1. O God, thou art my God. Or, “O God, thou art my Mighty One.” The last psalm left
the echo of power ringing in the ear, and it is here remembered. The
poet has no doubts about his possession of his God; and why should other
believers have any? The straightforward, clear language of this opening
sentence would be far more becoming in Christians than the timorous and
doubtful expressions so usual. Early will I seek thee. Possession breeds
desire. Full assurance is no hindrance to diligence, but is the mainspring of
it. He is up at cockcrowing to meet his God. Communion with God is so sweet
that the chill of the morning is forgotten, and the luxury of the couch is
despised. The psalmist consecrates the morning to prayer and devout fellowship.
The best people have been early on their knees. The word early has not
only the sense of early in the morning, but that of eagerness, immediateness.
Anyone who truly longs for God longs for him now. Holy desires are among the
most powerful influences that stir our inner nature; hence the next sentence, My
soul thirsteth for thee. Thirst is an insatiable longing after that which
is one of the most essential supports of life; there is no overcoming it by
stoical indifference. Thirst will be heard; the whole man must yield to its
power; so it is with that divine desire which the grace of God creates in
regenerate people; only God himself can satisfy the craving of a soul really
aroused by the Holy Spirit. My flesh longeth for thee. By the two words soul
and flesh he denotes the whole of his being. “The flesh,” in the New
Testament sense of it, never longs after the Lord, but rather it lusts against
the spirit; David only refers to that sympathy which is sometimes created in
our bodily frame by vehement emotions of the soul. Our corporeal nature usually
tugs in the other direction, but the spirit when ardent can compel it to throw
in what power it has upon the other side. When the wilderness caused David
weariness, discomfort, and thirst, his flesh cried out in unison with the
desire of his soul. In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. A
weary place and a weary heart make the presence of God the more desirable. How
frequently have believers traversed in their experience this dry and thirsty
land where spiritual joys are things forgotten! And how truly can they
testify that the only true necessity of that country is the near presence of
their God! The absence of outward comforts can be borne with serenity when we
walk with God; and the most lavish multiplication of them avails not when he
withdraws.
2. He longed
not so much to see the sanctuary as to see his God; he looked through the veil
of ceremonies to the invisible One. Often had his heart been gladdened by
communion with God in the outward ordinances, and for this great blessing he
sighs again; as well he might, for it is the weightiest of all earth’s sorrows
for a Christian man to lose the conscious presence of his covenant God. He
remembers and mentions the two attributes which had most impressed themselves
upon his mind when he had been rapt in adoration in the holy place; these he
desires to behold again in the place of his banishment. The divine power and
glory are not confined to any places or localities; they are to be enjoyed
wherever there is a heart that longs and thirsts to behold them. Our misery is
that we thirst so little for these sublime things, and so much for the mocking
trifles of time and sense. We are in truth always in a weary land, for this is
not our rest; and it is marvelous that believers do not more continuously
thirst after their portion far beyond the river where they will hunger no more,
neither thirst any more, but will see the face of God.
3. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life. A reason for that which went before, as well as for that
which follows. Life is dear, but God’s love is dearer. To dwell with God is
better than life at its best. The withdrawal of his light of his countenance is
as the shadow of death to us. Life is to many people a doubtful good;
lovingkindness is an unquestioned boon; life is but transient, mercy is
everlasting; life is shared by the lowest animals, but the lovingkindness of
the Lord is the especial portion of the chosen. My lips shall praise thee.
Openly, so that thy glory shall be made known, I will tell of thy goodness.
Even when our heart is rather desiring than enjoying we should still continue
to magnify the Most High, for his love is truly precious; even if we do not
personally, for the time being, happen to be rejoicing in it. We ought not to
make our praises of God to depend upon our own personal and present reception
of benefits; this would be mere selfishness; even publicans and sinner have a
good word for those whose hands are enriching them with gifts; it is the true
believer only who will bless the Lord when he takes away his gifts or hides his
face.
4. Thus will I bless thee while I live. As I now bless thee, so will I ever do; or rather, so as
thou shalt reveal thy lovingkindness to me, I will in return continue to extol
thee. If we see no cause to rejoice in our estate, we shall always have reason
for rejoicing in the Lord. If none others bless God, yet his people will; his
very nature, as being the infinitely good God, is a sufficient argument for our
praising him as long as we exist. I will lift up my hands in thy name.
