Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Parallel Translations
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Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
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Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
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(51-8) Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts; make me, therefore, to know wisdom in mine inmost heart.
Cross-references (22)
Passages linked to Psalms 51:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 16:7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
- Psalms 15:2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right, and speaks truth in his heart;
- Romans 7:22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,
- 1 Peter 3:4 but in the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.
- Job 38:36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?
- Proverbs 2:6 For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
- Luke 11:39 The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.
- James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.
- 1 Chronicles 29:17 I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things. Now I have seen with joy your people, who are present here, offer willingly to you.
- Jeremiah 5:3 O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
- Jeremiah 32:40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.
- John 4:23-24 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
- Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man, and the Spirit of the Almighty gives them understanding.
- Psalms 5:9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.
- Psalms 26:2 Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind.
- Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- 2 Chronicles 31:20-21 Hezekiah did so throughout all Judah; and he did that which was good, right, and faithful before Yahweh his God. In every work that he began in the service of God’s house, in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
- Proverbs 2:21 For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.
- Psalms 125:4 Do good, Yahweh, to those who are good, to those who are upright in their hearts.
- 2 Corinthians 1:12 For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
- Genesis 20:5-6 Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister’? She, even she herself, said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.” God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn’t allow you to touch her.
- 2 Kings 20:3 “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6. Behold, thou hast desired truth, etc. This verse…
6. Behold, thou hast desired truth, etc. This verse confirms the remark which we already made, that David was far from seeking to invent an apology for his sin, when he traced it back to the period of his conception, and rather intended by this to acknowledge that from his very infancy he was an heir of eternal death. He thus represents his whole life to have been obnoxious to condemnation. So far is he from imitating those who arraign God as the author of sin, and impiously suggest that he might have given man a better nature, that in the verse now before us he opposes God’s judgment to our corruption, insinuating, that every time we appear before him, we are certain of being condemned, inasmuch as we are born in sin, while he delights in holiness and uprightness. He goes further, and asserts, that in order to meet the approval of God, it is not enough that our lives be conformed to the letter of his law, unless our heart be clean and purified from all guile. He tells us that God desires truth in the inward parts, intimating to us, that secret as well as outward and gross sins excite his displeasure. In the second clause of the verse, he aggravates his offense by confessing that he could not plead the excuse of ignorance. He had been sufficiently instructed by God in his duty. Some interpret בסתום, besathum, as if he here declared that God had discovered secret mysteries to him, or things hidden from the human understanding. He seems rather to mean that wisdom had been discovered to his mind in a secret and intimate manner. The one member of the verse responds to the other. He acknowledges that it was not a mere superficial acquaintance with divine truth which he had enjoyed, but that it had been closely brought home to his heart. This rendered his offense the more inexcusable. Though privileged so highly with the saving knowledge of the truth, he had plunged into the commission of brutish sin, and by various acts of iniquity had almost ruined his soul.
We have thus set before us the exercise of the Psalmist at this time. First, we have seen that he is brought to a confession of the greatness of his offense: this leads him to a sense of the complete depravity of his nature: to deepen his convictions, he then directs his thoughts to the strict judgment of God, who looks not to the outward appearance but the heart; and, lastly, he adverts to the peculiarity of his case, as one who had enjoyed no ordinary measure of the gifts of the Spirit, and deserved on that account the severer punishment. The exercise is such as we should all strive to imitate. Are we conscious of having committed any one sin, let it be the means of recalling others to our recollection, until we are brought to prostrate ourselves before God in deep self-abasement. And if it has been our privilege to enjoy the special teaching of the Spirit of God, we ought to feel that our guilt is additionally heavy, having sinned in this case against light, and having trampled under foot the precious gifts with which we were intrusted.
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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He confesseth that God who loveth pureness of heart,…
He confesseth that God who loveth pureness of heart, may justly destroy man, who of nature is a sinner much more him, whom he had instructed in his heavenly wisdom.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward…
Psa 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden [part] thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Ver. 6. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts] Quam tamen mihi defuisse res ipsa demonstrat; but this truth hath not been found in me, when I acted my sin in that sort, and did mine utmost to hide it from the world. I have showed little truth in the inward parts, but have grossly dissembled in my dealings, with Uriah especially, whom I so plied at first with counterfeit kindness, and then basely betrayed him to the sword of the enemy. Sinisterity is fully opposite to sincerity, treachery to truth.
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And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom] Thus, by faith, saith one, he riseth out of his sin, being taught wisdom of God. Others read it, Thou hast made me to know, &c. And yet have I sinned against the light of mine own knowledge and conscience; although thou hast taught me wisdom privately, Et eheu quam familiariter, as one of thine own domestics, or disciples. Some make it a prayer, Cause me to know wisdom, &c.
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 Thou desirest; or, delightest in; or, requirest; Heb. willest.…
Thou desirest; or, delightest in; or, requirest; Heb. willest. Truth either,
1. Sincerity in confessing my sins; which therefore I have now acknowledged, though hitherto I have practised much falsehood and dissimulation in endeavouring to conceal them from men. Or rather,
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2. Integrity or uprightness of heart; which seem to be here opposed to that iniquity mentioned in the last verse, in which he was, and all men are, framed and born. And this may seem to be added, partly as a proof or aggravation of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requireth not only unblamableness in men’s actions, but also universal innocency and rectitude of their minds and hearts; and partly as an aggravation of his actual sin, wherein he had used such gross deceit and treachery.
In the hidden part, i.e. in the heart, called the hidden man of the heart, 1Pe 3:4, and the secret part, Rom 2:16, which in the former branch he called the reins or inward parts.
