Insensitive⤒🔗

The image that many have of Calvin is that of an unfeeling dogmatist. A man who focused on doctrine and hardly enjoyed life. A man who wrote dogmatic books, but who offered little nourishment for the soul. If our present time can be characterized by a cry for mysticism and experience, it certainly does not seem obvious to go to the Genevan reformer for these things. However, if you take the trouble to read what this man actually thought and wrote, you will soon discover that Calvin was a man just like you and me. He was a believing person, but he too knew both the joy of faith and the challenges of faith. We can see this especially when we turn to his explanation of the Psalms, through which we will give Calvin the opportunity to say a few things about the experience of faith; first about struggles of faith, and then about the joy of faith. We do not offer him this opportunity so that he himself would be seen in a more sympathetic light, but so that he, as a servant of the divine Word, would bring us closer to the LORD.

Mountain and molehill←⤒🔗

In his explanation of the Psalms, Calvin continuously sets aside the boundaries of time and place when he aligns David’s difficulties of faith with ours and his own. We see this, for example, in his statement about Psalm 25:4, where David prays to God to make known to him the ways he should go. Calvin notes that times of adversity are often like mists which darken the eyes so that we no longer can see what God’s way is: “And everyone knows from his own experience how difficult a thing it is… But if David, so distinguished a prophet and endued with so much wisdom, stood in need of divine instruction, what shall become of us if, in our afflictions, God dispel not from our minds those clouds of darkness which prevent us from seeing his light?”

Therefore, if David already needs to pray like this, how much more does it apply to us. That therefore also applies to Calvin himself. We also do not need to look up to the reformer. David and Calvin needed this prayer just as much as I need it today. The prophet, the reformer, and I all trust in God, and at the same time there is often a lack of trust on our part. Every Christian recognizes what Calvin says about this lack of trust: “Because as soon as there is a temptation that imposes itself on us, we immediately turn a molehill into a mountain, yes, suddenly we manufacture such high obstacles that we start to think that God’s hand can no longer reach us.”

“Lord, Help Me”←⤒🔗

According to Calvin, doubts often strike in times of great difficulty, because then it can sometimes appear that God forgets us. For this reason, the poet of Psalm 109 cries out more than once: “O LORD, help me!”—about which Calvin says, “The prophet repeats his prayer, because the more we are assailed by the subtlety and deceit of Satan, the more necessary is it for us to strive more ardently, and display the greater boldness. We may, indeed, have the full assurance of God being propitious towards us, yet when he delays to manifest it, and when the ungodly slander us, it must be that various doubts which keep intruding themselves upon us arise in our minds.”

Very aptly, David’s faith being tested is expressed in the prayer of Psalm 10: “Why, O LORD, do you stand far away?” With this question he begins his prayer and this is how we see a believer here being challenged in his faith and trust. The way Calvin knows how to express David’s situation is equally striking: “Although David here complains that God kept himself afar off, he was, notwithstanding, fully persuaded of his presence with him; otherwise it would have been in vain to have called upon him for aid.” There is something self-contradictory about addressing God while you sense that he is not there. That is truly being challenged. It is as if he is not there and yet you know that you must go to him.

Faith and Feeling←⤒🔗

Psalm 46:1-2 says, “God is our refuge and strength…. Therefore we will not fear.” But these words certainly do not imply that we must conclude from this, “that the hearts of the believers know no care at all, as if they no longer have any feelings or emotions. There is a life-size difference between insensitivity and perseverance of faith. The poet simply wants to say that no matter what happens, the believers never need to be overwhelmed by fear, but rather that they gather strength so that they can calm such fear.” Calvinists may have the reputation of being tough and fearless, yet they are ordinary people with feelings of dread and confidence. If there happen to be any Christians who are stoically insensitive to grief and trouble, they cannot appeal for such an attitude either to David or to Calvin.

Needless, and Yet...←⤒🔗

In Psalm 27:1 David asks himself, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” Indeed, God is his helper, and yet that fear is there. Time and again we find how honestly Calvin responds to the doubts and fears that believers encounter. It is because of the weakness of our flesh that as people who do indeed want to trust in the LORD, we are never totally free of fear. At the same time, however—and Calvin always calls on his readers to realize this—we may look down with contempt on all the dangers that assail us.

Calvin uses the image of a tower. Trust in God is like having to climb a tower, where you are safe and you can even look down on dangers and enemies. So if believers still fear, then that fear is actually superfluous. Yes, we even short-change God when we do not climb that tower of confidence often enough: “But with the promises of God before our eyes, and the grace which they offer, our unbelief does him grievous wrong, if we do not with unshrinking courage boldly set him against all our enemies.”

