1. Unto thee, O Lord. See how the holy soul flies to its God like a dove to its
cote. When the stormwinds are out, the Lord’s vessels put about and make for
their well-remembered harbor of refuge. What a mercy that the Lord will
condescend to hear our cries in time of trouble, although we may have almost
forgotten him in our hours of fancied prosperity. Do I lift up my soul.
It is but mockery to lift up the hands and the eyes unless we also bring our
souls into our devotions. True prayer may be described as the soul rising from
earth to have fellowship with heaven; it is taking a journey upon Jacob’s
ladder, leaving our cares and fears at the foot, and meeting with a covenant
God at the top. Very often the soul cannot rise, she has lost her wings, and is
heavy and earth-bound; more like a burrowing mole than a soaring eagle. At such
dull seasons we must not give over prayer, but must, by God’s assistance, exert
all our powers to lift up our hearts. But what a lift it has sometimes proved!
With all our tugging and straining we have been utterly defeated, until our
Saviour’s love has displayed its omnipotent attractions, and then our hearts
have gone up like flames of fire.
2. O my God.
This title is more dear and near than the name Jehovah, which is used in the
first sentence. Already the sweet singer has drawn nearer to his heavenly
helper, calling him my God. The psalmist does not deny expression to
those gracious feelings with which God had favored him; he does not fall into
loathsome and mock modesty, but finding in his soul a desire to seek the Lord
he avows it; believing that he had a rightful interest in Jehovah he declares
it, and knowing that he had confidence in his God he professes it: O my God,
I trust in thee. As long as the anchor of faith holds there is no fear in
the worst tempest; if that should fail us there would be no hope left. We must
see to it that our faith is sound and strong, for otherwise prayer cannot
prevail with God. Woe to the warrior who throws away his shield; what defense
can be found for him who finds no defense in his God? Let me not be ashamed.
Let not my disappointed hopes make me feel ashamed of my former testimonies to
thy faithfulness. The best of men have their enemies, and should pray against
them, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Believers cannot endure that
unbelievers should taunt them with the failure of their expectations from the
God of their salvation. All other trusts will end in disappointment and eternal
shame, but our confidence will never be confounded.
3. Suffering
enlarges the heart by creating the power to sympathize. If we pray eagerly for
ourselves, we shall not long be able to forget our fellow-sufferers. We ought
to be grateful for occasional griefs if they preserve us from chronic
hardheartedness; for of all afflictions, an unkind heart is the worst. Prayer
when it is of the Holy Spirit’s teaching is never selfish; the believer would
have everyone in a similar state to partake of divine mercy with him. The
prayer may be viewed as a promise; our Heavenly Father will never let his
trustful children find him untrue or unkind. Let them be ashamed which
transgress without cause. David had given his enemies no provocation.
Sinners have no valid excuse for transgressing; they benefit no one, not even
themselves, by their sins; the law against which they transgress is not harsh
or unjust; God is not a tyrannical ruler, providence is not a bondage; men sin
because they will sin, not because it is either profitable or reasonable to do
so. May they blush with penitential shame now, or else they will not be able to
escape the everlasting contempt and the bitter shame of fools in the world to
come.
4. Show me thy ways, O Lord. Unsanctified natures clamor for their own way, but gracious
spirits cry, “Not my will, but thine be done.” We cannot at all times discern
the path of duty, and at such times it is our wisdom to apply to the Lord
himself. Frequently the dealings of God with us are mysterious, and then also
we may appeal to him as his own interpreter, and in due time he will make all
things plain. Moral, providential and mental forms of guidance are all precious
gifts of a gracious God to a teachable people. The second petition, teach me
thy paths, appears to mean more than the first, and may be illustrated by
the case of a little child who says to his father, “Father, first tell me
which is the way, and then teach my little trembling feet to walk in it.” How
constantly should we cry to the Strong for strength!
