So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before Thee.
Flesh and spirit a riddle
What secrets of inward experience we have in our text. Consider--
I. The confessions concerning the flesh. David was a great saint, yet he tells God--“So foolish was I.. . beast before Thee.”
1. Foolish. It was sinful folly, not to be excused by frailty, but perverse and wilful. And is not this true of us?
2. Ignorant. Surely after all his experience he ought to have known better than to be envious of the wicked. And how often we have to make the like confession. If we could but see ourselves we should see our knowledge to be nothing and our ignorance to he all. Then--
3. “As a beast before Thee.” The Hebrew is, “I was a very beast before Thee.” It means, so worldly-minded, so empty of all holy desire, so short-sighted, so full of animal passions. But turn to--
II. The expressions of the spirit.
1. He is conscious of Divine regard. “Nevertheless I am,” etc. Upon His mind, before His eye, in His hand.
2. Of Divine help. “Thou hast holden me.”
3. Of Divine guidance. “Thou shalt guide,” etc.
4. Of Divine reception. “Receive me to glory.”
III. To the conclusion of the whole. “Whom have I in heaven but Thee,” etc. I have known men lose their property, and what is dearer than property, but they have not said, “Whom have I in heaven,” etc. The confessions of our text will be heard in the adoring gratitude of the redeemed in glory. That Christ should have saved them--the foolish, the ignorant, and who had been as a beast before Him. But this He will do for all who believe. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A pilgrim’s progress
I. The pilgrim’s character and condition before he was turned to the Lord. “So foolish. .. beast before Thee.” What a hearty and thorough confession this is! Probably it was not so made at first. Men never accurately measure the depth of the pit they lay in until they are out of it. Note the terms he uses in this confession. See the cattle browsing on the grass. It is no shame to them to be beasts; but it is a shame for a man to be as a beast, for he was made in God’s image. The beast never had a soul; and I have quenched the life of mine--put out its light. I was like a beast in having a body and life and appetites, and stopping short with these, as if these were all! They knew not a God to live for; and I lived without God. Being a man, I became as a beast.
II. His present nearness and peace. “Nevertheless I am continually with Thee.” What a difference--“I was as a beast”; but “I am with Thee.” Transformations unknown in nature are accomplished in grace. The man has become new. How has it been brought about? There has been reconciliation; the saved are made nigh through the blood of Christ. And this nearness continues.
III. The cause and manner of this great deliverance. “Thou hast holden me by my right hand.” It is God’s doing, not his own. The picture represents a father leading his strayed child home.
IV. The course through life which the penitent now expects to keep. “thou shalt guide me,” etc.
V. The issue of all in eternity. Look to the last three points, that we may mark their order and their relations.
1. Salvation accomplished by almighty grace: “Thou hast holden me.”
2. New obedience now, according to the Word of God: “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel.”
3. Hope of glory afterward: “Thou shalt receive me.” In the middle is the actual holiness--the new obedience of the saved man, and on either side of a strong one on whom it may lean. On the one side is salvation already accomplished; on the other is the hope of glory yet to come. (W. Arnot.)