THE PROFITABLE LIFE

What a contrast there is between that which is declared in the previous verse about the life and the end of the wicked and that which Asaph testifies of his own personal life. Here Asaph does not speak about other people but he speaks about himself.

Asaph was a person known by God from eternity and ordained in Christ unto eternal salvation. Therefore he was included in God’s good pleasure. Christ had become Surety with His heart for him and He was the Lamb which in God’s decrees, was slain also for him. Christ had paid the debt for him. In the time of good pleasure, God the Holy Spirit had called him from darkness into God’s wonderful light. Asaph had been brought near by Christ. Here he had learned what it meant to be separated from God, and that because of his own sin and guilt. He had mourned and wept about that separation.

But he had also experienced that through the intercession of that blessed Mediator of the covenant, the gap was closed and the breach between God and his soul was healed. O, what a great mercy! On man’s side it is impossible to be restored into fellowship with God. But that which is impossible with man, is possible with God. Only in fellowship with God lies true life, true peace, and true salvation. To God’s true people, life outside of God is death. But there is life, peace and joy in the light of the King’s countenance. It is the same as in natural life when a child is home, then it is at ease, and as a father’s and mother’s heart beats to do anything for the child, thus it is here.

At home the child is free in his movements. He can tell everything to father and mother and there the child feels itself surrounded by love. At home the child is favorably listened to, there all needs are fulfilled and there it has no fear. There it is protected, favored, there the heart beats so warmly for him, and there he is surrounded with all good things. At home he is in his element. Thus it is also experienced by all those that are close to God. O, if during their life the separation has fallen away, then God is no longer an angry Judge but in Christ He has become a reconciled God and Father. Even though they are enabled to say, ‘Abba Father” through the Holy Spirit, yet there are so few moments that they may feel at home. They learn to know themselves more and more as deserters from God. O, that going a whoring from God, that forsaking the Rock of their salvation, that wandering away from the Spring and Fountain of life; how often it causes their soul to wander far from the Lord. How few are the moments that they may delight themselves and rejoice in the immediate fellowship of God. Yet that is the life of their life. When they are near to God, then they experience His mercies which strengthen them more than the choicest meat. When near to God, they delight themselves in the Lord and rejoice in the glory and majesty of His excellencies.

When they are near to God, then there is no more darkness. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Then unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.

When near to God, they enjoy a peace which passes all understanding and keeps heart and mind through Christ Jesus.

When near to God, the enemy cannot oppress them, and their soul finds rest at the loving heart of God.

When near to God, the world has no longer influence upon them, and they are no longer assailed by it.

“For one kiss of Jesus’ mouth,
I give all that black ground.”

When near to God, the old man of sin is crucified, and it can no longer carry away and imprison the child of God.

When near to God they are conformed to the image of Christ; they walk in His footsteps and live to the glory of His Name.

When near to God, they walk in the law of God with inward delight of the soul. Then they live to please God and they abhor themselves.

When near to God, unbelief has no longer power, and they no longer reason about the ways of God. Then they do not censure His dealings, but in faith they rely upon the faithful and unchangeable Covenant God, and commend all their ways to the Lord, and they lose themselves in His works which are honorable and glorious.

There also the strongest faith is exercised of which Asaph testifies in these words: “I have put my trust in the Lord God.”

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” Heb. 11:1. That faith excludes all doubt. Faith rests in God through Christ. Faith is saying yea and amen to all that which God has spoken and done to the glory of His Name, to the exaltation of Christ, and to the eternal salvation and glory of all God’s favorites.

Denying himself and that which is his own, the sinner by faith, of which the Holy Spirit is the Author, embraces Christ and the perfect righteousness He has brought in. We ourselves are the greatest idol before whom we bow, and God must break down and sweep away everything that stands in His way. God’s Spirit works powerfully and irresistibly and manifests Himself as a Spirit of judgment and of burning so that we shall relinquish everything, and that nothing shall be left but a Triune God as the only support of our heart. It is God’s work to make us despair of all our rags with which we want to cover ourselves, and to relinquish all grounds which would fail us in the hour of death. God’s dear Spirit also discovers Christ and His perfect righteousness to us and applies that precious, indispensable and amiable Person as the only foundation of salvation. All that God now works and grants in the time of His good pleasure, in the hearts of His elect, is not without fruit. Some people discuss much at times, even the most important matters and articles, but when we seek for fruit, then it is bitterly disappointing. It is evident that with such, their exercises are a foot too high. Many people think themselves happy and imagine themselves happy. Others take a work of the mind for a work of the heart. But friends, the difference between them is as great as between life and death, between light and darkness. O, let us not overlook these matters, but deal honestly and faithfully with our soul. Consider that we are on the way to an awful eternity, and that by and by in the grave there shall be no more device nor knowledge. Here it is possible to repent, but when death has cut off our life, it is impossible to return.