Fear and small faith, these are understandable, Calvin says, but it is not being honest with God, because he offers to come and stand between our enemies and us. Both understanding as well as reproach can be heard in these words and it is particularly that combination that makes the reformer into a true pastor.

Being Forsaken by God←⤒🔗

It almost goes without saying that in his explanation of Psalm 22, Calvin raises the issue of temptations. After all, in the very first verse of this Psalm, the familiar words are heard: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The amazing thing about these words is that the person who has the feeling of being far from God yet calls out to him as “my God.” He speaks to him of whom he thinks that he is not there. Serious doubt is present, and yet the voice of certainty says, “my God.” According to Calvin that is a challenge that every child of God experiences every day: “There is not one of the godly who does not daily experience in himself the same thing. According to the judgment of the flesh, he thinks he is cast off and forsaken by God, while yet he apprehends by faith the grace of God, which is hidden from the eye of sense and reason; and thus it comes to pass that contrary affections are mingled and interwoven in the prayers of the faithful.” 

Our problem then, says Calvin, is that “carnal sense and reason cannot but conceive of God as being either favourable or hostile, according to the present condition of things which is presented to their view. When, therefore, he suffers us to lie long in sorrow, and as it were to pine away under it, we must necessarily feel, according to the apprehension of the flesh, as if he had quite forgotten us. When such a perplexing thought takes entire possession of the mind of man, it overwhelms him in profound unbelief, and he neither seeks, nor any longer expects, to find a remedy. But if faith comes to his aid against such a temptation, the same person who, judging from the outward appearance of things, regarded God as incensed against him, or as having abandoned him, beholds in the mirror of the promises the grace of God which is hidden and distant.”

“Between these two contrary affections the faithful are agitated,” says Calvin. Satan shows us our deplorable state because he wants us to believe that God is angry with us. He wants to make the believers desperate and to abandon their faith. Yet, says Calvin, “faith calls them back to the promises, teaches them to wait patiently and to trust in God, until he again show them his fatherly countenance.”

Happy Calvinists?←⤒🔗

According to a dictionary the word “Calvinistic” can also mean “sober” or “not exuberant.” It is therefore almost impossible to imagine a happy Calvinist. After all, Calvin’s followers know of no exuberant feasts and if there are among them those who are aware of it, they are probably not true Calvinists. The festive element that Calvin is referring to is of a different character than what is usually thought of when celebrating, but that does not imply that the joy is any the less!

The Law Makes Us Glad←⤒🔗

“Joyfulness” and “law” may appear to be concepts that do not have much in common with each other, and may even seem to be opposites of each other. According to the Bible, however, the law is cause for joy, for in it God shows us the way so that we do not get lost. Implicitly that also means that life becomes joyful and happy when we go and stay in the ways of the LORD. We cannot praise God any better than by living according to his law. The law is not an end in itself, but a means to God’s praise. Calvin therefore defines the purpose of our lives like this: that “all men were made and are preserved in life for this end, that they may devote themselves to the praise of God” (Psalm 145:4).

In this connection it must be clear to everyone what the word “law” means. When the psalmist says in Psalm 119:143 that God’s commandments are a delight to him even in times of trouble and anguish, “this could not be true of the bare commandments, which so far from remedying our distresses, rather fill us with anxiety, [so] there is no doubt that under the word commandments there is comprehended… the whole doctrine of the law, in which God not only requires what is right, but in which also calling his elect ones to the hope of eternal salvation, he opens the gate of perfect happiness. Yea, under the term law are comprehended both free adoption, and also the promises which flow from it.”

Hence, in verse 165 of this psalm, the poet speaks of love to avoid misunderstanding and misuse of the law. “From the term love, we gather that this peace is not acquired by a slavish observance of the law, but proceeds from faith; for the law has no sweetness to attract us to it, unless it exhibit to us God in the character of a father, and tranquilize our minds by the assurance of eternal salvation.”

Also from the fact that David applauds the law such that he calls it “sweet as honey” in Psalm 19:10, we can deduce that this is not about the bare commandments, but also about the promise of forgiveness, as Calvin makes clear: “If the law did nothing else but command us, how could it be loved, since in commanding it terrifies us, because we all fail in keeping it? Certainly, if we separate the law from the hope of pardon, and from the Spirit of Christ, so far from tasting it to be sweet as honey, we will rather find in it a bitterness that kills our wretched souls.”

