yet again its full confidence in God. Faith’s repetitions are not vain.
The avowal of our reliance upon God in times of adversity is a principal
method of glorifying him. Active service is good, but the passive
confidence of faith is not one jot less esteemed in the sight of God.
The words before us appear to embrace and fasten upon the Lord with a
fiducial grip which is not to be relaxed. The two personal pronouns,
like sure nails, lay hold upon the faithfulness of the Lord. O for grace
to have our heart fixed in firm unstaggering belief in God! The figure
of a rock and a fortress may be illustrated to us in these times by the
vast fortress of Gibraltar, often besieged by our enemies, but never
wrested from us: ancient strongholds, though far from impregnable by our
modes of warfare, were equally important in those remoter ages—when in
the mountain fastnesses, feeble bands felt themselves to be secure. Note
the singular fact that David asked the Lord to be his rock (verse 2)
because he was his rock; and learn from it that we may pray to enjoy in
experience what we grasp by faith. Faith is the foundation of prayer.
“_Therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me._” The Psalmist
argues like a logician with his fors and therefores. Since I do
sincerely trust thee, saith he, O my God, be my director. To lead and to
guide are two things very like each other, but patient thought will
detect different shades of meaning, especially as the last may mean
_provide for me_. The double word indicates an urgent need—we require
double direction, for we are fools, and the way is rough. Lead me as a
soldier, guide me as a traveller! lead me as a babe, guide me as a man;
lead me when thou art with me, but guide me even if thou be absent; lead
me by thy hand, guide me by thy word. The argument used is one which is
fetched from the armoury of free grace: not for my own sake, but _for
thy name’s sake_ guide me. Our appeal is not to any fancied virtue in
our own names, but to the glorious goodness and graciousness which shine
resplendent in the character of Israel’s God. It is not possible that
the Lord should suffer his own honour to be tarnished, but this would
certainly be the case if those who trusted him should perish. This was
Moses’ plea, “What wilt thou do unto thy great name?”
4. “_Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me._” The
enemies of David were cunning as well as mighty; if they could not
conquer him by power, they would capture him by craft. Our own spiritual
foes are of the same order—they are of the serpent’s brood, and seek to
ensnare us by their guile. The prayer before us supposes the possibility
of the believer being caught like a bird; and, indeed, we are so foolish
that this often happens. So deftly does the fowler do his work that
simple ones are soon surrounded by it. The text asks that even out of
the meshes of the net the captive one may be delivered; and this is a
proper petition, and one which can be granted; from between the jaws of
the lion and out of the belly of hell can eternal love rescue the saint.
It may need a sharp _pull_ to save a soul from the net of temptation,
and a mighty pull to extricate a man from the snares of malicious
cunning, but the Lord is equal to every emergency, and the most
skilfully placed nets of the hunter shall never be able to hold his
chosen ones. Woe unto those who are so clever at net laying: they who
tempt others shall be destroyed themselves. Villains who lay traps in
secret shall be punished in public. “_For thou art my strength._” What
an inexpressible sweetness is to be found in these few words! How
joyfully may we enter upon labours, and how cheerfully may we endure
sufferings when we can lay hold upon celestial power. Divine power will
rend asunder all the toils of the foe, confound their politics and
frustrate their knavish tricks; he is a happy man who has such matchless
might engaged upon his side. Our own strength would be of little service
when embarrassed in the nets of base cunning, but the Lord’s strength is
ever available; we have but to invoke it, and we shall find it near at
hand. If by faith we are depending alone upon the strength of the strong
God of Israel, we may use our holy reliance as a plea in supplication.
5. “_Into thine hand I commit my spirit._” These living words of David
were our Lord’s dying words, and have been frequently used by holy men
in their hour of departure. Be assured that they are good, choice, wise,
and solemn words; we may use them now and in the last tremendous hour.
Observe, the object of the good man’s solicitude in life and death is
not his body or his estate, but his spirit; this is his jewel, his
secret treasure; if this be safe, all is well. See what he does with his
pearl! He commits it to the hand of his God: it came from him, it is his
own, he has aforetime sustained it, he is able to keep it, and it is
most fit that he should receive it. All things are safe in Jehovah’s
hands; what we entrust to the Lord will be secure, both now and in that
day of days towards which we are hastening. Without reservation the good
man yields himself to his heavenly Father’s hand; it is enough for him
to be there; it is peaceful living and glorious dying to repose in the
care of heaven. At all times we should commit and continue to commit our
all to Jesus’ sacred care, then, though life may hang on a thread, and
adversities may multiply as the sands of the sea, our soul shall dwell
at ease, and delight itself in quiet resting places. “_Thou hast
redeemed me, O Lord God of truth._” Redemption is a solid basis for
confidence. David had not known Calvary as we have done, but temporal
redemption cheered him; and shall not eternal redemption yet more
sweetly console us? Past deliverances are strong pleas for present
assistance. What the Lord has done he will do again, for he changes not.