Thou shalt make me to know: so he declares his hope that God would pardon and cure his folly, which he had discovered, and make him wiser for the future. But this seems not to suit well with the context, which runs wholly in another strain. The word therefore is and may be rendered otherwise, thou hast made me to know. So this is another aggravation of his sin, that it was committed against that wisdom and knowledge, which God had not only revealed to him outwardly in his word, but also inwardly by his Spirit, writing it in his heart, according to his promise, Jer 31:33. Or thus, do thou make me to know; the future verb being here taken imperatively, and as a prayer; as the following futures are here translated, Psa 51:7,8. Having now said, for the aggravation of his sin, that God did desire or require truth in the inward parts, he takes that occasion to break forth into prayer, which also he continues in the following verses. Only as he prays there for justification or pardon of sin, so here he prays for renovation or sanctification. So his meaning is this, therefore (as the particle and is oft used, as hath been showed) in the hidden part do thou make me to know wisdom. Or thus, thou wouldest have me know; for futures are oft taken potentially, as Psa 118:6; Mat 12:25, compared with Mar 3:24, and elsewhere. And verbs which signify making or causing are sometimes understood only of the will or command; as Jeroboam is said to make Israel to sin, 1Ki 14:16, because he commanded them to do so, Hos 5:11. This I propose with submission; but if this sense be admitted, the last clause of the verse answers very well to the former, as it doth in the foregoing and following verses, and every where in these books: for this, thou wouldest have me know, answers to that, thou willest or desirest; and in the hidden part, answers to that in the inward parts; and wisdom is the same thing for substance with truth, only called by another name. Wisdom, i.e. true piety and integrity, which is called wisdom, Job 28:28; Psa 111:10, and in many other texts, as sin on the contrary is commonly called, as it really is, folly. And to know wisdom is here meant of knowing it practically and experimentally, so as to approve, and love, and practise it; as words of knowledge are most frequently taken in Scripture, and in other authors.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,.... With…
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,.... With delight and pleasure, as the word (d) signifies: meaning either Christ, the truth and the life, formed and dwelling in the hearts of his people; or the Gospel, the word of truth, which has a place there; and particularly that branch of it which proclaims pardon to sensible sinners, and is the ground of hope within them: or else a true and hearty confession of sin, which David now made; or rather internal holiness and purity of heart, in opposition to the corruption of nature before acknowledged: this is what is agreeable to the nature of God, is required by his holy law, and is wrought in the hearts of his people in regeneration; and this is "truth", real, and not imaginary, genuine and unfeigned; where it is there is a true sense of sin, a right sight of Christ, unfeigned faith in him, sincere love to him, hope in him without hypocrisy, and a reverential fear of God upon the heart; the inward parts are the seat of all this, and in the exercise of it the Lord takes great delight and pleasure;
and in the hidden part thou shall make me to know wisdom; either Christ, the wisdom of God; or the Gospel, and particularly that part of it which concerns the pardon of sin; or a true knowledge of sin, and of the way of life and salvation by Christ, which is the truest and highest wisdom: and the phrase "hidden" or "secret" may either denote the nature of the wisdom made known, which is hidden wisdom, the wisdom of God in a mystery; or the manner in which it is made known; it is in a hidden way, privately, and secretly, and indiscernibly like the wind, by the Spirit and grace of God; or the seat and subject of it, "the hidden part", as we supply it; the hidden man of the heart. David begins to rise in the exercise of his faith in the grace of God, "thou shall make me to know", &c. unless the words should be rendered as a prayer, as they are by some, "make me to know" (e), &c. and as are the following.
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(d) "delectaris", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "delectatus es", Cocceius; so Ainsworth. (e) "notam mihi fac", Gejerus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Truth - Uprightness of heart; and this may be…
Truth - Uprightness of heart; and this may be added; as an aggravation of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requires rectitude of heart: and, as an aggravation of his actual sin, that it was committed against that knowledge, which God had wrote in his heart.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Behold, thou desirest truth] I am the…
Verse 6. Behold, thou desirest truth] I am the very reverse of what I should be. Thou desirest truth in the heart; but in me there is nothing but sin and falsity.
Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.] Thou wilt teach me to restrain every inordinate propensity, and to act according to the dictates of sound wisdom, the rest of my life.
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 51:6. Behold, thou desirest — Hebrew, חפצת, chaphatzta,…
Psa 51:6. Behold, thou desirest — Hebrew, חפצת, chaphatzta, delightest in, willest, or requirest, truth in the inward parts — Uprightness of heart, which seems to be here opposed to that iniquity mentioned in the last verse, in which all men are conceived and born; and it may be here added as a proof, or aggravation, of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requires not only unblameableness in men’s actions, but also the universal innocence and rectitude of their minds and hearts; and as an aggravation of his own actual sin, in which he had used gross deceit and treachery. And in the hidden part, &c. — That is, in the heart, called the hidden man of the heart, 1Pe 3:4; and, in the former clause, the reins, or inward parts; thou shalt make me to know wisdom — That is, true piety and integrity, called wisdom, Job 28:28; Psa 111:10, and in many other passages; as sin, on the contrary, is commonly called, as it really is, folly. And to know wisdom is here to be understood of knowing it practically and experimentally; so as to approve, and love, and practise it: as words of knowledge are most commonly to be understood in Scripture, and in other authors. According to this interpretation the psalmist, in these words, declares his hope that God would pardon and cure the folly which he had discovered, and make him wiser for the future. But, as this does not seem to suit perfectly with the context, which runs in rather another strain, the word תודיעני, todigneeni, may, and it seems ought to, be rendered in the past time, thou hast made me to know. And so this is another aggravation of his sin, that it was committed against that knowledge which God had not only revealed to him outwardly by his word, but also inwardly by his Spirit, writing it on his heart, according to his promise, Jer 31:33. Or, the future verb may be here taken imperatively; and the words may be understood as a prayer, Do thou make me to know, &c., as the following future verbs (Psa 51:7-8) are translated. Having then now said, for the aggravation of his sin, that God required truth in the inward parts, he takes occasion to break forth into prayer, which also he continues in the following verses.
