“Thou art my hiding-place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”—Ps. xxxii. 7, 8.

Well, indeed, may the Psalmist say, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,” for every blessing flows into the soul as the consequence of divine forgiveness. The word in the Hebrew rendered “Blessed” is in the plural number, to show that there is not one blessing only, but multiplied blessings and multiplied mercies, all springing from this one source, the forgiveness of sin. When David wrote these words he felt the truth of them. He spoke of a gift which he had himself experienced. He had found mercy, so he proclaimed its richness. We know how grievously he fell in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah, and we remember Nathan’s visit. It was after that visit that, according to the general belief, this Psalm was written. He had struggled with the agonies of unforgiven sin, till at length the message was delivered to him by the prophet, “The Lord, also, hath put away thy sin.” [5] No wonder, then, that he poured out his heart in this hymn of thanksgiving, commencing with the words, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”But it is not merely a Psalm of thanksgiving, for according to the title it was a Maschil, a Psalm giving instruction. When David was pleading for mercy in Psalm li., he said that when he had found forgiveness himself, he would make it known for the good of others, “Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways.” [6] So now, having been forgiven, he wrote this Psalm of instruction for others.

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” These were the words with which David commenced his Psalm, and in these words he said that to which every forgiven soul will most heartily add, “Amen.”

What was the peculiar character of that blessedness? We learn from verses 3 and 4 the awful misery of sin unrepented and unforgiven. We find how David’s tears were dried up by the burning heat of a guilty conscience, and how the dreadful burden weighed day and night upon his soul. Then in the next verse we are taught the secret of the great transition from misery to peace. We find how he made up his mind to make no further efforts to conceal his guilt. He resolved to confess it before God, and no longer attempt to hide it from man. The result was a complete, assured, and most merciful forgiveness. “Thou forgavest,” he said, “the iniquity of my sin.” He was assured of the gift, but what was the unspeakable blessedness to which, when forgiven, he was admitted?

This we learn from the words of our text in which we find the peaceful intercourse of the forgiven soul with God. It is that peaceful intercourse which constitutes the real test of forgiveness, Christ died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God: so those who are made partakers of that atoning work are actually brought to God and made what the Psalmist calls “a people near unto Him.” [7] So it was in the case of David. There was nothing to keep him any longer at a distance, and in the full peace of complete reconciliation he enjoyed the unspeakable privilege of communion with God. The account of this communion is given us in the verses of our text, in the first of which we have the language of the forgiven sinner to God, in the second the reply from God Himself.

I. The Language of the Forgiven Soul addressing God.

He that was afar off without any shelter from the rough storm of an accusing conscience, is now able to look up to the God who has forgiven him and say, “Thou art my hiding-place.” He finds his shelter and his safety in the presence of that very God whose law he had broken. He does not say, “Thou hast provided a hiding-place,” but “Thou art my hiding-place.” He who had been exposed without protection to the sore buffetings of his own conscience, confirmed as it was by the just sentence of God’s holy law, had been so completely restored that he had found in God Himself a hiding-place.

In that sacred hiding-place he realized two results, safety and praise. When hidden there he was safe, just as our own life is safe when hidden with Christ in God, and therefore he could say, “Thou shalt preserve me,” and when hidden there he would live in the very atmosphere of thanksgiving, so he said, “Thou shalt compass me about (or surround me) with songs of deliverance.” A song of deliverance is a song of praise from one that has been delivered. The Song of Moses was a song of deliverance when he stood on the shores of the Red Sea after he had seen the hosts of Egypt overwhelmed in the flood. [8a] David’s was a song of deliverance when God had brought him up out of the horrible pit and established his goings, and had put a new song in his mouth. [8b] The song of the great multitude before the throne is a song of deliverance, when, brought out of great tribulation, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, they sing, “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” [8c]

Observe the connection between this safety and these songs of deliverance. The songs are not merely the consequence of the safety, but a part of it. Hidden in the Lord, we are compassed, or surrounded, by them. Whichever way we look, whether forward in hope, or backward in memory, or upwards in trust, there is in every direction something to call forth the praise, and the spirit of thanksgiving is in itself a protection against assault.