He is a God of veracity, faithful to his promises, and gracious to his
saints; he will not turn away from his people.
6. “_I have hated them that regard lying vanities._” Those who will not
lean upon the true arm of strength, are sure to make to themselves vain
confidences. Man must have a god, and if he will not adore the only
living and true God, he makes a fool of himself, and pays superstitious
regard to a lie, and waits with anxious hope upon a base delusion. Those
who did this were none of David’s friends; he had a constant dislike to
them: the verb includes the present as well as the past tense. He hated
them for hating God; he would not endure the presence of idolaters; his
heart was set against them for their stupidity and wickedness. He had no
patience with their superstitious observances, and calls their idols
vanities of emptiness, nothings of nonentity. Small courtesy is more
than Romanists and Puseyites deserve for their fooleries. Men who make
gods of their riches, their persons, their wits, or anything else, are
to be shunned by those whose faith rests upon God in Christ Jesus; and
so far from being envied, they are to be pitied as depending upon utter
vanities. “_But I trust in the Lord._” This might be very unfashionable,
but the Psalmist dared to be singular. Bad example should not make us
less decided for the truth, but the rather in the midst of general
defection we should grow the more bold. This adherence to his trust in
Jehovah is the great plea employed all along: the troubled one flies
into the arms of his God, and ventures everything upon the divine
faithfulness.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered
my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;
8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set
my feet in a large room.
7. “_I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy._” For mercy past he is
grateful, and for mercy future, which he believingly anticipates, he is
joyful. In our most importunate intercessions, we must find breathing
time to bless the Lord: praise is never a hindrance to prayer, but
rather a lively refreshment therein. It is delightful at intervals to
hear the notes of the high-sounding cymbals when the dolorous sackbut
rules the hour. Those two words, _glad_ and _rejoice_, are an
instructive reduplication, we need not stint ourselves in our holy
triumph; this wine we may drink in bowls without fear of excess. “_For
thou hast considered my trouble._” Thou hast seen it, weighed it,
directed it, fixed a bound to it, and in all ways made it a matter of
tender consideration. A man’s consideration means the full exercise of
his mind; what must God’s consideration be? “_Thou hast known my soul in
adversities._” God owns his saints when others are ashamed to
acknowledge them; he never refuses to know his friends. He thinks not
the worse of them for their rags and tatters. He does not misjudge them
and cast them off when their faces are lean with sickness, or their
hearts heavy with despondency. Moreover, the Lord Jesus knows us in our
pangs in a peculiar sense, by having a deep sympathy towards us in them
all; when no others can enter into our griefs, from want of
understanding them experimentally, Jesus dives into the lowest depths
with us, comprehending the direst of our woes, because he has felt the
same. Jesus is a physician who knows every case; nothing is new to him.
When we are so bewildered as not to know our own state, he knows us
altogether. He has known us and will know us: O for grace to know more
of him! “Man, know thyself,” is a good philosophic precept, but “Man,
thou art known of God,” is a superlative consolation. _Adversities_ in
the plural—“Many are the afflictions of the righteous.”
8. “_And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy._” To be shut up
in one’s hand is to be delivered over absolutely to his power; now, the
believer is not in the hand of death or the devil, much less is he in
the power of man. The enemy may get a temporary advantage over us, but
we are like men in prison with the door open; God will not let us be
shut up, he always provides a way of escape. “_Thou hast set my feet in
a large room._” Blessed be God for liberty: civil liberty is valuable,
religious liberty is precious, spiritual liberty is priceless. In all
troubles we may praise God if these are left. Many saints have had their
greatest enlargements of soul when their affairs have been in the
greatest straits. Their souls have been in a large room when their
bodies have been lying in Bonner’s coalhole, or in some other narrow
dungeon. Grace has been equal to every emergency; and more than this, it
has made the emergency an opportunity for displaying itself.
9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is
consumed with grief, _yea_, my soul and my belly.
10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my
strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are
consumed.
11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my
neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me
without fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken
vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear _was_ on every side:
while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take
away my life.
9. “_Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble._” Now, the man of
God comes to a particular and minute description of his sorrowful case.
He unbosoms his heart, lays bare his wounds, and expresses his inward
desolation. This first sentence pithily comprehends all that follows, it
is the text for his lamenting discourse. Misery moves mercy—no more
reasoning is needed. “Have mercy” is the prayer; the argument is as
prevalent as it is plain and personal, “I am in trouble.” “_Mine eye is
consumed with grief._” Dim and sunken eyes are plain indicators of
failing health. Tears draw their salt from our strength, and floods of
them are very apt to consume the source from which they spring. God
would have us tell him the symptoms of our disease, not for his
information, but to show our sense of need. “_Yea, my soul and my belly
[or body]._” Soul and body are so intimately united, that one cannot
decline without the other feeling it. We, in these days, are not
strangers to the double sinking which David describes; we have been
faint with physical suffering, and distracted with mental distress; when
two such seas meet, it is well for us that the Pilot at the helm is at
home in the midst of the waterfloods, and makes storms to become the
triumph of his art.
