Psalm 125:4

Verse 4. Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good. Believers are described as "good". The name is explained by the Spirit as implying the indwelling of the Holy Ghost and of faith. It is proof that no guile is harboured in their hearts. Prayer is made that God would visit them with goodness. This prayer incited by the Spirit amounts to a heavenly promise that they shall receive such honour. --Henry Law, in "Family Devotion", 1878.

Verse 4. Them that be good. Oh, brethren, the good in us is God in us. The inwardness makes the outwardness, the godliness the beauty. It is indisputable that it is Christ in us that makes all our Christianity. Oh, Christians who have no Christ in them -- such Christians are poor, cheap imitations, and hollow shams -- and Christ will, with infinite impatience, even infinite love, fling them away. --Charles Stanord, in a Sermon preached before the Baptist Union, 1876.

Verse 4. Upright in their hearts. All true excellence has its seat here. It is not the good action which makes the good man: it is the good man who does the good action. The merit of an action depends entirely upon the motives which have prompted its performance; and, tried by this simple test, how many deeds, which have wrung from the world its admiration and its glory, might well be described in old words, as nothing better than splendid sins. When the heart is wrong, all is wrong. When the heart is right, all is right. -- N. M'Michael.

Verse 4. Upright. Literally, straight, straightforward, as opposed to all moral obliquity whatever. --Joseph Addison Alexander (1809- 1860), in "The Psalms Translated and Explained."

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 4.