The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, he is their strength in the time of trouble. – Psalm 37:39
We may say of righteousness as Job says of wisdom, Where shall righteousness be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it to be found in the land of the living." Job 28:12, 13. The patriarch says, It is not in me. The prophet says, It is not in me. The apostle says, It is not in me. The Lord saith, "All flesh hath corrupted his way." Gen. 6:12. "There is none that doeth good, no, not one." Psalm 14:3.
Why then do the Scriptures speak so much of the righteous, if there are no such persons upon earth? Indeed there are. This is a point of great importance: the Lord settle it well in your heart and mine. We are poor sinners in ourselves; we have no righteousness of our own; yet, saith the Lord Jesus, the righteous one, "Their righteousness is of me." Isa. 54:17. We are made the righteousness of God in Christ. 2 Cor. 5:21. When we are taught this by the Spirit of truth, instead of looking into ourselves for righteousness, we cry out in the joy of faith, I have found it: "In the Lord have I righteousness." Isa. 45:24. Then we have a living union with the Lord our righteousness, by faith; being perfectly righteous in him, we have righteous hopes, fears, desires, a righteous walk, and righteous expectations; for we know our salvation is of the Lord. The Spirit of truth does not leave us to the unrighteous notions of salvation on account of our own works, duties, and performances, either in whole or in part; but he shows us such matchless glory in our Lord's one everlasting righteousness, that we renounce all our own righteousness, and all dependance on it for salvation. The Lord increase our faith in this righteousness: Lord, quicken our love to thee for making us righteous.
But though thus righteous, yet sin is in us; therefore we have our troubles: "many are the afflictions of the righteous." Are we in trouble from the number of our enemies, the greatness of our sins and corruptions, the weakness of our graces, the strength of our temptations, a sense of desertion, or the want of comfort, peace and joy from the Lord? These are righteous troubles. The righteous Lord is our strength to support us under them: he has power to remove them: he neither wants love nor power to save us from them, for the Lord delivereth the "righteous out of all his troubles." Psalm 34:17.