5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. The same request as in the last verse. The little child
having begun to walk, asks to be still led onward by its parent’s helping hand,
and to be further instructed. Lead me into truth that I may know its
preciousness; lead me by the way of truth that I may display its spirit. David
knew much, but he felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord’s
school. It would be good for many who claim to be believers if instead of
cutting out new paths of thought for themselves they would beseech the Holy
Spirit to give them sanctified understandings and teachable spirits. For
thou art the God of my salvation. Is he the God of your salvation?
Do you find in the Father’s election, in the Son’s atonement, and in the
Spirit’s life-giving all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use
this as an argument for obtaining further blessings; if the Lord has ordained
to save you, surely he will not refuse to instruct you in his ways. It is a
happy thing when we can address the Lord with David’s confidence; it gives us
great power in prayer, and comfort in trial. On thee do I wait all the day.
We cheerfully wait when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is
our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in
expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be tried, and if
it be of the true kind it will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall
not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously
he once waited for us.
6. Remember, O Lord,
thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses.
We are tempted to fear that our God has forgotten us, or forgotten his usual
kindness towards us. There is a holy boldness which ventures to beseech the
Lord to recollect those deeds of love which once he wrought towards us; but there
is also an unholy unbelief which suggests our fears. If the Lord will only do
to us in the future as in the past, we shall be well content. We seek no change
in the divine action, we only crave that the river of grace may never cease to
flow. For they have been ever of old. A more correct translation would
be “from eternity.” David was a sound believer in God’s eternal love. The
Lord’s loving-kindnesses are no novelties. When we plead with him to bestow
them upon us, we can urge use and custom of the most ancient kind. In courts of
law people make much of precedents, and we may plead them at the throne of
grace. With an unchangeable God it is a most effectual argument. By tracing all
that we enjoy to the fountain-head of everlasting love we shall greatly cheer
our hearts.
7. Remember not the sins of my youth. Sin is the stumbling-block. This is the thing to be
removed. Lord, pass an act of oblivion for all my sins, and especially for the
hot-blooded follies of my younger years. Those offenses which we remember with
repentance God forgets, but if we forget them, justice will bring them forth to
punishment. Nor my transgressions. Another word for the same evils.
Sincere penitents cannot get through their confessions at a gallop, for their
swarming sins smite them with so innumerable griefs. A painful sense of any one
sin provokes the believer to repentance for the whole mass of his iniquities.
Nothing but the fullest pardon will satisfy a thoroughly awakened conscience.
David would have his sins not only forgiven, but forgotten. According to thy
mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord. David and the dying thief breathe the same prayer,
and doubtless they grounded it upon the same plea, namely, the free grace and
unmerited goodness of Jehovah. We dare not ask to have our portion measured
from the balances of justice, but we pray to be dealt with by the hand of
mercy.
8. The
goodness and rectitude of the divine character are beheld in friendly union; he
who wants to see them thus must stand at the foot of the cross and view them
blended in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. It is no less true than wonderful
that through the atonement the justice of God pleads as strongly as his grace
for the salvation of the sinners whom Jesus died to save. The Lord in his
compassion will bring sinners into the way of holiness and conform them to his
own image; thus the goodness of our God leads us to expect the reclaiming of
sinful people. We may not conclude from God’s goodness that he will save those
sinners who continue to wander in their own ways, but we may be assured that he
will renew transgressors’ hearts and guide them into the way of holiness. God’s
teaching is practical; he teaches sinners not only the doctrine, but the way.
9. Meek
spirits are in high favor with the Father of the meek and lowly Jesus, for he
sees in them the image of his only-begotten Son. They know their need of
guidance, and are willing to submit their own understandings to the divine
will, and therefore the Lord condescends to be their guide. Humble spirits are
endowed with a rich inheritance. Trouble puts gentle spirits to their wits’
ends, and drives them to act without discretion, but grace comes to the rescue,
enlightens their mind to follow that which is just, and helps them to discern
the way in which the Lord would have them go. Proud of their own wisdom, fools
will not learn, but the meek will he teach his way.
10. This is a
rule without an exception. God is good to those who are good. Mercy and
faithfulness will abound towards those who through mercy are made faithful.
Whatever outward appearances may threaten we should settle it steadfastly in
our minds that while grace enables us to obey the Lord’s will we need not fear
that Providence will cause us any real loss. There will be mercy in every
unsavory morsel, and faithfulness in every bitter drop. Yet this is not a
general truth to be trampled upon by swine; it is a pearl for a child’s neck.
Gracious souls, by faith resting upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus, keep
the covenant of the Lord, and, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, they
walk in his testimonies; these will find all things working together for
their good, but to the sinner there is no such promise. Keepers of the covenant
will be kept by the covenant; those who follow the Lord’s commands will find
the Lord’s mercy following them.
11.
Meditation having refreshed the psalmist, he falls to his weighty work again,
and wrestles with God for the remission of his sin. For thy name’s sake, O Lord. Here is a blessed,
never-failing plea. Not for our sakes or our merits’ sake, but to glorify thy
mercy, and to show the glory of thy divine attributes. Pardon mine iniquity.
It is confessed, it is abhorred, it is consuming my heart with grief; Lord,
forgive it; let thine own lips pronounce my absolution. For it is great.
It weighs so heavily upon me that I pray thee remove it. Its greatness is no
difficulty with thee, for thou art a great God, but the misery which it causes
to me is my argument with thee for speedy pardon. To pardon a great sinner will
bring thee great glory. The logic of this verse illustrates the logic of faith,
which is clean contrary to that of a legal spirit; faith looks not for merit in
the creature, but has regard to the goodness of the Creator, and instead of
being staggered by the demerits of sin it looks to the precious blood, and
pleads all the more vigorously because of the urgency of the case.
12. What man is he that feareth the Lord? Let the
question provoke self-examination. Are you of the royal offspring or not? Him
shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. Those whose hearts are
right will not err for want of heavenly direction. If we make our will God’s
will, God will let us have our will. God does not violate our will, but leaves
much to our choice; nevertheless, he instructs our wills, and so we choose that
which is well-pleasing in his sight. The will should be subject to law; there
is a way which we should choose, but so ignorant are we that we need to be
taught, and so willfull that none but God himself can teach us effectually.
13. His soul shall dwell at ease. He who fears God has nothing else to fear. Like a warrior whose
battles are over, his soul will take its ease, and be merry for ever. His
seed shall inherit the earth. God remembers Isaac for the sake of Abraham,
and Jacob for the sake of Isaac. Good men’s sons have a goodly portion to begin
the world with, but many of them, alas, turn a father’s blessing into a curse.
The promise is not broken because in some instances people willfully refuse to
receive it; moreover, it is in its spiritual meaning that it now holds good;
our spiritual offspring do inherit all that was meant by the earth, or
Canaan; they receive the blessing of the new covenant. May the Lord make us the
joyful parents of many spiritual children, and we shall have no fears about
their maintenance.
14. The secret of the Lord
is with them that fear him. Some read
it “the friendship”: it signifies familiar relationships, confidential
intimacy. This is a great secret. Worldly minds cannot guess what is intended
by it, and even believers cannot explain it in words, for it must be felt to be
known. And he will show them his covenant. Its antiquity, security,
righteousness, fullness, graciousness and excellence; and above all their own
part in it will be sealed to their souls by the witness of the Holy Spirit.
Those who do not know the meaning of this verse will never learn it from a
commentary; let them look to the cross, for the secret lies there.
15. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord. The
writer looks in confidence, and waits in hope. We may add the obedient look of
service, the humble look of reverence, the admiring look of wonder, the
studious look of meditation, and the tender look of affection. Happy are those
whose eyes are never removed from their God. For he shall pluck my feet out
of the net. Observe the conflicting condition in which a gracious soul may
be placed: his eyes are in heaven and yet his feet are sometimes in a net, the
common metaphor for temptation. The Lord often keeps his people from falling
into it, and if they have fallen he rescues them. The word pluck is a
rough word, and saints who have fallen into sin find that the means of their
restoration is not always easy; the Lord plucks at us sharply to let us feel
that sin is an exceeding bitter thing. But what a mercy is here! Believer, be
very grateful for it. The Lord will deliver us from the cunning devices of our
cruel enemy, and even if through infirmity we have fallen into sin, he will not
leave us to be utterly destroyed.
16. His own
eyes were fixed upon God, but he feared that the Lord had averted his face from
him in anger. Often unbelief suggests that God has turned his back upon us. If
we know that we turn to God we need not fear that he will turn from us, but may
boldly cry, Turn thee unto me. The ground of quarrel is always in
ourselves, and when that is removed there is nothing to prevent our full
enjoyment of communion with God. Have mercy upon me. Saints still must
stand on the footing of mercy, notwithstanding all their experience. For I
am desolate and afflicted. Jesus was in just such a condition; none could
enter into the secret depths of his sorrows, and hence he is able to succor in
the fullest sense those who tread the solitary path.
17. When
trouble penetrates the heart it is trouble indeed. In the case before us, the
heart was swollen with grief like a lake surcharged with water by enormous
floods; this is used as an argument for deliverance, and it is a potent one.
When the darkest hour of the night arrives we may expect the dawn, and when our
troubles are enlarged to the greatest degree, then may we hopefully pray, O
bring thou me out of my distresses.
18. Look upon mine affliction and my pain. Note the many trials of the saints; in verses 16–18 we
have no less than six words all descriptive of woe. But note yet more the
submissive and believing spirit of a true saint; he does not dictate, or even
express a complaint; a look from God will content him. Even more noteworthy is
the way in which he discovers the true source of all the mischief, and lays the
axe to the root of it: forgive all my sins is the cry of a soul that is
more sick of sin than of pain, and would sooner be forgiven than healed.
Blessed is he to whom sin is more unbearable than disease; he shall not be long
before the Lord shall both forgive his iniquity and heal his diseases.
19. Consider mine enemies. Watch them, weigh them, check them, defeat them. For
they are many. But the Lord is more than sufficient to defeat them. They
hate me with cruel hatred. It is the breath of the serpent’s offspring to
hate; their ancestor was a hater. No hate is so cruel as that which is
unreasonable and unjust. You can forgive someone who has injured you, but
someone you have injured you hate implacably.
20. O keep my soul
out of evil, and deliver me when I fall into it. This is another version
of the prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Let
me not be ashamed. This is the one fear which haunted the psalmist’s mind.
He trembled lest his faith should become the subject of ridicule through the
extremity of his affliction. For I put my trust in thee. And therefore
the name of God would be compromised if his servants were deserted; this the
believing heart can by no means endure.
21. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me. What better practical safeguards can we require? If we do
not prosper with these as our guides, it is better for us to suffer adversity.
Even the ungodly world admits that “honesty is the best policy.” The heir of
heaven makes assurance doubly sure, for apart from the rectitude of his public
life he enlists the guardian care of heaven in secret prayer: for I wait on
thee. To pretend to wait on God without holiness of life is religious
hypocrisy, and to trust to our own integrity without calling upon God is
presumptuous atheism. Perhaps the integrity and uprightness referred to are
those righteous attributes of God, which faith rests upon as a guarantee that
the Lord will not forfeit his word.
22. This is a
very comprehensive prayer, including all the faithful and all their trials.
Sorrow had taught the psalmist sympathy, and gave him communion with the tried
people of God; he therefore remembers them in his prayer. Israel, the
tried, the wrestling, the conquering hero, fit representative of all the saints.
Israel in Egypt, in the wilderness, in wars with Canaanites, in captivity, fit
type of the church militant on earth. Jesus is the Redeemer from trouble as
well as sin. Redemption by blood is finished: O God, send us redemption by
power.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