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 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts -…
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts - The word rendered “desirest,” means to have pleasure in; to delight in; and the idea is that this only is agreeable to God, or this only accords with his own nature. The word rendered “inward parts,” means properly the reins, and is usually employed to denote the seat of the mind, the feelings, the intellect. Compare the notes at Job 38:36. The allusion is to the “soul;” and the idea is, that God could be satisfied with nothing “but” purity in the soul. The “connection” is this: David was deeply conscious of his own pollution; his deep, early, native depravity. This, in his own mind, he contrasted strongly with the nature of God, and with what God must require, and be pleased with. He “felt” that God could not approve of or love such a heart as his, so vile, so polluted, so corrupt; and he felt that it was necessary that he should have a pure heart in order to meet with the favor of a God so holy. But how was that to be obtained? His mind at once adverted to the fact that it could come only from God; and hence, the psalm now turns from confession to prayer. The psalmist pleads earnestly Psa 51:7-10 that God “would” thus cleanse and purify his soul.
And in the hidden part - In the secret part; the heart; the depths of the soul. The cleansing was to begin in that which was hidden from the eye of man; in the soul itself. Wisdom, heavenly, saving wisdom, was to have its seat there; the cleansing needed was not any mere outward purification, it was the purification of the soul itself.
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Thou shalt make me to know wisdom - Thou only canst enable me to understand what is truly wise. This wisdom, this cleansing, this knowledge of the way in which a guilty man can be restored to favor, can be imparted only by thee; and “thou wilt do it.” There is here, therefore, at the same time a recognition of the truth that this “must” come from God, and an act of faith, or a strong assurance that he “would” impart this.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain thou shalt make, &c.--may be taken to express God's…
thou shalt make, &c.--may be taken to express God's gracious purpose in view of His strict requisition; a purpose of which David might have availed himself as a check to his native love for sin, and, in not doing so, aggravated his guilt.
truth . . . and . . .wisdom--are terms often used for piety (compare Job 28:28; Psa 119:30).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. In the inward parts:… the hidden part—Literally, the…
6. In the inward parts:… the hidden part—Literally, the reins and the covered parts, two synonymous words which, in Hebrew psychology, correspond to the New Testament phrase, “inner man,” or “inward part,”
Luk_11:39; Rom_7:22; 2Ch_4:16; Eph_3:16; and must here be understood generically of the entire spiritual and psychical nature of man. In Job_38:36, the connexion, and the parallel word rendered heart, require us to understand the mind, intellect. See also Psa_16:7. David assigns inward part as the seat of truth and wisdom, which determines it to be the seat of thought and purpose as well as feeling. The Hebrews had no metaphysical system of thought, but located the mind or sensibilities phenomenally; that is, according to their sensible effect on the nerves. Truth here takes the sense of integrity, uprightness, and wisdom that of the knowledge of God.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. truth in the inward parts] In the most…
6. truth in the inward parts] In the most secret springs of thought and will, unseen by man but known to God, He desires truth, perfect sincerity, whole-hearted devotion, incapable of deluding self, as David had done, or deceiving man, as he had endeavoured to do by his attempts to cover his sin and its consequences, or dissembling with God, as in his infatuation he had imagined to be possible. Correlative to the truth which God desires is wisdom, which is His gift, the spiritual discernment which is synonymous with the fear of Jehovah, and is the practical principle of right conduct. Cp. Pro_1:7; Pro_9:10; Job_28:28; Jas_3:17.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Truth.—Or, faithfulness.
(6) Truth.—Or, faithfulness.
Inward parts.—The Hebrew word is found only once besides (Job_38:36), where it is in parallelism with “heart.”
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The sincerity and true self-discernment which God requires can only come of spiritual insight, or, as the last clause states it, divine instruction.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. (comp.…
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts. (comp. Job_38:36) God requires not merely such purity as might be attained by the use of legal and ritual methods; but true inward purity of thought and heart, which is a very different matter. And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom; rather, do thou make me. An optative, according to Professor Cheyne. The meaning is, "As nothing will content thee but this perfect, inward purity, do thou give me into my heart its fundamental principle-wisdom, or the fear of God."
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. 6. Behold. Here is the great matter for…
Ver. 6. Behold. Here is the great matter for consideration. God desires not merely outward virtue, but inward purity, and the penitent's sense of sin is greatly deepened as with astonishment he discovers this truth, and how far he is from satisfying the divine demand. The second "Behold" is fitly set over against the first; how great the gulf which yawns between them! Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. Reality, sincerity, true holiness, heart fidelity, these are the demands of God. He cares not for the pretence of purity, he looks to the mind, heart, and soul. Always has the Holy One of Israel estimated men by their inner nature, and not by their outward professions; to him the inward is as visible as the outward, and he rightly judges that the essential character of an action lies in the motive of him who works it. And in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom. The penitent feels that God is teaching him truth concerning his nature, which he had not before perceived. The love of the heart, the mystery of its fall, and the way of its purification--this hidden wisdom we must all attain; and it is a great blessing to be able to believe that the Lord will "make us to know it." No one can teach our innermost nature but the Lord, but he can instruct us to profit. The Holy Spirit can write the law on our heart, and that is the sum of practical wisdom. He can put the fear of the Lord within, and that is the beginning of wisdom. He can reveal Christ in us, and he is essential wisdom. Such poor, foolish, disarranged souls as ours, shall yet be ordered aright, and truth and wisdom shall reign within us.
