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Psalm 26:12:
12My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.
This saying: "My foot standeth in an even place" has a threefold significance.
It is the exclamation of satisfaction on the part of the prosperous man of the world; it is the cry of relaxation on the part of him with whom the struggle for success has been hard and bitter; and it is the calm utterance of higher peace on the part of him who believes.
The imagery of the Psalmist is clear.
A road by which you must travel can bear a twofold character.
It can be as smooth and level as a bowling alley, as many streets are in cities and in towns; or it can be a way, as in mountainous districts, at one time down a steep decline and at another up to giddy heights, while the unevenness of the path taxes your strength to the utmost.
With us, a stretch of sandy or muddy road may make the going difficult, but, as a rule, our roads are smooth and easy-going, and no figure can be borrowed from them by which to describe the pathway of our life. A road may seem long to us, it may be lonely, or it may repel us by its uncleanliness, but all this presents no contrast such as we find between a road through level country and a mountain path.
Scripture on the other hand had its origin in a mountainous country. The Psalmists have roamed and wandered in the mountains. And their fertile minds would naturally borrow images from life in the mountains by which to express the contrasts of life.
Thus easy travel, with light step, on a smooth, straight and even road, of itself suggested to them the image of a life in which, in the language of a sailor, we would say that everything went before the wind. On the other hand the strong exertion which makes it even difficult to breathe, on a mountain path along which sometimes for hours together you go down a steep decline and then for hours you must climb a steep ascent, presented of itself the image of the wrestler of whom, again, in terms of the sea, we would say that he can scarcely keep his head above water.
And, therefore, the saying: "My foot standeth in an even place," may well state the self-sufficiency of the man who in everything has been successful, who has never known adversity, and who, devoid of carking care has never seen anything else than sunshine on the pathway of his life.
On the other hand there is much more in this exclamation, "My foot standeth in an even place," when it becomes the expression of what goes on in the soul of him who has been thrown, time upon time, and with keen disappointment has seen all his efforts fail, but who nevertheless kept on, did not give up; who when he fell, got up, and climbed the steep path again, until at last the point was reached where the straight way through the highland extended itself before his feet, and prosperous life began, and happy existence under the fulfillment of his ideals.
But the fullness of meaning in this saying, "My foot standeth in an even place," is highest when it is the joyous cry of the conviction of faith which with spiritual buoyancy knows that it can overcome the depression of this earthly life, and now bears witness with Habakkuk (3:17): "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
Let the child of fortune, as the man is called who has never known reverses, be on his guard.
A life without care, without anxiety, without sorrow, without disappointment, enervates one so easily.
Undoubtedly optimism cultivates a happy frame of mind, but it lacks the power to steel character, to practice buoyancy and make it taut, and to enrich oneself with the noble treasures of the mind.
Yet this is not the worst of it.
Far worse it is that the prosperous man inclines so readily to attribute his good fortune to himself, and to cherish the notion that the others whom he sees toil and plod so painfully must lay this to the door of their own inefficiency. He is the man who always had good insight, he the man who had the correct view of everything. Others allowed the right moment to go by unimproved; he always knew enough to act at the proper time. And so there rises in his mind an opinion of his own excellence, which nurses the sense of pride in his heart, and, in his inmost self, chokes the sense of sympathy with the sorrows and reverses of others.
Or, in case such a fortunate individual is still somewhat inclined to be religious, his heart so easily tempts him to look upon himself as a particular favorite of God, by reason of which preference his way was ever smooth. And now he lives along in sure confidence that his lot in life will be disposed by God in wealth and prosperity until the end.
And this goes on with the increasing opinion of his own excellence and privilege, until there comes a turn in life and the sun goes hiding behind the clouds.
Then everything collapses at once. Then there is no power of resistance. Then there is no disciplined strength. There is nothing to hold him up and to enable him to struggle against misfortune.
And the end is a sinking away in self-perplexity, without courage to live and without hope for the future.
How altogether different this is with the wrestler.
To such a one every new year of his life disclosed a new struggle to keep himself standing.
