The Remembrance Of His Former Liberties And Enjoyments.

 ANCHOR OF LIFE DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE For WEDNESDAY, 24TH MAY, 2023.

TOPIC: EXPOSITION OF PSALM 42 – Part 4 

The Remembrance Of His Former Liberties And Enjoyments.

MEMORIZE: “When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.” Psalm 42:4.

SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 42:3-5.

“My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, "Where is your God?" 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.”

EXPOSITION:

The remembrance of his former liberties and enjoyments, Ps 42:4.  Remembering the formal days of liberty is a great aggravation of sorrow, so much do our powers of reflection and anticipation add to the grievance of this present time. David remembered the days of old, and then his soul was poured out in him; he melted away, and the thought almost broke his heart. He poured out his soul within him in sorrow, and then poured out his soul before God in prayer.  But what was it that occasioned this painful melting of spirit? It was not the remembrance of the pleasures at court, or the entertainments of his own house, from which he was now banished, that afflicted him, but the remembrance of the free access he had formerly had to God's house and the pleasure he had in attending the sacred solemnities there. 

 (1.) He went to the house of God, though in his time it was but a tent; nay, if this psalm was penned, as many think it was, at the time of his being persecuted by Saul, the ark was then in a private house, 2 Sam. 6:3.  But the meanness, obscurity, and inconvenience of the place did not lessen his esteem of that sacred symbol of the divine presence. David was a courtier, a prince, a man of honour, a man of business, and yet very diligent in attending God's house and joining in public ordinances, even in the days of Saul, when he and his great men enquired not at it. Whatever others did, David and his house would serve the Lord. “And David said to all the assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if it is of the LORD our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and their common-lands, that they may gather together to us; "and let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul."” 1 Chronicles 13:2-3.

 (2.) He went with the multitude, and thought it no mocking to his dignity to be at the head of a crowd in attending upon God. Nay, this added to the pleasure of it, that he was accompanied with a multitude, and therefore it is twice mentioned, as that which he greatly lamented the want of now. The more the better in the service of God; it is the more like heaven, and a sensible help to our comfort in the communion of saints. 

 (3.) He went with the voice of joy and praise, not only with joy and praise in his heart, but with the outward expressions of it, proclaiming his joy and speaking forth the high praises of his God. When we wait upon God in public ordinances we have reason to do it both with cheerfulness and thankfulness, to take to ourselves the comfort and give to God the glory of our liberty of access to him. 

 (4.) He went to keep holy days, not to keep them in vain amusement and recreation, but in religious exercises. Solemn days are spent most comfortably in solemn assemblies. 

PRAYER POINT: Lord, help me to see and have you as chief of my joy in Jesus name.

DAILY BIBLE READING IN A YEAR –  Job 33-35.