Salmos 25
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
Salmos 25:14-15
Spurgeon - If any man will know the will of Christ, let him do that will. When a young man is put to learn a trade, he does so by working at it; and we learn the truth which our Lord teaches by obeying His commands. To reach the shores of heavenly wisdom every man must work his passage. Holiness is the royal road to Scriptural knowledge. We know as much as we do. Henry
Salmos 25:14-15
Spurgeon put it this way: “Those whose hearts are right shall not err for want of heavenly direction. Where God sanctifies the heart he enlightens the head.” Pulpit Commentary - God will make His way plain to the God-fearing man. As alluded to one of the "key words" of this passage is the word translated "Secret" in the NAS, which is the Hebrew word sod discussed in more depth below. The NET Bible reads "The LORD's loyal followers receive His guidance," while the ESV has "The friendship (marginal note = "Secret counsel") of the LORD." Here are some of the other OT uses of this Hebrew word sod to help give you a sense of what David meant by the secret of the LORD: Proverbs 3:32 For the devious are an abomination to the LORD; But He is intimate (sod) with the upright. Comment: Note that it follows that the upright are those who live life with a healthy, wholesome fear of the LORD. Psalm 55:14 We who had sweet (pleasant) fellowship (sod) together walked in the house of God in the throng. Comment: Where do those who fear the LORD choose to walk? The house of the LORD, the place where Jehovah dwells. Is this not what the Psalmist alludes to in Psalm 84:10 affirming that "a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God, Than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Play Better is One Day. Psalm 111:1 Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly. Comment: Note that the soul who fears the LORD, is the one who wholeheartedly lives a life of praise and thanksgiving to Jehovah. Proverbs 15:22 Without consultation, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they succeed. Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets. Job 29:4 As I was in the prime of my days, When the friendship of God was over my tent; Comment: Recall the opening description of Job "was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil." (Job 1:1) He is the "prototype" of the one who enters attains to the secret of the LORD, even experiencing the presence of Jehovah as His intimate Friend, indeed a Friend Who was "over" his tent, watching, protecting, communing. Who is a friend of Jehovah? And remember that Jehovah also speaks of Jesus (Jehovah = Jesus). The simple answer from David is the one who fears Him. As discussed this fear is not that of dread of a vindictive Judge, but the reverential awe of a Loving Lord. The Septuagint further helps understand the character of this fear for it translates the Hebrew verb for fear (yare) with the Greek verb phobeo which is in the present tense, which signifies that this holy fear is to be our lifestyle, our daily practice. Here is where we need to be careful. We in and of ourselves cannot stir up this holy fear. We need to jettison our natural human tendency of self-reliance and instead daily seek to rely wholly on the supernatural enabling power of the Holy Spirit, Who lives in us, " working in us, giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases" the Father. (Phi 2:13NLT-note) F B
Salmos 25:14-15
Spurgeon comments on know His covenant - Its antiquity, security, righteousness, fulness, graciousness and excellence, shall be revealed to their hearts and understandings, and above all, their own part in it shall be sealed to their souls by the witness of the Holy Spirit. The designs of love which the Lord has to his people in the covenant of grace, he has been pleased to show to believers in the Book of Inspiration, and by his Spirit he leads us into the mystery, even the hidden mystery of redemption. He who does not know the meaning of this verse, will never learn it from a commentary; let him look to the cross, for the secret lies there. John Trapp on know His covenant - As having no greater secret to impart to them, than by showing them the covenant of grace, his good pleasure and purpose of their eternal salvation; to make them "know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that they may be filled with all the fulness of God," Ephesians 3:19. The Jews bragged much of God’s covenant, but here they are given to understand, that only such as fear God are covenanters. Acts 13:16, "Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience." Gill feels this refers to "the covenant of grace, which was made with Christ for them from eternity, is made known to them in time, when they are called by the grace of God, and made partakers of the grace of the covenant, then the Lord reveals himself as their covenant God and Father; shows them that his Son is their surety, Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour; puts his Spirit into them to implant covenant grace in them, to seal up the blessings of it to them, and bear witness to their interest in them, as pardon, justification, and adoption; and to apply the exceeding great and precious promises of it to them." The Rev. F.B. Meyer, when speaking of God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises, used the striking illustration of the deed to a house. The deed may be very old. It may be hard to decipher. The parchment may be stained and cracked. The inmates of the home in their busy life may forget all about it. But the very existence of the home depends upon it, and if it were lost and could not be replaced, sorrow and poverty and wretchedness would be the portion of that household. So our peace of soul, our very spiritual life, depends on the covenant which God the Father made long ago on our behalf with Christ the Son, that for His sake our sins should be forgiven and we should have a right to the many mansions. See James Hastings lengthy comment on this verse below Covenant (01285)(berit/berith/beriyth; Lxx = diatheke) describes the closest, most solemn and binding agreement one man could make with another. And in regard to God, the covenant was a privileged and intimate relationship, like that which one would have with a close friend. God binds Himself to us in steadfast love. Amazing grace indeed! Adrian Rogers comments on Ps 25:14 that the blood covenant "is the secret of blessing. All of the promises in the Bible are really covenant promises." I would only add that the key to knowledge of this covenant is the fear of the LORD. John Trapp on the secret of the LORD - It is neither learning nor labour that can give insight into God’s secrets, those Arcana imperii, (secrets of the empire) Matthew 13:12, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, "the mind of Christ," 1 Corinthians 2:16-note; these things come by revelation rather than discourse of reason, and must therefore be obtained by prayer. Those that diligently seek him shall be of his cabinet council, shall know his soul secrets, and be admitted into a gracious familiarity and friendship: John 15:15, Spurgeon - The word “secret” here might, with greater propriety, be translated “friendship.” “The friendship of the Lord is with them that