1. I said. I steadily resolved and
registered a determination. In his great perplexity his greatest fear was lest
he should sin; and, therefore, he cast about for the most likely method for
avoiding it, and he determined to be silent. It is excellent when a man can strengthen
himself in a good course by the remembrance of a well and wisely-formed
resolve. I will take heed to my ways. To avoid sin one needs to be very
circumspect, and keep one’s actions as with a garrison. Unguarded ways are
generally unholy ones. In times of sickness or other troubles we must watch
against the sins peculiar to such trials, especially against grumbling and
repining. That I sin not with my tongue. If believers utter hard words
of God in times of depression, the ungodly will take them up and use them as a
justification for their sinful courses. I will keep my mouth with a bridle,
or more accurately with a muzzle, to stop it altogether. When David went so far
as to condemn himself to entire silence, there must have been at least a little
sullenness in his soul. In trying to avoid one fault, he fell into another. To
use the tongue against God is a sin of commission, but not to use it at all
involves an evident sin of omission. While the wicked is before me. Bad
men are so sure to misuse even our holiest speech that it is as well not to
cast any of our pearls before such swine; but if the psalmist meant, “I was silent while I had the prosperity of the wicked in my thoughts,” then we see the discontent and questioning of his mind. Yet, if we blame
we must also praise, for the highest wisdom suggests that when good men are
bewildered with skeptical thoughts, they should not hasten to repeat them.
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