1. I will bless the Lord
at all times. He is resolved and fixed, I will;
he is personally and for himself determined, let others do as they may; he is
intelligent in head and inflamed in heart—he knows to whom the praise is due,
and what is due, and for what and when. To Jehovah, and not to second causes
our gratitude is to be rendered. At all times, in every situation, under
every circumstance, before, in and after trials, in bright days of glee, and
dark nights of fear. To bless the Lord is never unseasonable. His praise
shall continually be in my mouth, not in my heart merely, but in my mouth
too. Our thankfulness is not to be a dumb thing; it should be one of the
daughters of music. God deserves blessing with the heart, and extolling with
the mouth—good thoughts in our rooms, and good words in the world.
2. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord.
Boasting is a very natural propensity, and if it were used as in this case, the
more it were indulged the better. The exultation of this verse is no mere
tongue bragging; the soul is in it, the boasting is meant and felt
before it is expressed. What scope there is for holy boasting in Jehovah! His
person, attributes, covenant, promises, works, and a thousand things besides,
are all incomparable. The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. They
are usually grieved to hear boastings; they turn aside from vauntings and lofty
speeches, but boasting in the Lord is quite another matter; by this the most
lowly are consoled and encouraged.
3. O magnify the Lord
with me. Is this request addressed to the
humble? If so it is most fitting. Who can make God great but those who feel
themselves to be little? He bids them help him to make the Lord’s fame greater
among the sons of men. Jehovah is infinite, and therefore cannot really be made
greater, but his name grows in manifested glory as he is made known to his
creatures, and thus he is said to be magnified. Let us exalt his name
together. Social, congregational worship is the outgrowth of one of the
natural instincts of the new life.
4. I sought the Lord, and he heard me. It must have been in a very confused manner that David
prayed, and there must have been much of self-sufficiency in his prayer, or he
would not have resorted to methods of such dubious morality as pretending to be
mad and behaving as a lunatic; yet his poor limping prayer had an acceptance
and brought him succor; the more reason for then celebrating the abounding
mercy of the Lord. We may seek God even when we have sinned. If sin could
blockade the mercy-seat it would be all over with us, but the mercy is that
there are gifts even for the rebellious, and an advocate for men who sin. And
delivered me from all my fears. God makes a perfect work of it. He clears
away both our fears and their causes, all of them without exception.
5. They looked unto him, and were lightened. The psalmist avows that his case was not at all peculiar,
it was matched in the lives of all the faithful; they too, each one of them on
looking to their Lord, were uplifted. There is life, light, liberty, love,
everything in fact, in a look at the Crucified One. Never did a sore heart look
in vain to the good Physician; never a dying soul turned its darkening eye to
the brazen serpent to find its virtue gone. And their faces were not
ashamed. Their faces were covered with joy but not with blushes. He who
trusts in God has no need to be ashamed of his confidence; time and eternity
will both justify his reliance.
6. This poor man cried.
Here he returns to his own case. He was poor indeed, and so utterly friendless
that his life was found in great jeopardy; but he cried in his heart to the
protector of his people and found relief. His prayer was a cry, for brevity and
bitterness, for earnestness and simplicity, for artlessness and grief; it was a
poor man’s cry, but it was none the less powerful with heaven, for the Lord heard him, and to be heard of
God is to be delivered; and so it is added, the Lord saved him out of all
his troubles. At once and altogether David was clean rid of all his woes.
The Lord sweeps our griefs away as the winds clear away the mists. This verse
is the psalmist’s own personal testimony. Let the afflicted reader take heart
and be of good courage.
7. The angel of the Lord. The covenant angel, the Lord Jesus, at the head of all the
bands of heaven, surrounds with his army the dwellings of the saints. Encampeth
round about them that fear him. On every side the watch is kept by warriors
of sleepless eyes, and the Captain of the host is one whose prowess none can
resist. And delivereth them. We little know how many providential
deliverances we owe to those unseen hands which are charged to bear us up lest
we dash our foot against a stone.
8. O taste and see.
Make a trial, an inward, experimental trial of the goodness of God. You cannot
see except by tasting for yourself; but if you taste you will see, for this,
like Jonathan’s honey, enlightens the eyes. That the Lord is good. You can only know this really and
personally by experience. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Faith
is the soul’s taste; they who test the Lord by their confidence always find him
good, and they become themselves blessed. The second clause of the verse is the
argument in support of the exhortation contained in the first sentence.
9. O fear the Lord,
ye his saints. Pay to him humble childlike
reverence, walk in his laws, have respect to his will, tremble to offend him,
hasten to serve him; fear God and fear nothing else. For there is no want to
them that fear him. Jehovah will not allow his faithful servants to starve.
He may not give luxuries, but the promise binds him to supply necessaries, and
he will not run back from his word. Many whims and wishes may remain
ungratified, but real wants the Lord will supply. The fear of the Lord or true
piety is not only the duty of those who avow themselves to be saints, that is,
persons set apart and consecrated for holy duties, but it is also their path of
safety and comfort. Men seek a patron and hope to prosper; he who has the Lord
of Hosts to be his friend and defender prospers surely.
10. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger. They are fierce, cunning, strong, in all the vigor of
youth, and yet they sometimes howl in their ravenous hunger, and even so
crafty, designing, and oppressing men, with all their sagacity and
unscrupulousness, often come to want; yet simple-minded believers, who dare not
act as the greedy lions of earth, are fed with food convenient for them. But
they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing. No really good thing will be denied to those whose
first and main end in life is to seek the Lord.
11. Come, ye children.
Though a warrior and a king, the psalmist was not ashamed to teach children.
Teachers of youth belong to the true peerage; their work is honorable, and
their reward will be glorious. Hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of
the Lord. So far as they can
be taught by word of mouth, or learned by the hearing of the ear, we are to
communicate the faith and fear of God, inculcating upon the rising generation
the principles and practices of piety. This verse may be the address of every
Sabbath-school teacher to his class, of every parent to his children. It is not
without instruction in the art of teaching. We should be winning and attractive
to the youngsters, bidding them “come,” and not repelling them with harsh
terms.
12. Life
spent in happiness is the desire of all, and he who can give the young a recipe
for leading a happy life deserves to be popular among them. To teach how to
live and how to die is the aim of all useful religious instruction. While we
teach piety to God we should also dwell much upon morality towards man.
13. Keep thy tongue from evil. Guard with careful diligence that dangerous member, the
tongue, lest it utter evil, for that evil will recoil upon you, and mar the
enjoyment of your life. And thy lips from speaking guile. Deceit must be
very earnestly avoided by the man who desires happiness. David had tried the
tortuous policy, but he here denounces it, and begs others as they would live
long and well to avoid with care the doubtful devices of guile.
14. Depart from evil.
Go away from it. Set a distance between yourself and temptation. And do
good. Be practical, active, energetic, persevering in good. He who does
good is sure to avoid evil. Seek peace. Not merely prefer it, but with
zeal and care endeavor to promote it. Peace with God, with your own heart, with
your fellow-men, search after this as the merchant after a precious pearl. And
pursue it. Hunt after it, chase it with eager desire. The peace which you
thus promote will be returned into your own heart, and be a perennial spring of
comfort to you.
15. The eyes of the Lord
are upon the righteous. He
observes them with approval and tender consideration; they are so dear to him
that he cannot take his eyes off them; he watches each one of them as carefully
and intently as if there were only that one creature in the universe. His
ears are open unto their cry. His eyes and ears are thus both turned by the
Lord towards his saints; his whole mind is occupied about them: if slighted by
all others they are not neglected by him.
16. The face of the Lord
is against them that do evil.
God is not indifferent to the deeds of sinners, but he sets his face against
them, as we say, being determined that they shall have no countenance and
support, but shall be thwarted and defeated. To cut off the remembrance of
them from the earth. He will stamp out their fires, their honor will be
turned into shame, their names forgotten or accursed. Utter destruction will be
the lot of all the ungodly.
17. The righteous cry.
Like Israel in Egypt, they cry out under the heavy yoke of oppression, both of
sin, temptation, care, and grief. And the Lord
heareth. He is like the night watchman, who no sooner hears the alarm bell
than he flies to relieve those who need him. And delivereth them out of all
their troubles. No net of trouble can so hold us that the Lord cannot free
us. Our afflictions may be numerous and complicated, but prayer can set us free
from them all, for the Lord will show himself strong on our behalf.
18. The Lord
is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.
Near in friendship to accept and console. Broken hearts think God far away,
when he is really most near to them; their eyes are held so that they see not
their best friend. And sayeth such as be of a contrite spirit. What a
blessed token for good is a repentant, mourning heart! Just when the sinner
condemns himself, the Lord graciously absolves him. Salvation is linked with
contrition.
19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Thus are they made like Jesus their covenant head.
Scripture does not flatter us like the story books with the idea that goodness
will secure us from trouble; on the contrary, we are again and again warned to
expect tribulation while we are in this body. But—blessed “but,” how
it takes the sting out of the previous sentence!—But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
Through troops of ills Jehovah will lead his redeemed scatheless and
triumphant. There is an end to the believer’s affliction, and a joyful end too.
20. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. David had come off with kicks and cuffs, but no broken
bones. No substantial injury occurs to the saints. Eternity will heal all their
wounds. Their real self is safe; they may have flesh-wounds, but no part of the
essential fabric of their being will be broken.
21. Evil shall slay the wicked. Their adversities will be killing; they are not medicine,
but poison. Ungodly men only need rope enough and they will hang themselves;
their own iniquities will be their punishment. Hell itself is but evil fully
developed, torturing those in whom it dwells. Oh, happy they who have fled to
Jesus to find refuge from their former sins! Such, and such only will escape. And
they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. They hated the best of
company, and they will have none; they will be forsaken, despoiled, wretched,
despairing. God makes the viper poison itself. What desolation of heart do the
damned feel, and how richly have they deserved it!
22. The Lord
redeemeth the soul of his servants—with
price and with power, with blood and with water. All providential helps are a
part of the redemption by power; hence the Lord is said still to redeem. And
none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. Faith is the mark of the
ransomed, and wherever it is seen, though in the least and meanest of the
saints, it ensures eternal salvation. Believer, you will never be deserted,
forsaken, given up to ruin. God is your guardian and friend, and bliss is
yours.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