fear him,” but it also signifies in its root that conversation which familiar friends hold with each other. Conversation in its most cherished exercise, that homely intercourse which springs from mutual confidence, and is on the part of one man the unbosoming of himself to another, is thus implied. If I may open it up in a phrase, it means, “The amity of true friendship.” Such is the favour vouchsafed to those who fear God. But taking the word as it stands (for I dare say the translators weighed all these variations well before they chose the one before us), we will endeavour to give amplitude to the sense, while we keep to the word “secret.” (See full sermon below) Spurgeon - Trust the Lord much while He is with you. Keep no secrets from Him. His secrets are with you; let your secrets be with Him. The Secret of the Lord by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant." (Psalm 25:14) This is an amazing promise. The word for "secret" means the "inner counsel," evidently of the triune God Himself. But how can those who fear the Lord really know the secret counsels of the Godhead? The answer can only be by divine revelation to God’s prophets. Thus the prophet Amos affirms: "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but [unless] he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). When these ancient promises were given, however, much of God’s revelation, though already "settled in heaven" (Psalm 119:89), was still not revealed to men. Then Christ came and promised His disciples, "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost . . . shall teach you all things" (John 14:26). "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2). In addition to the twelve disciples, God then also called the apostle Paul, and through these men, the Son would convey to those who fear Him all the rest of His revelation. "By revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (. . . Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit" (Ephesians 3:3-5). Finally, "the secret of the Lord" was completed in written form by John, the last of the apostles, with nothing else to be either added or deleted (Revelation 22:18-19), that "the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets" (Revelation 10:7). All we shall ever need to know of God’s eternal counsels is now available to all who desire to know, in the Holy Scriptures. HMM Puritan Daily Readings - God’s Treasure. Psalm 25:14 - The true fear of God is called “God’s treasure,” for it is one of His choice jewels, it is one of the rarities of heaven; “The fear of the Lord is his treasure” (Isa. 33:6). And it may well go under such a title, for as treasure, so the fear of the Lord, is not found in every corner. It is said, “All men have not faith” (2 Thess. 3:2); because that also is more precious than gold, the same is said about this fear. “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18); that is, the greatest part of men are utterly destitute of this goodly jewel, this treasure, the fear of the Lord. Poor vagrants, when they come straggling to a lord’s house, may perhaps obtain some scraps and fragments, they may also obtain old shoes, and some sorry cast-off rags, but they get not any of his jewels; they may not touch his choicest treasure; that is kept for the children, and those that shall be his heirs. We may say the same also of this blessed grace of fear, which is here called God’s treasure. It is only bestowed upon the elect, the heirs and children of the promise; all others are destitute of it, and so continue to death and judgment. This grace of fear is that which makes men excel, and go beyond all men in the account of God; it is that which beautifies a man, and prefers Him above all other. “Hast thou,” said God to Satan, “considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8). J C Philpot - “The secret of the Lord” (that is, present possession) “is with them that fear Him; and He will shew them” (that is, something future) “His covenant.” This shews, that while all the people of God, who fear His name, have the secret with them, that is, a measure of the secret, yet all the people of God have not the covenant revealed to them at the same time with the secret. The “secret” is in the present tense; the “shewing of the covenant” is in the future. It is very sweet to see how the Holy Ghost has discriminated between these blessings. If, for instance, it had run thus, “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He shews to them His covenant,” some doubting, desponding child of God might say, “How can I be one of those that fear God? for it says, God shews to them His covenant, and He has not shewn it to me yet.” But being put in the future sense, “He will shew to them His covenant,” it takes the form of a promise, and so is just adapted and sweetly suited to their wants. This covenant is the covenant that “stands fast for evermore;” the everlasting covenant of grace, which stands in the Person, love, blood, and work of the Son of God; the covenant made by a Triune Jehovah, on behalf of the elect, before the world was. What a suitable foundation for a poor tottering heart! The Lord in showing this covenant unto them that fear Him, shews them that it is all of grace, and therefore meets all their unworthiness and superabounds over all the aboundings of their sin; that it is more than a match for their aggravated iniquities, and will land them safe in glory, because God has determined to bring them there. Nothing but a covenant of grace can suit a poor exercised soul, who knows His helplessness and worthlessness; and the Lord shews this to them that fear Him. (Ears from Harvested Sheaves.) (See also his entire sermon on The Secret of the Lord) Tim LaHaye in Embracing Eternity - Relationship with God Today's Reading: Psalm 25:14; Luke 7:36-50-note. With them he shares the secrets of his covenant. Psalm 25:14 -- WE WILL NEVER understand the heart of God until we learn to revere the holiness of God. If we want to know Him, we must first learn to honor Him. "Friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who fear Him," writes the psalmist. "With them he shares the secrets of his covenant" (Psalm 25:14). The hidden things of God are revealed only to those who understand His greatness in the face of our unworthiness. It is intended for those who come to Him in humility and admiration. When Jesus was invited to eat at the home of a Pharisee, a sinful woman showed up with a bottle of expensive perfume. She knelt at his feet weeping. Then she anointed his feet with her perfume and wiped them with her hair. She sat broken before him. When the Pharisee realized who she was, he said to himself, "This proves that Jesus is no prophet. If God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!" (Luke 7:39-note). While the woman wept, the Pharisee accused her in his thoughts. While she knelt at his feet, he judged. While she humbled herself in the presence of the Deity, he tried to humiliate the Divine One. So what did she understand that the Pharisee had missed? he knew that friendship begins with honor. That forgiveness begins with brokenness. That being right with God begins with reverence for Him. Jesus said to the Pharisee, When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn't give me a kiss of greeting, but she has kissed my feet again and again from the time I first came in. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven. (Luke 7:44-47-note) Too often we want to sit and dine with Jesus, but we neglect to kneel before Him. We want the pleasure of his company but not necessarily at the expense of our dignity. We want to talk face-to-face, yet never think to stoop and wash his feet. We want friendship with God without a healthy reverence for Him. Jesus is our friend, but He is also our Lord. If we want a relationship with Him, we begin by remembering who He is. (See also LaHaye's devotional Reverence for God below) Vance Havner - The Secret Ingredient. Psalm 25:14. -- Everything has that mysterious "something" nowadays, whether washing powder or gasoline or vitamin pills or shaving cream or tooth paste—everything has that new added element that no other brand has. This magic X has a wonderful unpronounceable name not yet in any dictionary. We smile, but thousands of gullible mortals will buy truckloads of the hokum and find it no better than something else they fell for months ago. But there is a secret ingredient that makes one brand of people different from all others. It is not some new religious fad or ism, although these too shout their magic formulas today. There are among us here and there those who have a deep inner peace and joy, "who ply their daily task with busier feet because their secret souls a holier strain repeat." No double-jointed theological jawbreaker is needed to name that secret ingredient. It is simply the grace of God, peace with God, and the peace of God in the trustful and obedient heart. "His secret is with the righteous" (Prov. 3:32) Ian Paisley - It Is Secret for It Is God's Purpose. The secret is God's purpose. Psalm 25:14 The Covenant of God's grace, secret from before the foundation of the world, is made known in this hidden life. That life gives us growth not only in grace but in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh that I might thus know Him. John
Salmos 25:14-15
Spurgeon - Some read it "the friendship:" it signifies familiar intercourse, confidential intimacy, and select fellowship. This is a great secret. Carnal minds cannot guess what is intended by it, and even believers cannot explain it in words, for it must be felt to be known. The higher spiritual life is necessarily a path which the eagle's eye hath not known, and which the lion's whelp has not travelled; neither natural wisdom nor strength can force a door into this inner chamber. Saints have the key of heaven's hieroglyphics; they can unriddle celestial enigmas. They are initiated into the fellowship of the skies; they have heard words which it is not possible for them to repeat to their fellows. David
Salmos 25:14-15
Spurgeon - Treasury of David EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, etc. It is the righteous that is God's friend, it is to him that God is joined in a loving familiarity, it is to him that God revealeth his secret, telling him what misery and torments he hath reserved for them who by wickedness flourish in this world. And indeed the Lord doth not more hate the wicked than he loves the godly: if he keeps far from the froward, as being an abomination unto him, his very secret shall be with the righteous, as with his dearest friend. It is an honour to him to whom a secret is committed by another, a greater honour to him to whom the king shall commit his own secret; but how is he honoured to whom God committed his secret? for where the secret of God is, there is his heart and there is himself. Thus was his secret with St. John, of whom St. Bernard saith, by occasion of the beginning of his gospel, "Doth he not seem unto thee to have dived into the bowels of the divine Word, and from the secrets of his breast, to have drawn a sacred pith of concealed wisdom?" Thus was his secret with St. Paul, who saith, "We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which none of the princes of this world knew." 1 Corinthians 2:7-8. St. Gregory reads, for the secret of God, as the Vulgar Latin doth, sermocinatio Dei, the communication of God is with the righteous; but then addeth, Dei sermocinari est per illustrationem suae praesentiae humanis mentibus arcana revelare, God's communication is, by the illustration of his presence, to reveal secrets to the minds of men. But to consider the words somewhat more generally. There is no less a secret of godliness, than there is of any other trade or profession. Many profess am art or a trade, but thrive not by it, because they have not the secret and mystery of it; and many profess godliness, but are little the better for it, because they have not the true secret of it: he hath that, with whom God is in secret in his heart; and he that is righteous in secret, where no man sees him, he is the righteous man with whom the secret of the Lord is. Michael Jermin, D.D., 1591-1659. Ver. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, etc. There is a vital sense in which "the natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God; "and in which all the realities of Christian experience are utterly hid from his perceptions. To speak to him of communion with God, of the sense of pardon, of the lively expectation of heaven, of the witness of the Holy Ghost, of the struggles of the spiritual life, would be like reasoning with a blind man about colours, or with one deaf about musical harmony. John Morison. Ver. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, etc. Albeit the Lord's covenant with the visible church be open, and plain in itself to all men in all the articles thereof, yet it is a mystery to know the inward sweet fellowship which a soul may have with God by virtue of this covenant; and a man fearing God shall know this mystery, when such as are covenanters only in the letter do remain ignorant thereof; for to the fearers of God only is this promise made—that to them the Lord will show his covenant. David Dickson. Ver. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. The gospel, though published to all the world, yet it is entitled a mystery, and a mystery hid, for none know it but the saints, who are taught of God, and are his scholars. John 6:45. That place shows that there must be a secret teaching by God, and a secret learning. "If they have heard, and been taught of God." Now God teacheth none but saints, for all that are so taught come unto him: "Every one who hath heard, and learned of the Father, cometh unto me." Aye, but you will say, Do not many carnal men know the gospel, and discourse of things in it, through strength of learning, etc? I answer out of the text Colossians 1:26-27, that though they may know the things which the gospel reveals, yet not the riches and glory of them, that same rich knowledge spoken of in the word, they want, and therefore know them not; as a child and a jeweller looking upon a pearl, both look upon it, and call it by the same name; but the child yet knows it not as a pearl in the worth and riches of it as the jeweller doth, and therefore cannot be said to know it. Now in Matthew 13:45, a Christian only is likened to a merchantman, that finds a pearl of great price, that is, discovered to be so, and sells all he hath for it, for he knows the worth of it. But you will say, Do not carnal men know the worth of the things in the gospel, and can they not discourse of the rich grace of Christ, and of his worth? I answer, yes, as a man who hath gotten an inventory by heart, and the prices also, and so may know it; yet never was he led into the exchequer and treasury, to see all the jewels themselves, the wardrobe of grace, and Christ's righteousness, to see the glory of them; for these are all "spiritually discerned, "as the apostle says expressly, 1 Corinthians 2:14. Thomas Goodwin. Ver. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. The truth and sincerity of God to his people appears in the openness and plainness of his heart to them. A friend that is close and reserved, deservedly comes under a cloud in the thoughts of his friends; but he who carries, as it were, a window of crystal in his breast, through which his friend may read what thoughts are writ in his very heart, delivers himself from the least suspicion of unfaithfulness. Truly, thus open hearted is God to his saints: "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." He gives us his key, that will let us into his very heart, and acquaint us what his thoughts are, yea, were, towards us, before a stone was laid in the world's foundation; and this is no other than his Spirit 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, "One who knows the deep things of God; "for he was at the council table in heaven, where all was transacted. This, his Spirit, he employed to put forth and publish in the Scriptures, indited by him, the substance of those counsels of love which had passed between the Trinity of Persons for our salvation; and that nothing may be wanting for our satisfaction, he hath appointed the same Holy Spirit to abide in his saints, that as Christ in heaven presents our desires to him, so he may interpret his mind out of his word to us; which word answers the heart of God, as face answers face in the glass. William Gurnall. Ver. 14. The secret of the Lord. This "secret" is called a secret three ways. 1. Secret to the eye of sole nature, and thus it is not meant; for so the grace of Christ is a secret only to heathens and such as are blind as they, for common Christians know it—the rind of it. 2. Secret to the eye of taught nature, nor thus is it meant; for so the grace of Christ is a secret only to the ignorant sort of Christians; many carnal gospellers that sit under a good ministry know it and the bark of it. 3. Secret to the eye of enlightened nature, and thus it is meant; for so the grace of Christ is a secret to all unsanctified professors, whether learned or unlearned, namely, the pith of it; for though great doctors and profound clerks, and deep studied divines unconverted, know the doctrine of grace, and the truth of grace; though they can dispute of grace and talk of the glory of grace, yea, and taste a little the good word of grace, yea, and understand it generally, it may be as well as St. Paul and St. Peter, as Judas did, yet the special and the spiritual knowledge thereof, for all their dogmatical illumination, is a secret unto them. William Fenner. Ver. 14. The secret. Arminius and his company ransack all God's secrets, divulge and communicate them to the seed of the woman, and of the serpent all alike; they make God's eternal love of election no secret, but a vulgar idea; they make the mystery of Christ, and him crucified, no secret, but like an apothecary's drug, catholical; they make the especial grace of God no secret, but a common quality; faith no secret, but a general virtue; repentance and the new creature no secret, but an universal gift; no secret favour to St. Peter, but make God a party ante, not to love St. Peter more than Judas; no secret intent to any one person more than another; but that Christ might have died for all him, and never a man saved; no secret working of the Lord in any more than other; but for anything that either God the Father hath done by creating, God the Son by redeeming, or God the Holy Ghost by sanctifying, all the world were left to their scrambling—take it if you will, if you will not, refuse. They say God would have men to be saved, but that he will not work it for his own part, rather for this man or that man determinatively that he be saved. William Fenner. Ver. 14. He will shew them his covenant, or and he will make them to know (for the infinitive is here thought to be put for the future tense of the indicative, as it is in Ecclesiastes 3:14-15; Ecclesiastes 3:18 Ho 9:13 12:3, his covenant, i.e., )he will make them clearly understand it, both its duties or conditions, and its blessings or privileges; neither of which ungodly men rightly understand. Or, he will make them to know it by experience, or by God's making it good to them; as, on the contrary, God threatens to make ungodly men to know his breach of promise. Numbers 14:34. Or, as it is in the margins of our Bibles, and his covenant, (is i.e., he hath engaged himself by his promise or covenant) to make them know it, to wit, his secret, i.e., that he will manifest either his word or his favour to them. Matthew Poole. Ver. 14. It is neither learning nor labour than can give insight into God's secrets, those Arcana imperii, "The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 13:11. "The mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2:16. These things come by revelation rather than by discourse of reason, and must therefore be obtained by prayer. Those that diligently seek him shall be of his Cabinet Council, shall know his soul secrets, and be admitted into a gracious familiarity and friendship. "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." John 15:15. John Trapp. Ver. 14. Walking with God is the best way to know the mind of God; friends who walk together impart their secrets one to another: "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." Noah walked with God, and the Lord revealed a great secret to him, of destroying the old world, and having him in the ark. Abraham walked with God, and God made him one of his privy council: "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" Ge 24:40 18:17. God doth sometimes sweetly unbosom himself to the soul in prayer, and in the holy supper, as Christ made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread. Lu 24:35. Thomas Watson. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 14. 1. A secret, and who know it. 2. A wonder, and who see it. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR The secret of the Lord Then the Lord has a secret. Why does He not tell it to every man? Why do we not tell our secrets to every man? Every man does not understand us. We always best understand those who are like-minded with us. God gives His secret to them that fear Him. We individually give our secret--knowledge of our inner self--to those who see eye to eye with us, and by so much would not, cannot, offend us. That which must necessarily be a secret to some, even knowledge of ourselves, is, all else being equal, most obtainable by them that fear us; by them who put confidence in us. It is even so with society; its secret is with them that fear it. Outrage the moral sense of society, or even its sense of propriety, and refuse to be reconciled, and society will cast you adrift. He who acquiesces in the ways of society is received by society, and gets from it such secret as it has to reveal. He knows society through reconciliation, through a species of fear, in which there is an admixture of love.. The secret of business is with him who bends his will to it. The secret of all science, and all art, is with them that love it. No love, no secret, in personal intercourse, in industrial pursuits, in society. The more love, the more knowledge or secret. Admiration, devotion, love, each according to its nature and degree opens all locks and doors and souls. Have the spirit of any given man, and his secret is yours. Have his spirit entirely, and you have him. Harmony with God, sympathy, animation by His Spirit is necessary to knowing Him. (J. S. Swan.) The secret of the Lord I. The class of persons spoken of. Those that “fear the Lord.” 1. Fear sometimes signifies fear of God’s punishments. This fear is better than none at all, as it exercises a restraining power over men who would otherwise commit sin. 2. But there is a fear which merits the severest reprobation: when it fears God because it considers Him to be an angry, vindictive being. 3. There is a fear which deserves the highest commendation; it is filial fear, the fear which an affectionate child has of grieving its father, or causing him pain. II. The privilege which such persons enjoy. “The secret of the Lord is with them.” God holds communion and fellowship with men whose hearts are rightly disposed towards them. Suppose a group of persons discussing the conduct and policy of some public man. All kinds of opinions might be expressed, favourable or otherwise. But of what worth would they be compared with the word of one who knows this public man personally, intimately, who is in his secret, and can speak with confidence regarding his public conduct? Or the “secret” may be illustrated ill another way--by the relation in which two friends stand to each other, who are in perfect sympathy with one another. How they would understand each other! A glance of the eye, a mere hint, suffices to reveal the mind of the one to the other. So the favour and fellowship of God are enjoyed by the man who fears Him. What do we know about this “secret”? The infidel Hume taunted his servant with believing in nonsense. He replied that in his History of England Hume told of Queen Mary, who said that when she died, Calais would be found written on her heart. So, the servant said, Christ was written on his heart. This is the secret of the Lord. (W. Logan, M. A.) The teachings of God within and without God reveals Himself in two ways to man. God wrote His word “on the pages of the elements.” But even on the heathen He wrote a more inward law, which answered to the outward and interpreted its voice--the law of conscience. Each of these voices is made more distinct as man is brought nearer to God. And when we forget both, He has given us the writings of the law, the voices of the prophets, the melody of the Psalms, the instruction of Proverbs, the experiences of histories, the words of Jesus and the Apostles. He speaks, too, by His Spirit. God ever speaks to the heart, as He speaks through the Word; for He cannot contradict Himself. What then? Because God must prepare the heart and open the ear and Himself speak to it, does nothing depend on us? It is with us to hearken or no. “The secret of the Lord” is a hushed voice, a gentle intercourse of heart to heart, a still small voice whispering to the inner ear. How should we hear it if we fill our ears and our hearts with the din of this world? There are two conditions, as there are degrees of inward hearing. You must fear God. You must be hushed yourselves. They who do not fear God cannot hear the secret. In grace, God forecomes man, and man follows grace given. In sin, on the contrary, man begins; he casts out grace, deadens his own car, until God’s voice sounds fainter and fainter. The question on which all hangs is this--is the flesh subdued to the Spirit, or the Spirit stifled by the flesh? This is the first condition of knowing the will of God, that we will to know it wholly. In vain is heaven opened to eyes fixed on earth. Love sees God The Psalmist speaks not of the “secret of the Lord” only, but of a “secret converse” with the soul, as of a friend with his friend. To have the love of the Great Friend, we must desire no love out of Him. St. Bernard says, “A secret counsel calleth for a secret hearing. He will assuredly make thee hear of joy and gladness if thou receivest Him with a sober car.” “They who would behold God,” says St. Gregory, “dwell in a loneliness of soul, and free from the tumults of worldly cares, thirst for God.” (E. B. Pusey, D. D.) The knowledge of God revealed to them that fear Him The secret of the Lord means, that which cannot be known unless the Lord reveal it. And the phrase here implies an intimate knowledge of the Divine perfections, of the dealings and dispensations of God; a holy and vital communion with Him; an entire trust in His providential care and government, together with that peace which always dwells in the bosom of a true, penitent, pious believer. All this, including, as it does, a full acquaintance with the doctrines and duties, the privileges and comforts of the life of faith, is called the “secret of the Lord,” for man naturally knows nothing of them (Proverbs 2:6; Proverbs 2:9; 1 Corinthians 2:9). Men think all this enthusiasm, and have no notion that there is anything in religion which they, by their own skill, are not competent to discover. But, for instance, how can any man who neglects the worship of God pretend to decide upon its importance or utility? It is a matter of experience, and he is unqualified to judge. Because the sinner, when overtaken by sickness or affliction, declares that he derives no comfort from religion, are we therefore to conclude that religion has no comforts to bestow? The promises of the Gospel belong to them that fear the Lord. These persons, when they read the Scriptures, are blessed through them; theirs, too, is the secret of peace in the midst of trouble and in the hour of death. (T. Slade, M. A.) The reward of fear Think what God’s secret told to a man must be. I. It must be one of knowledge. You all know what the Bible is to the natural heart. It gives information, much and valuable, about most important things. But there it ends. It does not touch us, does not move us, does not make us feel. But see the true Christian over his Bible. How he drinks in his words, and how they refresh and comfort him. How he trusts them, and lives by them. He has got the secret of his Bible. II. It must be a secret of safety. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” That is just what we cannot do; we have no such tower. Life’s troubles find us out of doors, and beat upon us. How insecure, defenceless, comfortless we are. A tale was once written of a man who had committed a murder, a base, treacherous, but well-concealed murder, after which he lived for many years in respect and honour, in the gratification of all tastes and wishes, in affluence, and comfort, and domestic love, till a day of late discovery and late retribution. People spoke of this as an “immoral story,” because it gave the man half a life of enjoyment. But that was a short-sighted judgment. How little could such observers know of the torture that man endured from the one fact of his consciousness of insecurity; that at any moment ruin might come. Without security, which is a sense of safety, no happiness is worth the name. The secret of the Lord is a secret of safety. III. A secret of strength. How strong a weak person may become who has it. And we have known strong men become weak for the lack of it. IV. A secret of peace. The wicked are like the “troubled sea.” There is such a thing as a false peace; but a man must have gone very far astray before he can know that, the peace of spiritual death. Between these two extremes, the peace of God and the peace of death, there lies a very wide and dreary morass, a state of disquiet and unrest. V. Consider the communication of this secret. It is given to them who “fear Him.” There are two kinds of fear: that fear which is cast out by love, and that fear which is part of love. It is a very serious thing when the foundations of religion are not laid deep in the fear of God. Remember that the fear of God, like everything else, must come instrumentally by practice. Abstain from something tonight, each one of you, some thought, some word, some act, by a great effort if necessary, on this single ground, that it will displease God. Do so again tomorrow; in a little while it will become easier to you, at last it will become habitual. (C. J. Vaughan, D. D.) A palace of Divine secrets I ask you to come with me through a spiritual palace, and I will describe the several apartments. I. We turn aside into a wide and spacious hall. Before us is a throne, high and lifted up,--it is the throne of grace. Watch the comers as they enter; their penitential aspect, humility, solicitude; listen to their confessions and their requests. They have come with woe, care, perplexity, sin. But they all fear Him, and so are admitted to the secret of prayer. II. Another chamber--the armoury of light. Nations boast their arsenals, but there is none like this. Watch those who are coining in and being armed. III. The treasure room which contains the book of life. Old books are counted as treasures. Here is one of the oldest, and it is indestructible. Let Mosaic chronology be mistaken, it only makes this book a little more venerable; for it was made ere the foundations of the earth. Whose names are in it? This is one of the Lord’s secrets. But all those who have been born again of the Spirit of God are written there. IV. The chamber of consolation. Numerous visitors come crowding in. Heavily laden, worn-out, exhausted, fainting ones. They have all come to the right place. Here are staffs, cordials, medicines, anchors, lights, garments of praise. V. The room named “Cross of love.” This is the highest of all. Here is revealed the secret of secrets. A soft and heavenly light fills the whole chamber. St. Paul was often in this room; it had a special charm for him. VI. The tower of the palace. It is the “Tower of Vision.” Winding up its alabaster stairs, well-worn but ever-renewed, we at last reach the lofty summit. Below us is the world, half hidden by the mist, its hum scarcely audible. Our eyes climb up to the regions of serene and perpetual light, to the holy splendours of the city of our God. (W. A. Essery.) Hidden manna, or The mystery of saving grace The saving grace that the children of God have is a secret that none in the world know besides. It is called a secret in three ways. Secret to the eye of nature; but this is not meant. Secret to the eye of taught nature; but this is not meant. Secret to the eye of enlightened nature; this is meant. It is a secret to all unsanctified professors. It is called a mystery. Grace is spiritual, and can only be received by the spiritually minded. A man must have another secret before he can know this secret. He must be a new creature. 1. Use for instruction. Is God’s secret with them that fear Him? Then the godly are the friends of God. Then the godly are all one with God. 2. For refutation. Away with all who say that God gives no secret thing to any one man more than another. 3. For consolation. They are so honoured with the Lord that God hides no good thing from them that is necessary to their salvation. 4. For terror to the wicked. Here is horror to all the ungodly; they are strangers from God, they are not admitted into God’s secrets. (W. Fermer.) The Lord’s secret 1. The fear of the Lord--its origin is of God. Its effect is cleansing, purifying from the power and love of sin (Psalms 19:9). The fear of the Lord is clean, or cleansing; its evidence is in assembling with the Lord’s people (Malachi 3:16). “Then they that feared the Lord,” etc., but this fear is not the cause of the blessings spoken of, but the proof. 2. In every heart thus filled with the fear of God there is a communication of a secret. The Lord opens His mind and His heart to them, and, to begin with the lowest, there is the secret working of His grace, in conviction of sin, of righteousness, of pardon and peace--in the creation of a spirit of prayer and praise; all these being the work of grace in the soul. Then there is the secret witness of the Spirit, testifying to their adoption into His family, and the secret whispers of His love, whereby He continues to assure the soul by these tokens, that He has loved that soul with an everlasting love, and prepared it for a crown of glory. 3. The promise. Something more in prospect--He will show them His covenant. The “everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure;” this was Davids support in trouble and in the hour of death. He will show them, will teach them, more and more therein, the nature of it, the duration of it, its comprehensiveness, its security, its terms and conditions, its blessings and promises, all in Christ, and Christ in all. (A. Hewlett, M. A.) God’s greatest secret The secret of the Lord is His sending His Son into the world for the redemption of lost mankind. I. The Gospel of Christ is a mystery. It is not attainable without supernatural revelation. It was undiscoverable by the most exalted powers of human understanding until God, out of infinite mercy, was pleased Himself to reveal it. But even after the clearest revelation that our present state is capable of there must be owned to be, in the Christian religion, mysteries far surpassing the highest pitch of human understanding. To “know in part” is too poor and mean a degree of knowledge for our modem Christian philosophers. To them there must be nothing in Christianity mysterious. Examine their pretensions, and we shall find that they neither speak of faith as becomes Christians, nor of reason as becomes men. How far are we glad to allow the use of reason in Divine matters? 1. Reason is of great use in asserting the principles of natural religion, such as the Being of a God; the obligation to worship Him; the immortality of the soul; and the eternal and essential difference between good and evil, partly discoverable by natural light. 2. Reason is useful, since it is from rational inducements that we first admit even revelation itself. It is by reason we distinguish what is truly Divine from enthusiasm and imposture. 3. Reason is of excellent use in expounding and interpreting the mind and meaning of Holy Writ, as long as it is sober and modest and keeps strictly to the analogy of faith. 