1. O give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good. It is all we can give him, and the
least we can give; therefore let us diligently render to him our thanksgiving.
The psalmist is in earnest in the exhortation, hence the use of the
interjection O to intensify his words: let us be at all times thoroughly
fervent in the praises of the Lord, both with our lips and with our lives, by
thanksgiving and thanks-living. Jehovah, for that is the name here used, is not
to be worshiped with groans and cries, but with thanks, for he is good; and
these thanks should be heartily rendered, for his is no common goodness: he is
good by nature, and essence, and proven to be good in all the acts of his
eternity. Compared with him there is none good, no, not one: but he is
essentially, perpetually, superlatively, infinitely good. We are the perpetual
partakers of his goodness, and therefore ought above all his creatures to
magnify his name. Our praise should be increased by the fact that the divine
goodness is not a transient thing, but in the attribute of mercy abides forever
the same, for his mercy endureth for ever. The word endureth has
been properly supplied by the translators, but yet it somewhat restricts the
sense, which will be better seen if we read it, for his mercy for ever.
That mercy had no beginning, and will never know an end. Our sin required that
goodness should display itself to us in the form of mercy, and it has done so,
and will do so evermore; let us not be slack in praising the goodness which
thus adapts itself to our fallen nature.
2. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Whatever others may think or say,
the redeemed have overwhelming reasons for declaring the goodness of the Lord.
Theirs is a special redemption, and for it they ought to render special praise.
The Redeemer is so glorious, the ransom price so immense, and the redemption so
complete that they are under sevenfold obligations to give thanks unto the
Lord, and to exhort others to do so. Let them not only feel so but say so;
let them both sing and bid their fellows sing. Whom he hath redeemed from
the hand of the enemy. Snatched by superior power away from fierce
oppressions, they are bound above all men to adore the Lord, their Liberator.
Theirs is a divine redemption; he hath redeemed them, and no one else
has done it.
3. And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and
from the west, from the north and from the south. Gathering follows upon redeeming. The captives of old were
restored to their own land from every quarter of the earth, and even from
beyond the sea; for the word translated south is really “the sea.” No
matter what divides, the Lord will gather his own into one body, and first on
earth by “one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,” and then in heaven by one
common bliss they will be known to be the one people of the One God.
4. They wandered in the wilderness. They wandered, for the track was lost, no vestige of
a road remained; worse still, they wandered in a wilderness, where all
around was burning sand. They were lost in the worst possible place, even as
the sinner is who is lost in sin; they wandered up and down in vain searches
and researches as a sinner does when he is awakened and sees his lost estate;
but it ended in nothing, for they still continued in the wilderness, though
they had hoped to escape from it. In a solitary way. No human dwelling
was near, and no other company of travelers passed within hail. Solitude is a
great intensifier of misery. The loneliness of a desert has a most depressing
influence upon the person who is lost in the boundless waste. The traveler’s
way in the wilderness is a waste way, and when he leaves even that poor,
barren trail to get utterly beyond the path of man, he is in a wretched light
indeed. A soul without sympathy is on the borders of hell: a solitary way is
the way of despair. They found no city to dwell in. How could they?
There was none. Israel in the wilderness abode under canvas, and enjoyed none
of the comforts of settled life; wanderers in the Sahara find no town or
village. People when under distress of soul find nothing to rest upon, no
comfort and no peace; their efforts after salvation are many, weary, and
disappointing, and the dread solitude of their hearts fills them with dire
distress.
5. Hungry and thirsty. their soul fainted in them. The spirits sink when the bodily frame becomes exhausted by
long privations. Who can keep his courage up when he is ready to fall to the
ground at every step through utter exhaustion? The supply of food is all eaten,
the water is spent in the bottles, and there are neither fields nor streams in
the desert; the heart therefore sinks in dire despair. Such is the condition of
an awakened conscience before it knows the Lord Jesus; it is full of
unsatisfied cravings, painful needs, and heavy fears. It is utterly spent and
without strength, and there is nothing in the whole creation which can minister
to its refreshment.
6. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. Not till they were in extremities
did they pray, but the mercy is that they prayed then, and prayed in the
right manner, with a cry, and to the right person, unto the Lord. Nothing else remained for them
to do; they could not help themselves, or find help in others, and therefore
they cried to God. If hunger brings us to our knees it is more useful to us
than feasting; if thirst drives us to the fountain it is better than the
deepest draughts of worldly joy; and if fainting leads to crying it is better
than the strength of the mighty. And he delivered them out of their
distresses. Deliverance follows prayer most surely. The cry must have been
very feeble, for they were faint, and their faith was as weak as their cry; but
yet they were heard, and heard at once. A little delay would have been their
death; but there was none, for the Lord was ready to save them.
7. And he led them forth by the right way. There are many wrong ways, but only one right one, and into
this none can lead us but God himself. When the Lord is leader the way is sure
to be right; we never need question that. Forth from the pathless mazes of the
desert he conducted the lost ones; he found the way, made the way, and enabled
them to walk along it, faint and hungry as they were. That they might go to
a city of habitation. The end was worthy of the way: he did not lead them
from one desert to another, but he gave the wanderers an abode, the weary ones
a place of rest. They found no city to dwell in, but he found one
readily enough. What we can do and what God can do are two very
different things. What a difference it made to them to leave their solitude for
a city, their trackless path for well-frequented streets, and their faintness
of heart for the refreshment of a home! Far greater are the changes which divine
love works in the condition of sinners when God answers their prayers and
brings them to Jesus. Shall not the Lord be magnified for such special mercies?
Can we who have enjoyed them sit down in ungrateful silence?
8. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness.
Men are not mentioned here in the original, but the word is fitly supplied by
the translators; the psalmist would have all things in existence magnify
Jehovah’s name. Surely men will do this without being exhorted to it
when the deliverance is fresh in their memories. They must be horrible ingrates
who will not honor such a deliverer for so happy a rescue from the most cruel
death. It is well that the redeemed should be stirred up to bless the Lord
again and again, for preserved life deserves life-long thankfulness. Even those
who have not encountered the like peril, and obtained the like deliverance,
should bless the Lord in sympathy with their fellows, sharing their joy. And
for his wonderful works to the children of men. These favors are bestowed
upon our race, upon children of the family to which we belong, and
therefore we ought to join in the praise. The children of men are so
insignificant, so feeble, and so undeserving, that it is a great wonder that
the Lord should do anything for them; but he is not content with doing little
works, he puts forth his wisdom, power, and love to perform marvels on the
behalf of those who seek him.
9. For he satisfieth the longing soul. This is the summary of the lost traveler’s experience. He
who in a natural sense has been rescued from perishing in a howling wilderness
ought to bless the Lord who brings him again to eat bread among men. The
spiritual sense is, however, the more rich in instruction. The Lord sets us
longing and then completely satisfies us. That longing leads us into solitude,
separation, thirst, faintness and self-despair, and all these conduct us to
prayer, faith, divine guidance, satisfying of the soul’s thirst, and rest: the
good hand of the Lord is to be seen in the whole process and in the divine
result. And filleth the hungry soul with goodness. As for thirst he
gives satisfaction, so for hunger he supplies filling. In both cases the need
is more than met, there is an abundance in the supply which is well worthy of
notice: the Lord does nothing in a stingy fashion; satisfying and filling are
his especial modes of treating his guests. Nor does he fill the hungry with
common fare, but with goodness itself. It is not so much good, as the
essence of goodness which he bestows on needy suppliants.
10. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. The cell is dark of itself, and the fear of execution casts
a still denser gloom over the prison. Such is the cruelty of man to man that
tens of thousands have been made to linger in places only fit to be tombs;
unhealthy, suffocating, filthy sepulchres, where they have sickened and died of
broken hearts. Meanwhile the dread of sudden death has been the most hideous
part of the punishment; the prisoners have felt as if the chill shade of death
himself froze them to the very marrow. The state of a soul under conviction of
sin is forcibly symbolized by such a condition; people in that state cannot see
the promises which would yield them comfort, they sit still in the inactivity
of despair, they fear the approach of judgment, and are thereby as much
distressed as if they were at death’s door. Being bound in affliction and
iron. Many prisoners have been thus doubly lettered in heart and hand. In a
spiritual sense affliction frequently attends conviction of sin, and then the
double grief causes a double bondage. O you who are made free by Christ Jesus,
remember those who are in bonds.
11. Because they rebelled against the words of God. This was the general cause of bondage among the ancient
people of God; they were given over to their adversaries because they were not
loyal to the Lord. God’s words are not to be trifled with, and those who
venture on such rebellion will bring themselves into bondage. And condemned
the counsel of the Most High. They thought that they knew better than the
Judge of all the earth, and therefore they left his ways and walked in their
own. When men do not follow the divine counsel they give the most practical
proof of their contempt for it. There is too much contending of the divine
counsel, even among Christians, and hence so few of them know the liberty
wherewith Christ makes us free.
12. Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. In eastern prisons men are frequently made to labor like
beasts of the field. As they have no liberty, so they have no rest. God has
methods of abating the loftiness of rebellious looks: the cell and the mill
make even giants tremble. They fell down, and there was none to help.
Stumbling on in the dark beneath their weary task, they at last fell prone upon
the ground, but no one came to pity them or to lift them up. Their fall might
be fatal for aught that any one cared about them; their misery was unseen, or,
if observed, no one could interfere between them and their tyrant masters. In such
a wretched plight the rebellious Israelite became more lowly in mind, and
thought more tenderly of his God and of his offenses against him. When a soul
finds all its efforts at self-salvation prove abortive, and feels that it is
now utterly without strength, then the Lord is at work hiding pride from man
and preparing the afflicted one to receive his mercy.
13. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble.
Not a prayer till then. While there was any to help below they would not look
above. No cries till their hearts were brought down and their hopes were all
dead—then they cried, but not before. So many a one offers
what he calls prayer when he is in good case and thinks well of himself, but in
very deed the only real cry to God is that which is forced out of him by a
sense of utter helplessness and misery. We pray best when we are fallen on our
faces in painful helplessness. And he saved them out of their distresses.
Speedily and willingly he sent relief. He who saved people in the open
wilderness can also save in the close prison; bolts and bars cannot shut him
out, nor long shut in his redeemed ones.
14. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of
death. The Lord in providence fetches out
prisoners from their cells and bids them breathe the fresh air again, and then
he takes off their fetters and gives liberty to their aching limbs. So also he
frees people from care and trouble, and especially from the misery and slavery
of sin. The Lord’s deliverances are of the most complete and triumphant kind;
he neither leaves the soul in darkness nor in bonds, nor does he permit the
powers of evil again to enthral the liberated captive. What he does is done
forever.
15. The sight
of such goodness makes a right-minded person long to see the Lord duly honored
for his amazing mercy. When dungeon doors fly open, and chains are snapped, who
can refuse to adore the goodness of the Lord?
16. This
verse belongs to that which precedes it, and sums up the mercy experienced by
captives. The Lord breaks the strongest gates and bars when the time comes to
set free his prisoners; and spiritually the Lord Jesus has broken the most
powerful of spiritual bonds and made us free indeed.
17. Many
sicknesses are the direct result of foolish acts. Thoughtless and lustful people
by drunkenness, gluttony, and the indulgence of their passions fill their
bodies with diseases of the worst kind. Sin is at the bottom of all sorrow, but
some sorrows are the immediate results of wickedness.
18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat. Appetite departs from men when they are sick. And they
draw near unto the gates of death. From want of food, and from the
destructive power of their malady, they slide gradually down till they lie at
the door of the grave; neither does the skill of the physician suffice to stay
their downward progress. Thus it is with souls afflicted with a sense of sin;
they cannot find comfort in the choicest promises, but turn away with loathing
even from the Gospel, so that they gradually decay into the grave of despair.
The mercy is that though near the gates of death they are not yet inside the
sepulchre.
