Evening
Time: 3:19 PM PST
"Lift them up for ever." --Psalm 28:9
God's people need lifting up. They are very heavy by nature. They have
no wings, or, if they have, they are like the dove of old which lay among the
pots; and they need divine grace to make them mount on wings covered with
silver, and with feathers of yellow gold. By nature sparks fly upward, but the
sinful souls of men fall downward. O Lord, "lift them up for ever!" David
himself said, "Unto Thee, O God, do I lift up my soul," and he here feels the
necessity that other men's souls should be lifted up as well as his own. When
you ask this blessing for yourself, forget not to seek it for others also. There
are three ways in which God's people require to be lifted up. They require to
be elevated in character. Lift them up, O Lord; do not suffer Thy people to
be like the world's people! The world lieth in the wicked one; lift them out of
it! The world's people are looking after silver and gold, seeking their own
pleasures, and the gratification of their lusts; but, Lord, lift Thy people up
above all this; keep them from being "muck-rakers," as John Bunyan calls the man
who was always scraping after gold! Set thou their hearts upon their risen Lord
and the heavenly heritage! Moreover, believers need to be prospered in
conflict. In the battle, if they seem to fall, O Lord, be pleased to give
them the victory. If the foot of the foe be upon their necks for a moment, help
them to grasp the sword of the Spirit, and eventually to win the battle. Lord,
lift up Thy children's spirits in the day of conflict; let them not sit in the
dust, mourning for ever. Suffer not the adversary to vex them sore, and make
them fret; but if they have been, like Hannah, persecuted, let them sing of the
mercy of a delivering God.
We may also ask our Lord to lift them up at the last! Lift them up by taking
them home, lift their bodies from the tomb, and raise their souls to Thine
eternal kingdom in glory.