1. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord
my rock. A cry is the natural expression of
sorrow, and is a suitable utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but
the cry must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to waste our
entreaties upon the air. When we consider the readiness of the Lord to hear,
and his ability to aid, we shall see good reason for directing all our appeals
at once to the God of our salvation, and shall use language of firm resolve
like that in the text, I will cry. Jehovah is our rock, the
immovable foundation of all our hopes and refuge in time of trouble. Be not
silent to me. Genuine suppliants are not satisfied with the results of
prayer itself in calming the mind and subduing the will—they must go further
and obtain actual replies from heaven, at once if possible; they dread even a
little of God’s silence. When God seems to close his ear, we must not therefore
close our mouths, but rather cry with more earnestness; for when our note grows
shrill with eagerness and grief, he will not long deny us a hearing. What a dreadful
case should we be in if the Lord should become forever silent to our prayers!
This thought suggested itself to David, and he turned it into a plea, thus
teaching us to argue and reason with God in our prayers. Lest, if thou be
silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Deprived of God
who answers prayer, we should be in a more pitiable plight than the dead in the
grave, and should soon sink to the same level as the lost in hell. We must
have answers to prayer: ours is an urgent case of dire necessity; surely the
Lord will speak peace to our agitated minds, for he never can find it in his
heart to permit his own elect to perish.
2. Hear the voice of my supplications. This refers to the future as well as present pleadings. We
cannot be put off with a refusal when we are in the spirit of prayer; we labor
and agonise until a hearing is granted. The word supplications, in the
plural, shows the number, continuance, and variety of a good person’s prayers,
while the expression hear the voice seems to hint that there is an inner
meaning, or heart-voice, about which spiritual people are far more concerned
than for their outward and audible utterances. A silent prayer may have a
louder voice than the cries of those priests who sought to awaken Baal with
their shouts. When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. This holy
place was the type of our Lord Jesus; and if we would gain acceptance, we must
turn to the blood-besprinkled mercy seat of his atonement. Uplifted hands have
always been a form of devout posture, and are intended to signify a reaching
upward towards God, a readiness, an eagerness to receive the blessing sought
after. We stretch out empty hands, for we are beggars; we lift them up, for we
seek heavenly supplies; we lift them towards the mercy seat of Jesus, for there
our expectation dwells. Oh that whenever we use devout gestures we may possess
contrite hearts, and so speed well with God.
3. Draw me not away with the wicked. They will be dragged off to hell like felons of old drawn
on a hurdle to Tyburn. David fears lest he should be drawn to their doom; and
the fear is an appropriate one for every godly person. The best of the wicked
are dangerous company in time, and would make terrible companions for eternity;
we must avoid them in their pleasures, if we would not be confounded with them
in their miseries. And with the workers of iniquity. These are overtly
sinful. Which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their
hearts. They have learned the manners of the place to which they are going.
Soft words, oily with pretended love, are the deceitful meshes of the infernal
net in which Satan catches the precious life. Deceitful people are more to be
dreaded than wild beasts. Those who cry “peace” too loudly mean to sell it if
they can get their price; if they were really peaceful they would not need to
say so.
4. When we
view the wicked simply as such, and not as our fellow humans, our indignation
against sin leads us entirely to coincide with the acts of divine justice which
punish evil, and to wish that justice might use her power to restrain the cruel
and unjust; but still the desires of this verse, as our version renders it, are
not readily made consistent with the spirit of the Christian dispensation,
which seeks the reformation of sinners rather than their punishment. If we view
the words as prophetic, we are probably nearer the true meaning. What will be
your lot when the Lord weighs out to you his wrath not only in proportion to
what you have actually done but according to what you would have done if you
could? Our endeavors are taken as facts.
5. Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands. God works in creation—nature teems with proofs of his
wisdom and goodness, yet blind atheists refuse to see him; he works in
providence, yet the unbeliever will not discern him; he works in
grace—remarkable conversions are still met with on all hands—yet the ungodly
refuse to see the operations of the Lord. God comes to us to teach us, and we refuse
to learn. He shall destroy them. If they would not see the hand of
judgment on others, they will feel it on themselves. And not build them up.
God’s curse is positive and negative; their heritage of evil will prevent the
ungodly receiving any good. Those who will not mend shall be thrown away as
worthless. Let us be very attentive to all the lessons of God’s word and work,
lest being found disobedient to the divine will we are made to suffer the
divine wrath.
6. Blessed be the Lord. Saints are full of benedictions; they are a blessed people,
and a blessing people; but they give their best blessings to their glorious
Lord. Our psalm was prayer up to this point, and now it turns to praise. Those
who pray well will soon praise well. Because he hath heard the voice of my
supplications. Real praise is not irrational emotion, but rises like a pure
spring from the deeps of experience. Answered prayers should be acknowledged.
We should live daily in the heavenly atmosphere of thankful love.
7. The Lord is
my strength. Here is David’s declaration and
confession of faith, together with a testimony from his experience. The Lord
employs his power on our behalf, and infuses strength into us. The psalmist
takes the omnipotence of Jehovah to be his own. Dependence on the invisible God
gives great independence of spirit, inspiring us with more than human
confidence. And my shield. The Christian warrior, sheltered behind his
God, is far more safe than the hero when covered with his shield of brass or
triple steel. My heart trusted in him, and I am helped. Heart trust is
never disappointed. Faith must come before help, but help will never be long
behindhand. Divine help is given us every moment, or we would go back into
perdition; when clearer help is needed, we have only to put faith into
exercise, and it will be given us. Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and
with my song will I praise him. The heart is mentioned twice to show
the truth of his faith and his joy. Note the adverb greatly: we need not
be afraid of being too full of rejoicing at the remembrance of grace received.
We serve a great God; let us greatly rejoice in him.
8. The Lord is
their strength. The heavenly experience of one
believer is a pattern of the life of all. To all the militant church, without exception,
Jehovah is the same as he was to his servant David; the least of them shall be
as David. They are loved with the same love. And he is the saving strength
of his anointed. David is the type of our Lord Jesus, who has achieved full
salvation for us, and we desire saving strength from him; we expect to partake
in his salvation.
9. This is a
prayer for the church militant. We must pray for the whole church, and not for
ourselves alone. Save thy people. Deliver them from their enemies,
preserve them from their sins, succor them under their troubles, rescue them
from their temptations, and ward off from them every ill. Thy people.
God’s interest in the church will lead him to guard it from destruction. Bless
thine inheritance. Grant positive blessings, peace, plenty, prosperity,
happiness; comfort all thy dearly-purchased and precious heritage by thy
Spirit. Revive, refresh, enlarge and sanctify thy church. Feed them also.
Be a shepherd to thy flock; let their bodily and spiritual wants be plentifully
supplied. And lift them up forever. Carry them in thine arms on earth,
and then lift them into thy bosom in heaven. Elevate their minds and thoughts,
spiritualize their affections, make them heavenly, Christlike, and full of God.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
