Spurgeon: July AM
* 07/28/AM
"So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before Thee."
--Psalm 73:22
Remember this is the confession of the man after God's own
heart; and in telling us his inner life, he writes, "So foolish
was I, and ignorant." The word " foolish ," here, means more
than it signifies in ordinary language. David, in a former
verse of the Psalm, writes, "I was envious at the foolish when
I saw the prosperity of the wicked," which shows that the folly
he intended had sin in it. He puts himself down as being thus
"foolish," and adds a word which is to give intensity to it; "so
foolish was I." How foolish he could not tell. It was a sinful
folly, a folly which was not to be excused by frailty, but to be
condemned because of its perverseness and wilful ignorance, for
he had been envious of the present prosperity of the ungodly,
forgetful of the dreadful end awaiting all such. And are we
better than David that we should call ourselves wise! Do we
profess that we have attained perfection, or to have been so
chastened that the rod has taken all our wilfulness out of us?
Ah, this were pride indeed! If David was foolish, how foolish
should we be in our own esteem if we could but see ourselves!
Look back, believer: think of your doubting God when He has been
so faithful to you--think of your foolish outcry of "Not so, my
Father," when He crossed His hands in affliction to give you the
larger blessing; think of the many times when you have read His
providences in the dark, misinterpreted His dispensations, and
groaned out, "All these things are against me," when they are
all working together for your good! Think how often you have
chosen sin because of its pleasure, when indeed, that pleasure
was a root of bitterness to you! Surely if we know our own heart
we must plead guilty to the indictment of a sinful folly; and
conscious of this "foolishness," we must make David's consequent
resolve our own--" Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel ."