Psalms 144:12

Psalms 144:12

David is not praying that the youth of the land should have any abnormal precociousness, or should be in any way ahead of their years; but the picture before his mind is that of vigorous, healthful, upright, manly, and ingenuous youth: and he feels that this, if realised, would be the highest glory of the land. For the young men of his country he desired:

I. A healthful frame; a strong, robust, vigorous physique. It has been said that as righteousness is the health of the soul, so health is the righteousness of the body.

II. A solid character. A quaint writer says, "If a man is to grow, he must grow like a tree; there must be nothing between him and heaven." It is an old adage that knowledge is power, but it is still more true to say that character is power.

III. A hidden life. Each of you needs that which no human power can communicate, and without which the fairest religious profession is only a painted corpse. Personal and saving religion is no development from within, no product of moral evolution; it is something whose germ must be imparted to you by the Holy Spirit, and without which germ you are in the sight of God absolutely dead.

J. Thain Davidson, The City Youth, p. 239.

References: Psalms 144:12 . W. Walters, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 338. Psalms 144:15 . F. W. Farrar, Ibid., vol. xix., p. 33; W. M. Arthur, Ibid., vol. xxvii., p. 200. Psalms 145:1 . Preacher's Monthly, vol. ii., p. 295.Psalms 145:1 , Psalms 145:2 . Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1902.