Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
— Psalm 43:5
For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
— Jeremiah 30:17
Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
— Jeremiah 33:6
Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
— Psalm 77:9-11
True Peace May Be Interrupted, by William Bridge. The following contains an excerpt from his second sermon of his work, “A Lifting Up for the Downcast.”
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
— Psalm 42:11
It is possible that the saints and people of God, may be much discouraged, and cast down: though there be an inward peace and quietness of soul, which they are ordinarily endued with, yet possibly this peace may be interrupted, and themselves much discouraged and cast down.
Here are two words in the text speak as much; cast-down, disquieted. And three times in this Psalm, the Psalmist saith, his soul was cast down within him; yet this David was a man of great peace and comfort ordinarily.
And as with David, so it was, is, and will be with other saints. This is so ordinary a case, that the Holy Ghost hath provided a standing psalm, or prayer, on purpose for such as are in this condition: Psalm 102:, the title, “A prayer, or psalm, of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.” In Psalm 119:25, he saith, “My belly cleaves to the dust and that is low indeed. And verse 28, “My soul melteth for heaviness I am not only sad and heavy, but my soul melteth for heaviness. Canticles 5, the Spouse saith, “Her heart was gone;” or, “My soul failed within me.” And if we look into Psalm 143: we find, at the 4th verse, that the Psalmist saith, “My spirit is overwhelmed, and my heart within me is desolate.” What do all these expressions high, great and many, speak, but this truth that is now before us?
For the more full clearing and opening of it, I shall labour to show–
First, how far it is possible for a good man to be discouraged, or cast down.
Secondly, how it doth come to pass that he is so discouraged. Thirdly, how those discouragements can stand with his grace and goodness.
Fourthly, how they may be healed and cured.
And first. If you ask, how far the discouragements of saints may reach? For, will some say, I know it is possible that the most gracious, holy man, may be much discouraged, but not with such discouragements as mine are.
I answer. What are yours? Are you so far disquieted, discouraged, cast down, as to refuse the word, promise, or consolation that is brought unto you? So far may the discouragements of the saints extend: Psalm 77:3, “I remembered God, and was troubled.” He doth not say, I remembered my sin, and was troubled, but God; Yea, I was not only troubled, but “I did complain, and my spirit was overwhelmed within me.” But when the promise came, and mercy came, and comfort came, did he refuse that too? Yes: verse 2, “My soul refuseth to be comforted.”
Are you so far discouraged, disquieted, cast down, that your very body feeleth the smart of your discouragements? that you do not only refuse the promise, and all comfort for your soul, but even for your body? Then look into Psalm 102:, and see if your case may not be paralleled, verse 4, ” My heart is smitten and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread: verse 5, ” By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin:” verse 6, “I am like a pelican of the wilderness, and I am like an owl of the desert:” verse 9, “I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping:” verse 10, “Because of thine indignation and thy wrath; for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down:” verse 11, “My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.” Oh, but I am not only so far discouraged, as to refuse comfort for soul and body, but my soul refuseth duty, and casts off duty too for the present.
3. Therefore, it is possible, that a good and gracious man’s discouragements may extend thus far too. You will think it strange that I find an instance for this in that holy man Jeremiah; yet if you look into Jer. 20:7—9} you find it made good. Indeed, saith he, “The word was as fire in my bones, and I could not forbear.” But for the time he did resolve to forbear preaching in the name of God, which was his duty, which he had commission to do: for, says he, “I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.” This holy, gracious man, was under temptation, he was much discouraged, and thereupon he said so. Yet, verse 13, he saith, “Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord; for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evil doers.” But then mark the next words; “Cursed be the day wherein I was born; let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.” “Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born to thee.” What a sudden change was here, even in the best of the saints, from encouragements to discouragements. Oh, but I have not only cursed the day of my birth, as Jeremiah, and wished that I had never been born; but I am weary of my life, and have sought after mine own death: and was there ever any godly, gracious man, that was thus discouraged, and cast down?
