The
LORD upholds all who fall,
And
raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look expectantly to
You,
And
You give them their food in due season.
You open Your hand
And
satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The LORD is near to all who call
upon Him,
To
all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those
who fear Him;
He
also will hear their cry and save them.
Psalm
145:14-16, 18-19
The
Lord upholdeth all that fall,
The
bow’d with sorrow riven;
While
on Thee wait the eyes of all,
Their
bread is duly given.
Thou
openest Thy hand of grace,
And
Thou dost satisfy,
The
wants of all in every place,
Who
for Thy mercy cry.
The
strong desire He will fulfill,
Of
them that fear His name:
He
hears their cry, and He will still,
Save
them from harm and shame.
THOMAS
MACKELLER
Shall
we consider the fowls of the air, again a myriad form: the eagle soaring in its
height, the birds that fill the woods and valleys with their song, the great
hosts of seafowl? Who can think of their numbers?
“From Cannara Francis
went farther south, and east to Bevagna. Brother Leo was his companion, and the
sympathy between them, the beauty of the ways bordered with flowers—amongst
them the delicate blue and white love-in-a-mist, which fringes the hedgerows in
June, blue cornflowers, rose-colored vetches, purple loose-strife, scarlet
poppies, gay larkspurs and sheets of feathery bedstraw—the twitter of birds
upon the trees, the fields ripe to the harvest, refreshed and uplifted his
heart, so that his joy welled over in song. Where the birds gathered he paused,
and, unalarmed, they clustered about his feet and on the branches overhead. In
an ecstasy of tenderness for his “little brothers” he spoke to them of their
Creator, whose care for them deserved their love and praise. “For He has made
you,” he said, “the noblest of His creatures; He has given you the pure air for
a home: you need neither to sow nor to reap, for He cares for you, He protects
you, He leads you whither you should go.” And the birds rejoiced at his words,
opening their wings and fluttering and chirping as if to thank him for rating
them so precious in God’s sight. Then moving amongst them, he blessed them and
went on his way. (A. M. Stoddart, Francis of Assisi)
Now look from nature to nature’s
God—“Thou opens Thy hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing.” God
satisfies the desires of every living thing. Our desires both lift us up and
set us down. Our desires mark us off from all other living creatures. Where
others have needs only, ours is this dignity—we desire.
Desire—it is a dainty word. It were much
that He should satisfy the need, the want; but He goes far beyond that. Pity is
moved to meet our need; duty may sometimes look after our wants; but to satisfy
the desire implies a tender watchfulness, a sweet and gracious knowledge of us,
an eagerness to bless. God is never satisfied until He has satisfied our
desires.
What is the object of
desire to a man who loves God? God. What is the object of desire to a righteous
man? Righteousness. And these are the desires which God is sure to fulfill to
us. Therefore there is only one region in which it is safe and wise to cherish
longings, and it is the region of the spiritual life where God imparts Himself.
Everywhere else there will be disappointments—thank Him for them. Nowhere else
is it absolutely true that He will fulfill our desires. But in this region it
is. Whatever any of us desire to have of God, we are sure to get. We open our
mouths and He fills them. In the Christian life desire is the measure of
possession, and to long is to have. And there is nowhere else where it is
absolutely, unconditionally and universally true that to wish is to possess,
and to ask is to have. There is, however, an eternal element in all desire,
which, ultimately, will find its fruition in the love of God.
“The desire after God
does not begin on our part. God has not hidden Himself from man for the purpose
that He might allow His creature, His lost child, to cry after Him. We love God
because He first loved us. If we desire God, it is because God hath first
desired us. God asks for our heart as His tabernacle; He surrounds us night and
day with tender, pathetic appeals: He says, “If any man love Me, I will come
in, and make my abode in his heart.” He plies us, as mother never plied her
prodigal child, to come home again; and there is not one word of grace, or
pathos, or tender entreaty, which He has withheld from His argument, if haply
He might find His way, with our glad consent, into our heart of hearts. Do you
desire God? It is because God first desired you. Do you feel kindlings of love
towards Him? Your love is of yesterday. His love comes up from unbeginning
time, and goes on to unending eternity!”( Joseph Parker)
And the amazing thing is
that God more than satisfies our desires. His bounty is so great that many are
unwilling to take His greatest gifts. For He has given His only-begotten and
well-beloved Son, and how many refuse Him! How foolish it is to take God’s
lesser gifts and refuse the greatest of all!
JAMES HASTINGS
Psalms
The hand of grace is never closed while the
sinner lives.
SPURGEON
