I. It is when the sinner feels his weakness and his utter inability to deliver himself from the clinging guilt of the past, to shake off by the mere exercise of his will the evil habits and unruly tempers that have got strong hold over him, and to keep himself free from falls for the time to come, that the concluding words of the text come home to him with their full power: "There is mercy with Thee; thereforeshalt Thou be feared." If there were no mercy, there would be little fear. Men would grow reckless, desperate. All experience, the experience of all ages and countries, has shown this. Where mercy is never shown, crimes multiply; men grow bolder, take their chance more recklessly, and meet their fate more doggedly, than when there is an occasional pardon and reprieve.
II. If God were extreme to mark what is done amiss, there would be no hope for any of us. But He has a prerogative of mercy, which He exercises in favour of those whom He deems worthy of it. Because, therefore, He holds the prerogative of mercy, let us fear Him fear lest we should render ourselves unworthy of it; fear lest we should compel Him to withhold it; fear lest we should miss it.
F. E. Paget, Helps and Hindrances to the Christian Life,vol. ii., p. 28.
I. As St. Paul urged the goodness of God as a motive not, as some might expect, for hope and confidence, but for repentance "The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance" so here the same doctrine is taught us by the Holy Spirit; because God is merciful, therefore we ought to fear Him. We might have expected that the psalmist would have said, There is mercy with Thee; therefore shalt Thou be trusted. There is mercy with Thee; therefore shalt Thou be loved and adored: and so of course it might; nevertheless the word is, "Therefore shalt Thou be feared," or "that Thou mayest be feared."
II. We should all endeavour more and more to feel and acknowledge our own deficiencies, our sins, negligences, and ignorances, and then to set in earnest about leading a new life, because to go on as we have been, without trying to grow better, may indeed satisfy other people and ourselves too; but still the awful question remains whether we are indeed such as our Lord, Master, and Redeemer will acknowledge as His in the day when He makes up His jewels.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times,"vol. iv., p. 250.
Reference: Psalms 130:3; Psalms 130:4. Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 367.