The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous.
The joy of holy households
A believer in Christ is not long without finding joy. He is in the land which floweth with milk and honey, and he will get a sip of sweetness very soon. Like Nicodemus, he comes to Jesus in the dark, but the sun is rising. This joy is in him and abounds, so that he belongs to a happy people.
I. There is joy in the families of the righteous.
1. To some extent, this is in proportion to the salvation that is found in the family. Many among us can say, “All my children are children of God: they go with me from my table to the Lord’s table: I have a church in my house, and all nay household are in the church.” Here is a picture, a pattern, a paragon, a paradise. Seek, then, the salvation of the whole of your household.
2. The joy which is here alluded to is mainly spiritual: a joy of the father, because he is saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation; a joy of the mother, because she, too, has had her heart opened, like Lydia, to hear and to receive the Word; a joy of the dear children, as they offer their little prayers, and as they talk of Jesus, whom their soul loves.
3. This kind of joy, while it is spiritual, is not dependent upon external circumstances; it hangs not on wealth or honour. They said of old that philosophers could be merry without music, and I am sure that it is truer still of Christians that they can be happy in the Lord when temporal circumstances are against them. Our bells need no silken ropes to set them ringing, neither must they be hung in lofty towers.
4. Christian joy, whether in the individual or the family, can be abundantly justified. If God is pleased with us, we may well be pleased with Him.
II. This joy should be expressed. “The voice,” etc. We should put a tongue in our joys, and let them speak. The voice should be heard daily, from morn till eve, and till the silence of sleep steals over all; but it should never fail to sound forth in the daily gatherings for family prayer. It should be a happy occasion when we meet to read the Word of God, and to pray together. It is well if we can also sing at such times. Matthew Henry says, concerning family prayer, “They that pray do well; they that pray and read the Scriptures do better; they that pray, and read the Scriptures, and sing a hymn, do best of all.” There will be frequent occasions for holy joy in all Christian families, and these ought always to be used right heartily. Holy joy breeds no ill, however much we have of it. You can easily eat too much honey, but you can never enjoy too much delight in God. Birthdays and anniversaries of all sorts, with family meetings of various kinds, should find us setting life to music right heartily. Moreover, it would be well if our houses more generally resounded with song. It drives dull care away, it wards off evil thought, it tends to a general exultation, for the members of a household to be accustomed individually and collectively to sing. If you really cannot sing at all, yet the voice of rejoicing and salvation may be in your tabernacles by a constant cheerfulness, bearing up under pain and poverty, losses and crosses. God give you more and more of this spirit in all your households! The whole Church shall be blessed when every family is thus made happy in the Lord and in His great salvation.
III. This joy of holy households is a joy concerning what the Lord hath done.
1. How we should joy in God, in our families, when we think of all that He has done in conquering sin and Satan, death and hell! Christ hath led captivity captive; therefore, let us sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously.
2. Then let us think of what the Lord has done for each one of us individually.
3. Since then, the Lord has helped us in providence, and delivered us from fierce temptations, and made us to stand steadfastly when the adversary has thrust sore at us that we might fall.
4. And when you see great sinners converted, when the drunkard leaves his cups, when the swearer washes out his filthy mouth, and sings the praises of God, when a hardened, irreligious, sceptical man bows like a child at Jesus’ feet, should not our families as well as ourselves be made acquainted with it, and should it not be a subject for joy at the family altar? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Domestic happiness
I. Its importance.
1. In reference to our avocations and cares. These are numerous and diversified, and demand relaxation and relief. Who could endure perpetual drudgery and fatigue?--and what so refreshing, so soothing, so satisfying, as the placid joys of home!
2. In reference to the afflictions of life. It looks like a general remedy, furnished by the kindness of Providence, to alleviate the troubles which from various quarters we unavoidably feel while passing through this world of vanity and vexation of spirit. How many little sighing vacancies does it fill up! How many cloudy nervous vapours does it chase from the mind!
3. In reference to the good things of this life. Without this, all will be insipid, all will be useless. Imagine yourselves prosperous in your affairs; trade pouring in wealth, your grounds bringing forth plentifully, your cup running over--misery under your own roof would be sufficient to canker your gold and silver; to corrupt your abundance; to embitter every pleasure.
4. In reference to the seductions and snares of the world. From the danger of these there is no better preservative than the attractions of a family. The more a man feels his welfare lodged in his own house, the more will he prize and love it. The more he is attached to his wife and children, the less will he risk their peace and comfort by hazardous speculations, and mad enterprises in trade.
II. To open its sources, and examine on what it depends.
1. Without order you can never rule well your own house. “God is not the God of confusion.” He loves order: order pervades all His works.
2. Many things will arise to try your temper: and he is unqualified for social life who has no rule over his own spirit; “who cannot bear the frailties of his fellow-creatures with common charity, and the vexations of life with common patience.”
3. The influence and advantage of good sense are incalculable. This will preserve us from censoriousness; will lead us to distinguish circumstances; to draw things from the dark situation of prejudice which rendered them frightful, that we may candidly survey them in open day.
4. We must go beyond all this, and remind you of those religious principles by which you are to be governed These are to be found in the Word of God; and as many as walk according to this rule, mercy and peace shall be upon them. God has engaged that if you will walk in His way, you shall find rest unto your souls. If it be said, There are happy families without religion, I would answer--
(1) There is a difference between appearances and reality.
(2) If we believe the Scripture, this is impossible--“the way of transgressors is hard: there is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked.”
(3) Religion secures those duties, upon the performance of which the happiness of households depends.
(4) Religion attracts the Divine blessing--and all we possess depends upon its smiles. (W. Jay.)
The happiness o/ the righteous
I. Explain. The joy of the righteous is--
1. Intense.
2. Satisfying.
3. Abiding. You “rejoice” in that which rust cannot destroy, and which the tongues of men cannot injure.
II. Apply.
1. How miserable is the state of the wicked.
2. How important is vital piety. (C. Clayton, M.A.)
The cultivation of piety
I. True piety has a voice ringing with the note of joy and health. Could we set forth the beauty of its offices, the beauty of prayer, the joyousness of worship, the peace of Divine fellowship; could we restore the bloom of health to its wan countenance; could we put the mountain air end breezes into our religion and make it a strong, healthy, living thing; could we make it a voice of rejoicing and salvation in the dwellings of our land, how grand, how triumphant, how sovereign a power it would become!
II. The place of true piety is the home. We need better homes; homes ruled in the fear of the Lord, where father and mother are prophet, priest and king; homes sweetened by the incense of prayer and worship and well-ordered discipline; homes where the Sabbath is honoured and all needless toil and travelling on the day of the Lord areavoided, and worship and edification as becometh immortal beings are the order of the day; homes where reverence has her abode, and holy beauty and the gladness of Christian faith and charity; homes that are none other than the house of God, none other than the gate of heaven. (H. F. Henderson, M.A.)
Union of gladness and goodness
It demoralizes life and religion to believe that God does not desire the happiness of His creatures, just as surely as it demoralizes life and religion to imagine that He has no higher aim for them than that they should be happy. It was a wise, as well as a Scriptural, answer which was given to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism as to man’s chief end. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.” It is not without reason that spiritual life and blessedness are always in some form joined together; for goodness and happiness were not meant to be divided. Culture and restraint. (Hugh Black.)