Ver. 6. Behold. Before he entereth on any of the parts of the verse he useth the particle of admiration, Behold; which he never useth but in some remarkable manner, thereby the more to raise us up to the contemplation of such great matters to be told. Archibald Symson.
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Ver. 6. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. Thou lovest truth, not shadows or images, but realities; thou lovest truth in the inward parts, inside truth, a true heart, a pure conscience: he is a Christian who is one inwardly. Ro 2:29. John Bull.
Ver. 6. Truth in the inward parts. A great French pear is called le bon hretien, the good Christian, because they say it is never rotten at the core. George Swinnock.
Ver. 6. In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Piscator, in his annotations on this Psalm, puts this sense upon it, that David should bless God for having made him to know this special wisdom in this hidden thing or matter, and had brought the knowledge thereof home, as a point of saving wisdom, to the hidden man of his heart, so as to see fully and clearly this native corruption as the cause of all sin, and on that account to cause him to lay it to heart. Thomas Goodwin.
Ver. 6. In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. It is one thing to be wise headed and wise tongued, and another to be wise hearted, and therefore in Scripture nothing more ordinary than to set forth wisdom that is true indeed by the heart. God himself is said to be wise of heart. Foolish creatures are like Ephraim, "a silly dove without heart." They may have head enough, notion enough, flashing light, appearing to others enough, but they are without a heart; they have not the great work there, a new head and an old heart, a full head and an empty heart, a light and burning profession, and a dark, dead, and cold heart; he that takes up in such a condition is a fool and an errant fool. John Murcot, 1657.
Ver. 6. And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Some read it, "In the hidden part thou hadst made me to know wisdom; "that thou hadst done it, but I have fallen from my high state, marred thy handiwork. "By one plunge into lust I have fallen and fouled myself." Arthur Jackson.
Ver. 6. The copulative particle which connects the two clauses, implies the correspondence between the revelation of the divine will on the one part and the desire and prayer of the penitent heart on the other. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. "What I want thou hast promised to give." Repentance and faith are the gifts of God, and the awakened mind is conscious that they are so. Thomas T. Biddulph.
Ver. 6-8. The right conviction of sin comprehends its being acknowledged not only in our works, but also in our entire being. Agustus F. Tholuck.
Ver. 6. See T. Goodwin's Treatise, entitled, "An Unregenerate Man's Guiltiness before God, in respect of Sin and Punishment." Book 9 cap. 1-2. (Nichol's edition, Vol. X., p. 324 et seq.)
None.
Psalms 51:7*
Ver. 6-8. The right conviction of sin comprehends its being acknowledged not only in our works, but also in our entire being. Agustus F. Tholuck.
Ver. 6-8. The right conviction of sin comprehends its being acknowledged not only in our works, but also in our entire being. Agustus F. Tholuck.
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 Behold Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.
Psa_51:6
Behold Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.
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Truth in the inward parts
Some of us may remember the interesting story with which the apocryphal Book of Esdras commences. The inquiry is started, What is strongest? and this is submitted to the judgment of three young men of the kings guard. Wine, and the king, and women, are severally mentioned; but the last, who is said to have been Zerubbabel, maintained that of all things truth is the strongest, and liveth and conquereth for evermore. And having concluded his speech upon this subject, it is said that all who heard him broke forth with the shout, Great is truth, and mighty above all things. Now, whether the narrative be fact or not, it would be well for us if we believed more fully in the power of truth, and realized how invincible it must be. Truth in Scripture often means objective truth, the agreement of thought with thing, and we have the truth when what we believe is really what it is. But the word, also, and often, means truthfulness, moral honesty and sincerity. But it is this second sense of the term that our subject invites us to consider. God desires truth in the inward parts--truth, evidently, not in the sense of mental illumination, but rather in the sense of moral honesty and sincerity of purpose. As it is this that God desires, so it is the presence of this that gives the greatest icy to the spiritual Father who watches with tender solicitude the progress of the souls to whom His ministry has been made a blessing. Now let me point out the importance of this subject. We need to have our attention emphatically called to it, because, in the first place, we have hearts which the prophet describes as deceitful above all things, and we each of us possess the strange and terrible faculty of deceiving ourselves. God we cannot deceive. Our neighbours in the long run are sure to find us out. But ourselves it is only too possible to deceive; and when we allow ourselves to fall into the habit of self-deception, the most dangerous feature of this habit is that it becomes almost unconscious. We scarcely know when we are true and when we are false. Or the importance of this subject may be argued from its position. For truthfulness lies at the root of everything else in Christian experience. Having this, we are in fair way to possess all; but without this, all must be lost. See the parable of the Sower. The seed yields good fruit only when sown in an honest and good heart. In one sense we may say no heart is such, but in another and practical one we know that there are such, for they do truly desire to be other and better than they are. And this truthfulness is needed not only at the beginning, but all the way along in our spiritual career. The life of faith depends on it. I would bear witness that I thank God with a full heart that recently so much attention has been given to the importance of the groat truth that, as we are justified, not by our own works, but by faith in the Son of God, so we are to be sanctified, not by the struggling efforts of our own will, but equally by our acceptance through faith of all that the power and love of God have brought within our reach. This truth required to be prominently brought forward and emphatically stated; and to how