William Grant
Psalms 17:5. Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
Psalms 56:13. Wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
The more the Christian desires and strives to walk in the ways of God, the more he discovers and bemoans his own weakness. It is when “he would do good” – when he desires, and in proportion as he desires, to do good, he is conscious that evil is present with him. He feels that he comes short in all things and that he often offends against God. He finds that he often does what he would not. He resolves and re-resolves, but in spite of all his efforts he is often surprised by sudden temptation, or in resisting one sin he falls into another.
If his heart is not very much set on walking in God’s ways, he is not much distressed by his shortcomings. He excuses himself on the ground that he is weak – so weak that some allowance must be made for his falls. He is not distressed by his weakness. He is rather comforted by it. It is a pillow on which he sets his conscience to sleep. Under this plea of weakness he encourages himself about occasional sin. So it is if his heart is not set on walking in the ways of God. But if he vehemently desires so to walk, his weakness distresses him. It stands in the way of his heart’s desire. He mourns that he cannot do the things that he would. How distressing it is for him so often to do what is displeasing to God, dishonouring to Christ and injurious to his own soul. This is the first experience of all who really desire to do the will of God.
And now, under an overwhelming sense of their own weakness, like a weakly child who wishes to walk but has not learned to do so, or like a feeble, palsied man who wishes to walk but has lost the power, they cry to some strong person for help. You hear them saying, Hold up our goings, that we may walk in this way. Obviously the cry of our text is the cry of one who earnestly desires to walk in the ways of God, whose heart is set on it, who feels that his happiness depends on it, yet who is overwhelmed with a sense of his own weakness and inability. It is not the cry of someone who, though he feels his weakness, is not distressed by it; it is not the cry of someone who makes his weakness an excuse for not attempting to walk in God’s ways, or an excuse for his frequent falls. No, it is the cry of someone who regards his weakness, not as an excuse for sin, but as a miserable burden that hinders his happiness. And so he bewails himself, saying, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?”
Are there any here in this condition? Or rather let me ask, Are there any of Christ’s true disciples who do not thus bewail their weakness and earnestly desire power to walk in the ways of God? It must be so; in proportion as we desire to serve God, we desire power to enable us to obey Him. Let no man tell me that he desires to serve God if he is not distressed by his weakness and does not desire power to obey.
To the one who really desires to walk in the ways of God, there is no message so sweet, no part of the gospel more gladdening than that which says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. “Repent” – that is, turn from sin to God – “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”; the power of God is at hand; that is, it is within your reach. Nothing is sweeter to their ears than what Paul says: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth”. I say it advisedly: there is nothing in the gospel sweeter – pardon for past transgressions was not sweeter in their ears, when they felt their guilt, than power for present duty and escape from the pollution of sin now is when they desire to serve God and feel their own weakness.
Labouring under the guilt of sin they cried, What shall we do to be saved from the punishment of sin? But now, labouring under the power of sin, they cry as earnestly, Who will deliver us? Who will give us power to overcome? So now I call you to observe that our text is the cry of one who believes that the Lord is able and willing to enable him so to walk.
It is the cry of faith. It is not merely the cry of desire that God would help, but of faith that He will. “I have called unto Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O God” (Ps 17:6). Or as in Psalm 56:13: “Wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling?” If “Thou hast saved my soul from death, wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling?” If, when I was an enemy, Thou didst reconcile me to Thyself by the death of Thy Son, wilt Thou not much more save me by His life? If Thou hast pardoned me, and saved me from the punishment of sin by the death of Christ, wilt Thou not save me from the power and pollution of sin by His living grace? If Thou hast done the one, wilt Thou not do the other? If Thou then didst not spare Thine only begotten Son, but didst deliver Him up for me, wilt Thou not with Him freely give me all things and, most of all, wilt Thou not give me power to vanquish and cast out these sins of mine which are so hateful to Thee?
Is it possible? It is not possible, O God, that Thou didst pity me for the sufferings that were due to my sin and didst pardon me through the sufferings of Christ, but that now Thou dost not pity me when Thou seest me lying under the power of sin itself and dost not care to deliver me. To Thee then I appeal with faith, saying, “Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not”. O “Thou who hast delivered my soul from death, wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling?”
Thus David prayed in faith, looking up and expecting an answer; and in Psalm 116:7-9 he records the answer: “Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” And so he speaks of the future in Psalm 32:6-7: “For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found; surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.” Or more emphatically still: “It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation: and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip” (Ps 18:32-36).
Now I desire to bring the lesson of our text to a point: (1.) No one will utter this prayer from the heart who does not earnestly desire to walk in the ways of God. (2.) Neither will anyone so pray who is not overwhelmed with a sense of his own weakness. (3.) Nor will anyone offer this prayer with acceptance who does not believe that God is able and willing to enable the disciples of Jesus to walk in His ways. This is the cry of desire, of need, of faith.
1A part, as edited, of a discourse from Christ Our Hope and Other Sermons. Grant (1814-76) was a Free Church minister in Ayr.