There is just the same connection between praise and safety in the description of the restored Zion: “Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.” [8d] Praise is there represented as part of the defence. The enemy cannot enter because the gateway is filled by praise. The song of deliverance is so hearty and so loud that the voice of the tempter is not heard. And thus it is that the forgiven man, hidden in Christ Jesus, praises God, because he has been saved, and confirms his safety by the very act of praising Him. Does not this teach us a lesson as to our own communion with God? Whatever it is that weighs on the heart and disturbs the spirit, whatever the storm be that beats upon us, whether it be care from without or conscience within, whether it be the pain of trouble or the still greater pain of the sense of sin, the forgiven man may go straight to Him and say, “I flee unto Thee to hide me.” [9a] And if hidden in Him, can anything really hurt us? Is not His salvation a sufficient wall? Shall anything that can really hurt us enter in by those gates which He has closed with praise? In holy peace, then let the songs of deliverance rise before Him. Let the unspeakable blessedness of the divine safety call forth the notes of thanksgiving. If the sweet note of praise was heard by the prisoners from the inner dungeon at Philippi, [9b] shall it not be heard by the whole church of God from those who have found a hiding-place in their Lord?

II. The Lord’s Reply to the Forgiven Man.

Such, then, was the language of the forgiven man to the God who had forgiven him. What reply did he receive? “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye.” You will observe that what is here promised is His own divine guidance and instruction, and you will see at once how appropriate such a promise was under the peculiar circumstances of the case. David had grievously fallen. He had been walking, in former times, in God’s way, but had turned aside in a most awful manner. We do not know what was the preparatory process in his mind. Perhaps he had forgotten his weakness; perhaps he had grown self-confident and fell. But we see what God promised now that he was restored. He undertook in future to keep him Himself, by His own instruction and His own guidance. The Lord Himself undertook to guide him, and so keep him safe from the danger of another fall.

There are two points in this promise. It was in the way, not about the way, that God promised to guide him. When he was walking in the narrow way God under took to walk with him there, and to hold him fast in His own right hand till the journey should be complete, and the rest reached at the end. Let us all learn the lesson that God’s teaching is only found in the path of God’s commandments. If we choose to walk in some way of our own choosing, we must not expect the guidance of the Lord.

Observe also what I may term the delicacy of the promise and the intimacy of the relationship. God says, “I will guide thee with Mine eye.”

When David was living in a state of impenitence, the strong hand of God was upon him day and night. But now a look is enough. No force is needed. The heart is tender, the ear is open, the eye is fixed on the Lord Jesus, and the least intimation of His will is sufficient. The passage seems to describe the eye of the Lord watching over His children, and the eyes of His children fixed on the Lord. When the Lord Jesus looked on Peter, Peter must have been looking on Him, and one look melted his heart. And so when the Lord is guiding us, there is no need of strong or violent discipline, of the wind, the storm, or the earthquake, for the still small voice is enough. What is needed is that we should be living looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, seeking to know His will, drinking in His word, watching the guidance of His providence, applying the principles of Scripture to common life, and so not waiting till conviction is forced upon us, but, with a tender heart and a ready mind, seeking hour by hour to do His will. It is in such an attitude of mind that we can realize the sacred promise, “I will guide thee with Mine eye.”

Such, then, was the intercourse of this forgiven man with God. How close, how intimate, how sacred, how blessed, the communion! And how complete must have been the forgiveness that prepared the way for it. It seems almost impossible to believe that this was the same man on whom God’s hand had been heavy day and night, the same whose bones had waxed old through his roaring all the day long, now forgiven, now brought into happy intercourse with God. Does not the passage teach a wonderful lesson to every soul that has been mercifully forgiven in Christ Jesus? When we think of the precious blood of Christ, and how the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all, can we suppose for a moment that the forgiveness bestowed on us is less complete, or the restoration less perfect, than that of David? Since, then, in his case, the insuperable barrier of his guilt was so completely broken down that he was admitted to this sacred and intimate fellowship, why should any one of us remain at a distance? Why should not we, even we, go before the same Father to find in Him our hiding-place, and receive from Him the same blessed assurance, “I will guide thee with Mine eye”? May He accompany us through life with that loving guidance and watch over every step we take till, by His great grace, we are safe from danger.