1. Be merciful unto me, O God. In my deep distress my soul turns to thee, my God. Man has
no mercy on me; therefore double thy mercy to me. If thy justice has let loose
my enemies, let thy mercy shorten their chain. It is sweet to see how the
tender dove-like spirit of the psalmist flies to the tenderest attribute for
succor in the hour of peril. For man would swallow me up. He is but thy
creature, a mere man; yet like a monster he is eager for blood, he pants, he
gapes for me; he would not merely wound me, or feed on my substance, but he
would like to swallow me altogether, and so make an end of me. The open mouths
of sinners when they rage against us should open our mouths in prayer. We may
plead the cruelty of men as a reason for the divine interposition—a father is
soon aroused when his children are shamefully treated. He fighting daily
oppresseth me. He gives me no interval—he fights daily. He is successful in
his unrighteous war—he oppresses me, he crushes me, he presses me sore. David
has his eye on the leader of his foes, and lays his plaint against him in the
right place. If we may thus plead against man, much more against that great
enemy of souls, the devil. We ask the Lord to forgive us our trespasses, which
is another way of saying, Be merciful unto me, O God, and then we say,
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” The more
violent the attack of Satan, the stronger our plea for deliverance.
2. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up. Their appetite for blood never fails them. With them there
is no truce or armistice. They are many, but one mind animates them. Nothing I
can do can make them relent. Unless they can quite devour me they will never be
content. The ogres of nursery tales exist in reality in the enemies of the
church, who would crush the bones of the godly, and make a mouthful of them if
they could. For they be many that fight against me. Persecutors hunt in
packs. The number of our foes is a powerful plea for the interposition of the
one Defender of the faithful, who is mightier than all their bands. These foes
of the gracious are also keen-eyed, and ever on the watch; hence the margin
calls them “observers.” O thou most High. Thus he invokes against the
lofty ones of the earth the aid of one who is higher than the highest. Some
translate the words differently, and think that the writer means that his foes
assailed him from the high places in which pride and power had placed them.
Saul, his great foe, attacked him from his throne with all the force which his
high position placed at his disposal. Our comfort in such a case is near to
hand, for God will help us from a higher place than our proudest foes can
occupy. The greatness of God as the Most High is a fertile source of
consolation to weak saints oppressed by mighty enemies.
3. What time I am afraid.
David was no braggart; he does not claim never to be afraid, and he was no
brutish Stoic free from fear because of the lack of tenderness. David’s
intelligence deprived him of the stupid heedlessness of ignorance; he saw the
imminence of his peril, and was afraid. We are human, and therefore liable to
overthrow; we are sinful, and therefore deserving it, and for all these reasons
we are afraid. But the psalmist’s fear did not fill the whole of his mind: he
adds, I will trust in thee. It is possible, then, for fear and faith to
occupy the mind at the same moment. It is a blessed fear which drives us to
trust. Unregenerate fear drives us from God; gracious fear drives us to him. If
I fear man I have only to trust God, and I have the best antidote. To trust
when there is no cause for fear is but the name of faith, but to be reliant
upon God when occasions for alarm are abundant and pressing is the conquering
faith of God’s elect. Though the verse is in the form of a resolve, it became a
fact in David’s life; let us make it so in ours. Maintain faith, and we shall
soon recover courage.
4. In God I will praise his word. Faith brings forth praise. The one who can trust will soon
sing. God’s promise, when it is fulfilled, is a noble subject for praise, and
even before fulfillment it should be the theme of song. It is in or through God
that we are able to praise. We praise as well as pray in the Spirit. Or we may
read it—in extolling the Lord one of the main points for thanksgiving is his
revealed will in the Scriptures, and the fidelity with which he keeps his word
of promise. In God have I put my trust. Altogether and alone should we
stay ourselves on God. What was a gracious resolve in the former verse is here
asserted as already done. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
Faith exercised, fear is banished, and holy triumph ensues. All flesh’s
malice will be overruled for my good. Man is flesh, flesh is grass. There were
two verses of complaint, and here are two of confidence; it is well to weigh out
a sufficient quantity of the sweet to counteract the sour.
5. Every day they wrest my words. This is a common mode of warfare among the ungodly. They
put our language on the rack; they extort meanings from it which it cannot be
made fairly to contain. All their thoughts are against me for evil. No
mixture of good will tone down their malice. They could not think a generous
thought towards him. Even those actions of his which were an undoubted blessing
to the commonwealth they endeavored to undervalue. Oh foul spring, from which
never a drop of pure water can come!
6. They gather themselves together. Firebrands burn the fiercer for being pushed together. They
are afraid to meet the good man till their numbers place terrible odds against
him. There is nothing brave about you. They hide themselves. He who
dares not meet his man on the king’s highway writes himself down a villain.
Constantly are the reputations of good men assailed with deep-laid schemes, and
diabolical plots in which the anonymous enemies stab in the dark. They mark
my steps, as hunters mark the trail of their game, and so track them. The
malicious are frequently very sharp-sighted to detect the failings, or supposed
failings, of the righteous. Spies are not all in the pay of earthly governments.
