Psalms 91:13

Psalms 91:13

The definite promise, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the dragon," was a reference not only to reptiles and wild beasts of outward evil, but to evils in which the deadliness of vice is concentrated in our individual hearts: evil thoughts, and deeds, and habits which assail and hurt the soul. The fitness of the metaphor is shown by the fact that we find it also in the heathen mythology. The Greek type of a deliverer of the world was the hero Hercules. They saw, as we see, that he who would indeed conquer evil in the world must first conquer it in his own heart. The moral is finely conveyed in the legend of his conquest of the Nemaean lion. Every man's Nemaean lion lies in the way for him somewhere. All future victories depend upon that. Kill it, and through all the rest of your lives what was once terrible becomes your armour; you are clothed with the virtue of that conquest.

I. In the first place, this lion is to be fought in the darkness, and in the cavern, and with no earthly weapons. The lion is that inward sin, that special impulse and temptation to evil, which is most directed against your individual heart.

II. Observe the infinite superiority which Christ has granted to us in these days. The Greeks had noble ideals, but their conduct fell as far short of these ideals as ours does. But often these ideals were grievously corrupt. Human strength and knowledge are at the best but perfect weakness. But it is the mercy of God that He has given us in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ an ideal not human, but Divine.

III. Notice that the more early this battle is undertaken, the more surely it is won. He who strangles serpents in his youth slays monsters in his manhood. He who has early had strength to conquer temptations will not be so likely later to lose his self-reverence and his self-control.

F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol.xxiii., p. 33.

References: Psalms 91:14. A. Fletcher, Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. xvi., p. 233.Psalms 91 M. G. Pearse, Some Aspects of the Blessed Life,pp. 81, 114.Psalms 92:2. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xix., No. 1138. Psalms 92:4 . Ibid., Morning by Morning,p. 227. Psalms 92:5; Psalms 92:6. F. Tholuck, Hours of Devotion,p. 99. Psalms 92:10. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xix., No. 1122, and vol. xxviii., No. 1649. Psalms 92:12. Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 188. Psalms 92:13. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxiii., No. 1365; Homiletic Magazine,vol. xi., p. 7. Psalms 93:2. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 325.Psalms 93:5. G. W. McCree, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxv., p. 285; A. Watson, Sermons for Sundays, Festivals, and Fasts,2nd series, vol. iii., p. 9.