many believers has the message been one of liberation from bondage, from fruitless toil, from inward tumult! But in order that this sort of teaching may be of the service to us that it should, it is most important that we should bear in mind the relation of faith to moral truthfulness and honesty of purpose. In a word, we cannot trust the Lord Jesus to deliver us from that which we know He hates, while all the time we are secretly clinging to it, or endeavouring to discover some cunningly devised compromise between our allegiance to Him and our indulgence in that which we know to be opposed to His will. Let me now point out some of the different ways in which this subtle form of evil may creep into our experience, and the different forms of truthfulness which we require sedulously to cultivate. Let us consider, first, truthfulness in the aim and purpose of life. This from first to last was the characteristic of our blessed Lord and Master. For contrast, see the history of Balaam. His ruin was due to latent dishonesty of heart, for in spite of all his religiousness he loved the wages of unrighteousness. Solomon, also, and many more. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. And this is the besetment of us all. There is something also that we put side by side with the one thing needful. We desire to be good Christians, and to make our fortunes. We must learn to seek first the Kingdom of God, and to live as those who have heard the Masters call, Deny thyself: take up thy cross and follow me. Next let me point out to you the necessity of truthfulness in the adoption of means towards the end. It is possible for us to have a strong, clear perception of the fact that we are called to live for a definite purpose, and we may be preserved from any conscious acceptance of a lower end, and yet we may fail in our lives because we shrink from employing those means towards the attainment of the end which God has placed within our reach, and which we know to be of the utmost importance to us. It is thoroughly dishonest to offer such a prayer as we do every day--Lead us not into temptation--while we place ourselves in a position where we know that our special weakness will be needlessly exposed to the foe. Or again, vainly do we pray for purity of heart and thought, and cry to be delivered from our lower appetites, if we still allow our senses to be exposed to sights and sounds which may act as incentives to the very appetite which we profess our desire to curb. Take the sad example of Eli. He did desire to curb the iniquities of his sons; but he would not take the necessary means. He spoke strongly enough, but he did nothing. Though he might have inflicted death, he did not punish them at all. Once again let me speak of the necessity of truthfulness in our judgment upon ourselves. How little disposed we are to pass a severe sentence upon our own conduct! Saul had already returned a verdict in his own favour before the prophet Samuel met him. Blessed be thou of the Lord, he exclaims, even before the prophet had made any accusation against him; I have fulfilled the commandment of the Lord. Had he really fulfilled it? His conscience was uneasy. There had already been mock trial, so to speak, within Sauls own heart, and the verdict was one of acquittal passed by a too favourable jury. Oh, self-extenuation is dangerous work. You are in the hands of a loving God who knows whereof we are made. If extenuations can justly be made, He is certain to make them. But who of us is there that has not plenty to confess even where actual sins are not upon the conscience? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)
The importance of forming true Christian character
Character is not reputation, but that which makes the man what he is. Our text was Davids utterance after his eyes had been opened to his own nature. How often is it that things pass unnoticed until some great event fixes attention upon them. Inadequate provision for egress in public buildings remains unnoticed until some terrible fire and vast loss of life turn all eyes to it. So with tendencies of character, our own inward evil--some terrible sin makes us awake to it as we had never been before. Let us note from the text--
I. The Divine ideal for the Lords people. Thou desirest truth, etc. By truth is meant genuineness, reality, sincerity. Long ago Thomas Carlyle awoke a great deal of interest by his vigorous denunciation of shams. He but echoed the Scriptures. For such sincerity a new birth is essential. Yet this is a voluntary exercise (Act_3:19). Again, it is said Make you a new heart. It is the turning of your spirit to Him. And we must be thorough in this. God requires truth in the inward parts. Christ is the model of such sincerity and truth. But He is not the full model, for He never knew what the qualms of conscience were; never experienced the conflict of the law of His members and the law of His Spirit. Hence, servants of Christ such as Paul are given to us to supplement this ideal. Paul says, Be ye followers of me.
II. The Divine work in Gods people. In the hidden parts shalt, etc. Note--
1. What the teacher is to do. He is to make us know wisdom. This He does through His Word; His providence; His disciples, trials and disappointments.
2. What has the scholar to do? Submit to the Word of God. Walk circumspectly. Try to realize what is the true ideal of character. The Greek word is one which signifies to engrave. An engraved plate will leave an impression according to what itself is. Character is cut out by circumstances, by the mans own actions. (John Hall, D. D.)
Truth in the inward parts
I. A description of the nature of God in general. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts, i.e. a general uprightness and integrity of spirit.
1. God takes a special delight in such a frame of soul as this, from whence men became real and sincere towards Him.
(1) God is truth Himself, and so loves it and delights in it, as His own reflection.
(2) God desires truth as most suitable to those ends which He propounds to Himself in us. Theres no man loves to be deceived, because thereby he is frustrated and disappointed; which although God cannot be said to be directly, yet He may be in regard of our carriage and behaviour of ourselves towards Him, which He would not be.
(3) It is that which gives a being to all grace and goodness in us: goodness and truth are convertible and reciprocal, that is, they are one and the same, so that what is not the one is not the other, not only in metaphysics, but in morals. Truth is not a distinct and particular grace in itself, but it is general, and runs through the veins and bowels of all. It is true faith, and true love, and true hope, and true repentance, and so of the rest.
2. Wherein this truth or sincerity consists.
(1) In the aim and bias of the soul, whereby and whereunto it is carried. A sincere-hearted Christian looks at God in all (1Pe_4:11; 1Co_10:31).
(2) In universality. Where this truth is in the inward parts, there will be a respect had to all Gods commandments; and that whether as to the practice of duty or to avoiding of sin. In matter of duty, to do all that God requires, though never so contrary and repugnant to our natural inclinations; in matter of sin, to avoid all that God forbids, though never so pleasing and delightful to flesh and blood.
(3) In its intimacy and secret goodness. It is called truth in the inward parts because it reaches even to them, and is observable there.
(4) In its constancy and continuance to the end. Sincerity is accompanied with perseverance. Where there is grace in truth, there will be grace also in continuance: though there may be ebbings and flowings as to the degrees, yet for the substance it will be still the same; yea, and after some accidental intermissions it will in time again return to its former vigour.
II. An intimation of his carriage to David in particular. And in the hidden part, etc.
1. Take it in its proposition.
(1) The nature of grace. It is wisdom (Jam_3:17). It is called so, and may very well he so, as having indeed the properties of wisdom most agreeable to it. Wisdom is provident for the future, and does not only look at the present; and so it is with grace: wisdom, it takes things altogether, not only singly and alone by themselves, but in their conjunction; and so grace: wisdom, it looks after the main chance, and that which is chiefly to be looked after in the neglect of impertinencies and superfluities; so likewise does grace.
(2) The author of grace is God Himself. Thou. This seems to be added in opposition to that which he had premised and set down in the foregoing verse: there he had told us that he was born in iniquity, and in sin did his mother conceive him. Corruption it was conveyed to him by nature; yea, but grace it had another conveyance and derivation of it: thus it came not to him from his parents, but from God Himself; flesh and blood had not taught it him, but his Father which was in heaven (Mat_16:17), and so he acknowledges Him in it.
(3) The seat or subject of this wisdom, which it resides in, and that is here expressed to be the hidden part; that is, the soul and inward man: though it may also signify the object and matter which this spiritual wisdom is conversant about. And if ye will, we will take notice of both; or further, thirdly, the manner also of conveyance, as if he had said secretly, and after an hidden manner, as some interpreters render the words, which we may likewise add to the former. So, then, here is the sum and substance of what the psalmist does out of these words exhibit unto us: first, that the excellency of religion lies in the inward man: secondly, that a good Christian is acquainted with the mysteries of religion: thirdly, that the conveyance of His grace and spiritual wisdom are oftentimes secret and undiscernible.
2. We may also look upon it in its scope and reflection, and with that force and emphasis in which it comes from the prophet David, who expresses as much to us about himself, that God had indeed wrought this work in his heart, that He had in the hidden part made him to know wisdom.
(1) He discerns it, it carries in it an emphasis of discovery; as David had grace wrought in his heart, so he knew it to be there wrought; he saw it, and perceived it to be so. This is that which every one does not do, but yet which may be done.
(2) He acknowledges it. David, when he speaks here of Gods grace wrought in himself, he does not simply speak of it, but with some kind of affection and enlargement of soul, and as blessing God for it. He speaks of it as a special favour and mercy vouchsafed unto him, as indeed it was; and so should all others do likewise, which are in like manner made partakers of it.
(3) He improves it, he makes use of it for his present purpose, and that to a double intent; first, as an aggravation of sin, as it respects himself: and secondly, as a motive and an argument for future mercy, as it relates to God. That God who had given him grace at first, would now bestow further grace upon him; that He who had given him the grace of conversion, would now help him in the exercise of repentance, as a fruit of conversion in him; that He that had sanctified him would pardon him; and that He that killed sin in him in the root would now vouchsafe to kill it further in the branches and effects of it. (Thomas Horton, D. D.)
God desires truth in the inward parts
1. This thought summons us to earnestness and godly fear in our sense of sin.
(1) Whenever, in consequence of their upbringing or favourable circumstances, the outward life is religious and unblameable, many flatter themselves with the thought that it is also well with the heart: at least, that although they have still many sins, the heart is not quite so bad as has been said. They regard themselves at least not as ungodly, and enemies of God. Oh, did they but know how the Lord proves and searches the heart, they would think otherwise. The Holy One sees the indwelling corruption of the heart.
(2) How should this thought keep many a one from the superficial conversion with which men so often suffer themselves to be deceived. Whenever, upon a sick-bed, for example, there is a little anxiety about sin and questions about grace, the soul is at once comforted. Men are not aware that these feelings can easily be awakened, and also very lightly laid to sleep again.
2. This thought gives hope and comfort in the way of conversion. Nothing less will God have from the awakened soul: nothing more will the grace of God require from the penitent.
3. This thought strengthens faith for glorious expectations (Isa_61:8). (Andrew Murray.)
Marks of truth in the inward affections
1. It is a testimony of truth in the inward affections when one carrieth an universal hatred of all sin, that is, of secret sins as well as of open sins, of lesser sins as well as of greater evils, of such sins as have some special enticement, by some particularity of content or profit, as well as of those which afford neither. A sincere heart is as tender as the eye, which is troubled, and made to smart and water with the smallest mote, or as a straight shoe, which cannot endure the least stone within it, but makes him shrink and tread respectively, and with a kind of favour to his foot, until it be removed. This is one mark.
