0251. A MISTAKE DAVID MADE.

A MISTAKE DAVID MADE.

"And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest"

Psa_55:6.

Introduction.

1. And we, too, have often said the same.

2. David was but human, and often made mistakes. The mistakes were not inspired of God, though he recorded them by inspiration of God.

3. We have often thought that the mistakes of Bible characters would form a fruitful series of studies.

4. For we also make the same mistakes.

5. The mistake of the thought underlying this expression is that

I. Rest is to be found in a place, whereas rest is found in a state, or better still, in a Person. Rest is not found in a change of locality, but in a change of state. Yea, further, rest is found in a Person-in the Lord, Jesus (Joh_16:32-33), who changes our heart, and life, and mind.

II. Rest is found in sorrow, and not in exemption from sorrow. The world can only think of rest by removal of sorrow; Christ promises real rest in sorrow.

The greatest sorrow in life for beings like ourselves would be to have no sorrow.

One has said: "David should have prayed for the strength of an ox to bear his troubles, not for the wings of a dove to fly away from them."

III. Rest is found not by two wings, but by six. We do not belong to the two-winged order. To what order do we belong? The six-winged: "Each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly" (Isa_6:2). Service should only take a third of our energy. Six wings- two for adoring wonder, two for humility, two for service.

Autor: James Smith