Psalms 119:117

And, as though it were answered him in silence, Thou dost not wish to be disappointed of your hope? Cease not to meditate upon My righteousnesses: and, feeling that this meditation is usually hindered by the weaknesses of the soul, "Help me," he says, "and I shall be safe; yea, I will meditate in Your righteousnesses always" [Psalm 119:117].

Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe,....

"Hold thou me up:" as a nurse holds up a little child. "And I shall be safe," and not else; for unless thou hold me up I shall be falling about like an infant that is weak upon its knees. We are saved by past grace, but we are not safe unless we receive present grace. The Psalmist had vowed to keep the Lord's commands, but here he pleads with the Lord to keep him: a very sensible course of procedure.

"Hold thou me up:" as a nurse holds up a little child. "And I shall be safe," and not else; for unless thou hold me up I shall be falling about like an infant that is weak upon its knees. We are saved by past grace, but we are not safe unless we receive present grace. The Psalmist had vowed to keep the Lord's commands, but here he pleads with the Lord to keep him: a very sensible course of procedure. Our version reads the word "uphold," and then "hold up;" and truly we need this blessing in every shape in which it can come, for in all manner of ways our adversaries seek to cast us down. To be safe is a happy condition; there is only one door to it, and that is to be held up by God himself; thank God, that door is open to the least among us. "And I will have respect unto thy statutes continually." In obedience is safety; in being held up is obedience. No man will outwardly keep the Lord's statutes for long together unless he has an inward respect for them, and this will never be unless the hand of the Lord perpetually upholds the heart in holy love. Perseverance to the end, obedience continually, comes only through the divine power; we start aside as a deceitful bow unless we are kept right by him that first gave us grace. Happy is the man who realizes this verse in his life: upheld through his whole life in a course of unswerving integrity, he becomes a safe and trusted man, and maintains a sacred delicacy of conscience which is unknown to others. He feels a tender respect for the statutes of the Lord, which keeps him clear of inconsistencies and conformities to the world that are so common among others, and hence he is a pillar in the house of the Lord.

Of course I am now preaching only from the English text when I note these changes of expression, and I am rather giving illustrations than teaching by authority. Yet this is of authority—that we have need, continually, to cry for upholding Grace. You notice that in the first prayer, "Uphold me," it is for very life that he entreats for this upholding. "Uphold me according unto Your Word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope." He feels that unless fresh Grace shall flow into his soul, his spiritual life must utterly fail. Do not forget this—let it give weight to your pleading. But in the second of the two verses—the one which makes our text—he looks for more than life as the result of upholding. He looks for safety, a life of unsullied holiness and consequent restfulness and security. "Hold You me up, and I shall be safe, and I will have respect unto Your statutes continually." Both verses show you the importance of the prayer and both together, will, I hope, enlist your earnest attention to what I may have to say upon it. It is a very sweet remark that every prayer is an inverted promise. That is to say, God promises us such a blessing and, therefore, we pray for it. Or, if you please, if God teaches us to pray for any good thing, we may gather, by implication, the assurance that He means to give it! If you feel in your heart a God-inspired desire to ask a certain favor, it is because God intends to bestow it upon you! A prayer is the shadow of a coming blessing. Therefore we pray because the blessing is coming! It is said that prayer cannot alter the purpose of God.