2. A second, which is in a manner a limb of the former, is a taking heed to that sin to which a man finds himself most apt; or wherewith he hath at any time been overtaken. Is it rash anger, is it pride; is it wantonness, is it worldliness, is it vain pleasure, etc.? If thou be especially wary and watchful touching that, to prevent the occasions, to stop the beginnings of it, to beware of the inducements to it, this is a notable testimony of sincerity.
3. A third is a willingness to lay open every sin as soon as it is known to be a sin, and to that end a gladness to have the conscience ransacked and ripped up, that that which is sin may be found out. David spake it out of experience when he pronounced the man blessed in whose spirit there is no guile.
4. A fourth mark, when a man makes conscience to be one and the same manner of man at home and in private that he is abroad and in public. This is also a branch of Davids sincerity, and of his resolution to walk in a perfect way: I will walk uprightly in the midst of mine house: his meaning is, he will be the same among his household people, where few behold him, that he is abroad where many see him: he will be as godly in his chamber as in the Temple. (S. Hieron.)
Truth in the inward parts
I. As opposed to ignorance. It is the character of men in an unregenerated state, that they have the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. The character, in point of understanding, of men in whom God takes pleasure, is no vague or doubtful matter. Seeing God hath given in the Gospel the fullest and most satisfactory information concerning Himself, and the character and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one Mediator, they who have believed the word of the truth of the Gospel--who have received with meekness this engrafted word--have in one important respect the truth which God desires in the inward parts. There are different degrees, indeed, in which this change actually exists; but all are alike in kind; and they all differ in kind from other men, who are in darkness, and walk in darkness, and know not where they go, because that darkness hath blinded their eyes.
II. As opposed to insincerity. The spirit of the people of God, in whom the Lord takes pleasure, is that spirit in which there is no guile. Sanctification of the spirit is associated in them with belief of the truth. Sincerity, arising from, and connected with, a spiritual understanding of the truth of the Gospel, forms the temper of their inward man. The truth with respect to God and the Lord Jesus Christ, that informs their minds, enters into their hearts.
III. As opposed to false and temporary affections of mind. That practical godliness includes the exercise of the affections of the mind is not to be disputed. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart is the first and great commandment. There are lively emotions in every truly pious heart. Men who receive the truth of the Gospel in the love of it, and who have their souls purified in obeying it, delight themselves in the Lord, and love one another with a pure heart, fervently. The principles of vital godliness are like seed cast into good ground, that springeth up and beareth fruit; there is first the blade; then the ear; and afterwards the full corn in the ear. (D. Dickson, D. D.)
Interior truth
(with Joh_8:32):--The same word, truth, stands in both texts and yet represents in each its own particular matter. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts; which means that God looks to find in us a kernel of personal truthfulness, a sound core, a fragment of the aboriginal veracity of God, an oaken knot of probity that can take a blow without flinching, sterling metal that will sound with a long, clear, ringing tone of reverberation. The other is a little apart from this, The truth shall make you free. This denotes the truth outside of us coming to us, telling upon us, working its emancipation in us. The other was the sterling metal; this is the hammer that sets the wire ringing, the plectrum that sets the metal quivering and humming. The two answer back to each other; they understand each other--the truth that is structural within us, and the truth that comes to talk to us. They are correlates, like the eye and the light that saturates it; the ear and the melody that sings into it. We are never quite discouraged about a man, so long as there remains still in him one single solid atom that retains the old crystalline lines and angles; a rigid basis upon which presented truth can be laid, and into which it can be mortised; a truth-sense to which we can address and press our appeal. It is like dealing with an old and withered building; the window-lights may be shattered, and the paint discoloured, and the casings awry; the flooring seamed, and the joints warped; but, though you may have to tear down a good deal, and replace and pretty thoroughly renovate it, yet there is great vantage secured, if decay and disintegration have not eaten into the foundation, and the masonry lies intact in its bottom courses. It is this which justifies the confidence we always have in a boy that is truthful; he may be full of roguery and tease his sister and torment his parents; he may easily get angry, and pound the boy that lives across the way; and show himself precocious In nothing so much as in his genius for resisting knowledge and palsying the efforts of his instructors; but, if he is truthful, if truth is in his inward parts, the pith of the matter is in him, a sound core, the spinal marrow; and there is something to address yourself to with assurance, when the time comes for appeals that are more strenuous and exacting. Bye-laws have no grip that is not guaranteed them by the vigour of the constitution. God desireth truth in the inward parts. An impure heart issues in impure thoughts. Yes; but also impure thoughts issue in impure hearts. Intellect creates thought, but thought turns round and creates intellect. The interior and the exterior are parents and children of each other. Deed expends power, but deed also makes power. To that degree and in that sense we are all of us daily climbing up and down the ladder-rounds of our own actions, feelings, thoughts. So it is with this precious, unspeakably precious, nucleus of personal truthfulness, truth in the inward parts. We make it more by speaking the truth, doing, thinking, and feeling the truth; we make it less by speaking, doing, thinking, and feeling that which is false. We are confessedly making a good deal of this matter of rectitude, straight-linedness; but it is the plumb-line dropped into us from above, and so must shape and direct all our aspirations towards God; and it is in the plumb-line from which we have to calculate the horizontal that shall determine our dealings with men. Truth is thus the core of piety, and it is the pith of charity. A promise is a promise, whether made in a matter of groceries or Gospel. I cannot go to a man and promise to help him in an enterprise, and then do as I like about keeping my promise. A promise is as holy a thing as Mount Sinai, and as holy as the law that was given on it, and the Lord that came down in thunder and lightning upon it. There are not even so many professed Christians as we might suppose who can be relied on to do as they say they will do, when it is not quite to their taste or convenience to do as they say they will do. Their word is not as good as their bond; and they proceed on principles which, if they were to apply them on the street, would cost them their seat in the Stock Exchange every day. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
Better to be, than to be thought, religious
In every action of religion, let us remember to keep sincerity. Who would desire to be called rich, if he want riches; esteemed valiant, if he have not strength? and shall we think it sufficient to be called religious, and not to be so? Better to be rich, than to be called rich; better to be religious, than to be thought or called religious. God loveth truth as He hateth all falsehood; for He is truth. He loveth truth in our profession, truth in our civil life: truth in our profession, is that which He hath commanded in His Word; truth in our civil life, is that which agreeth with the duty of civil conversation, without fraud, deceit or guile, which is different from Gods nature, and resembleth the devil, who is a deceiver. (A. Symson.)