4. Reason is usefully employed in stopping the mouths of gainsayers, in enlightening their blindness or subduing their contumacy, in confuting heretics by turning their own weapons upon them, and vindicating Divine truth from all those calumnies which are unjustly brought against it. But in the sublime mysteries of our religion reason has no more to do, when it is once satisfied and convinced of the revelation, but to receive from it those truths which by its own natural powers it never had been able to have found out. II. The qualifications requisite in those that are to receive this great mystery. “Them that fear Him.” The fear of the Lord is the beginning of that wisdom which alone makes wise unto salvation; and that-- 1. By a natural efficiency. Whoever loves the precepts of God, and delights to do what He commands, will meet with little difficulty in believing what He reveals. There is a natural and easy passage from loving to believing. True saving faith requires a devout and humble submission of the mind and heart, a complacency and delight and joy in the truths that it receives. 2. Besides this natural tendency, there are through the whole Scripture many signal examples, as well as positive promises, of faith and heavenly knowledge to a due and sincere practice of what we already know. Inferences-- God’s secrets All religions have their areana, or secrets known only to those who are within. The religion of the Bible does not disdain to acknowledge its own secrets, and to drive away from its archives those who come with irreverent curiosity to pry into the contents of revelation. By “secret” we are hero to understand familiar intercourse. The word here rendered “secret” is traced to a word which means couch; the idea is that of two friends seated upon the same couch, holding confidential intercourse. The talk is as between companions, and is conducted in eager whispers. God is represented thus as bringing to a loving heart His own peculiar messages and communications, which he will not publish to the general world. God has so made His universe that its various parts talk to one another. Men hold friendly and confiding intercourse. The sun is full of lessons, so are the flowers, so are all the winds that blow, so are the forests, and so are the oceans. All these may be said to be open secrets; that is to say, men may discover their meanings for themselves--by comparison, by the study of analogy, by the watching of the coming and going phenomena of nature. But beyond this open revelation there is a secret covenant. God calls His children into inner places, and there, in hushed and holy silence, He communicates His thought as His children are able to receive it. “he will show them His covenant”; He will read to them His own decrees; He will be His own interpreter, and make plain to the heart things that are mysterious to the intellect. We are to remember that in holding these secrets we do not hold them originally, or as if by right: we hold them simply as stewards or trustees, and we are not to make them common property. The heart should always know something that the tongue has never told. Deep in our souls there should be a peace created by communion with God which no outward riches can disturb. “The secret of the Lord” may not mean any curious knowledge of mere details, or of future events, or the action and interaction of history; but it may mean, and does mean, a complete and immutable confidence that God reigns over His whole creation, and is doing everything upon a basis and under a principle which must eventuate in final and imperturbable peace. The universe is not governed in any haphazard way. This word “covenant” has been, no doubt, abused, perverted, or misapplied; but its use indicates that the Divine plan is sovereign, settled, unchangeable. The universe is the Word of God, and it cannot fail of its purpose. Revelation is the heart of the Most High, and every jot and tittle of it will be fulfilled. The truly religious life is not a matter of mere intellectual intelligence, or information, or power of argument; it is a profound persuasion clothe heart, a real, simple, solid trust in the righteousness and goodness of God. How such a trust lifts us above the fret and the anxiety of ever-changing details! This passage is in perfect harmony with many assurances given by Jesus Christ Himself. He promised the Holy Spirit to abide with the Church, to show the Church things to come, and to take of the things of Christ and show them unto the Church. The secret of the Lord is thus an ever-enlarging mystery--an ever-enlarging benefaction. (Joseph Parker, D. D.) Revelations to those who obey There are commentators who refer this verse, not to the external orderings of God’s providence, but to the mental assurance which God gives those that fear Him, of the truth of His Word, and the adequacy of the religion it reveals, to satisfy the wants of the soul. This mental assurance, wrought into the soul by God Himself, is thought by some to be the secret of the Lord here intended. The Saviour is believed to refer to this secret assurance in the words, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God” (John 7:17). The Jews had denied the Divine reality of His miracles, and also that the Messianic prophecies had been verified in Him. “Very well,” answers our Lord, “I propose to you another means of testing My claim to be your Messiah and Saviour. Practise the precepts of the religion I teach you, and you shall soon have revealed to you the secret whether it be of God. Do His will, and you shall know of the doctrine. In obeying the precept, all else shall become plain.” I knew a man who acted upon this saying of the Saviour. He admired, as perfect, the preceptive portions of the Bible, but stumbled at some of its peculiar doctrines. He determined, therefore, to ascertain what effect obeying the precepts would have toward dissipating his difficulties in regard to the doctrines of our religion. He therefore at once endeavoured to live in every respect as he would have lived had he been a Christian: reading, praying, attending public worship, and making the moral code of the Bible his only rule of action. So obeying the precept, in less than a twelvemonth’s time the secret of the Lord was revealed to him, the truth of all the doctrines of God’s covenant of redeeming mercy in Christ was made plain to his understanding and grateful to his heart. Here is a cure for scepticism within the reach of every man. (David Caldwell, M. A.) Knowledge the reward of obedience 1. There are some parts of the Bible which none but a learned man can understand or explain. There are seeming difficulties and discrepancies in the Bible which may escape the notice of the casual reader, but of which all well-instructed theologians are aware, since they are standing objections in the mouth of the sceptic or the scorner. 2. There are some parts of the Bible which all can understand. No one who reads the New Testament, or who hears it read, can doubt what be ought to do, and what he ought not to do. The Bible is clear about many of its doctrines. 