1. The Lord is
my light and my salvation. Here is
personal interests; the soul is assured of it, and therefore, declaring it
boldly. My light. Into the soul at the new birth divine light is poured
as the precursor of salvation; where there is not enough light to see our own
darkness and to long for the Lord Jesus, there is no evidence of salvation.
Salvation finds us in the dark, but does not leave us there. After conversion
our God is in every sense our light. It is not said merely that the Lord gives
light, but that he is light; nor that he gives salvation, but that he is
salvation. He, then, who by faith has laid hold upon God has all covenant
blessings in his possession. Every light is not the sun, but the sun is the
father of all lights. The powers of darkness are not to be feared, for the
Lord, our light, destroys them; and the damnation of hell is not to be dreaded
by us, for the Lord is our salvation. This is a very different challenge from
that of boastful Goliath, for it is based on a very different foundation. It
rests on the real power of the omnipotent I AM. The Lord is the strength of my life. Our life derives all
its strength from him who is the author of it; and if he deigns to make us
strong we cannot be weakened by all the machinations of the adversary. Of
whom shall I be afraid? The bold question looks into the future as well as
the present. “If God be for us,” who can be against us?
2. This
verse records a past deliverance, and is an instance of the way in which
experience should be employed to reassure our faith in times of trial. When
the wicked. It is a hopeful sign for us when the wicked hate us; if our
foes were godly people it would be a sore sorrow, but as for the wicked their
hatred is better than their love. Even mine enemies and my foes. There
were many of them, they were of different sorts, but they were unanimous in
mischief and hearty in hatred. Came upon me. Advanced to the attack,
leaping upon the victim like a lion upon its prey. To eat up my flesh.
The enemies of our souls yield no quarter, and ought to have none in return.
David was in the grip of numerous, powerful, and cruel enemies, and yet observe
his perfect safety and their utter discomfiture! They stumbled and fell.
God’s breath blew them off their legs. There were stones in the way which they
never reckoned on. Our Lord in Gethsemane, when those who came to take him went
backward and fell to the ground, was a prophetic representative of all
wrestling believers who, rising from their knees, throw their foes down by the
power of faith.
3. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall
not fear. Before the actual conflict, the
warrior’s heart is very liable to become fluttered. The encamping host often
inspires greater dread than in actual affray. But faith puts a strengthening
plaster to the back of courage. Though war should rise against me, in this
will I be confident. Though battle should succeed battle, and one campaign
should be followed by another, the believer will not be dismayed at the length
of the conflict. This verse is the logical inference from the second;
confidence is the child of experience.
4. One thing.
Divided aims tend to distraction, weakness, disappointment. Let all our
affections be bound up in one, set upon heavenly things. Have I desired.
What we cannot at once attain, it is good to desire. God judges us very much by
the desire of our hearts. Someone riding a lame horse is not blamed by his
master for lack of speed, if he makes all the haste he can; God takes the will
for the deed with his children. Of the Lord.
This is the right target for desires. Desire of men, and lie on the dunghill
with Lazarus; desire of the Lord, and be carried by angels into Abraham’s
bosom. Our desires of the Lord should be sanctified, humble, constant,
submissive, fervent, and it is good if, as with the psalmist, they are all
molten into one mass. That will I seek after. Holy desires must lead me
to resolute action. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. For
the sake of communion with the King, David longed to dwell always in the
palace; so far from being wearied with the services of the Tabernacle, he
longed to be constantly engaged in them, as his life-long pleasure. He desired
above all to be one of the household of God, living at home with his Father. To
behold the beauty of the Lord.
An exercise both for earthly and heavenly worshipers. We must not enter the
assemblies of the saints in order to see and be seen, or merely to hear the
minister; we must be intent on learning more of the loving Father, more of the
glorified Jesus, more of the mysterious Spirit, in order that we may the more
lovingly admire, and the more reverently adore our gracious God. And to
inquire in his temple. We should make our visits to the Lord’s house
inquirers’ meetings. Not seeking sinners alone, but assured saints should be
inquirers. We must inquire as to the will of God and how we may do it; as to
our interest in the heavenly city, and how we may be more assured of it. We
should sit at Jesus’ feet, and awaken all our faculties to learn of him.
5. This
verse gives an excellent reason for the psalmist’s desire after communion with
God, namely, that he was thus secured in the hour of peril. For in the time
of trouble. That needy time, when others forsake me. He shall hide me in
his pavilion. He will give me the best of shelter in the worst of danger.
The royal pavilion was erected in the center of the army, and around it all the
mighty men kept guard at all hours; thus in that divine sovereignty which
almighty power is sworn to maintain, the believer peacefully is hidden, not by
himself furtively, but by the King, who hospitably entertains him. In the
secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. Sacrifice aids sovereignty in
screening the elect from harm. No one of old dared to enter the most holy place
on pain of death; and if the Lord has hidden his people there, what foe shall
venture to molest them? He shall set me up upon a rock. Immutability,
eternity, and infinite power here come to the aid of sovereignty and sacrifice.
How blessed is the standing of the man whom God himself sets on high above his
foes, on an impregnable rock which never can be stormed!
6. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies
round about me. He is quite sure of it. Godly men
of old prayed in faith, nothing wavering, and spoke of the answer to their
prayers as a certainty. David was by faith so sure of a glorious victory over
all those who beset him, that he arranged in his own heart what he would do
when his foes lay all prostrate before him; that arrangement was such as
gratitude suggested. Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of
joy. That place for which he longed in his conflict should see his thankful
joy in his triumphant return. He does not speak of jubilations to be offered in
his palace, and feastings in his banqueting halls, but holy mirth for so divine
a deliverance. Yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. The believer when his prayer is heard must and
will make his praise to be heard also, and reserves his music for the Lord
alone.
7. Hear, O Lord,
when I cry with my voice. The
pendulum of spirituality swings from prayer to praise. The voice which in the
last verse was tuned to music is here turned to crying. As a good soldier,
David knew how to handle his weapons, and found himself much at home with the
weapon of prayer. Note his anxiety to be heard. Pharisees care not a fig for
the Lord’s hearing them, so long as they are heard by men, or charm their own
pride with their seeming devotions; but with a genuine person, the Lord’s ear
is everything. The voice may be profitably used even in private prayer;
for though it is unnecessary, it is often helpful, and aids in preventing
distractions. Have mercy also upon me. Mercy is the hope of sinners and
the refuge of saints. All acceptable petitioners dwell much upon this. And
answer me. We may expect answers to prayer, and should not be easy without
them any more than we should be if we had written a letter to a friend upon
important business, and had received no reply.
8. If we
would have the Lord hear our voice, we must be careful to respond to his
voice. The true heart should echo the will of God as the rocks among the Alps
repeat the notes of the peasant’s horn. The command was in the plural, to all
the saints, Seek ye; but the man of God turned it into the singular by a
personal application: Thy face, O Lord,
will I seek. The voice of the Lord is very effectual where all other voices
fail. When thou saidst, then my heart, my inmost nature, was
moved to an obedient reply. Note the promptness of the response; as soon as God
said Seek, the heart said, I will seek.
9. Hide not thy face far from me. The word far is not in the original, and is a very
superfluous addition of the translators, since even the least hiding of the
Lord’s face is a great affliction to a believer. The command to seek the Lord’s
face would be a painful one if the Lord, by withdrawing himself, rendered it
impossible for the seeker to meet with him. A smile from the Lord is the
greatest of comforts, his frown the worst of ills. Put not thy servant away
in anger. Other servants had been put away when they proved unfaithful, as
for instance his predecessor Saul; and this made David, while conscious of many
faults, most anxious that divine long-suffering should continue him in favor. Thou
hast been my help. To spiritual people ingratitude is unnatural and
detestable. Leave me not, neither forsake me. If the Lord had meant to
leave us, why did he begin with us? Leave me not may refer to temporary
desertions, and neither forsake me to the final withdrawal of grace;
both are to be prayed against, and concerning the second we have immutable
promises to urge. O God of my salvation. A sweet title worthy of much
meditation.
10. When my father and my mother forsake me. These will be the last to desert me, but there is a Father
who never forgets. Some of the greatest of the saints have been cast out by
their families. Then the Lord
will take me up. Will espouse my cause, will uplift me from my woes, will
carry me in his arms, will elevate me above my enemies, will at last receive me
to his eternal dwelling place.
11. Teach me thy way, O Lord. He does not pray to be indulged with his own way. This
evinces a humble sense of ignorance, teachableness of spirit, and cheerful
obedience of heart. Lead me in a plain path. Help is here sought as well
as direction; we not only need a map of the way, but a guide to assist us in
the journey. A path is here desired which is open, honest, straightforward, in
opposition to the way of cunning, which is intricate, tortuous, dangerous. Good
people seldom succeed in fine speculations and doubtful courses; plain
simplicity is the best spirit for an heir of heaven: let us leave shifty tracks
and political expediences to the citizens of the world. Because of mine
enemies. These will catch us if they can, but the way of simple honesty is
safe from their rage. Truth is wisdom.
12. God be
thanked that our foes cannot have their way with us, or Smithfield would soon
be ablaze again. For false witnesses are risen up against me. Slander is
an old-fashioned weapon out of the armory of hell, and is still in plentiful
use; and no matter how holy a person may be, there will be some who will defame
them. But glory be to God, ill names do not injure the Lord’s people. And
such as breathe out cruelty. They cannot speak without cursing them; such
was Paul before conversion. They who breathe out cruelty may well expect to be
sent to breathe their native air in hell; let persecutors beware!
13. Faintness
of heart is a common infirmity; even Goliath’s killer was subject to its
attacks. Faith puts its bottle of cordial to the lip of the soul, and so
prevents fainting. Hope is heaven’s balm for present sorrow. In this land of
the dying, it is our blessedness to be looking and longing for our fair portion
in the land of the living, from which God has banished human wickedness. We
must believe to see, not see to believe.
14. Wait on the Lord. Wait at his door with prayer; wait at his foot with
humility; wait at his table with service; wait at his window with expectancy. Be
of good courage. A soldier’s motto. Courage we shall need, and we have
reason to exercise it if we are soldiers of King Jesus. And he shall
strengthen thine heart. What strength is this which God gives to the heart?
Read the Book of Martyrs and see its glorious deeds; go to God rather,
and get such power yourself. I say. David sets his own private seal to
the word which, as an inspired man, he had been moved to write. It is his
testimony as well as the command of God, and indeed he who writes these scanty
notes has himself found it sweet, reviving, profitable to draw near to God.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
