The Practice of Self-Denial

The question was once put to an old minister as to how far he had progressed in the part of self-denial. He answered, “I have yet to begin with it.”

Christ placed it as a requirement for his disciples in Matthew 16:24, even as a necessity for those who would follow Him. To leave our country and to bid farewell to our kinship is grievous. Abraham experienced this, but Ruth was allowed to do it. It is not easy to distance ourselves from our belongings. It becomes visible how firmly we are attached to the goods of the world when the Lord takes them away from us. To lose children is a heavy blow. Jacob wept for his children when they were taken from him. David wept for Absalom. It is noted as a special grace when it is observed in truth that Job testified, “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” The most difficult part, however, is the denial of self. There are some who confess self-denial yet so seldom practice it.

We are lovers of self. We seek our own good, and we seek to please ourselves. That becomes more visible in one than in another, or we could say it differently, the one can hide it better than the other. When it comes right down to it, we are most taken with self. The oldest son of whom we read in Luke 15 does not live far from us. How few there are who in practice consider others more outstanding than themselves.

There are not many people in church who are truly displeased with themselves, who are self-condemnable, and who have God as their highest pleasure and joy. There are more people who are converted than there are those who are unconverted. Where the uncovering of the Holy Spirit is lacking, the pressing in the footsteps of Christ will also not be found. Christ is the chief example of self-denial. We read of Him, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

In Matthew 11:29 it is written, “And learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Of Him it is also written in 1 Peter 2:23, “Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.”

Here in Psalm 109 we meet a man, David, who is well known to all of us and who may press in the footsteps of Christ and in his life, be a type of Christ. He prays for the punishment upon his enemies and for deliverance in his life. From the beginning to the end, David’s life was difficult. Heavy was the cross which the Lord had laid upon him. David also was not a stranger of what was so very applicable to Christ in Psalm 129, “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth.” In how many wars was he not involved throughout his entire life? The one battle followed the other, but that was not all. How much derision and scorn was his portion? How much evil and false accusation was spread against him by lying tongues?

According to God’s sovereign good pleasure, there are only two types of people in the world. There is an Abel and a Cain; there is an Isaac and an Ishmael, a Jacob and an Esau, a Ruth and an Orpah, elect and reprobate. Yet, it is revealed that there is a great difference in unconverted people. Among the unconverted there have been at all times those who are captivated by the truth, people who live modestly and unpretentiously, who, we would say, live a blameless life. Yea, there are even people who, in their outward life, can make a number of God’s people ashamed. According to common grace they are at times powerful examples. Sometimes they even outwardly build God’s church and use their gifts for the benefit of God’s people. They have the highest respect for God’s people and servants.

In contrast to this, there are those who, consciously or unconsciously, are used as instruments of Satan to discomfort the pious ones—people who use a tactic which can best be described in no way other than devilish. Oh, how terrible to then be used as an Ahithophel or as a Judas to rob God’s Anointed One of life and to betray Christ with a kiss. Of such, the truth states: “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” Yet, throughout all the times and ages there have been such elements, as there are also today, who in a concealed manner trouble God’s people. They do not realize that they bring down God’s wrath upon their neck and make their condemnation so much the heavier.

How terrible it is when God’s child comes to Him to accuse the wicked and to plead with the Lord to take them away, as we read in this psalm. Terrible are the examples of how God has often taken these hidden wicked ones and has cast them away from before His countenance. There are people who love to curse, but the curse shall overcome them, and they are covered with the curse as with a garment (Psalm 109:18). The end of such people is terrible. God blesses with peace the end of His servants, but one cannot be jealous of the fate of such wicked ones. Some of them hung themselves; others drowned or wasted away in misery. The eternal remorse of such is unspeakable.

The arrows of the wicked can pierce the soul of God’s children. David speaks of this in verses 22-25; he is driven out to God who alone can deliver and take up the fight with those who fight against His people. In our text David is able to place his condition in the Lord’s hands. He even shows pity for his enemies and says, “Let them curse.” It is different here from the time when the disciples prayed that fire would come down from heaven to consume the Samaritans. The love of God filled the heart of David, and we should consider this truth more as an expectation that God shall humiliate and bring dishonor upon his enemies. It is therefore not a curse or a wish, as we read in the first part of the psalm.

Even though Ahithophel deserted David, and even though Shimei cursed him, nothing can trouble his soul anymore. He rests in God and places all his needs in God’s hands. David prays for his enemies, that the Lord might remember them. He does not become angry when the Lord favors them; on the contrary, he asks if God will bless them. It is exceptional grace to be able to pray for our enemies. We are more inclined to seek revenge against our enemies than to seek their welfare. Grace, however, makes it all possible. The precious union with Christ makes it possible for us to walk and press in His footsteps.

Christ did not weep before the gates of Jerusalem only because the people rejected Him but even sighed, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!” Christ prayed while on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” No, that was not a prayer for all the people that stood by the cross but only for those who lay under the seal of God’s eternal electing love and who in time would become friends through the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit.

If the love of God has the uppermost place in our heart, then we will not be hard and unsympathetic against our enemies but will even beg for God’s blessing upon them. It would give great joy when enemies would be conquered and reconciled with God by the blood of the Lamb. Only the blessing of the Lord makest rich, and that blessing wherein everything is contained for time and eternity is what David desires from the God of all blessings.

“Let them arise,” which is to say, let the enemy go forth, but not to be victorious and to destroy. No, that is not the desire of the poet. He has something else in view, namely, the shame and embarrassment of his enemies, that they would be halted in their campaign and fall into the hands of the Lord. That is what happened to Saul upon the way to Damascus. God let him go on so far in his fierce anger that he was on his way to Damascus with the letters from the high priest in his pocket to bind the people of God. This passionate enemy was himself bound by God and brought into the street named Straight to experience:

The cords of death held me in deep despair;

The pangs of hell, like waves by tempest driven,

Rolled o’er my soul; by grief and sorrow riven,

I turned in my distress to God in prayer.

When the work of God proceeds in such a way, it is to the greatest joy of God’s child and servant. Then such people rise up because of joy in God, and that leads to the exalting of God who is wonderful in all of His ways. “In the multitude of people is the king’s honor.” The extension and the enlargement of God’s kingdom is to the joy of God’s people.

Also, when God makes the enemies ashamed, settles accounts with them, and takes up the fight which is carried on against His people, and when He executes His justice, then there is joy in the hearts of those who fear the Lord. God does not always leave his people sorrowing. He gives them a reason to rejoice in the Lord. Already here below he dries the tears of sighing and sorrowing people. They may even, on occasion, observe the vengeance of God against His enemies. That joy shall one day be complete in heaven when they step upon the necks of all of their enemies, and they shall be as dust under their feet. Christ triumphed upon Golgotha, and He triumphs eternally in heaven, and God’s people shall one day receive in their hands the palm branches of victory. Then all cursing against them shall be ended.

People of the Lord, rejoice in that expectation.

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