1. The transgression of the wicked. His daring and wanton sin; his breaking the bound of law
and justice. Saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his
eyes. Men’s sins have a voice to godly ears. They are the outer index of an
inner evil. It is clear that men who dare to sin constantly and presumptuously
cannot respect the great Judge of all. Despite the professions of unrighteous
men, when we see their unhallowed actions our heart is driven to the conclusion
that they have no religion whatever. Unholiness is clear evidence of
ungodliness. Wickedness is the fruit of an atheistic root. This may be made
clear to the candid heart by cogent reasoning, but it is clear already and
intuitively to the pious heart. If God is everywhere, and I fear him, how can I
dare to break his laws in his very presence? Those eyes which have no fear of
God before them now will have terrors of hell before them forever.
2. For. Here is
the argument to prove the proposition laid down in the former verse. David here
runs over the process of reasoning by which he had become convinced that wicked
men have no proper idea of God or respect for him. God-fearing men see their
sins and bewail them; where the reverse is the case we may be sure there is no
fear of God. He flattereth himself in his own eyes. He quiets his
conscience, and so deceives his own judgment as to reckon himself a pattern of
excellence, if not for morality, yet for having sense enough not to be enslaved
by rules which are bonds to others. He is the free-thinker, the man of strong
mind, the philosopher; and the servants of God are, in his esteem,
mean-spirited and narrow-minded. Of all flatteries this is the most absurd and
dangerous. To smooth over one’s own conduct to one’s conscience (which is the
meaning of the Hebrew) is to smooth one’s own path to hell. Until his
iniquity be found to be hateful. Rottenness smells sooner or later too
strong to be concealed. He can no longer keep up the farce which he played so
well—if not in this life, the hand of death will let light in upon the covered
character, and expose the sinner to shame and contempt.
The self-flattering process plainly proves the atheism of
sinners, since the base reflection that God sees them would render such
self-flatteries extremely difficult, if not impossible. Belief in God, like
light, reveals, and then our sin and evil are perceived; but wicked men are in
the dark, for they cannot see what is so clearly within them and around them.
3. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. This pair of hell dogs generally hunt together, and what
one does not catch the other will; if iniquity cannot win by oppression, deceit
will gain by chicanery. When the heart is so corrupt as to flatter itself, the
tongue follows suit. God-fearing men make a conscience of their words, and if
they sin through infirmity they do not invent excuses, or go about to boast of
their wickedness; but because wicked men think little of evil and artful
speeches, we may be clear that God rules not in their souls. The original by
declaring that the words of the wicked are falsehood and deceit is particularly
strong, as if they were not only false in quality, but actual falseness itself.
He hath left off to be wise, and to do good. Those who fear God proceed
from strength to strength in the right path, but the godless soon forsake what
little good they once knew. How could people apostatize if they had respect to
the supreme Judge? Is it not because they grow more and more forgetful of God,
that in due season they relinquish even that hypocritical reverence of him
which they maintained in order to flatter their souls?
4. He deviseth mischief upon his bed. His place of rest becomes the place for plotting. The
God-fearing meditate upon God and his service, but those who turn all their
thoughts towards evil prove their godlessness. He setteth himself in a way
that is not good. When he gets up he resolutely and persistently pursues
the mischief which he planned. The worst of ways he prefers, for he has taught
his heart to love filthiness, having accustomed himself to revel in it in
imagination. He abhorreth not evil. He even rejoices in it. He never
hates a wrong thing because it is wrong, but meditates on it, defends it, and
practices it.
5–9. From the
baseness of the wicked the psalmist turns his contemplation to the glory of
God. Contrasts are impressive.
5. Thy mercy, O Lord,
is in the heavens. It encompasses the whole earth,
rising high above the mists of mortal transgression. Clear sky is evermore
above, and mercy calmly smiles above the din and smoke of this poor world.
Darkness and clouds are but of earth’s lower atmosphere; the heavens are
evermore serene, and bright with innumerable stars. Divine mercy abides in its
vastness of expanse, matchless patience, all unaltered by the rebellions of
man. Towards his own servants especially, in the salvation of the Lord Jesus,
he has displayed grace higher than the heaven of heavens, and wider than the universe.
Oh that the atheist could but see this, how earnestly would he long to become a
servant of Jehovah! Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Far, far
above all comprehension is the truth and faithfulness of God. He never fails,
nor forgets, nor falters, nor forfeits his word. Afflictions are like clouds,
but the divine truthfulness is all around them. While we are under the cloud we
are in the region of God’s faithfulness; when we mount above it we shall not
need such an assurance. To every word of threat, or promise, prophecy or
covenant, the Lord has exactly adhered.
6. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains. Firm and unmoved, lofty and sublime. God is never in any
degree affected by circumstances; he is always just. Not even to save his elect
would the Lord let his righteousness be set aside. No awe inspired by mountain
scenery can equal that which fills the soul when it beholds the Son of God
slain as a victim to vindicate the justice of the inflexible Lawgiver. Right
across the path of every unholy man who dreams of heaven stand the towering
Andes of divine righteousness, which no unregenerate sinner can ever climb. Thy
judgments are a great deep. The Lord is not to be questioned by us as to
why this and why that. He has reasons, but he does not choose to submit them to
our foolish consideration. Far and wide, terrible and irresistible like the
ocean are the providential dispensations of God: at one time they appear as
peaceful as the unrippled sea of glass; at another tossed with tempest and
whirlwind, but evermore most glorious and full of mystery. Yet as the deep
mirrors the sky, so the mercy of the Lord is to be seen reflected in all the
arrangements of his government on earth, and over the profound depth the
covenant rainbow casts its arch of comfort, for the Lord is faithful in all
that he does. O Lord, thou
preservest man and beast. All owe their continuance in life to the
unceasing outgoings of the divine power. What a debased creature must he be who
sees no trace of God, and feels no awe of him!
7. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Here we enter into the Holy of Holies. Benevolence, and
mercy, and justice, are everywhere, but the excellence of that mercy only those
have known whose faith has lifted the veil and passed into the brighter
presence of the Lord; these behold the excellency of the Lord’s mercy. The word
translated excellent may be rendered “precious”; no gem or pearl can
ever equal in value a sense of the Lord’s love. David writes, how excellent!
because he cannot tell us the half of it. Therefore the children of men put
their trust under the shadow of thy wings. The best of reasons for the best
of courses. The figure is very beautiful. The Lord overshadows his people as a
hen protects her brood, or as an eagle covers its young; and we as the little
ones run under the blessed shelter and feel at rest. To cower down under the
wings of God is so sweet. Although the enemy be far too strong for us, we have
no fear, for we nestle under the Lord’s wing. Oh that more of Adam’s race knew
the excellency of the heavenly shelter! It made Jesus weep to see how they
refused it: our tears may well lament the same evil.
8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of
thy house. Those who learn to put their trust
in God will be received into his house, and will share in the provision laid up
therein. The dwelling-place of the Lord is not confined to any place; we shall
find a soul-contenting store supplied to us as the result of living by faith in
nearness to the Lord. And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy
pleasures. As they have the fruits of Eden to feed on, so shall they have
the river of Paradise to drink from. God’s everlasting love bears constant and
ample comfort, of which grace makes us drink by faith, and then our pleasure is
of the richest kind. Heaven will, in the fullest sense, fulfill these words;
but those who trust in the Lord enjoy the foretaste even here. The happiness
given to the faithful is that of God himself; purified spirits joy with the
same joy as the Lord himself.
9. For with thee is the fountain of life. This verse is made of simple words, but like the first
chapter of John’s Gospel, it is very deep. From the Lord, as from an
independent self-sufficient spring, all creature life proceeds; by him it is
sustained; through him alone can it be perfected. Life is in the creature, but
the fountain of it is only in the Creator. Of spiritual life this is true in
the most emphatic sense (see John 6:63; Colossians 3:3). In thy light
shall we see light. Light is the glory of life. Life in the dark is misery,
and rather death than life. The Lord alone can give natural, intellectual, and
spiritual life. In spiritual things the knowledge of God sheds a light on all
other subjects. We need no candle to see the sun: we see it by its own
radiance, and then see everything else by the same light. We never see Jesus by
the light of self, but self in the light of Jesus. No inward intelligence of
ours leads us to receive the Spirit’s light, but the rather, it often helps to
quench the sacred beam; purely and only by his own illumination, the Holy Ghost
lights up the dark recesses of our heart’s ungodliness. Vain are those who look
to learning and human wit. Faith derives both life and light from God, and
hence she neither dies nor darkens.
10. O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee. Lord, extend this grace of thine to all the days of all who
have been taught to know thy faithful love, flay tenderness, thine immutability
and omnipotence. As they have been taught of the Lord to know the Lord, so go
on to instruct them and perfect them. This prayer is the heart of the believer
asking precisely that which the heart of his God is prepared to grant. And
thy righteousness to the upright in heart. As thou hast never failed the
righteous, so abide thou in the same manner their defender and avenger.
Although a continuance of mercy is guaranteed in the covenant, we are yet to
make it a matter of prayer.
11. Let not the foot of pride come against me. Pride is the devil’s sin. Good men may well be afraid of
proud men, for the serpent’s seed will never cease to bite the heel of the
godly. Let not the hand of the wicked remove me. Violence with both hand
and foot, with means fair and means foul, strove to overthrow the psalmist, but
he resorts to his great Patron, and sings a song of triumph in anticipation of
the defeat of his foes.
12. There are the workers of iniquity fallen. Faith sees them scattered on the plain. They are cast
down. Providence and grace have dashed them from their vantage ground.
Jesus has already thrown all the foes of his people upon their faces, and in
due time all sinners will find it so. And shall not be able to rise. The
defeat of the ungodly and of the power of evil is final, total, irretrievable.
Glory be to God, however high the powers of darkness may carry it at this
present, the time hastens on when God will defend the right, and give to evil
such a fall as shall forever crush the hopes of hell; while those who trust in
the Lord will eternally praise him and rejoice in his holy name.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
