The Biblical Illustrator
Psalms 86:17
Show me a token for good, that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed; because Thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.
Tokens for good
At the outset note--
1. How this man in the hour of conflict looks to his Divine protector. Not to men but to God does he cry, And observe--
2. That his troubles drove him to God. Too often they drive men away from God.
3. We look to God along. We may not set up a rival with God in the temple of our trust. What is it that thou wouldst yoke with God? Oh to be cut clear of all visible supports, and props, and holdfasts! You have seen a balloon well filled struggling to rise: what kept it downy What hindered it? The ropes which bound it to earth. Cut clear the ropes, and then see how it mounts! With a spring it leaps upward while we are gazing into the open sky. Oh for such a clearance and such a mounting for our spirits! Alas, we are hindered and hampered, and those bonds which detain us are our visible supports and reliances. “My soul, wait thou only upon God.” The Lord bring us into this high state of spiritual emancipation. Now, let us notice the request David puts up. If we are in his state of mind when we put up a like prayer, this asking for a token will do us no harm: otherwise such desire may be very hurtful to us.
I. This request for a token. It was to be from God and according to God’s will, and asked in faith, not in unbelief. For we have no right to say we will not believe unless God give us a token. We are bound to believe Him whether He gives us a token or not. And tokens that men have had, or thought they had, they have come to question about after a while. Peter, though he had seen our Lord’s transfiguration, declares that he had the “more sure word of prophecy.” Yet may we ask for tokens in a subordinate sense, when we are willing to believe God without them: we may ask for them as confirmatory signs and seals. Several such are named in this psalm.
1. We may long for answer to prayer (Cf. 5:1, 6). If we have received such answers (and have we not?), we may take them as tokens for good.
2. Then, preservation of character is another token (Psalms 86:2). If amid much trial and temptation we have been able to maintain an unblemished reputation, then you need not envy any among the sons of men.
3. Deliverance in trouble is another such (Psalms 86:2). And there is another form of token which must never be overlooked, and that is--
4. A sense of pardoned sin (Psalms 86:3; Psalms 86:5). Before this all ills disappear. And--
5. Support under trial. If God gives you this, if you are able to say to all God sends you, “Thy will be done,” take comfort from that.
6. Cheering visits from Christ, and fresh anointings of the Holy Spirit are also most sure tokens for good. They are implied in Psalms 86:4; Psalms 86:11; Psalms 86:16; and in our text.
II. The result of such tokens. Our enemies are abashed before them, The most malicious adversaries of God’s people have stood in awe of them.
III. Conclusion. What an unhappy state must those be in who have troubles, but have no God to go to: enemies, but no defender; darkness, but no star of hole. Your friends, and, still less, yourself, are to be trusted in such times. What can they do? Oh, seek the Saviour’s face. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Tokens for good
Webster defines a token thus: “Something intended to represent or indicate another thing or event.” The rainbow was the “token” to Noah that a second flood would not destroy the world (Genesis 9:1). The blood on the doorposts of the Israelites was a “token” that their firstborn would be spared when the destroying angel passed over the land (Exodus 12:13). The going down of the shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward, was a “token” or sign that fifteen additional years would be added to Hezekiah’s life (Isaiah 38:7). God grants to His people tokens for good.
1. A deep sense of sin is a token for good--the precursor of salvation. Sinners must be made sorrowful for their sins, or they cannot be saved.
2. Prayerfulness. Do you feel a strong impulse to pray for the prosperity of the Church, or for one of its individual members; for your family, or for your personal growth in the Divine life? It is “a token for good,” the work of the Spirit within you, a sure precursor of some blessing which God has in store for you.
3. A spirit of inquiry into the meaning of God’s Word. Luther received “a token for good” when reading an ancient manuscript in his cell. He saw what a treasure of light and life there was in the Bible compared with the traditions of the Papacy. He discovered the doctrine of justification by faith, which he calls “the test of a standing or falling Church.” He also found that millions of people were ready to receive its blessed light.
4. In the prosecution of our work God gives “tokens for good.” A preacher saw no good done, and resolved to quit the scene of his labours, but he was encouraged by the dream of a man with a small hammer striking a large head, which after a long time flew into a thousand pieces.
5. Dark and distressing dispensations of Providence are often a “token for good.” Health decays: business fails. Temporal loss often leads to spiritual gain. If God takes away one blessing He confers another more fitted to promote our well-being than that of which He deprived us. The drying up of the streams of earthly comfort lead men to seek the water of life. (H. Woodcock.)
God our helper
I like this Saxon word “holpen.” There is something substantial in the appearance of it and hearty in the sound of it. When associated with certain adverbs and prepositions its meaning comes out in full force. Help forward, onward, out, over, off, to, up. “Thou, Lord, hast holpen me.” We have cause to say this every birthday, and when completing each stage of life. Have we not reason to say it at the end of decades of years, as we pass from childhood to youth and from youth to manhood? In truth this is a suitable utterance at the end of every day. (Samuel Martin.)
Comfort
To what shall we liken comfort? It is like copious and heavy dew to withering flowers. It is like rain to the parched and thirsty earth. It is like an anodyne to sharp pain. It is like the sight of coast and harbour to the mariner, when the sea is rough and the sky is stormy. It is like the appearance of the moon after hours of thick, black, dark cloudiness. It is like the mother’s voice to a terrified child, and like the mother’s arms to a fretful babe. “Comfort” is a word which we interpret by our feelings. A mother’s lap and bosom, and a bird’s nest, are embodiments of God’s idea of comfort. (Samuel Martin.).