Yes. What think you of Job? “I was weary of my life,” 10:1. And in the third chapter, Job, pouring out his complaint in regard of himself, he saith, verse 20, “Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul?” verse 21, “Which long for death, but it cometh not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures.” Now ye know, that those which dig for gold and silver, dig industriously and earnestly. Thus it is with me, says Job, I am so afflicted, and distressed; and in such bitterness of soul, that I long for death, and dig for it as for hid treasures.
Oh, what a mighty deep of discouragements, may the saints and people of God fall into, and yet be godly, gracious!
Secondly, but why doth God suffer his own people and dearest children to be thus discouraged, and their peace to be interrupted? I know, will some say, that all our present joy and comfort, is but a creature, and so may be eclipsed; and that Satan is near unto the best of God’s children, thrusting and pushing them forward into these discouragements, that they may be like unto himself who is a discouraged spirit: but why will God suffer it to be so?
In general, it is for their good, for their good they have, and for their good they do want their peace and comfort. The star which led the wise men to Christ, did not always go before them, but sometimes it appeared, sometimes it was hidden from them: but both appearance and hiding was for their benefit; its first appearance invited them to Christ, and its withdrawance made them more diligent in seeking after him. So when Christ hid himself from his mother Mary, she sought him the more, and when she found him, she rejoiced the more: but both his absence and his presence, her fear and her comfort, was for her good; for his absence did increase and draw out her desires, and his presence did increase and draw out her joys. When God is absent from us, then we have testimonies of our love to God, by our desires after him; and when he is present, then we have testimonies of his love to us, by the shines of his countenance; so that whether God shines or not, whether we have comfort or not, both is for our good. Thus in the general, but yet more particularly.
1. Ye know it is God’s way and manner to deal with the children, of men, according to their own dispositions, to stoop and condescend unto their infirmities: therefore says the prophet Hosea, “He draws us with the cords of a man.” Hosea 11:4. Now it is man’s disposition to come to God at the second hand: so long as man can find a fulness in any creature, he comes not to God $ but first he sees an emptiness in the creature, duty and ordinance, and then he says, oh what a fulness is in God himself, in Christ himself! “The widow that is desolate, trusteth in God,” 1 Tim. 5:5; though a widow, yet if not desolate, sometimes, she would not trust; and therefore God suffers a desolation to come upon her widowhood. When David’s men took up stones to have stoned him, then, says the text, “He encouraged himself in the Lord his God,” 1 Sam. 30:6. So long as man hath encouragement elsewhere, he doth not encourage himself in the Lord his God. This being man’s nature, and God having a design of love upon his own children, he suffers a damp and discouragement to pass upon all their comforts: their peace to be interrupted, their hearts disquieted, and their souls discouraged, that so they may encourage themselves in God alone.
This inward peace and quietness of soul, is so great a commodity, that God would have the price to be enhanced and raised. Common and ordinary blessings once lost, and found again, are extraordinary: it is a common and ordinary mercy that a man sits in his shop, and walks up and down in his trade; but if he be sick awhile, lose his health, and not able for five or six weeks to look into his shop; if then he can get down but one day, Oh, says he, what an extraordinary mercy and blessing is it, that I should go down again: thus the interruption of an ordinary blessing does raise it to an extraordinary. So long as a man hath his health and strength, though he be able to travel forty, fifty, three-score miles a day, he is not much affected therewith; but if he be sick a little, and at death’s door, and then begins to recover, though he can but put forth his hand, or stir his leg, he blesses God, and says, oh, friends, I can stir myself in my bed, I can move my hand, or my leg; what an extraordinary mercy and blessing is this! So in this case, so long as a man hath inward peace and quietness of soul, without interruption, he looks upon it as a common mercy and blessing; but if his peace be a little interrupted, and his soul buffeted by Satan, and then he recovers his peace, Oh, says he, what an extraordinary blessing and mercy is this! Now God will sometimes raise the price of this commodity from an ordinary to an extraordinary blessing, and therefore he doth suffer his own children and dearest servants to be thus discouraged, and their peace to be interrupted.