19. Then they cry unto the Lord
in their trouble. They join the praying legion at
last. Saul also is among the prophets. The fool lays aside his jester’s robe in
prospect of the shroud, and gets to his knees. What a cure for the soul
sickness of body is often made to be by the Lord’s grace! And he saveth them
out of their distresses. Prayer is as effectual on a sick-bed as in the
wilderness or in prison; it may be tried in all places and circumstances with
certain result.
20. He sent his word and healed them. Man is not healed by medicine alone, but by the word which
proceeds out of the mouth of God. A word will do it, a word has done it
thousands of times. And delivered them from their destructions. They
escape though dangers had surrounded them, dangers many and deadly. The word of
the Lord has a great delivering power; he has but to speak and the armies of
death fall in an instant. Sin-sick souls should remember the power of the Word,
and be much in hearing it and meditating upon it.
Spiritually considered, these verses describe a sin-sick
soul: foolish but yet aroused to a sense of guilt, it refuses comfort from any
and every quarter, and a lethargy of despair utterly paralyzes it. To its own
apprehension nothing remains but utter destruction in many forms: the gates of
death stand open before it, and it is, in its own apprehension, hurried in that
direction. Then is the soul driven to cry in the bitterness of its grief unto
the Lord, and Christ, the eternal Word, comes with healing power in the direst
extremity, saving to the uttermost.
21. It is
marvelous that people can be restored from sickness and yet refuse to bless the
Lord. It would seem impossible that they should forget such great mercy, for we
should expect to see both themselves and the friends to whom they are restored
uniting in a lifelong act of thanksgiving. When a spiritual cure is wrought by
the great Physician, praise is one of the surest signs of renewed health.
22. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving. In such a case let there be gifts and oblations as well as
works. Let the good Physician have his fee of gratitude. And declare his
works with rejoicing. Such things are worth telling, for the personal
declaration honors God, relieves ourselves, comforts others, and puts everyone
in possession of facts concerning the divine goodness which they will not be
able to ignore.
23. They that go down to the sea in ships. Navigation was so little practiced among the Israelites
that mariners were invested with a high degree of mystery, and their craft was
looked upon as one of singular daring and peril. Tales of the sea thrilled all
hearts with awe, and he who had been to Ophir or to Tarshish and had returned
alive was looked upon as a man of renown, an ancient mariner to be listened to
with reverent attention. That do business in great waters. If they had
not business to do, they would never have ventured on the ocean, for we never
read in the Scriptures of anyone taking pleasure on the sea: so averse was the
Israelitish mind to seafaring, that we do not hear of even Solomon himself
keeping a pleasure boat.
24. These see the works of the Lord. Beyond
the dwellers on the land they see the Lord’s greatest works, or at least such
as stayers at home judge to be so when they hear the report thereof. Instead of
the ocean proving to be a watery wilderness, it is full of God’s creatures, and
if we were to attempt to escape from his presence by flying to the uttermost
parts of it, we should only rush into Jehovah’s arms, and find ourselves in the
very center of his workshop. And his wonders in the deep. They see
wonders in it and on it. It is in itself a wonder and it swarms with wonders.
Seamen, because they have fewer objects around them, are more observant of
those they have than landsmen are, and hence they are said to see the
wonders in the deep. At the same time, the ocean really does contain many of
the more striking of God’s creatures, and it is the scene of many of the more
tremendous of the physical phenomena by which the power and majesty of the Lord
are revealed among us. The chief wonders alluded to by the psalmist are a
sudden storm and the calm which follows it.
All believers have not the same deep experience; but for
wise ends, that they may do business for him, the Lord sends some of his saints
to the sea of soul-trouble, and there they see, as others do not, the wonder of
divine grace.
25. For he commandeth:
his word is enough for anything; he has but to will it and a tempest rages. And
raiseth the stormy wind. It seemed to lie asleep before, but it knows its
Master’s bidding, and is up at once in all its fury. Which lifteth up the
waves thereof. The glassy surface of the sea is broken, and myriads of
white heads appear and rage and toss themselves to and fro as the wind blows
upon them.
