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It is evident that something is implied between verses 3 and 4. It is as though the
Psalmist said, What can the righteous do? Well, before he "does" anything let him
remember this. First his utmost "doing" is vain, except the Lord deign to own it.
Secondly, the crumbling foundations here do not by any means indicate that the
foundations of the Lord's throne are crumbling. Heaven is higher than earth. At the very
time when this earth will be a seething cauldron, ruled by a man possessed by the devil,
the throne of God will be surrounded by a sea as smooth as though made of glass. When
therefore you feel that the time has come for you to "do" something in view of the
breaking down of the very foundations of truth, of society, of order, just take your place
in spirit for a moment there where the temple still stands unsullied and the throne
unshaken.
In correspondence with the words, "What can the righteous do?" come the words of
verse 5, "The Lord trieth the righteous". The breaking up of the foundations is the work
of the wicked (verse 6), but the Lord is overruling the work of the evil one to purge and
to try His people.
Think twice and thrice therefore before plunging into anything that may, after all,
prove but a snare of the wicked one. Our testimony will not be less decisive because we
have weighed our plans in the balance of the sanctuary:--
"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His
temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven."
#18.
The factors of consolation.
p. 111
"Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us,
and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, console your
hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work" (II Thess. 2: 16, 17).
What is a ministry of consolation? Is it the repetition of pious platitudes? Is it
sentimental? or does it rest upon the one foundation of all true ministry? and does it
keep pace with all true doctrine and practice? Look at the verse quoted above. This
consolation has its source in the Lord Jesus Christ and in God the Father. It flows not
only from Divine omnipotence, but Divine love. This twofold source makes this
consolation different from all other, it is "everlasting" or aionian. If its past reaches back
through love to God, it looks forward to the future, for together with the aionian
consolation is given "good hope through grace".
This is an important factor in the ministry of consolation. The present darkness is
illuminated by the hope of glory, the trouble that envelopes and threatens to overwhelm
us is but for a time, it cannot reach beyond this present life into the next. The exhortation