God is a tender Father, and he would have all the love of his children; he would not have his children to love their nurse more than himself: our joy and peace and comfort, is but the nurse of our graces; now when God sees that his children fall in love more with the nurse than with himself, then he removes the nurse, and causes their peace to be suspended and interrupted: he will not have the nurse to be loved more than himself.
Sometimes God doth suffer this cloud to arise upon the peace and comforts of his people, that he may train them up unto more perfection; comfort is the children’s milk: ye may observe, therefore, that the weaker Christian hath sometimes more lively, sensible comforts, than the stronger Christian hath; why? but because this inward joy and peace and comfort, is that milk and sweet honey, whereby they are drawn off from the pleasures and sweetness of the world; and as these comforts do wean us from, the worlds comforts, so we have need to be weaned again from these weaners, which God doth sometimes by restraining of them, and so we grow up unto more perfection.
Sometimes, again, God sees his children do grow vain and light and frothy and wanton and secure under their peace and comfort, and then he withdraws himself, hides his face, and so they do lose their comfort. This was the case in Canticles 5, where the spouse saith, “My soul faileth within me” at verse 6. But why” “I opened to my Beloved, but my Beloved had withdrawn himself and why had he withdrawn himself:” He comes and makes a tender of love and mercy, verse 2, and she would none, verse 3, “I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?” that is, I am now laid to sleep; they are words that import security, and upon her security he withdraws himself, and being withdrawn, her soul fails within her. And thus it is many times with the children of God in their particulars; the Lord sees that they grow secure, vain, frothy and wanton under their peace and comfort, then he withdraws himself, and their peace faileth.
Our Lord and Saviour Christ is a tender chirurgion, who hath set all our bones which we ourselves have broken by our sins. You know that a wise and an honest chirurgion, though he desire his patient may be quickly cured, yet if he sees the plaister doth not lie right, he takes it off again, for it is not laid right, saith he: so doth Christ do, he sees that the comforts of his people sometimes are not right laid, and therefore, saith he, though I desire this poor wounded soul may be quickly cured, yet because this comfort, this promise, this experience doth not lie right, it must be taken off again. Now the comforts of the saints are so laid sometimes, as the very laying of them doth breed discomfort. As in the sowing of seed; it is not enough that the seed be good, but it must be well sown, else the very sowing thereof may cause weeds: so though light be sown for the righteous, yet sometimes it so is sown, as that the very sowing thereof doth breed these weeds of fears and discouragements, that you may say, and that without prophecy, Here is a poor soul that ere long will be much discouraged, though for the present full of comfort.
But this is hard to say: can ye foretell a man’s discouragements, even in the time of his comfort? Who is there among all the saints so comforted, concerning whom you may say, Surely this man will be much discouraged again?
When a man, a good man, doth lay his spiritual comfort upon outward blessings, you may say beforehand, this man’s comfort will never hold, but ere long he will be much disquieted; and this was the reason why the saints in the time of the Old Testament, laboured under so many discouragements, even because they measured the love of God so much by these outward blessings. Psalm 143:4, “Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me.” Why so? Verse 3, “Because the enemy prevailed he measured God’s love too much by these outward things, and therefore when the enemy broke in upon him, he thought God did not love him, and so he was overwhelmed; thus in regard of all outward blessings. Seest thou therefore a man who raiseth his persuasion of God’s love from the smiles of any creature, say of such a man beforehand, oh, this poor soul ere long, will be in the dark, and under some discouragements.
When a man is unthankful for true peace, and unhumbled for false peace, he cannot hold his peace long. Before a man is converted, he hath peace within; “For when the strong man keeps the house, all is at peace” but it is false peace: after a man is converted, he hath peace within, and it is true peace; God expecteth that a man should be humbled for his former false peace, and thankful for his present true peace. Now when God sees one both unhumbled for false peace, and unthankful for his present true peace, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved, so it withdraweth, and the soul is comfortless.
