Psalms 115:16

HEAVEN AND EARTH CONTRASTED

‘The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth hath He given to the children of men.’

Psalms 115:16

The heavens and the earth are set in contrast with each other. And their contrast is in this, that while the heavens are out of the reach of man, the expression and result of forces which he cannot control, the earth is what man makes it. David’s verse has in it the lofty description of the great philosophy of the universe that the source of all power is beyond man’s reach, and that the place of man is just to furnish in his faithful and obedient life a medium through which the power that is in the heavens may descend and work upon the earth.

I. Here is the fundamental difference in the lives of men.—Man finds the world in his hands. Everywhere the world is his. But everywhere the difference of man lies here, in whether this mastery seems to be absolute or whether it seems to be a trust. Absolute mastery means self-indulgence. The mastery of trust means humility, conscientiousness, elevation, charity, the fear of God and love of man.

II. It is in connection with this higher and true view of the giving of the world by God to man that the coming of Christ into the world gains its true meaning.—‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.’ The Giver came with clear assurance of Himself, making the men who saw Him know that it was He, touching the earth which was His own with a wise power that called out from it capacities which the poor tenant had never discovered, not taking it back out of man’s keeping, but making Himself man, so that all men might see what it might really mean for man to keep, and use, and work the earth of God. So God came to His world.

III. What has all this to do with foreign missions?—The fact which Christ comes to establish, the consciousness which He comes to renew, is one that belongs to all the earth. The desire to let the whole redeemed world know of its redemption moves in the heart of every man vividly conscious of the redemption in himself.

—Bishop Phillips Brooks.

Illustration

‘Delitzsch calls this “a prayer of Israel for God’s aid, probably in the presence of an expedition against heathen enemies.” Ewald conjectures that whilst the psalm was being sung the sacrifice was proceeded with, and that in Psalms 115:12 the voice of a priest proclaims the gracious acceptance of the sacrifice.’