Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth.
The persecuted condition of godly men on this earth
I. As suffering under the hand of wicked persecution. The persecution here referred to was--
1. Of early commencement (verse 1). It is ever so; the persecutions of godly men begin in this life in the very youthhood of their religion.
2. Frequent in its occurrence.
3. Violent in its character (verse 3). (Isaiah 51:23; Micah 3:12.) This language finds its application in--
(1) Christ.
(2) His Church.
II. As engaging the merciful interposition of heaven (verse 4).
1. He is engaged in sustaining them. The bush burned on, but was not consumed. The branches were torn up, but the roots struck deeper. Not all the enemies of Christ “prevailed” against Him. Heaven always sustains the good.
2. He is engaged in delivering them. The plough is fastened by “cords” to the yoke of the oxen, and they draw its tearing iron through the ground. If you would stop the plough you must cut the “cords.” This is the figure, God in righteousness will one day stop the plough of persecution, He will deliver His people out of all their troubles.
III. As rising triumphantly over all their enemies (Psalms 129:5-8). Persecutors will be utterly routed, driven back with burning shame, with panic dread. This was the case with Pharaoh, Sennacherib, with Haman, Herod; aye, with persecutors in every age. “I will break your church in pieces with a hammer, if you do not obey me,” said a French monarch to a Protestant pastor. Calm and dignified was the reply: “This anvil has broken many a hammer.” (Homilist.)
Persecuted, but not forsaken
The life of the Lord Jesus Christ is the picture of the life of His people. “As He was,” says Paul, “so are we also in this world.” This is so remarkably true that, in the Psalms, we sometimes can hardly tell whether the writer is describing himself or the Lord Jesus. Shall the disciple be above his Master,? Shall the servant be above his Lord? If they have persecuted Him, they will also persecute us.
I. First notice, concerning Israel’s affliction, whence it came: “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth.” Who was it that afflicted Israel? The text says, “they.” And why is the word “they” used? Because to enter into particulars would rather obscure the sense than impress anything upon the memory. “They.” I hardly like to think of who they are who, in many cases, have afflicted God’s true servants; but it is still true that “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” A woman is just brought to Christ, and her greatest trouble comes from him whom she loves best of all living mortals; her husband becomes her terror. Outside, in the world, the Christian man frequently meets with those who would rejoice to see him halt, who try to make faults where there are none, and exaggerate little mistakes into great crimes. He is a pilgrim through the midst of Vanity Fair whom the traders there cannot understand. In his case, that ancient word is again fulfilled (Jeremiah 12:9).
II. How does this persecution come? The psalm says, “Many a time”; that means very often. So, then, you who are faithful to God must expect that you will frequently be assailed.
III. What is the reason for all this persecution? There are two reasons; and the first is the hatred of the serpent and his seed. There are two things that are inconceivable in length and breadth. The first is the love of God to His people, which is altogether without limit; and the next is, the hatred of the devil, which is and must be finite, for he is only a creature; but, still, it is as great as it possibly can be. Still, there is a higher reason for the persecution of the saints. The second reason is because God permits it. Why does He permit it? Well, very often for your safety. The Church of God has often been preserved by persecution; she was never purer, she was never truer, and she never lived nearer to God and more like her Saviour, than when she was persecuted. Next, it is for our trial and testing, to separate the precious from the vile. Satan, in persecuting the saints, is simply a scullion in Christ’s kitchen, cleansing His pots and pans; they never are so bright as when he scours them, and it is a scouring with a vengeance. Yet, in that way, ha separates, or God through him separates, between the precious and the vile.