In the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.--
Religion the only true wisdom
I. The knowledge of heavenly things, appertaining to the right way of pleasing God, and of saving our own souls, is the true wisdom. How shall he be held for wise who wanteth judgment and understanding in the principle? And what is the principle, if not this, to know how to serve God so here as that we may be saved with Him, and by Him, hereafter? What were a man but a fool in case he otherwise knew all secrets, and could speak and discourse in matters of the world, as if one spake from an oracle, or did equal Solomon in discovering the natures of trees and herbs, from the cedar in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, if yet he were to seek in the matters that concern eternity? All this is but like that wisdom which we tax in a man when we say, He is penny wise, but pound foolish: he will be miserable to save a penny, and yet be prodigal in pounds upon a humour. This is poor wisdom: so, on the other side, how can he be taxed for a fool justly who, whatsoever his reach and depth be in the things of this life (haply he hath not so many politic fetches, nor cannot plod and multiply projects as ethers do), yet he knoweth the way of salvation; he knoweth Christ crucified?
II. The Lord Himself is the proper teacher of that spiritual and heavenly wisdom which is accompanied with salvation.
1. The Holy Scripture is the Book of Wisdom, out of which God will give unto the simple sharpness of wit: but, teaching by man, is the pipe by which this sacred wisdom is to be conveyed unto us from the Fountain: therefore God honoureth His ministers with the title of teachers, and hath ordained a deputation of faithful men, which should be able to teach others also.
2. In waiting upon the appointed means to get this wisdom, we must be furnished with two especial qualities: first, humility; secondly, earnestness.
(1) The former I ground upon that often-remembered saying, He will teach the humble His way. Now, he is humble in this case who hath learned to renounce that wisdom, that sharpness, that sufficiency which he hath in his own opinion in himself. This is that denial of a mans self which Christ requireth in His followers: Paul, a being a fool, to the end one may be wise. A man must disclaim all possibility of guiding himself, and resign and yield up himself wholly to the Lords conduct. They which have this disposition are the babes to which God revealeth the mysteries of His kingdom, when He passeth over those which feed themselves with self-conceits.
(2) The second quality required is earnestness. Thus the Kingdom of Heaven must suffer violence, and we must go about to take it as it were by force. In this business there must be labouring, striving, giving all diligence, a seeking early.
3. How shall we know that we are taught? The text answereth: Where God teacheth, the heart is taught. Look, then, what is in thy heart. There be some that have gotten some smack of this wisdom into their brains; they have a kind of lip-wisdom, and can talk somewhat plausibly of religion, but it is not yet come to their hearts. Their hearts be not humbled; they have not that which the apostle commended in the Romans--obedience from the heart. Is thy heart reformed? Is the natural corruption thereof in some good measure subdued and abated? Is obedience sweet unto thy heart, and that which thy soul delighteth in? This is a sign thou art taught of God.
III. When God bestows on any man spiritual wisdom and religious knowledge, He gives such a blessing as deserves acknowledgment. Hath the Lord been gracious to thee in scattering the mist of thy natural blindness, and in enabling thee to see the things which are given to us of God? Are thy eyes anointed with eye-salve, so that thou beginnest to savour the things of the Spirit, better than in times past? Oh, thank His Majesty for this mercy--this, a kindness of greater value than at first, perhaps, thou art aware; labour to increase in this knowledge, strive to have yet a larger and a fuller measure of this spiritual understanding. (S. Hieron.)
True knowledge to be sought from God
The true knowledge of the way of grace must be sought from God Himself. He alone can make you know the hidden wisdom. The human knowledge Of the way of grace which we obtain by the use of our understanding is not sufficient. Mark well: we do not say that this knowledge is not necessary. But this knowledge is not enough. It is possible that one may have a well-nigh perfect knowledge of Gods Word and yet be lost. And when we have clear insight into the way of the truth of God, we run just as much risk of resting content with it. Perhaps some one thinks that such a representation is sufficient to make one altogether dispirited. It would indeed be so were it not that we can say in this prayer, In the hidden parts Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. God gives the wisdom. This is our only security, and that is the only answer that we can give to the question: How do we know if we have a right spiritual knowledge of grace? The Lord can and will make you assured of this. Conversion, faith, is not a work that you must do, and on which you can look back and say, That is well done. ,No: the innermost essence of conversion and faith consists in coming to God in surrender to God, in receiving from God the living God, grace to be worked out by Him, in being washed and purified from sin by Him. And just at this point is there in the religion of many so much defect. They do not know that in grace the principal element is that we must come into contact with the living God, and must experience the power of the Almighty. (Andrew Murray.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.