1. I will extol thee.
I will have high and honorable conceptions of thee, and give them utterance in
my best music. Others may forget thee, murmur at thee, despise thee, blaspheme
thee, but I will extol thee, for I have been favored above all others. I
will extol thy name, thy character, thine attributes, thy mercy to me, thy
great forbearance to my people; but especially will I speak well of thyself; I
will extol thee, O Jehovah; this shall be my cheerful and constant employ. For
thou hast lifted me up. Here is an antithesis, “I will exalt thee, for
thou hast exalted me.” The psalmist had a reason to give for the praise that
was in his heart. He had been drawn up like a prisoner from a dungeon, like
Joseph out of the pit, and therefore he loved his deliverer. How high has our
Lord lifted us? Lifted us up into the children’s place, to be adopted into the
family; lifted us up into union with Christ, “to sit together with him in
heavenly places.” Lift high the name of our God, for he has lifted us above
the stars. And hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. This was the
judgment which David most feared; he said, let me fall into the hand of the
Lord, and not into the hand of man. Terrible indeed were our lot if we were
delivered over to the will of our enemies. Blessed be the Lord, we have been
preserved from so dire a fate. The devil and all our spiritual enemies have not
been permitted to rejoice over us, for we have been saved from the fowler’s
snare.
2. We do
very wickedly and foolishly when we forget God. It was a sin in Asa that he
trusted to physicians and not to God. If we must have a physician, let it be
so, but still let us go to our God first of all; and, above all, remember that
there can be no power to heal in medicine of itself; the healing energy must
flow from the divine hand. O Lord
my God. Observe the covenant name which faith uses—my God. Thrice
happy is he who can claim the Lord himself to be his portion. Note how David’s
faith ascends the scale; he sang “O Lord” in the first verse, but it is “O
Lord my God” in the second. Heavenly heart-music is an ascending thing, like
the pillars of smoke which rose from the altar of incense. I cried unto
thee. I could hardly pray, but I cried; I poured out my soul as a little
child pours out its desires. I cried to my God: I knew to whom to cry; I did
not cry to my friends, or to any arm of flesh. Hence the sure and satisfactory
result—Thou hast healed me. I know it. I am sure of it. I have the
evidence of spiritual health within me now: glory be to thy name! Every humble
suppliant with God who seeks release from the disease of sin shall speed as
well as the psalmist did, but those who will not so much as seek a cure, need
not wonder if their wounds putrefy and their soul dies.
3. O Lord,
thou hast brought up my soul from the grave.
Not, “I hope so,” but thou hast, three times over. David is quite sure,
beyond a doubt, that God has done great things for him, and yet was restored to
tell of the forbearance of God; nor was this all; he owned that nothing but
grace had kept him from the lowest hell, and this made him doubly thankful. To
be spared from the grave is much; to be delivered from the pit is more; hence
there is growing cause for praise, since both deliverances are alone traceable
to the Lord, who is the only preserver of life, and the only Redeemer of our
souls from hell.
4. Sing unto the Lord,
O ye saints of his. “Join my song; assist me to
express my gratitude.” He felt that he could not praise God enough himself,
and therefore he would enlist the hearts of others. David would not fill his
choir with reprobates, but with sanctified people, who could sing from their
hearts. He calls to you, people of God, because you are saints; and if
sinners are wickedly silent, let your holiness constrain you to sing.
You are his saints—chosen, blood-bought, called, and set apart for God;
sanctified on purpose that you should offer the daily service of praise. Abound
in this heavenly duty. Sing unto the Lord.
It is a pleasing exercise; it is a profitable engagement. And give thanks.
Let your songs be grateful songs, in which the Lord’s mercies live again in
joyful remembrance. At the remembrance of his holiness. Holiness is an
attribute which inspires the deepest awe, and demands a reverent mind; but
still give thanks at the remembrance of it. “Holy, holy, holy?” is the song
of seraphim and cherubim; let us join it—not dolefully, as though we trembled
at the holiness of God, but cheerfully, as humbly rejoicing in it.