When they wait for my soul. Nothing less than his life would content
them; only his present and eternal ruin could altogether glut them. The good
man is no fool; he sees that he has enemies, and that they are many and crafty;
he sees also his own danger, and then he shows his wisdom by spreading the
whole case before the Lord, and putting himself under divine protection.
7. Shall they escape by iniquity? Can it be that this conduct will enable them to avoid the
sentence of earthly punishment? They slander the good man to screen
themselves—will this avail them? They have cunningly managed hitherto, but will
there not be an end to their games? In thine anger cast down the people, O
God. Trip them up in their tricks. A persecuted man finds a friend even in
an angry God; how much more in the God of love! When people seek to cast us
down, it is but natural and not at all unlawful to pray that they may be
disabled from the accomplishment of their infamous designs. What God often does
we may safely ask him to do.
8. Thou tellest my wanderings. Every step which the fugitive had taken when pursued by his
enemies was not only observed but thought worthy of counting and recording. We
perhaps are so confused after a long course of trouble, that we hardly know
where we have or where we have not been; but the Father remembers all in
detail, for he has counted them over as people count their gold, for even the
trial of our faith is precious in his sight. Put thou my tears into thy
bottle. His sorrows were so many that there would need a great wine-skin to
hold them all. He trusts that the Lord will be so considerate of his tears as
to store them up as men do the juice of the vine, and he hopes that the place
of storage will be a special one—thy bottle, not a bottle.
Are they not in thy book? Yes, they are recorded there, but let not only
the record but the grief itself be present to thee. Look on my griefs as real
things, for these move the heart more than a mere account, however exact.
9. When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. The machinery of prayer is not always visible, but it is
most efficient. God inclines us to pray, we cry in anguish of heart, he hears,
he acts, the enemy is turned back. What God is this who hearkens to the cry of
his children, and in a moment delivers them from the mightiest adversaries! This
I know. This is one of the believer’s certainties, his axioms, his
infallible, indisputable verities. For God is for me. This we know, and
none can be against us who are worth a moment’s fear. Who will restrain prayer
when it is so potent? Who will seek any other ally than God, who is instantly
present so soon as we give the ordained signal, by which we testify both our
need and our confidence?
10. In God will I praise his word. The least we can do is to praise him from whom we receive
such distinguished favors. Does David here mean “by God’s grace I will praise
him”? If so, he shows us that all our emotions towards God must be in God,
produced by him and presented as such. Or does he mean, “that which in God is
most the object of my praise is his word, and the faithfulness with which he
keeps it”? If so, we see how attached out hearts should be to the sure word of
promise, and especially to him who is the Word incarnate. The Lord is to
be praised under every aspect, and in all his attributes and acts, but certain
mercies more especially draw out our admiration towards special portions of the
great whole. Praise which is never special in its direction cannot be very
thoughtful, and it is to be feared cannot be very acceptable. In the Lord
will I praise his word. He delights to dwell on his praise; he therefore
repeats his song. The change by which he brings in the glorious name of Jehovah
is doubtless meant to indicate that under every aspect he delights in his God
and in his word.
11. In God have I put my trust. This and the former verse are evidently the chorus of the
psalm. We cannot be too careful of our faith, or see too sedulously that it is
grounded on the Lord alone. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
Faith has banished fear. He views his foes in their most forcible character,
calling them not flesh, but man, yet he dreads them not; though
the whole race were his enemies he would not be afraid now that his trust is
stayed on God. He is not afraid of what they threaten to do, for much of that
they cannot do; and even what they can do he defies with holy daring. He speaks
for the future—I will not—for he is sure that the security of the
present will suffice for days to come.
12. Thy vows are upon me, O God. Vows made in his trouble he does not lightly forget, nor
should we. We voluntarily made them; let us cheerfully keep them. All professed
Christians are under vows, but especially those in hours of dire distress have
rededicated themselves to the Lord. I will render praises unto thee.
With heart, and voice, and gift we should cheerfully extol the God of our
salvation. The practice of making solemn vows in times of trouble is to be commended,
when it is followed by the far less common custom of fulfilling them when the
trouble is over.
13. For thou hast delivered my soul from death. His enemies were defeated in their attempts upon his life,
and therefore he vowed to devote his life to God. Wilt not thou deliver my
feet from falling? One mercy is a plea for another, for indeed it may
happen that the second is the necessary complement of the first. It matters
little that we live, if we are made to fall in character by the thrusts of our
enemies. That I may walk before God in the light of the living, enjoying
the favor and presence of God, and finding the joy and brightness of life
therein. Walking at liberty, in holy service, in sacred communion, in constant
progress in holiness, enjoying the smile of heaven—this I seek after. Here is
the loftiest reach of a good person’s ambition: to dwell with God, to walk in
righteousness before him, to rejoice in his presence, and in the light and
glory which it yields. Thus in this short psalm we have climbed from the
ravenous jaws of the enemy into the light of Jehovah’s presence, a path which
only faith can tread.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