IV. The blessings which come to the tried children of God through their troubles. I do so enjoy the reading of that part of the psalm where it says, “But they have not prevailed against me.” You see a troop of horsemen riding into the very midst of the battle, and you lose sight of them for a moment amidst the dust and smoke; but out of the middle of that cloud you hear the brave captain’s cry, “They have not prevailed against me.” You see that little band advancing into a yet more crowded host, all glaring upon them like wolves. Surely they will be cut to pieces now; but in the very centre of the struggling mass you see the banner still waving, and again comes the cry, “They have not prevailed against me.” That is, in brief, the story of the Church of Christ, and that shall be the story of every man who puts his trust in God; he shall have to say, at the close of every trouble,--aye, and even in the midst of it,--“They have not prevailed against me.” What is the reason why the enemy cannot prevail against the saints? “The Lord is righteous.” He may delay the overthrow of His people’s foes; but He will in the end take their part, and display His almighty power. For the present, He is patient; He bears long with the ungodly; but He will not always do so. The fact that “the Lord is righteous” is the pledge that the wicked shall not prevail over His saints. Then notice the next sentence: “He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.” Literally, “He hath cut the traces of the wicked.” They are ploughing, you see; and, in the East, the oxen are fastened to the plough by a long cord. What does God do in the middle of their ploughing? There are the bullocks, and there is the plough; but God has cut the harness; and how wonderfully He has sometimes cut the harness of the persecutors of His people! Look at the way He did this for our poor hunted brethren in Piedmont. They were likely every one of them to be crushed; and, apparently, there was nobody to protect them. The Duke of Savoy, whose subjects they were, had given them up to be destroyed. The next country was France, and the King of France was a Roman Catholic, and as eager for their destruction as was the Duke. But, one day, Oliver Cromwell sent for the French ambassador, and said to him, “Tell your master to order the Duke of Savoy to leave off persecuting my brethren in Piedmont, or he shall hear from me about the matter.” “Sire,” said the ambassador, “they are not the subjects of the King of France; he has nothing to do with them. The Duke of Savoy is an independent prince; we cannot interfere with him.” “I do not care for that,” replied Cromwell; “I will hold your king answerable if he does not stop the Duke of Savoy from persecuting the Piedmontese.” And they knew that “Old Nell” meant what he said; so, somehow, the King of France managed to interfere with that precious independent prince, and told him that he had better cease his persecutions, for, if he did not, Oliver Cromwell would take up the quarrel. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The afflictions and triumphs of the Church of Christ
I. The afflictions and triumphs of the Church of Christ. Scarcely was the Church organized, after our Divine Redeemer’s ascension into heaven, when she was assailed by three descriptions of enemies, either all at once, or consecutively, viz. the prejudices of authority and human wisdom,--the violence of persecution,--and the errors and heresies of false teachers. In all these respects the Church has been afflicted from her youth, yet her enemies have not prevailed against her.
II. The impressions which the contemplation of the afflictions and triumphs of the Church of God ought to produce upon our minds.
1. In the Church, always afflicted and persecuted, yet still subsisting,--like the bush, burning but unconsumed,--behold a confirmation of our faith, and an evident demonstration that the religion of Jesus Christ is from God.
2. Further, the conformity of our own reformed Church, as well as of all the other orthodox Protestant Churches, with the primitive Christian Church, in her afflictions and triumphs, furnishes us with an irrefragable proof of the truth of the holy religion which they and we profess.
III. What, now, are the practical instructions which we may derive from the important topics which we have been considering?
1. Since God has, in His mercy, called us out of papal darkness into the marvellous light of the Gospel, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; seeing that it is based, not upon unauthorized human traditions, but upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone;--the great and fundamental object of all the predictions of the prophets, and of the preaching and writings of the holy apostles.
2. Let us devoutly bless the Father of Mercies, who remembered the Church of Christ in her low estate, for His mercy endureth for ever; and through whose propitious aid, and providential interpositions, the Reformation was accomplished, and our civil and religious liberties have been secured and transmitted to us.
3. Let us pity and pray for those nations of the earth who are yet under the yoke of papal dominion and superstition,--would that I could say, are groaning under it.
4. Above all, since the Almighty, when lie bestows extraordinary favours upon man, expects from him a proportionate return of gratitude, let us remember the solemn obligations under which we are individually laid, as Protestant Christians, to exhibit a corresponding excellence of Christian character, as the necessary result of “a true and lively faith”; since we enjoy advantages and privileges which involve the possessors of them in no ordinary degree of moral responsibility. (T. H. Horne, B. D.)
Affliction may strengthen
Care must be taken not to make too much account of the effect exercised by the great convulsions of nature on the moral condition of a people. The need of this precaution is well shown by the social history of Iceland. This country has for the thousand years of its history been subjected to imminent peril from the instability of the earth as well as from the inhospitable nature of its climate. In almost every century of the world’s history famine caused by the accidents of the earth and air has menaced the life of the population. Many successive volcanic outbreaks, attended by serious earthquakes, have convulsed this island, and yet amid these mishaps the people have maintained the highest measure of social order in any state of which we have a history. The Icelanders have had the moral strength to rise superior to such afflictions. In this state, as in certain individuals, chastise-merit which would have destroyed weaker natures served to affirm the vigour of the strong people. (Shaler: “Aspects of the Earth.”)