5. For his anger endureth but a moment. David here alludes to those dispensations of God’s
providence which are the chastisement ordered in his paternal government
towards his erring children, such as the plague which fell upon Jerusalem for
David’s sins. In his favor is life. As soon as the Lord looked favorably
upon David, the city lived, and the king’s heart lived too. We die like
withered flowers when the Lord frowns, but his sweet smile revives us as the
dews refresh the fields. Who would know life, let him seek the favor of the
Lord. Weeping may endure for a night; but nights are not for ever. Even
in the dreary winter the day-star lights his lamp. But joy cometh in the
morning. When the Son of Righteousness comes, we wipe our eyes, and joy
chases out intruding sorrow. Who would not be joyful that knows Jesus? The
first beams of the morning bring us comfort when Jesus is the day-dawn, and all
believers know it to be so.
6. In my prosperity.
When all his foes were quiet, and his rebellious son dead and buried, then was
the time of peril. Many a vessel founders in a calm. No temptation is so bad as
tranquility. I said, I shall never be moved. Ah! David, you said more
than was wise to say, or even to think, for God has founded the world upon the
floods, to show us what a poor, inconstant world it is. Prosperity had
evidently turned the psalmist’s head, or he would not have been so
self-confident. He stood by grace, and yet forgot himself, and so met with a
fall.
7. Lord, by
thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong. He ascribed his prosperity to the Lord’s favor—so far good;
it is well to own the hand of the Lord in all our stability and wealth. But
observe that the good in a good man is not unmingled good, for this was alloyed
with carnal security. His state he compares to a mountain; a molehill would
have been nearer—we never think too little of ourselves. How soon the bubble
bursts when God’s people get conceit into their heads, and fancy that they are
to enjoy immutability beneath the stars, and constancy upon this whirling orb.
How touchingly and teachingly God corrected his servant’s mistake: Thou
didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. There was no need to come to
blows; a hidden face was enough. This proves, first, that David was a genuine
saint, for no hiding of God’s face on earth would trouble a sinner; and,
secondly, that the joy of the saint is dependent upon the presence of his Lord.
No mountain, however firm, can yield us rest when our communion with God is
broken, and his face is concealed.
8. I cried to thee, O Lord. Prayer is the unfailing resource of God’s people. If they
are driven to their wits’ end, they may still go to the mercy-seat. When an
earthquake makes our mountain tremble, the throne of grace still stands firm,
and we may come to it. Let us never forget to pray, and let us never doubt the
success of prayer. Prayer will succeed where all else fails.
9. In this
verse we learn the form and method of David’s prayer. It was an argument with
God, an urging of reasons, a pleading of his cause. Head and heart, judgment
and affections, memory and intellect were all at work to spread the case aright
before the Lord of love. What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to
the pit? Wilt thou not lose a songster from thy choir, and one who loves to
magnify thee? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
Will there not be one witness the less to thy faithfulness and veracity? Spare,
then, thy poor unworthy one for thine own name’s sake!
10. Hear, O Lord,
and have mercy upon me. A short
and comprehensive petition, available at all seasons, let us use it full often.
It is the publican’s prayer; be it ours. Lord, be thou my helper.
Another compact, expressive, ever fitting prayer. It is suitable to hundreds of
the cases of the Lord’s people. The two brief petitions of this verse axe
commended as ejaculations to believers full of busyness, denied to those longer
seasons of devotion which are the rare privilege of those whose days are spent
in retirement.
11. Observe
the contrast. God takes away the mourning of his people; and what does he give
them instead of it? Quiet and peace? Ay, and a great deal more than that. Thou
hast turned for me my mourning into dancing. He makes their hearts to dance
at the sound of his name. He takes off their sack-cloth. That is good. What a
delight to be rid of the garments of woe! But what then? He clothes us. And
how? With some common dress? Nay, but with that royal vestment which is the
array of glorified spirits in heaven. Thou hast girded me with gladness.
This is better than to wear garments of silk or cloth of gold, with embroidery
and gems.
12. To the end—namely,
with this view and intent—that my glory—that is, my tongue or my soul—may
sing praise to thee, and not be silent. It would be shameful crime if,
after receiving God’s mercies, we should forget to praise him.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