Thus it needs but a word from God and the soul is in
troubled waters, tossed to and fro with a thousand afflictions. Doubts, fears,
terrors, anxieties lift their heads like so many angry waves, when once the
Lord allows the storm-winds to beat upon us.
26. They mount up to the heaven. Borne aloft on the crest of the wave, the sailors and their
vessels appear to climb the skies, but it is only for a moment, for very soon
in the trough of the sea they go down again to the depths. As if their
vessel were but a sea bird, the mariners are tossed. Their soul is melted
because of trouble. Weary, wet, dispirited, hopeless of escape, their heart
is turned to water, and they seem to have no manhood left. Those who have been
on the spiritual deep in one of the great storms which occasionally agitate the
soul know what this verse means. Some of us have weathered many such an
internal hurricane, and have indeed seen the Lord’s wondrous works.
27. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man. The violent motion of the vessel prevents their keeping their
legs, and their fears drive them out of all power to use their brains, and
therefore they look like intoxicated men. And are at their wit’s end.
What more can they do? They have used every expedient known to navigation, but
the ship is so strained and beaten about that they know not how to keep her
afloat. Here too the spiritual mariner’s log agrees with that of the sailor on
the sea. We have staggered frightfully! We knew not what to do, and could have
done nothing if we had known it. We were as men distracted, and felt as if
destruction itself would be better than our horrible state of suspense. As for
wit and wisdom, they were clean washed out of us.
28. Then they cry unto the Lord
in their trouble. Though at their wit’s end, they had
wit enough to pray; their heart was melted, and it ran out in cries for help.
This was well and ended well, for it is written, And he brought them out of
their distresses. Prayer is good in a storm. We may pray staggering and
reeling, and when we are at our wit’s end. God will hear us amid the thunder
and answer us. He brought their distresses upon the mariners, and therefore
they did well to turn to him for the removal of them; nor did they look in
vain.
29. He maketh the storm a calm. He reveals his power in the sudden and marvelous
transformations which occur at his bidding. He commanded the storm and now he
ordains a calm: God is in all natural phenomena, and we do well to recognize
his working. So that the waves thereof are still. They bow in silence at
his feet. When God makes peace it is peace indeed, the peace of God which
passes all understanding.
30. Then are they glad because they be quiet. No one can appreciate this verse unless he has been in a
storm at sea. So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. The rougher
the voyage, the more the mariners long for port, and heaven becomes more and
more “a desired haven” as our trials multiply. By storms and by favorable
breezes, through tempest and fair weather, the great Pilot and Ruler of the sea
brings mariners to port, and his people to heaven. Our heavenly haven will ring
with shouts of grateful joy when once we reach its blessed shore.
31. Let the
sea sound forth Jehovah’s praises because of his delivering grace. As the
sailor touches the shore let him lift the solemn hymn to heaven, and let others
who see him rescued from the jaws of death unite in his thanksgiving.
32. Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the
people. Thanks for such mercies should be
given in public in the place where people congregate for worship. And praise
him in the assembly of the elders. The praise should be presented with
great solemnity in the presence of men of years, experience, and influence.
High and weighty service should be rendered for great and distinguished favors,
and therefore let the sacrifice be presented with due decorum and with grave
seriousness. When a heart has been in great spiritual storms and has at last
found peace, there will follow as a duty and a privilege the acknowledgment of
the Lord’s mercy before his people, and it is well that this should be done in
the presence of those who hold office in the church, and who from their riper
years are better able to appreciate the testimony.
33. When the
Lord deals with rebellious people he can soon deprive them of those blessings
of which they feel most assured: their rivers and perennial springs they look
upon as certain never to be taken from them, but the Lord at a word can deprive
them even of these.
34. A fruitful land into barrenness. This has been done in many instances, and notably in the
case of the psalmist’s own country, which was once the glory of all lands and
is now almost a desert. For the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
Sin is at the bottom of sorrow. If we have not the salt of holiness we shall
soon receive the salt of barrenness, for the text in the Hebrew is “a fruitful
land into saltness.” If we will not yield the Lord a harvest of obedience he
may forbid the soil to yield us a harvest of bread, and what then? Let not
saints who are now useful run the risk of enduring the loss of their services,
but let them be watchful that all things may go well with them.
35. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water. With another turn of his hand he more than restores that
which in judgment he took away. He does his work of mercy on a royal scale, for
a deep lake is seen where before there was only a sandy waste. It is not by
natural laws, working by some innate force, that this wonder is wrought, but by
himself. And dry ground into watersprings. Continuance, abundance, and
perpetual freshness are all implied in watersprings, and these are
created where all was dry. This wonder of mercy is the precise reversal of the
deed of judgment, and wrought by the selfsame hand. Even thus in the church,
and in each individual saint, the mercy of the Lord soon works wonderful
changes where restoring and renewing grace begin their benign work.
36. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, where none could dwell before. They will appreciate the
change and prize his grace; as the barrenness of the land caused their hungers,
so will its fertility banish it forever, and they will settle down a happy and
thankful people to bless God for every handful of corn which the land yields to
them. That they may prepare a city for habitation. When the earth is
watered and men cultivate it, cities spring up and teem with inhabitants; when
grace abounds where sin formerly reigned, hearts find peace and dwell in God’s
love as in a strong city.
37. Men work
when God works. His blessing encourages the sower, cheers the planter, and
rewards the laborer. Not only necessaries but luxuries are enjoyed, wine as
well as corn, when the heavens are caused to yield the needed rain to fill the
watercourses. Divine visitations bring great spiritual riches, foster varied
works of faith and labors of love, and cause every good fruit to abound to our
comfort and to God’s praise. When God sends the blessing it does not supersede,
but encourages and develops human exertion. Paul plants, Apollos waters, and
God gives the increase.
38. God’s
blessing is everything. It not only makes people happy, but it makes people
themselves, by causing them to be multiplied upon the earth. Oh that nations in
the day of their prosperity would but own the gracious hand of God, for it is
to his blessing that they owe their all.
39. As they
change in character, so do their circumstances alter. Under the old
dispensation, this was very clearly to be observed; Israel’s ups and downs were
the direct consequences of her sins and repentances. Trials are of various
kinds; here we have three words for affliction, and there are numbers more: God
has many rods and we have many smarts, and all because we have many sins.
Nations and churches soon diminish in number when they are diminished in grace.
40–41. In these
two verses we see how the Lord at will turns the wheel of providence. Paying no
respect to man’s imaginary grandeur, he puts princes down and makes them wander
in banishment as they had made their captives wander when they drove them from
land to land: at the same time, having ever a tender regard for the poor and
needy, the Lord delivers the distressed and sets them in a position of comfort
and happiness. This is to be seen upon the roll of history again and again, and
in spiritual experience we remark its counterpart: the self-sufficient are made
to despise themselves and search in vain for help in the wilderness of their
nature, while poor convicted souls are added to the Lord’s family and dwell in
safety as the sheep of his fold.
42. The righteous shall see it, and rejoice. Divine providence brings joy to God’s true people; they see
the hand of the Lord in all things, and delight to study the ways of his
justice and of his grace. And all iniquity shall stop her mouth. What
can she say? God’s providence is often so conclusive in its arguments of fact
that there is no replying or questioning. It is not long that the impudence of
ungodliness can be quiet, but when God’s judgments are abroad it is driven to
hold its tongue.
43. Those who
notice providences will never be long without a providence to notice. It is
wise to observe what the Lord does, for he is wonderful in counsel; has given
us eyes to see with, and it is foolish to close them when there is most to
observe; but we must observe wisely, otherwise we may soon confuse ourselves
and others with hasty reflections upon the dealings of the Lord. In a thousand
ways the lovingkindness of the Lord is shown, and if we will but prudently
watch, we shall come to a better understanding of it. To understand the
delightful attribute of lovingkindness is an attainment as pleasant as it is
profitable: those who are proficient scholars in this art will be among the
sweetest singers to the glory of Jehovah.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