When a man doth raise his comfort only from somewhat that he doth find within himself; from grace that he doth find within, and not from grace without; from Christ within, and not from Christ without; then his comfort will not hold; perpetuum est quod habet causam perpetuantem, that is perpetual, which hath a perpetuating cause : grace without is perpetual, Christ’s own personal obedience in the merit of it, is perpetual; but the actings of grace within us, are not perpetual, or not perpetually obvious to sight, and therefore cannot perpetually comfort. Indeed, our grace within, and obedience, is in some respects a cause of our peace. 1st, A causa sine qua non, a cause without which we can have no comfort; for a godly man can have no comfort, if he have no obedience. 2ndly, A cause which doth, removere prohibens, remove what hinders our comfort, namely, our sin. 3rdly A cause witnessing: for there are three that bear witness, the Spirit, water and blood; water, which is our sanctification, is one. 4thly, A cause confirming; for by our obedience and sanctification, our justification is confirmed, and the sense thereof; so that obedience is one cause, but not the only cause of our peace, nor the principal: when therefore you see the streams of a man’s comfort run in this channel, raising all his comfort only, or principally from his obedience, or acting of grace within, then you may say, though the stream be now full, stay but a little, and ere long you will see it dried, and this man will be much discouraged.
When a man, a good man doth lay his comfort, rather upon the impression, or comings in of the word, than upon the word itself. For example, suppose a man take the Bible, and upon the opening thereof doth pitch on some promise: for the present he is much refreshed and comforted: or suppose that he doth not open the Bible, nor read the Scripture, but sitting down in a dark condition, some promise doth come to him which before he thought not of; now at the coming of this promise, his heart is much raised, warmed and comforted, insomuch that he concludeth, saying, Now I am a child of God, now I know that God loves me, that I have a share in Christ: either this man raiseth his comfort from the word itself, or from the comings in of the word; if from the word itself, how can his comfort die? if upon the bare coming in of the word, how can his comfort live? For when a word comes not, then his comforts fail. We read in Psalm 16: that “he shall multiply sorrows that hasteneth after another:” your translation reads it thus, “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God;” but the word God, ורחמ רחא ׆כהובצע וברי ,is not in the Hebrew. The whole verse are the words of Christ; what saith he at verse 2? “Oh my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord, my goodness, holiness, or righteousness is not for thee, but for the saints that are in the earth, and for the excellent in whom is all my delight.” But O Lord, our Saviour, what if we do not go to thy goodness, holiness and righteousness, resting upon that alone? He answereth, “Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another.” And is not this to hasten after another, when men rest upon the bare coming in of the word, or the impressions on the heart that are made thereby? Where do we read in all the Scripture, turn from one end of the Bible to the other, where do we read that Christ hath appointed any such way of comfort as this, that a man should raise his comforts from pitching, or by an opening of the book? If I pitch upon a promise today, and so have comfort, may I not pitch upon a threatening to morrow, and so have no comfort again? Where hath Christ appointed any such way as this, that I should measure God’s love, or cast my everlasting condition by the coming in of a particular word? Indeed, God doth sometimes by his providence, upon the opening of the Bible, cause our eye to fall upon some promise, which is a providential comfort; he doth sometimes send a particular word to stay and bear up ones soul in a particular distress or affliction, but not that I should measure his everlasting love, or cast my condition by the coming in of every word. This therefore is to hasten after another; and how many sorrows are multiplied upon the hearts of God’s people hereby? How many poor souls are there that walk in this way! God our Father sees it, that the plaister is not right laid, and so he is fain to take it off, but all from a design of love, to lay it right; and for these reasons God suffers his own people to be much discouraged.
https://takeupcross.com
takeupcross
Take Up the Cross 