The Biblical Illustrator
Psalms 20:7
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
Remember the name of the Lord our God
By the name of God is meant the various properties and attributes of God. Now, whilst some trusted in earthly power, the Psalmist confides in “the name of the Lord our God.” It would seem to an ordinary observer, if he were ignorant of the Gospel, that the name of the Lord would excite terror rather than confidence. If there be good in the moral government of God, how much of suffering, evil and sorrow there are, notwithstanding. How then can confidence arise from remembering the Divine name? We distinctly admit that there are attributes of God which, because they seem arrayed against sinful beings, can hardly be supposed to be subjects of encouraging remembrance. “The name of the Lord our God” includes justice and holiness; and these are qualities from which we seem instinctively to shrink, as though we felt that they must necessarily be opposed to rebellious and polluted creatures. And so they must be. If there be certain Divine properties, the remembering of which might be comforting even to the disciple of natural religion, undoubtedly there are others which can furnish nothing but cause of disquietude, unless there be full acquaintance with the scheme of redemption. It is in respects such as these that natural theology, if it would keep its disciples at peace, must forbid their recollecting the name of the Lord their God. These are points which must be slurred over, for to examine them deeply would be to destroy all foundation of hope. But it is not so with the disciple of revealed religion.” Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is no property involved in the Divine name from which we need shrink, none which is not actually ranged on our side, if we believe on Him who gave His life a ransom for the world. Did you ever consider what emphasis there is in St. Paul’s answer to his own question, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect?” His answer is, “it is God that justifieth.” What is there in the fact that “it is God that justifieth,” which proves that earth, and sea, and air might be ransacked for an accuser, but that none could be found who could make good any charge against “God’s elect?” Is it not because God is the justifying agent; not this property, not that attribute of God, but God Himself--God the combination of all possible perfections? If it be God that justifieth, the justification must be that in the effecting which holiness and justice concur. And therefore is it that all accusation is silenced; for if the satisfaction made to God on our behalf hath met every attribute of God, it is not possible that there should remain place for any charge. Justice as well as love demands our acceptance. Who can condemn when the Divine Judge Himself acquits, nay, pronounces approval? You should not fail to observe that our text furnishes a great criterion, and that we ought to test by it our spiritual condition. Is it, or is it not, our habit to “remember the name of the Lord our God,” whilst others, either neglectful of religion or adopting false systems, turn bewildered to “chariots and horses”? It is, if with David we have “entered into covenant with God,” through the Mediator: it cannot be, if we are still virtually aliens, living in the darkness and rebellion of nature. Oh, we too well know that there must be some amongst you whose only happiness is in keeping God out of their thoughts, and who are glad of any excuse for not considering His nature and attributes. Any “chariot,” any “horse,” which may bear them away from the contemplation of their Maker! What a state! To be afraid of meditating on that Being before whom they must inevitably appear, and who “has power to destroy both body and soul in hell”! If the banishing Him from your thoughts could finally keep you from contact with Him in His awfulness; if there were a “chariot,” if there were a “horse,” which would bear you away from His “everlasting wrath,” we might not wonder at your perseverance in forgetting Him to, the utmost of your power. Try for one hour to “remember God’s name”--“God’s name” as traced by natural theology, and yet more vividly by revealed. I know that you will be disturbed and appalled, I know that as one property after another of the Divine nature passes before you, you will shrink back, and be tempted to exclaim--Oh! for the “chariot,” oh! for the “horse,” to bear us away from this terrible God! But this is what we wish. We wish you to see in God “a consuming fire,”--a Being of terrors, and those terrors all armed to strike down and to crush you. But we do not wish you to be left in dismay; neither will you be. When “remembering the name of the Lord” has made you feel yourselves lost, you will hear with unspeakable gratitude how God laid your iniquities on His own well-beloved Son. If God out of Christ appeared to you “a consuming fire,” God in Christ should appear to you as a “reconciled Father.” (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Divine and human trust contrasted
I. The charge brought against those whose trust is merely human. There have been such always. Now, the guilt of such trust lies in the oversight of God,--regarding chariots and horses as sufficient in themselves. And we are inexcusable in this, because God, though invisible, is ever perceptible to the understanding. And all such trust is irrational. It has no solid foundation in reason or conscience.
II. The purpose. “We will remember,” etc. The trust of the Christian begins memory. It acts as a stimulant to the believer, and loosens every other bond and makes it easy to let go all which the world gives.
III. The consequences. “They are brought down,.. .but we,” etc. Now, the results of trust in human power are sad and unexpected. It was so with Pharaoh and his army. But they are in accordance with the natural course of things. If we sow to the flesh we shall of the flesh reap corruption. But the Christian trust issues in this--“We are risen, and stand upright.” (W. D. Horwood.)
Chariots and horses
I. The vanity and the variety of earthly dependences. “Some trust in chariots and horses.” They were the appendages of war; hence were forbidden to Israel, for war was not their trade, They had no standing, army. They were always to be conscious of the inadequacy of their own resources, and thus to be taught to trust implicitly in God. Nor were they to be exposed to the temptation of conquest. They were never so triumphant as when trusting in God alone. But the text points to the tendency which men have to trust in the creature rather than in the Creator (Jeremiah 17:5).
II. The foundation of Christian peace and courage. “But we will remember,” etc. The name of the Lord is perpetually recurring in Scripture and has ever a deep and portentous meaning. The name of Jesus has now the same energy. “The Lord our God”--all the best blessings of time and eternity belong to the covenant of grace which is in Jesus. Is God our God? Can we adopt the words of the text? (W. G. Lewis.)
Trust in chariots and horses vain
France, in the Revolution, hung up her motto--“Liberty equality, fraternity. Napoleon changed it to Infantry, cavalry, artillery, says Punch.
Christian loyalty
Every good Christian is necessarily a loyal man. The subject now considered is, the insufficiency of all human expedients to secure happiness for a people unless God be honoured in the councils of their rulers, and His name be remembered by themselves. Human policy, if separated from Divine wisdom, leads to ruin and disgrace; but they rise and stand upright who “remember the name of the Lord our God.” In what manner is a nation called upon to remember the name of the Lord our God? The right administration of justice and the true worship of God are the only sufficient securities for the permanent happiness of a state. It is the peculiar province of the law of God to instill a hatred of sin. Human laws may bind the hand, fetter the foot, and imprison the body, but nothing can control the heart, and curb the thoughts, and purify the motives by which we are influenced except the Spirit of God. He alone can subjugate the whole man. (A. Watson, M. A.).