With one, it was a struggle to keep himself and his family alive with honor; to succeed in his calling and to do well in what he undertook. With another, a struggle against slander and envy. With a third, a struggle to obtain an opening for his conviction, for his insights, for his ideas. With still another, an endless struggle with broken health. And then again, vexation, sorrow of soul on account of a child that brought disappointment; or grievous mourning for a child, for a beloved wife that one lost by death.
And although there are many with whom such going through the depths are interspersed with sunnier days, there are also those who have fought for many years of their life literally in continuous tension, in never-ending disappointment, an endless fight without outlook.
Frequently this brought the bitter result that gloomy melancholy subdued the heart; that irascible thoughts began to predominate; and that, taking it for granted that their chance in life was lost, they at length gave up the fight, and without will and without hope pined away in ever deepening gloom.
But there have always been others who have persevered, who have not given up, who have not extinguished hope, and who, nerved by great will-power, in spite of everything have reached the point where they could breathe freely, and the opposition seemed broken.
Thanks to the practice acquired in their struggle they then put forth one last, gigantic effort. And, yes, now they succeeded. Now it was done. Now better days began. And with a feeling of delight such as can not be told in words, but as great as this earthly life can bring, they exclaimed in an altogether different way: "God be praised, now my foot standeth in an even place."
Does this already seem glorious? There is yet a still higher standpoint.
Against the current of life it is sometimes impossible to row. Sometimes adversity can darken your life so deeply that it follows you to the grave.
Even he who is most grievously afflicted has no single guarantee that better days will come. An outcome such as Job obtained is assured to no one.
It can be the good pleasure of God to glorify the majesty of the grace of faith in a life on which the sun of happiness has never shone. To poor Lazarus the hour of gladness only struck when by angels he was carried into Abraham's bosom.
We have no right to anything. And he, who is no stranger to the knowledge of his sin, will never face his God with the demand for happiness or for deliverance from misery. He may pray for it and supplicate for it, but yet it always remains: "Father, if this cup cannot pass from me, not my will, but thy will be done."
And the glory of this is, that a wondrous faith reveals its strength, not only when the suffering is turned into joy; but also, and still more wondrously, in the suffering itself; and even most of all when the suffering follows us to the grave, and the cross casts its shadow on the pathway of our life until the very end.
For this is the glory of the faith, that it discloses to us another, a higher way, a way on the top of the mountain of God's holiness, which excels the way of our earthly life and dissolves for us all sorrow and all misery and all agony of soul in a higher vision.
This way of faith does not run under the cloud which prevents the sun from shining on the pathway of our life. He who walks by this path has the clouds underneath himself. He enjoys the unhindered shining of the sun of grace.
And whether, then, in his life things go with him or against him, whether he must begin the struggle anew, or whether, finally, he is above the struggle against what the world calls fate—in pleasure and in distress, in grief and in gladness, in prosperity and in adversity, his soul remains in balance, his heart remains undaunted and fixed, and, glorying in the faith, he jubilantly bears witness: "Whatever comes, my foot standeth in the even place which my God has disclosed unto me through faith."
* * * * * * *This devotional classic offers 110 meditations on a single thought from Psalm 73: "As for me, it is good to be near to God." The author states, "The fellowship of being near unto God must become reality ... it must permeate and give color to our feeling, our perceptions, our sensations, our thinking, our imagining, our willing, our acting, our speaking. It must not stand as a foreign factor in our life, but it must be the passion that breathes throughout our whole existence."
The meditations reflect the blending of spiritual vigor with doctrinal loyalty so consistently expressed in the life of Abraham Kuyper. These are devotions with true substance, avoiding the extremes about which Kuyper adds a word of caution: "Stress in creedal confession, without drinking from the Living Fountain, runs dry in barren orthodoxy, just as truly as spiritual emotion, without clearness in confessional standards, makes one sink in the bog of sickly mysticism."
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) was a Dutch political leader and Calvinist theologian. Elected to parliament in 1874, he became Prime Minister in 1901 and served in that capacity until 1905. As a theologian, he revived a systematic, orthodox Calvinism. He founded the Free Reformed Church and the Free University of Amsterdam. His other works include Principles of Sacred Theology, Lectures on Calvinism, and The Work of the Holy Spirit
Further information about Abraham Kuyper's life can be seen in the translator's "Biographical Note"; further information about To Be Near Unto God can be Abraham Kuyper's "Preface" to that book.
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