Psalms 89:13

Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand.

The mighty arm

When the soul is perfectly reconciled to God, and comes to delight in Him, it rejoices in all His attributes. At the first, perhaps, it dwells almost exclusively upon His love and His mercy, but it afterwards proceeds to find joy in the sterner attributes, and especially delights itself in His holiness and in His power. How clearly is His power beheld in creation; there, indeed, O Lord, “Thou hast a mighty arm.” We injure ourselves and dishonour our Creator when we pass over His works as if they were beneath the notice of spiritual minds. The world is not left to itself, or to tyrants; the might is with the right after all, for power belongeth unto God. But our theme just now is power in alliance with grace.

I. First, the mighty arm of God displayed in the way of grace, as manifested in our experience.

1. First, remember the Divine longsuffering. What a mighty arm of grace it must have been which held back the anger of God while we were in a state of rebellion and impenitence. Glory be unto Thy lovingkindness and Thy longsuffering, O God, for in them we see Thy mighty self-restraining power.

2. But, next, we saw the power of God so as to recognize it when the Lord subdued us by His mighty grace. What omnipotence is displayed in the conquest of every rebellious sinner! He makes the lion to lie down with the lamb, so that a little child shall lead it. Thus the power of God is seen in the conquest of sinners. That power is equally seen in their transformation; for is it not a marvel that God should be able to make old and corrupt rebels into new creatures in Christ Jesus? Every conversion is a display of omnipotence. To turn the wilderness into springs of water and the desert into a flowing stream is nothing compared with turning the dead, cold, dry heart of man into a mighty wellspring of love springing up unto eternal life. Glory be to Thy power, O Thou infinitely mighty Jehovah, Thou hast a mighty arm.

3. That same power is seen in the various deliverances which the Lord gives to His people at the outset, when their enemies come against them so fiercely. And, since then, in the continual upholding of the saints, in their final perseverance which is guaranteed, how much of the power of God is seen. Is it not a marvel that though your faith has been as a bruised reed it has not been broken, and though your piety has been like smoking flax it has never been quenched? Kept alive with death so near, preserved when enemies have been so fierce, will you not say indeed, “Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is Thy right hand”?

II. The mighty arm of God as specially displayed in the person of christ jesus.

1. In the choice of Him (Psalms 89:19). Christ is the incarnation of the power of Divine grace, in Him dwells the power of God to save the sons of men; and yet in what weakness it dwelt. Strong is Thy right hand, O Saviour, for by weakness and suffering and death thou hast overthrown all Thy people’s foes.

2. In our Lord’s anointing (Psalms 89:20). In His preaching there went out of His mouth a sharp two-edged sword with which He smote sin, because the Spirit of God was upon Him. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit bore witness in the entire body of Christ, making all His servants speak with tongues of fire. The Spirit of God is with Christ on earth still in His Church, so that, feeble though the speech of His ministers may be, a secret power attends it, irresistibly subduing the forces of evil.

3. Because of the continuance of the empire of Christ in the world (Psalms 89:21).

4. In His mighty intercession (Psalms 89:26).

III. How is this power to re practically recognized?

1. Yield to it. Shall wax fight with the fire, or tow contend with the flame?

2. Trust Him to save you. All power lies with Him, He can forgive all sin, and He can also subdue all iniquity, change the most depraved heart, and implant every grace in the soul (Isaiah 26:4).

3. Trust Him in everything. Bring your burdens, your troubles, your wants, your griefs, pour them out like water before Him, let them flow forth at the foot of the Almighty, and they shall pass away and you shall sing (Exodus 15:2).

4. Shake off all fear of man. Trust in God and fear not, for the mighty God of Jacob is with us, and greater is He that is for us than all they that can be against us.

5. As to thy service, to which thou art called by the Lord. If He be so strong, do not think of thine own weakness any longer, except as being a platform for His strength. Art thou weak as water? Then rejoice this day, and glory in infirmity, because the power of God shall rest upon thee. Think not of what thou canst do--that is a very small affair, but consider what He can do by thee. He can strengthen the feeble against the strong.

6. With regard to all the future which lies before you--is God so strong? Then commit it to His hands. You have a great trouble to face to-morrow, you are expecting a greater trouble still at the end of the week. Now, be not afraid, for the Lord liveth to deliver thee. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The mighty arm

I. First, some few words about the power of God itself, having as my drift the stirring up of believers’ minds to ask and to expect a great display of it.