Happiness←⤒🔗

What is happiness? Every person on earth is searching for it, but who finds it? Besides, what is it actually: happiness? According to Calvin, it is at least clear to everyone that happiness does not exist, “being swept back and forth by adversity and worries. We know that cheerfulness is the most important thing in a happy life.” Now, says David in Psalm 16:9, to find happiness you must go to God: “Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices.” David exults: that is true happiness! “The Psalmist commends the inestimable fruit of faith, of which Scripture everywhere makes mention, in that, by placing us under the protection of God, it makes us not only to live in the enjoyment of mental tranquillity, but, what is more, to live joyful and cheerful.”

So God’s protection is important for our happiness, “but happiness is only complete when we are reconciled to God.” That is why David adds in the same Psalm the following words: In your presence [or: before your countenance] there is fullness of joy.” This can mean two things, namely that we see God or that God sees us. Calvin comments: “I consider both these ideas as included, for his fatherly favour, which he displays in looking upon us with a serene countenance, precedes this joy, and is the first cause of it, and yet this does not cheer us until, on our part, we behold it shining upon us.”

Word and Spirit←⤒🔗

Only the Word of God awakens the joy of faith in our hearts. That is why the poet says in Psalm 51:8, “Let me hear joy and gladness.” This immediately indicates the fundamental difference between biblical experience and all other forms of experience, and we find it here as the standard for all faith experience: the Word of God. As Calvin says, “For it is the word of God alone which can first and effectually cheer the heart of any sinner. There is no true or solid peace to be enjoyed in the world except in the way of reposing upon the promises of God.” On his journey through life the believer experiences a lot of fears, dangers and difficulties and it is only God’s promise that always provides him with peace and joy on the way. But then it is also real joy. However, according to Calvin, this also applies: there is no faith without joy. “For the joy of the Spirit is inseparable from faith.” There are no believers who are not joyful. True happiness of faith does not arise from yourself, and is not caused by the circumstances. Nor is it brought about through the atmosphere around you, but only through the Word of God, for in that Word we hear and read the message of grace. “Any man who has seriously felt the fear of the Lord desires no other cure for his troubled conscience than hearing this joy, that God has promised to be gracious to us by pardoning our guilt.” The Word and the Spirit work together to awaken and to sustain in us our faith and the joy of faith.

Audible joy←⤒🔗

The joy of faith does not remain hidden, but expresses itself in praise to the LORD. The praise starts in the heart but can also be heard in the midst of the congregation. Calvin concludes this from the call of the psalmist in Psalm 111 to praise God: “He very properly begins with heart-praise, because it is much better to praise in secret, and when no one is conscious of it, than to lift up our voice, and shout forth his praises with feigned lips. At the same time, the person who, in secret, pours out his heart in grateful emotions towards God, will also set forth his praises in swelling strains, otherwise God would be deprived of one half of the honour which is due to him. The prophet then determines to praise God with the whole heart, that is, with an upright and honest heart.” It is encouraging to read that Calvin explains this “with all heart” as “with all sincerity”: “This is a point worthy of notice, lest any should be discouraged, in consequence of not being able to cherish the hope of attaining to that perfection of heart which is so desirable; for however defective our praises may be, they may nevertheless be acceptable to God, provided only we strive unfeignedly to render unto him this act of devotion.” “With the whole heart” does not mean that there is nothing wrong with it, but that it is real and not like the hypocrites, says Calvin, “who, coldly and with a double heart, or rather guilefully and perfidiously, employ their lips only in the praises of God.”

Almost automatically therefore the poet comes closer to offering his praise in public. According to Calvin, the poet refers with “public” to the worship service for “he speaks of the company of the upright in the congregation … because the principal object for which holy assemblies are convened, is to afford the worshippers of God an opportunity of presenting to him sacrifices of praise.”

To praise means to give thanks←⤒🔗

The Bible is clear about this: whoever wants to please God should come with a mouth filled with praise, rather than with a hand filled with money. That is why David says in Psalm 69, “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs” (verses 30-31). Now, if it is so clear what pleases the LORD, why is it that we practice this so little? Calvin addresses those who deny God their song of praise by not singing, or because they simply don’t want to sing or because they purely have forgotten to be thankful. Calvin, who has committed himself so much to the singing in church, does not understand this: “There cannot be a more powerful incitement to thanksgiving than the certain conviction that this religious service is highly pleasing to God; even as the only recompense which he requires for all the benefits which he lavishes upon us is, that we honour and praise his name.”