This course of affairs is repeated everywhere. That is why we see in the writings of the fathers that when someone is subjected to vain from people, it means that he is elevated to the highest degree of perfection. He who has passed these trials is purified like gold in a furnace, and shines with the brightness of a God-loving disposition, humility, contrition, meekness, righteousness, mercy, purity, love of peace and peacemaking. He is one of those about whom the holy Apostle testifies: "Who is Christ's essence, the flesh is crucified with passions and lusts... against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:23-24); for it is not prescribed to them, but appears in themselves, placed in their hearts.

Verse Seventy-Two

"The law of Thy mouth is good to me, more than a thousand gold and silver."

This is the perfection with which the laborer proceeds from the furnace of temptations, as indicated before. The law is good for him, because he is all permeated with it; Neither thought (movements), nor desire (aspirations), nor heart (sweetness) are outlawed, but everything revolves in it. The mind finds in it the satisfactory solution of all its problems, the heart the satisfaction of all tastes, the will the attainment of all desires. That is why it is good, because it gives the highest good that man can desire, namely, peace of mind. The Apostle, in his Epistle to the Philippians, explains why this is so: "The rest," he says, "my brethren, if it is true, if it is honest, if it is righteous, if it is most pure, if it is lovely, if it is praiseworthy, if it is virtue, and if it is praised, think this... do this; and the God of peace will be with you" (Phil. 4:8-9).

The law is an expression of the will of God. If everything within is full of law, then it is full of God's will; the Divine element is taken within and dissolved with the whole being of man. He both serves as a guide for entering into God, and prepares for Him a worthy dwelling. And the inquisitive God dwells; and where God is, there is all that is desired and desired.

And the Lord's goal of strict training, which was mentioned above, is that, having cleansed the soul, prepare for oneself a dwelling in it. Even in creation in His image and likeness, He appointed it for this purpose, but the fall upset the matter. It has brought into us the impurity of passions that have alienated the Lord. It became impossible for Him to enter into communion with the soul while there were passions in it; they must first be expelled, and they are expelled by accepting and merging with the soul the commandments that are opposite to them. Then, just as a thing made of iron is soft, unreliable for work until it is tempered, so the soul, which has received all the commandments, is tempered by the Lord in the furnace of all-round temptations, from which it comes out not only well worked in all parts, but also firm, solid, that is, it is a reliable vessel for the containment of the Lord. And he moves in. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8) — they will see not outside, before themselves, but within themselves, at home. This good is given by the law; That is why he is good.

"More than a thousand gold and silver." Under the words gold and silver, all the goods of this world are represented here, and "thousands" are innumerable. Gather up, he says, an innumerable multitude of goods of the world; they are all nothing to me compared with the law of the mouth of God. And do not think that there is any stretch in this expression. In those who have tasted through faithfulness to the law, as much as the Lord is good, all other blessings arouse not sympathy, but disgust. There are things with which a person is abhorred; and what he experiences when he encounters such things, he who has tasted the Lord also experiences when he encounters the goods of the world, not as the works of God's hands, but as objects offered in opposition to the law of God. Others may think: well, this is too much. No, not too much; But even this comparison is not enough to explain how the heart, having tasted the good of the law, treats thousands of gold and silver. Why does one give away everything with the same greed with which no one else collects? "Because he has paid everything; Everything is alien to him, all this is rubbish that must be swept away. And in the end of all things, he gives his life, his most precious possession, for the law of the mouth of the Lord; and all because in his heart, mind, and consciousness he is no longer on earth, but in another world, whither he strives, throwing off this perishable garment, which prevents him from being face to face with the Lord. This, however, is the natural course of the development of spiritual life; Those who have it even in the beginnings easily understand this, since the demand of the Spirit strikes at such a disposition from the very beginning. But it appears in perfection at the last stages of the development of the spirit, under the influence of the Spirit of God.

Verses 73 – 80

The tenth eight verses are under the word "yod" – "hand".

Рука — символ всемогущества Божия. Все сотворил, все и содержит Он в деснице Своей и о всем промышляет. Этому соответствует содержание сего восьмистишия. Помянув о сотворении себя Богом и даровании разумения к исполнению своего назначения (стихи 73, 74), пророк далее молится, чтобы Господь улучшил и внешнюю участь его к славе богоугодной жизни. Праведно, говорит, Ты, Господи, смирил меня (стих 75); но буди милость Твоя ко мне и щедроты Твои да приидут на меня, во–первых, по словеси Твоему (стих 76), во–вторых, да жив буду (стих 77), в–третьих, да постыдятся гордии (стих 78), в–четвертых, да обратятся ко мне боящиеся Тебя (стих 79). Но главное, устрой, да будет сердце мое непорочно в оправданиях Твоих (стих 80).

Это восьмистишие, по содержанию, очень сходно с предыдущим, ибо рассматривает жизнь нравственную в том же отношении.

Стих семьдесят третий

«Руце Твои сотвористе мя, и создаете мя: вразуми мя, и научуся заповедем Твоим».

Пророк поминает о творении не затем, чтоб излагать этот предмет, а чтобы в сем действии Божием получить подкрепление молитве своей о помощи Божией к нравственному преуспеянию своему. Я Твое создание, Господи; а Ты создал меня не за тем, чтобы я погибал, но чтобы удостоился вечного блаженства. А так как для этого необходимо исполнять волю Твою, выраженную в заповедях, то вразуми меня и научи, как это сделать.