1. God’s power is like Himself, self-existent and self-sustained. Power in the creature is like water in the cistern; power in the Creator is like water in the fountain. The creature is the moon, which shines with reflected light; the Creator is the Sun whose light is underived, springing from Himself within. Naturally and spiritually this statement holds good.

2. God’s power is comprehensive, including within itself all the power which resides in all the creatures in the universe.

3. The power of God is immutable. Whatever He did of old, He is able to repeat now. We talk of changing ages, but we must not dream of a changing God.

4. God’s power is in the fulness of it irresistible. When He puts forth His omnipotence proud hearts are humbled, hard hearts are broken, iron melts, and rock dissolves.

5. God’s power is entirely independent-of place, time, instruments.

6. God’s power is infinite. Ask of Him that He would give the heathen unto Christ for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession; for the sceptre of Jehovah shall go forth, and the monarchy of Christ shall be extended from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.

7. This Divine power is all our own, for we are told that this God is our God for ever and ever.

II. The manifestations of this power are very varied in character and altogether innumerable in multitude.

1. In destruction (Psalms 89:10). Here is a very strong argument for the people of God to stir them up to pray. The fearful nature of the sinner’s doom should arouse us to earnestness, vehement and abiding. Must we not plead with God when we think of our fellow-creatures who are liable to prove the terror of the Almighty’s arm?

2. In creation (Psalms 89:11). His word fashioned the creation of old, and His word can work marvels still. Spoken by whomsoever He pleases to send, His word shall be as potent now as in primeval days. There may be darkness and confusion in the sinner’s soul; a word shall remove all, and swift and quick, requiring not even six days.

3. In sustentation (Psalms 89:12). The mighty arm of God has been conspicuous in supporting His Church in years gone by. No voyage more dangerous than hers! She has tracked a narrow channel between threatening rocks and hidden quicksands. As for her crew, they have been a feeble folk, but little able to cope with boisterous elements and furious tempests. Oftentimes the good vessel of the Church has mounted up to heaven upon the crown of an outrageous billow, and anon has gone down again into the depths of a yawning sea, while her sailors have reeled like drunken men, staggering to and fro, being at their wits’ end; but they have cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He who was strong to stir up the deep from its very bottom and make it boil like a pot, has been equally strong to speak the word and still the raving of its waves. Let us be then of good comfort. Why should not God bless and succour His well-beloved Church now?

4. In redemption. That was no light labour which Jesus undertook. Hercules cleansed the Augean stable, saith the fable, but what an Augean stable was this world! Yet Christ will purge it; He is purging it, did purge it by His death. This Aceldama shall yet become an Elysium; the field of blood shall be transformed into a garden of delights.

III. The lessons from the whole. There have been vouchsafed in the past very wonderful manifestations of Divine favour. Churches have grown very lukewarm, ministers very dull, doctrines have become unsound, the hearts of God’s people have failed, the faithful have almost died out; on a sudden God has raised up some one man, perhaps some half-dozen; and the face of the Church was changed from languor to energy. These men did but strike the spark, and the flame flew over all lands. The Reformation was a marvellous type of genuine revivals, God-given revivals, which have been frequent in all times. In England we have had them, in America they have been abundant. Ireland has not been without them. In the darkest day when every one said the cause of religion was growing hopeless, then the great lover of the Church has appeared. Have you never read the story of Livingstone preaching in a heavy shower of rain, outside the kirk of Shotts, to the multitude of people standing there, who would not stir from the hearing of the Word? Or have you not heard the story of Whitefield’s mighty preaching, when the people moved to and fro, as the corn is moved by the wind in summer, and at last fell down beneath the Word as the sheaves fall before the reaper’s scythe? Why may we not see all this again? Why not? And why not greater things than these? What hinders but our unbelief? O God, Thou hast a mighty arm.

1. God has proved the power of His arm in the persons whom He has saved. Saul of Tarsus. Lo, here is a great and hard rock; now wield Thy great hammer, and the sparks shall fly, and the flintstone shall be broken into pieces. Quarry Thine own stones, O God, and make them fit for Thy temple, for “Thou hast a mighty arm.”

2. This is seen sometimes in the number converted. Three thousand, in one day, under Peter’s sermon; why not three thousand again? Why not thirty thousand? Why not three hundred thousand in a day? There is nothing too great for us to ask for, or for God to grant. He could, if He willed, turn the hearts of men, as He turns the rivers by His foot.

3. This might has been manifested in the instruments which the Lord has employed, He has taken the base things and the despised, to make them the medium of His power, and we have then said, “Thou hast a mighty arm” to do such wonders by such puny things. (C. H. Spurgeon.)