Asaph had received much grace, but the fruit of that grace also became manifest. No, it did not remain concealed, but in the face of the greatest enemy he boldly declares here, “I have put my trust in the Lord God.” He trusts in Jehovah, in that God Who once declared out of the burning bush, “I am that I am.”

He trusted in the Lord, in the Almighty, all-sufficient, Blessed Covenant God with the knowledge that this God shall not put him to shame, but that He was, is, and shall be an eternal Rock to him. Trusting in the Lord God as in the God of the oath and covenant, is his joy and blessedness. The devil may assault him, but without result. Christ, the King of Zion, came to destroy the works of the devil. Christ satisfied the demands of the Divine law and justice. The handwriting which was against those people has been blotted out upon the hill of Golgotha. Death is swallowed up in victory. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us. By virtue of the sovereign good pleasure of the Father in Christ Jesus, the ground for God’s elect is more firm and immovable than the firm rock.

Faith conquers the world, and the Divine power and the Divine ability that is manifested in the exercising of faith can never be expressed. How good God is to His people in this life. Of themselves they have nothing but unbelief and doubt, yet the church sings,

“In His favor we are strong.”

And that we learn also from this text. God’s work is crowned and glorified. And for what purpose. Certainly also to confound hell and to strengthen God’s people, but what is the real purpose? The honor and glory of God.

Just listen to Asaph when he says, “I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all Thy works.” So often we run away with ourselves, and the more discovering light we receive from the Lord, the more we become aware what great monsters we are before God. O, that damnable seeking of self, that dishonoring of God, that denying of Christ and of His precious mediatorial work. If it were possible for God’s people to be grieved in heaven, then they would weep forever about themselves. But—God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

“That I may proclaim all Thy works.” The works of the Lord are great: sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. They are the works of God in eternity: the establishing of His eternal decree, the Suretyship of His Son, the election and rejection of angels and men, the sealing of the covenant. The works of God in nature are creation and providence.

“Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.”

The works of God in grace are: the interpretation of His decree, the sending of His Son, the performance of His eternal good pleasure in Christ Jesus, the gathering, the increasing, and the establishing of His church.

The works of God in the world are: the planting and spreading of the gospel. From generation to generation His Name shall continue. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. But there is still more: God’s work in restraining and destroying His enemies. God has His eye upon all those that are wroth with Zion. He also tolerates sin and directs and determines it to a certain end, Gen. 50:20.

The works of God in the hearts of His people: He begins that good work, Phil. 1:6. He regenerates them by His Spirit and Word, implants faith in their hearts, unites them with Christ, gives them a well-grounded hope, causes them to be zealous in good works, vouchsafes them to walk in Christ’s footsteps and to be conformable unto Him, preserves them unto His Kingdom, and where shall we end?

And lo, Asaph desires nothing but to relate all those works of the Lord. His eyes had been opened to see them. O, what a mercy! By nature we are blind to God’s works, but by grace we are enabled to see them. The world knows nothing of God’s work, and the superficial professor has no eye for it either. It is all revealed only to the children.

Furthermore, God’s favorites are also granted that their mouth is opened to tell of God’s works, to testify of them to friend and foe. Yea, that is at the bottom of their heart. That is the fervent desire of their soul. The chief aim of their life is the honor of God, the glory of God, and the high praises of God. It once happened that Asaph had a closed mouth, and even though his mouth was opened, it was not always to the glory of God. At times he said things which made him very sorry afterward, but which God blotted out in the blood of His Son. Now the riddles are solved for Asaph; now he is again in his place under God and following God, and now he desires nothing else than to proclaim the works of the Lord, also that work of God that he had been brought into the sanctuary, that all opposition and rebellion had been broken, and that he was entirely united with God.

Yea, being near to God, we no longer seek to glorify ourselves, then everything is subdued. Then we seek only the honor of that God Who must be praised forever.

O, may we now together seriously examine ourselves before the Lord whether we also know that life. If we are still estranged from it, how we then are to be pitied!

One day in Eden’s garden we had fellowship with God, and the honor of God was our chief delight and the object of our life. We have turned ourselves miserably from the communion with God. It is all our own fault that we wander in this world and have no other expectation than to be separated from God forever.

Boys and girls, old and young, whether sick or healthy, may it yet make an impression upon you. Shall it be well with us, then we must learn something of this. From eternity, God took reasons out of Himself to devise a way, but also to pave that way in Christ Jesus. O, do not despise God’s mercy and longsuffering. May it lead you to repentance.

And all of you who have obtained an interest in that “profitable” life but are still wandering upon the earth, O, may God’s Spirit give you no rest, but continue to contend with you, with us, until we have entered into that rest.

Near to God is a God-glorifying life, but it is also profitable to us. Then we will not fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. May that blessed communion be tasted and enjoyed often. It shall strengthen our faith, quicken our hope, and warm our love. May God for Christ’s sake, give us often to be near unto God, for then our soul shall rely upon Him, and then we shall also proclaim His praise.

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