Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3375
“My foot stands in an even place; in the congregations will I bless the Lord.” Psalm 26:12.
You will remember our taking a pathetic verse for our meditation, some little while ago, which was the prayer of a saint in trouble, whose prayer was, “Look upon my affliction and my pain.” [See Sermon #741, Volume 13—a troubled prayer.] We must now look upon the reverse of the picture and think
upon a Christian in prosperity and joy and, perhaps, as there may have been some comfort to afflicted souls before, so there may be some instruction tonight to those who are prosperous.
It is worthy of remark, at the outset, that the condition of a Christian cannot readily be judged by anyone but himself. Certainly his outward condition is a very unfair test of his real state. When Paul and Silas had been scourged and laid with their feet fast in the stocks, they seemed to others to be very miserable. But when, in the dead of the night, they began to sing God’s praises and the prisoners heard them, they proved themselves to be among the happiest of men! So was it with David. When the Psalmist wrote this song, he was slandered and vilified—every evil thing was laid to his charge. This was the case externally, and yet within, his mind was at such perfect peace that he could say, “My foot stands in an even place.”
It seemed to the common onlooker as though his foot would slip, as though he were like one hurled from the Tarpe-ian rock to be certainly dashed to pieces—but his soul’s experience was the absolute reverse of this. He seems to say to them all, “Hoot at me if you will! Seek to trip me up as you please! God is high above you all, and in Him I shall still stand my ground, for, blessed be His name, notwithstanding every attempt of the enemy to throw me down, my foot stands in an even place and in the congregation will I bless the Lord.”
There are two things in the text to which I would call your attention. The first is a Believer in a happy position. And the second is, a Believer engaged in a happy occupation. His “foot standing in an even place,” a happy position. “Praising and blessing God,” a happy occupation. We have here, first, then—
I. A Believer in a Very Happy Position
Now, what does he mean by his “foot standing in an even place”? Well, is it not the very worst evil that a genuine Christian can suffer to fall into sin? To fall finally, would, of course, be our everlasting ruin. To fall at all, in any sense, is our greatest grief. Every true child of God would sooner sorrow a thousand times than sin once. His Father’s rod he has learned to love, but sin, even when it is the choicest pleasure, he has learned to hate. “Lord,” he says, “allow me to go anywhere except into sin. If the way is rough, so be it, if it is Your way, I will bless You for being in it. But if the road is ever so smooth, allow not my feet to tread it, if it is Bye-Path Meadow.” The worst evil that can befall a Christian, I say, is to fall into sin and continue to do so. On the contrary, one of the richest blessings that a Christian can enjoy is to be kept aright in his walk and conversation—year after year to wear a spotless character—year after year to be such an one as Daniel, that even the man’s enemies can find nothing against him except touching the Law of his God. Oh, this is a great honor! This is a rare jewel! There are some of God’s servants who will get to Heaven who never wore this jewel. They have been the Lord’s people, but yet their slips and falls have given them broken bones and troubled hearts—and they have been saved at the last “so as by fire.” But it is a choice mercy if the child of God is able not only safely to get into the harbor, but to get into the harbor without having touched a rock, without having sunk in a quicksand, without
having suffered shipwreck—not only to come safely to Heaven, but to have “an abundant entrance ministered to him” into the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Now, dear Friends, the standing which is spoken of in the text relates to the secure standing of the child of God in respect to sin—and it may be understood in two senses. Sometimes the Christian is in an even place with regard to common, outward sin. And secondly, he is at all times in an even place with regard to the sin of other men—there he stands in such an even place that sin touches him not.
First, I say there are some Christians who may take the language of the text in regard to outward sin and thank God that they are not just now exposed to vehement temptations. They are not journeying in slippery places, but their foot stands in an even place.