The world is governed by very different personages
from what is imagined by those who are not
behind the scenes.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
The Shepherd
Jesus answered…,”My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one
can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them
to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my
Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 10:25-30
When Persecution Threatens
Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth,
for I have put my hope in your laws.
Psalm 119:43
It is well known that men do, when persecution
threatens, either altogether deny the truth, or
weakly and lukewarmly confess it; but lest this
should happen to him,
David therefore prays here,
” O Lord, take not the word of truth utterly out
of my mouth,” i.e., make me, with an intrepid
spirit, always to confess the avowed truth boldly
and manfully.
Solomon Gesner (1559-1665)
from studylight.org commentaries
Life of the Soul
My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise renews my life.
Psalm 119: 50
“Thy word hath quickened me.”
It is a reviving comfort which quickeneth the soul.
Many times we seem to be dead to all spiritual operations,
our affections are damped and discouraged; but the word of
God puts life into the dead, and relieveth us in our greatest distresses.
Sorrow worketh death, but joy is the life of the
soul. Now, when dead in all sense and feeling, ” the just shall
live by faith” (Hab.ii:4), and the hope wrought in us by the
Scriptures is “a lively hope” (1Peter.i:3). Other things skin
the wound, but our sore breaketh out again, and runneth;
faith penetrateth into the inwards of a man,
doth good for the heart; and the soul reviveth
by waiting upon God, and gets life and strength.
-Thomas Manton (1620-1677)
The Treasury of David Classic Reflections of the Wisdom of the Psalms
by Charles H. Spurgeon p.245