PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH GOD
J. Renton
I was impressed with these verses, dear brethren, I wonder if we speak enough about our experience, how we have proved God, how we have proved the Lord. There is a very powerful testimony in telling our experience, even in the preaching. That would not be self-occupation, nor self-promotion, it would promote the One with whom we have some personal experience. Maybe to help younger people, older ones could speak more often about how they have proved the Lord; how the Lord has come in for them in difficult circumstances; how God has intervened in their life time.
It does not say here who the psalmist is, but it is ‘To the chief Musician’ as part of a contribution to the service of God. It is a song, a celebration, a psalm, a real experience. So the psalmist says, “Come, hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul”. Could we not all declare what God has done for our souls? The longer we live the more we prove what God can be to us; what a resource we have in our God as Father, in our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Have we not proved something, and can we not speak more about it? Can we not encourage one another more—“Come, hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul”. Paul was on this line, he goes over his experiences, for instance, in Acts 22, then Acts 26. I suppose one of the most powerful preachings that ever was preached was in Acts 26 when he described his own experience. He was in the midst of pomp, all the notable people were gathered, and he had them all embarrassed; they did not know what to say. Festus did not know what to say. Agrippa did not know what to say; the power of the word had everybody embarrassed because he was telling what God had done for his soul. Maybe this could enter more into our preachings. I remember a time when people used to be in the street at open air preachings, and they would give their testimony, young people told their experience, how they came to the Lord and what they found in the Lord. I think there is profit in that; we could speak more of what we have experienced for the encouragement of one another—“Come, hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul”. Let us be encouraged, dear brethren, how much God has done for each one of us in our souls; our bodies too, of course, but especially our souls—“what he hath done for my soul”.
It says, “I called unto him with my mouth”. That is prayer. Have we not experienced remarkable instances when our prayers were answered? Does that not help us in confidence in God? Would not older ones encourage younger ones by telling how God remarkably answered their prayers, so that young people might have confidence and engage more in prayer. Then he says, “Had I regarded iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear”. That would involve self-judgment, continual self-judgment, not to have iniquity in our hearts. He says, “Had I regarded iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear. But God hath heard”, that is he is a self-judged person who proved what God had done for his soul—“But God hath heard; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer”. Some of us are elderly and we certainly have had many experiences that would encourage others, especially younger people, as I said, and maybe testify to unbelievers, not only laying out the truth, but telling what we have proved, what we know by experience, and there is power in testimony by that means.
So it says, “But God hath heard; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me!” I just pass this on, I think there is some importance in it. That we could go over our own experience with ourselves for our own encouragement, and tell others what God has done for our souls. May the Lord help us!
Word in meeting for ministry
Edinburgh, 3 September 1991