10. “_For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing._” It
had become his daily occupation to mourn; he spent all his days in the
dungeon of distress. The sap and essence of his existence was being
consumed, as a candle is wasted while it burns. His adversities were
shortening his days, and digging for him an early grave. Grief is a sad
market to spend all our wealth of life in, but a far more profitable
trade may be driven there than in Vanity Fair; it is better to go to the
house of mourning than the house of feasting. Black is good wear. The
salt of tears is a healthy medicine. Better spend our years in sighing
than in sinning. The two members of the sentence before us convey the
same idea; but there are no idle words in Scripture, the reduplication
is the fitting expression of fervency and importunity. “_My strength
faileth because of mine iniquity._” David sees to the bottom of his
sorrow, and detects sin lurking there. It is profitable trouble which
leads us to trouble ourselves about our iniquity. Was this the
Psalmist’s foulest crime which now gnawed at his heart, and devoured his
strength? Very probably it was so. Sinful morsels, though sweet in the
mouth, turn out to be poison in the bowels: if we wantonly give a
portion of our strength to sin, it will by-and-by take the remainder
from us. We lose both physical, mental, moral, and spiritual vigour by
iniquity. “_And my bones are consumed._” Weakness penetrated the
innermost parts of his system, the firmest parts of his frame felt the
general decrepitude. A man is in a piteous plight when he comes to this.
11. “_I was a reproach among all mine enemies._” They were pleased to
have something to throw at me: my mournful estate was music to them,
because they maliciously interpreted it to be a judgment from heaven
upon me. Reproach is little thought of by those who are not called to
endure it, but he who passes under its lash knows how deep it wounds.
The best of men may have the bitterest foes, and be subjected to the
most cruel taunts. “_But especially among my neighbours._” Those who are
nearest can stab the sharpest. We feel most the slights of those who
should have shown us sympathy. Perhaps David’s friends feared to be
identified with his declining fortunes, and therefore turned against him
in order to win the mercy if not the favour of his opponents. Self
interest rules the most of men: ties the most sacred are soon snapped by
its influence, and actions of the utmost meanness are perpetrated
without scruple. “_And a fear to mine acquaintance._” The more intimate
before, the more distant did they become. Our Lord was denied by Peter,
betrayed by Judas, and forsaken by all in the hour of his utmost need.
All the herd turn against a wounded deer. The milk of human kindness
curdles when a despised believer is the victim of slanderous
accusations. “_They that did see me without fled from me._” Afraid to be
seen in the company of a man so thoroughly despised, those who once
courted his society hastened from him as though he had been infected
with the plague. How villainous a thing is slander which can thus make
an eminent saint, once the admiration of his people, to become the
general butt, the universal aversion of mankind! To what extremities of
dishonour may innocence be reduced!
12. “_I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind._” All David’s youthful
prowess was now gone from remembrance: he had been the saviour of his
country, but his services were buried in oblivion. Men soon forget the
deepest obligations; popularity is evanescent to the last degree: he who
is in every one’s mouth to-day may be forgotten by all to-morrow. A man
had better be dead than be smothered in slander. Of the dead we say
nothing but good, but in the Psalmist’s case they said nothing but evil.
We must not look for the reward of philanthropy this side of heaven, for
men pay their best servants but sorry wages, and turn them out of doors
when no more is to be got out of them. “_I am like a broken vessel_,” a
thing useless, done for, worthless, cast aside, forgotten. Sad condition
for a king! Let us see herein the portrait of the King of kings in his
humiliation, when he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him
the form of a servant.
13. “_For I have heard the slander of many._” One slanderous viper is
death to all comfort—what must be the venom of a whole brood? What the
ear does not hear the heart does not rue; but in David’s case the
accusing voices were loud enough to break in upon his quiet—foul mouths
had grown so bold, that they poured forth their falsehoods in the
presence of their victim. Shimei was but one of a class, and his cry of
“Go up, thou bloody man,” was but the common speech of thousands of the
sons of Belial. All Beelzebub’s pack of hounds may be in full cry
against a man, and yet he may be the Lord’s anointed. “_Fear was on
every side._” He was encircled with fearful suggestions, threatenings,
remembrances, and forebodings; no quarter was clear from incessant
attack. “_While they took counsel together against me, they devised to
take away my life._” The ungodly act in concert in their onslaughts upon
the excellent of the earth: it is to be wondered at that sinners should
often be better agreed than saints, and generally set about their wicked
work with much more care and foresight than the righteous exhibit in
holy enterprises. Observe the cruelty of a good man’s foes! they will be
content with nothing less than his blood—for this they plot and scheme.