For worship the hands were uplifted, as also in joy, in thanksgiving, in labor,
in confidence; in all these senses we would lift up our hands in Jehovah’s name
alone. No hands need hang down when God draws near in love. The name of Jesus
has often made lame men leap and sad men clap their hands for joy.
5. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. My soul will be filled with spiritual joys, and possess a
complete, double contentment. There is in the love of God a richness, a
sumptuousness, a fullness of soul-filling joy, comparable to the richest food
with which the body can be nourished. The Hebrews were more fond of fat than we
are, and their highest idea of festive provision is embodied in the two words marrow
and fatness. A soul hopeful in God and full of his favor is thus
represented as feeding upon the best of the best, the dainties of a royal
banquet. And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. When the mouth
is full of mercy, it should be also full of thanksgiving. When God gives us the
marrow of his love, we must present to him the marrow of our hearts. Vocal
praise should be rendered to God as well as mental adoration; others see our
mercies, let them also hear our thanks.
6. When I remember thee upon my bed. He turned his bedroom into an oratory, he consecrated his
pillow, his praise anticipated the place of which it is written, “There is no
night there.” Perhaps the wilderness helped to keep him awake; and if so, all
the ages are debtors to it for this delightful hymn. If day’s cares tempt us to
forget God, it is well that night’s quiet should lead us to remember him. And
meditate on thee in the night watches. Keeping up sacred worship in my
heart as the priests and Levites celebrated it in the sanctuary. Perhaps David
had formerly united with those “who by night stand in the house of the Lord, ” and now as he could not be with
them in person he remembers the hours as they pass, and unites with the
choristers in spirit, blessing Jehovah as they did. It may be, moreover, that
the king heard the voices of the sentries as they relieved guard, and each time
he returned with renewed solemnity to his meditations upon his God. Night is
congenial, in its silence and darkness, to a soul which would forget the world,
and rise into a higher sphere. Absorption into the most hallowed of all themes
makes watches which else would be weary glide away all too rapidly; it causes
the lonely and hard couch to yield repose more restful than even sleep itself.
7. Because thou hast been my help. Meditation had refreshed his memory and recalled him to his
past deliverances. The grand use of memory is to furnish us with proofs of the
Lord’s faithfulness, and lead us onward to a growing confidence in him. Therefore
in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. The very shade of God is sweet
to a believer. Under the eagle wings of Jehovah we hide from all fear, and we
do this naturally and at once, because we have beforehand tried and proved both
his love and his power. We are not only safe, but happy in God; we rejoice
as well as repose.
8. My soul followeth hard after thee, or is glued to thee. If we cannot walk with him with equal
footsteps, we will at least follow after with all the strength he lends us,
earnestly panting to reach him and abide in his fellowship. Thy right hand
upholdeth me. Else he would not have followed the Lord with constancy, or
even have longed after him. The divine power, which has so often been dwelt
upon in this and the preceding psalms, as here mentioned as the source of man’s
attachment to God. How strong are we when the Lord works in us by his own right
hand, and how utterly helpless if he withhold his aid!
9. As David
earnestly sought for God, so there were men of another order who as eagerly
sought after his blood; of these he speaks: But those that seek my soul, to
destroy it. The devil is a destroyer, and all his offspring; and as he has
ruined himself by his crafty devices, so shall they. Those who hunt souls will
themselves be the victims. Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
Into the pits which they digged for others they will fall themselves. The
slayers will be slain, and the grave will cover them. He who smites a believer
drives a nail in his own coffin.
10. They shall fall by the sword. So David’s enemies did. They that take the sword will
perish with the sword. They shall be a portion for foxes. Unburied and
unhonored they will be meat for the dogs of war. Frequently have malicious
people met with a fate so dire as to be evidently the award of retributive
justice. Although the great assize is reserved for another world, yet even here
justice often bares her avenging sword in the eyes of all the people.
11. But the king shall rejoice in God. Usurpers will fade, but he will flourish, and his
prosperity will be acknowledged as the gift of God. The Lord’s anointed will
not fail to offer his joyful thanksgiving. Every one that sweereth by him
shall glory. His faithful followers will have occasion for triumph: they
will never need to blush for the oath of their allegiance. Or, “swearing by him”
may signify allegiance to God, and worship paid to him. The heathen swore by
their gods; those who owned the Lord as their God should have reason to glory
when he proved himself the defender of the king’s righteous cause, and the
destroyer of traitors. But the mouth of them that speak lies shall be
stopped. And the sooner the better. If shame will not do it, nor fear, nor
reason, then let them be stopped with the sexton’s shovel-full of earth.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
