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The Only Deliverance for a Soul That Is Bowed Down

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The Only Deliverance for a Soul That Is Bowed Down

9 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

The poet of Psalm 42 was experiencing a very difficult time. He felt that the Lord had departed from him, and now there were so many voices, enemy voices, which gave him no rest. They asked, “Where is thy God?” His answer was, “My soul is bowed down.” A soul in such a condition has many questions.

Reader, do you know what that is, to have a soul bowed down because you miss God so much? Do you know the struggles of such a person? They struggle in the darkness of their existence with the questions, “Is my missing the missing of a child of God? Is my sorrow the true sorrow that seeks after the Lord?” Do you also know something of the healing for such a bowed-down soul? When his soul was bowed down, the poet said, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” as if saying, “Is there then no God in heaven?”

“Hope thou in God.” That is not an empty, meaningless hope, a false hope without any knowledge of his God. No, he has come to know the Lord as the only object of hope. There have been times in his life when he could place his hand upon that hope, saying, “My hope is in Thee.”

Notice what is being said here. “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in Thee” (Psalm 39:7). This is the hope of one who has come to know himself as bankrupt. He is going over the earth with all the shame of his heavy guilt. There is nowhere for him to turn. There the soul may come to the right place. Oh, then there is nothing left for me, nowhere to turn, but then there is still this God upon whom I may hope.

The devil says, “You do not need to call upon the Lord anymore, for the Lord can never hear you. Your prayers go no further than the ceiling.” Oh, when a soul is so cast down, the devil can say so much. But when the Lord may come over, and faith may again be in exercise, then he may lift his face out of the dust, saying, “Although all these things are true, yet will I praise Him. Now I am not able to see through this, and I do not know how it must all come to good, but I may trust in the living God.” He is saying, “No, my soul, you must not be bowed down in such a way. There is a better bowing, and that is the bowing of a soul which may come under God and may become united with the will of God.”

Dear reader, what a wonder if we could come to that place during these dark and difficult times when so many of us are bowed down, saying, “Has the Lord forgotten and forsaken us?” Oh, if there could yet be a people who may bow under God, saying, “Lord, all of this is because of my sins.” If in these days we could be more disquieted because of soul troubles, then the many other troubles which we see around us would not be so overwhelming. It could then be that the Lord may prove in our midst that He has not left us, that He has not forgotten us, but that Joseph is alive and is ruler over all Israel. In our midst there would then be those who with a trembling voice may begin to say, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?”


Hope in God. He knows all your needs. With Him alone there is deliverance.


The poet felt deep in his heart that the Lord was still there, and that the sinner may be saved, not because of any worthiness on his side, but because this God was moved from within Himself. No, with the poet all hope upon man had fallen away. He could no longer hope upon former experiences and former times. There he spoke to his soul, “Hope thou in God.” That was the same God who had drawn him with cords of mercy and grace. He had never asked for this God, and then from heaven God came to ask after him. When there was no true prayer in his heart, then within this barren heart God had raised a true prayer. That is not a hope outside of Jesus, but such a hope is founded upon Jesus, the Mediator between God and His people. It is a living hope. Such a hope can only be satisfied when something may descend from those heavenly regions to comfort and strengthen that which the Lord has laid in his heart.

The poet again admonished his soul, saying, “Hope in God. He knows all your needs. With Him alone there is deliverance. Hope upon His faithfulness. He has promised that what He has begun in your soul He will never forsake, but will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Hope in His mercy, for with Him is a fountain which can never be emptied. Hope in His love, for it will never fail. Even when you come to the end of the pilgrim’s journey, He will say, ‘I have bought thee with the price of My blood.’” The poet may again say, “My soul, hope in God, for I will yet praise Him.”

Oh, the poet came to a wonderful place. “I will yet....” Regardless of how much there may come up against it, I will praise the Lord. Hell cannot stop me from doing that; the world cannot turn me away from it. World, even when you want to close my mouth forever, or although you make me ever so afraid, I will yet praise Him. I am such a miserable monster of sin. I, who am the least among the saints of God, will praise Him. I will glorify His Name. I will praise Him because there were thoughts of peace from all eternity for such as I am. I will praise Him because He was willing in the fulness of time to reach for such a worthless lump of clay.

Yes, those people will always praise God, for He has bought them with the precious price of His blood. In spite of all backslidings, He will remain ever faithful for them. And when the moments come that they may feel this deep in their heart, then they may have hope upon the future.

As the poet looked about him, he was still upon the battlefield. The enemies were ever as many and as powerful as before. But he might look up, knowing that there is a God in heaven. Oh, he could not let go of the Lord anymore, but the greatest wonder in his life was that the Lord could not let go of him. Eternal love had drawn him out of darkness into glorious light. Those whom Jesus received from His Father, those for whom He gave His blood, will not be lost. And when faith may embrace that wonder, then there are times that they may own all that is necessary for their soul. They may then say, “And my God,” meaning, “I am His possession; I am for His account. Therefore, devil and all other voices which so often oppress me, by this God-given faith I may know that I am a member ofthat body of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the head.”


The Lord will take care of me, for He is my God, my refuge, and my hiding place.


No, I do not stand, nor do I travel, for my own account any longer. The Lord will take care of me, for He is my God, my refuge, and my hiding place. When everything upon this earth will be taken away from me, my God can never be taken away from me. When we may know Him as “My God,” then we have everything. Then we know that, through the precious blood of the Mediator, this God will not be angry with us anymore. I do not mean that the soul always has the assurance of this knowledge, but here such a soul may say, “Selah! Rest a moment, my soul.” Oh, what a rich benefit it is, not only to express the choice of the soul, “He is my God,” but to have the testimony in my heart given by the Holy Spirit, “He is my God.”

(Rev. den Hoed serves the congregation of Rock Valley, Iowa.)


The Glory of Christ

That real view which we may have of Christ and His glory in this world by faith — however weak and obscure that knowledge which we may attain of them by divine revelation — is inexpressibly to be preferred above all other wisdom, understanding, or knowledge. So declared one who will be acknowledged a competent judge in these things:

“Yea, doubtless,” said he, “I count all these things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). He who does not has no part in Him.

The revelation made of Christ in the blessed gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, and more filled with rays of divine wisdom and goodness than the whole creation and the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or afford. Without this knowledge the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and confusion. This, therefore, deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations, and our utmost diligence in them.

— Rev. John Owen

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 november 1993

The Banner of Truth | 24 Pagina's

The Only Deliverance for a Soul That Is Bowed Down

Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 november 1993

The Banner of Truth | 24 Pagina's