3. There is a middle class of truths that are easy of comprehension to some, and hard to others,--truths which human learning cannot impart, nor the want of learning, as such, exclude from the mind. These are the most solemn and most important teachings of Scripture, which tell us of the intimate relations which exist between man and his God: such as, the doctrines of the corruption of our nature; of the degrading and shameful conduct of sin; of our need of salvation and purification; of our own inability to purify and save ourselves; of the priceless blessings involved in the atonement of Jesus, and in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Of all these doctrines it may justly be said, they are easy or hard to be understood by different persons, and sometimes even by the same persons at different times. The practical knowledge of these great truths is an effort beyond the power of the intellect, apart from the convictions and aspirations of the soul. The natural man understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God. They are spiritually discerned, and mere learning cannot spiritually discern. “If any man will do God’s will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. An obedience springing from true faith is the key by which we are to unlock the hidden and more precious mysteries of the heavenly kingdom. (G. W. Brameld.) The knowledge of covenant securities The Rev. F.B. Meyer, when speaking of God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises, used the striking illustration of the deed to a house. The deed may be very old. It may be hard to decipher. The parchment may be stained and cracked. The inmates of the home in their busy life may forget all about it. But the very existence of the home depends upon it, and if it were lost and could not be replaced, sorrow and poverty and wretchedness would be the portion of that household. So our peace of soul, our very spiritual life, depends on the covenant which God the Father made long ago on our behalf with Christ the Son, that for His sake our sins should be forgiven and we should have a right to the many mansions. Psalm 25:15 My eyes are continually toward the LORD, for He will pluck my feet out of the net. My eyes are continually toward the LORD : Ps 121:1,2 123:2 141:8 for He will pluck my feet out of the net: Ps 31:4 Ps 124:7,8 Jer 5:26 2 Ti 2:25,26 NET Psalm 25:15 I continually look to the LORD for help, for he will free my feet from the enemy's net. (Psa 25:15 NET) NLT Psalm 25:15 My eyes are always on the LORD, for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies. MY EYES ARE CONTINUALLY: Looking to the Lord is an expression of faith in the Lord's power to deliver. Have you learned the power of looking to the Lord when you find yourself ensnared? David knows he (like all of us) is "prone to wander" and so he (and "we" enabled by the Spirit in the NT) chooses to fix His eyes "continually toward the LORD." And why does he do this? What is the spiritual benefit to us if each morning we begin by fixing our eyes on the LORD? David explains that he will pluck our feet out of the net! David looks to Jehovah Who never ceases to look at us (both a comforting or a convicting truth)! Clivia Martin penned a hymn His Eye is on the Sparrow attesting to this wonderful truth Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. Jamieson comments that "The psalmist returns to waiting on the Lord (Ps 25:1-3) and this is the expression of his confidence in God's deliverance." David was beset by enemies who had laid snares to trap him. And the implication is clear that believers likewise will encounter many snares and temptations from the world, our own flesh and the devil's minionsl, all continually seeking to ensnare us and hinder our walk with Jesus. We see a similar dynamic in Psalm 119:12 "With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments." Notice the first declaration speaks of the psalmist's wholehearted commitment to the Lord. But he recognizes that he is always vulnerable to the wiles of the three enemies of his soul and ever prone to wander and so he wisely prays for divine protection. Spurgeon on eyes...continually toward the LORD - The writer claims to be fixed in his trust, and constant in his expectation; he looks in confidence, and waits in hope. We may add to this look of faith and hope the obedient look of service, the humble look of reverence, the admiring look of wonder, the studious look of meditation, and the tender look of affection. Happy are those whose eyes are never removed from their God. "The eye, "says Solomon, "is never satisfied with seeing, "but this sight is the most satisfying in the world. Albert Barnes on eyes...continually toward the LORD - This is an indication of the habitual state of mind of the psalmist. He had said that God would lead and guide those who were meek, gentle, teachable, humble; and he now says that this was his habitual state of mind. He constantly looked to God. He sought His direction. In perplexity, in doubt, in difficulty, in danger, in view of death and the future world, he looked to God as his guide. In other words, in reference to himself, he carried out the principles which he had stated as constituting true religion. It was a religion of dependence on God, for man’s only hope is in Him. What the Bible teaches - Jehovah alone could deliver him from the entanglements and snares of life. Troubles are like a net, whether the deceitfulness of the heart within a man, or the callousness of adversaries without, or the pressures of circumstances around. There are pitfalls and traps that might imprison a man as in a net. As another has written, "What foes and snares surround me! What lusts and fears within!" (J. G. Deck). There was help in Jehovah alone and to Him only David lifts his eyes for deliverance. (What the Bible teaches – Psalms) Continually is tamiyd which is from root meaning stretch so it pictures constancy (a stretching out of the hand like the beggar I am is the picture this creates to me) and in the context a constancy of personal devotion (Hos 12:6, Ps 34:1 71:6), " I will hope continually," (Ps 71:14); "Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me." (Ps 40:11). "And let them pray for him continually" - Ps 72:15), "So I will keep Your law continually, Forever and ever. " - (Ps 119:44) Tamiyd is first used in Ex 25:30 - "“You shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before Me at all times." Play the spiritual song "I lift my eyes up" The Scriptures repeatedly speak of vertical looking which enables horizontal living (See discussion of "Vertical Vision")... Ps 121:1; A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? 2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. Ps 123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He is gracious to us. Ps 141:8 For my eyes are toward You, O GOD, the Lord; In You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless. Col 3:1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For - (term of explanation) David gives the reason for this look of faith to Jehovah. Believer's Bible Commentary: His eyes are looking continually heavenward in trust and expectation, and he is confident that the Lord will extricate him from the net of trouble and affliction in which he is presently entangled. He will pluck my feet out of the net - David fixed his eyes on the LORD, confident that He would deliver him from all the traps his enemies had laid.