Psalms 43:3

Psalms 43:3

The forty-second and forty-third Psalms give us an insight into the very heart of the Psalmist. David there appears as the man whose affections were set upon God, and who in all the changes, and chances, and dangers of a chequered life looked upward, aspired for closer communion with God; and it is for this that he is our teacher and our example.

I. We need to have this teaching and this example in this life of weary toil. We need to have our spirits lifted up, not to be always earthward bound, but raised, elevated, borne up to the contemplation of higher things, higher and also more lasting. That is one great corrective of worldliness, one great protection for our soul, amid the temptations, pursuits, business, and pleasures of this present world to look upward.

II. Observe how entirely Christian the prayer is, for what is it we here ask of God? We ask for His light and for His truth. What is this but to ask for Christ to dwell in our hearts? When we pray for God's light and God's truth to lead us, we pray that Jesus Christ may dwell in us, and work in us, and rule in us, to the sanctifying and saving of our soul.

III. The dwelling of God, where is it? In the highest heaven. Even those words are inadequate to convey a just idea of His habitation. "Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him." God is present in all places, at all times, but is present according to His true promise wheresoever two or three are gathered together in His name.

R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons,3rd series, p. 158.

Reference: Psalms 43:3; Psalms 43:4. J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms,pp. 108, 120.