Psalm 17:14-15

“With your hand, O Lord, save me from men of this world whose portion is in this life.” Psalm 17:14

“As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake with your likeness!” Psalm 17:15

In respect of outward appearance, there is but little difference between “the man of God,” and “the men of this world”; But, in their inward principle, they are as far asunder as light from darkness.

I. The Psalmist here contrasts them in their desires.

1. The men of this world desire only the fleeting things of time and sense.

They have their portion in this life. Pleasure, riches, honor, are the great objects on which their affections are set, and in the attainment of which they suppose happiness to consist. For these they labor with incessant care; and if they may but transmit this portion in rich abundance to their children, they bless themselves, as having well discharged the offices of life.

2. The man of God has his affection set rather upon invisible and eternal realities.

There is a remarkable decision manifest in that expression, “As for me,” I will do so and so. It resembles the determination of Joshua; who, if all Israel should forsake the Lord, declared this to be his fixed resolution, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

In that other expression, too, “I will behold your face in righteousness,” there is, I think, a peculiar delicacy and beauty. It is not merely “I will seek your favor,” or, “I will follow after righteousness.” But:

“I will seek your favor in the only way in which it can ever be obtained; namely, in an entire resignation to your holy will, as revealed in your blessed Word.”

In this view it imports, “I will seek your favor in the way of penitential sorrow; for how shall an impenitent sinner ever find acceptance with you?”

“I will seek it in a way of believing confidence; for you are never more pleased than when a perfect reliance is placed on your dear Son, and in your promises, which in him are yes, and in him Amen”

“I will seek it in a way of incessant watchfulness; for if I practice iniquity in my life, or regard it in my heart—you can never receive me to mercy.”

“I will seek it also in a way of universal holiness; for it is the obedient soul alone on which you can ever look with complacency and delight.”

We do not at all mean to say that “the man of God is perfect;” for there is yet much imperfection cleaving to him. But we do say, that in the habitual desires and purposes of his soul, he accords with the description here given.

II. The Psalmist contrasts them in their prospects.

1. The men of this world can hope for nothing but disappointment.

Admitting that they attain the summit of their ambition, they only grasp a shadow. Possess what they may, they feel an aching void, a secret something unpossessed, “In the midst of their sufficiency, they are in straits.”

As for an eternal state, they do not desire to think of it; their happiness depends on banishing it from their thoughts; and if at any time it obtrudes itself upon their minds, it brings a cloud over their brightest prospects, and casts a damp over their richest enjoyments.

2. Not so with the man of God; his pursuits are productive of the most solid satisfaction.

Even in this life he has a portion which he accounts better than ten thousand worlds; so that in him is fulfilled what our blessed Lord has spoken, “He who comes to me, shall never hunger; and he who believes in me, shall never thirst.” He has gained a superiority to earthly things, which no other man, whatever he may boast, is able to attain.

But when, at the resurrection of the just, he shall “awake” to a new and heavenly state—how rich will be his satisfaction then! Then he will “behold God face to face;” then, too, he will have attained God’s perfect image in his soul; and then he will possess all the glory and felicity of Heaven. Could we but follow him into the presence of his God, and behold him in the full enjoyment of all that he here desired and pursued, methinks we should every one of us adopt the Psalmist’s determination, and say, “As for me, this shall be my one desire, my uniform endeavor, and the one great object of my whole life!”

Observe,

1. How wise is the Christian’s choice!

The world may deride it as folly, but I appeal to every man who possesses the least measure of common sense, whether he does not in his heart approve the very things which with his lips he ventures to condemn? Yes; there is not one, however averse he may be to live the Christian’s life, who does not wish to “die his death.” Nor is there one, however he may dislike the Christian’s way, who does not wish, if it were possible, to resemble him in his end. Let it be a fixed principle, then, in all your minds, that “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

2. How blessed is the Christian’s way!

Because the Christian renounces the vanities of the world, those who have no other source of happiness than the world, imagine that he is deprived of all his pleasures. But we might as well represent a philosopher as robbed of his happiness, because he has ceased to amuse himself with the trifles which pleased him in the years of childhood. The Christian has lost his taste for the vanities which he has renounced, “While he was a child, he occupied himself as a child; but when he became a man, he put away childish things.” He now has other pursuits, and other pleasures, more worthy of his advanced age, and more befitting his enlarged mind. When the question is asked, “Who will show us any good?” His answer is, “Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon me!”

Know then, brethren, that, however deeply the Christian may mourn over his short-comings and defects, and however badly he may be treated by an ungodly world, he is incomparably happier than any ungodly man can be!

What does our blessed Lord say to “the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted because of righteousness?”

“Blessed, blessed, blessed—are you all.”

On the contrary, upon the lover of this world, he denounces nothing but, “Woe! Woe! Woe!” Be assured, then, that they only are blessed who seek the Lord; and that “in keeping his commandments there is great reward”

Charles Simeon