persons to whose delight the word of God actually conduces are the children of God, and none else. None but they are prepared to take in the consolation of the word.
1. As they only are spiritually enlightened to discern the great and comfortable things contained in it, enlightened in a manner in which no others are: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1Co 2:4).
2. As they have the highest value for the word of God, this prepares them for receiving consolation from it.
3. As they have their hearts and ways suited to the word of God, this is another reason of the delight they fetch from it. "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, "and take pleasure in them; "but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit" (Ro 8:5). The comforts of the word are spiritual; and only the spiritual heart, as it is renewed by grace, can taste and relish them. The delight which the people of God have from the word, is a privilege peculiar to themselves: and this word hath enough to give delight to all of their numbers Daniel Wilcox, 1676-1733.
Ver. 92. My delights. The word signifieth delights in the plural number. Many were the sorrows of David's life; but against them all he found as many comforts and delectations in God's word. With such variety of holy wisdom hath God penned his word, that it hath convenient comfort for every state of life, and therefore the children of God account nothing so dear as it; they prefer it to their appointed food. William Cowper.
Ver. 92. Thy law...my delights...in mine affliction. I happened to be standing in a grocer's shop one day in a large manufacturing town in the west of Scotland, when a poor, old, frail widow came in to make a few purchases. There never was, perhaps, in that town a more severe time of distress. Nearly every loom was stopped. Decent and respectable tradesmen, who had seen better days, were obliged to subsist on public charity. So much money per day (but a trifle at most) was allowed to the really poor and deserving. The poor widow had received her daily pittance, and she had now come into the shop of the grocer to lay it out to the best advantage. She had but a few coppers in her withered hands. Carefully did she expend her little stock a pennyworth of this and the other necessary of life nearly exhausted all she had. She came to the last penny, and with a singular expression of heroic contentment and cheerful resignation on her wrinkled face, she said, "Now I must buy oil with this, that I may see to read my Bible during these long dark nights, for it is my only comfort now when every other comfort has gone away." Alexander Wallace, in "The Bible and the Working Classes, "
1853.
Ver. 92. This verse I may call a Perfume against the Plague; The Sick Man's Salve; The Afflicted Man's Consolation; and a blessed Triumph, in and over all troubles. Richard Greenham.
Ver. 92. The sustaining power of joy in God.
Ver. 92. The word of God as a sustaining power amid the greater sorrows of life.
1. Its necessity.
(a) For want of it, men have become drunkards to drown
their sorrows, have become suicides because life was
unbearable, have become broken and hopeless because they
had no strength to struggle against misfortune, have become
atheists in creed as, alas, they were before in practice;
all, in fact, become subject to sorrow's worst bitterness
and calamity's worst effects.
(b) Nothing can supply the place of God's word. Nature
throws no light on the mystery of suffering. Human
philosophy is at best cold comfort, and when most needed
most fails.
2. Its efficiency. Proved
(a) In the experience of those who have tried it.
(b) By the character of its promises.
(c) By the discovery it makes of a beneficent providence
working through calamity and sorrow.
(d) By the revelation it gives of the pity of God and the
sympathy of Christ.
(e) By its record of the "Man of sorrows, "who through
suffering wrought out man's salvation, and entered into
glory.
(f) By its teaching concerning the Incarnate Word; thus
showing a suffering God, which may well be a solace to
suffering men.
(g) By displaying the glory of heaven and the eternal
felicity awaiting those who overcome through the blood of
the Lamb. J.F.
Ver. 92. The Godly Man's Ark; or, City of Refuge in the day of his Distress. Discovered in divers (five) Sermons...By Edmund Calamy, B.D...Eighteenth edition. 1709. 12mo.
Ver. 92. We have here set before us by the Psalmist,
1. The case which he had been in, and which he now refers to one sad and sinking. He was under such affliction that he was ready to perish; which seems to include inward and outward trouble at once; trials without and pressure within.
2. What it was that gave him relief, and this when nothing else could, etc., the law of God.
3. How he looked back upon this relief received, namely, with thankfulness to God, to whom he speaks, and records it for the encouragement and direction of others: "Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction." Daniel Wilcox, 1676-1733.
Ver. 92. The life buoy. Under the form of the narrative of a shipwrecked mariner, describe the experience of the soul struggling in the sea of affliction; almost overwhelmed: yet buoyed up over each successive billow: and finally saved by clinging to the Word of God. C.A.D.
Ver. 92. The Psalmist's shudder at recollected danger.
1. Sore peril: affliction tending to despair and ruin.
2. Fearful crisis: "then."
3. Many handed help: "thy law my delights." W.B.H.
Psalms 119:93*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Unless Thy law had been my delights, I should…
Psa_119:92-93
Unless Thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
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Gods Word
I. A delight in Gods Word yields support in afflictions (verse 92). It is impossible to delight in Gods Word, containing as it does rich promises, and the revelation of a glorious future, without having resignation, fortitude, hope, etc.
II. A quickening by Gods Word yields imperishable memories.
1. Gods Word effects a moral quickening. It is the sunbeam, the rain, the resurrection trumpet.
2. The greatest event in the history of souls is moral quickening. It is a birth, a resurrection, etc.
3. The greatest event is always the most memorable. (Homilist.)
Gods law the delight of His people, in distress
I. What there is in the Word of God which tends to the delight of His people in distress.
1. The most comfortable discoveries.
(1) That God stands in the most endearing relations to His people. He is their Shepherd, Father, Friend, God.
(2) That the way was made for the settling of these endeared relations in which God stands to His people by the sufferings and death of His own Son.
(3) That God is hereupon become the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, ready freely to give out all the blessings which Christ hath purchased at the dearest rate.
(4) That a way of access is now open, whereby the children of God may come to Him, their Father, upon all occasions, in hope of obtaining mercy, and finding grace to help them in time of need.
(5) That the Spirit of grace is come from heaven to take up His abode in the people of God, and to be their Guide thither.
(6) That the eternal state of rewards is laid open to their faith.
2. The most comfortable promises, fitted to yield delight from their nature, their number, and their extent.
(1) How sweet is the promise of the pardon of sin and acceptance with God when read with application.
(2) All happiness is summed up in the promise of heaven at last, and so cant hut be big with the truest delight now.
(3) The promise of Gods presence by the way, that all things shall work together for His peoples good.
3. The most comfortable are examples of Gods compassion and grace in appearing for His people; as in the case of David, Job, and the three Hebrew worthies that were cast into the fiery furnace, and brought out unhurt.
4. The most comfortable provisions, and these suitable to the various characters which His saints are to bear, and the states they are in while they are in this world.
(1) As they are pilgrims and strangers, its precepts and directions mark out their way; showing them the narrow path in which they are to walk; and its warnings and threatenings discover the snares they are to avoid, that they may be safe.
(2) As probationers for eternity we are acquainted with our work, and where our strength lies for the doing it.
II. The persons to whose delight it actually conduces. They are the children of God, and none else.
1. They only are spiritually enlightened to discern the great and comfortable things contained in the Word of God.
2. They have the highest value for it.
3. They have their hearts and ways suited to it.
III. How is it that it does this?
1. As believed, considered, and applied by the saints.
2. As impressed and set home by the Spirit.
IV. When may a child of God find comfort from Gods Word?
1. In the times of great and sore affliction which they fall into while they live. It acquaints them--
(1) That these have been the lot of some of Gods choicest favourites in their way to heaven.
(2) That afflictions are consistent with Gods special love to His people, and their covenant relation to Him.
(3) That afflictions are not only consistent with the love of God, but often the instances of it (Heb_12:6-7).
(4) That though afflictions are deserved by sin, they are laid upon the people of God with a design to cure it (Isa_27:9).
(5) That though for wise ends God brings them under the rod, He considers their frame, and remembers that they are but dust, and will not increase the trial, either as to degree, or continuance, beyond what He will enable them to bear.
(6) That under times of affliction God has chosen to let out His love more freely to His people than at other seasons. And who would not be reconciled to the rod to know and taste more of His promise to the Church (Hos_2:14)?
2. It is fitted to delight them when they are called to die; and to do this as teaching them--
(1) That as dying God will be with them.
(2) That immediately after death they shall be with Him.
V. The nature of the delight or consolation derived from the Word.
1. It is truly divine, and the consolation of God. It has the Word of God for its ground, and the Spirit of God for its author.
2. It is real and solid (Psa_119:14; Psa_119:54).
3. It is rational and justifiable.
4. It is holy.
5. It is sometimes vigorous and strong.
6. It is the foretaste of heaven, and is working upward to meet that fulness of joy which there is in Gods presence.
Application
1. Is there so much in the Word of God to delight the soul? O what a dark disconsolate place would this earth be without it.
2. Get into the number of the children of God, who are the only ones prepared to take the comfort of His Word.
3. Under all your troubles run to the Word of God for relief; and in conversing with it, pray for the Spirit to enlighten your minds, sanctify your hearts, fit you to take comfort in it, and so to work in you the comfort He hath fitted you for.
4. And as ever you would have solid consolation--
(1) Value and labour after grace and holiness as the ground of it. Be as earnest for grace as you are for comfort and peace.
(2) Expect the comfort you need in Gods way by humbling yourselves and turning to God in case of sin, and by attending His ordinances and the institutions of His house.
(3) Wait for comfort in Gods time, and presume not to prescribe to Him, but continue to pray and look up for it. (D. Wilcox.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.