Better fall into the power of a lion than under the will of malicious
persecutors, for the beast may spare its prey if it be fed to the full,
but malice is unrelenting and cruel as a wolf. Of all fiends the most
cruel is envy. How sorely was the Psalmist bestead when the poisoned
arrows of a thousand bows were all aimed at his life! Yet in all this
his faith did not fail him, nor did his God forsake him. Here is
encouragement for us.
14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou _art_ my God.
15 My times _are_ in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies, and from them that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’
sake.
17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let
the wicked be ashamed, _and_ let them be silent in the grave.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things
proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
In this section of the Psalm he renews his prayers, urging the same
pleas as at first: earnest wrestlers attempt over and over again the
same means of gaining their point.
14. “_But I trusted in thee, O Lord._” Notwithstanding all afflicting
circumstances, David’s faith maintained its hold, and was not turned
aside from its object. What a blessed saving clause is this! So long as
our faith, which is our shield, is safe, the battle may go hard, but its
ultimate result is no matter of question; if that could be torn from us,
we should be as surely slain as were Saul and Jonathan upon the high
places of the field. “_I said, Thou art my God._” He proclaimed aloud
his determined allegiance to Jehovah. He was no fair-weather believer,
he could hold to his faith in a sharp frost, and wrap it about him as a
garment fitted to keep out all the ills of time. He who can say what
David did need not envy Cicero his eloquence: “Thou art my God,” has
more sweetness in it than any other utterance which human speech can
frame. Note that this adhesive faith is here mentioned as an argument
with God to honour his own promise by sending a speedy deliverance.
15. “_My times are in thy hand._” The sovereign arbiter of destiny holds
in his own power all the issues of our life; we are not waifs and strays
upon the ocean of fate, but are steered by infinite wisdom towards our
desired haven. Providence is a soft pillow for anxious heads, an anodyne
for care, a grave for despair. “_Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies, and from them that persecute me._” It is lawful to desire
escape from persecution if it be the Lord’s will; and when this may not
be granted us in the form which we desire, sustaining grace will give us
deliverance in another form, by enabling us to laugh to scorn all the
fury of the foe.
16. “_Make thy face to shine upon thy servant._” Give me the sunshine of
heaven in my soul, and I will defy the tempests of earth. Permit me to
enjoy a sense of thy favour, O Lord, and a consciousness that thou art
pleased with my manner of life, and all men may frown and slander as
they will. It is always enough for a servant if he pleases his master;
others may be dissatisfied, but he is not their servant, they do not pay
him his wages, and their opinions have no weight with him. “_Save me for
thy mercies’ sake._” The good man knows no plea but mercy; whoever might
urge legal pleas, David never dreamed of it.
17. “_Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee._” Put
not my prayers to the blush! Do not fill profane mouths with jeers at my
confidence in my God. “_Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be
silent in the grave._” Cause them to their amazement to see my wrongs
righted and their own pride horribly confounded. A milder spirit rules
our prayers under the gentle reign of the Prince of Peace, and,
therefore, we can only use such words as these in their prophetic sense,
knowing as we do full well, that shame and the silence of death are the
best portion that ungodly sinners can expect. That which they desired
for despised believers shall come upon themselves by a decree of
retributive justice, at which they cannot cavil. “As he loved mischief,
so let it come upon him.”
18. “_Let the lying lips be put to silence._” A right good and Christian
prayer; who but a bad man would give liars more license than need be?
May God silence them either by leading them to repentance, by putting
them to thorough shame, or by placing them in positions where what they
may say will stand for nothing. “_Which speak grievous things proudly
and contemptuously against the righteous._” The sin of slanderers lies
partly in the matter of their speech; “they speak grievous things;”
things cutting deep into the feelings of good men, and wounding them
sorely in that tender place—their reputations. The sin is further
enhanced by the manner of their speech; they speak proudly and
contemptuously; they talk as if they themselves were the cream of
society, and the righteous the mere scum of vulgarity. Proud thoughts of
self are generally attended by debasing estimates of others. The more
room we take up ourselves, the less we can afford our neighbours. What
wickedness it is that unworthy characters should always be the loudest
in railing at good men! They have no power to appreciate moral worth of
which they are utterly destitute, and yet they have the effrontery to
mount the judgment seat, and judge the men compared with whom they are
as so much draff. Holy indignation may well prompt us to desire anything
which may rid the world of such unbearable impertinence and detestable
arrogance.
19 _Oh_ how great _is_ thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for
them that fear thee; _which_ thou hast wrought for them that trust
in thee before the sons of men!
20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride
of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife
of tongues.
21 Blessed _be_ the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous
kindness in a strong city.
22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes:
nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I
cried unto thee.
Being full of faith, the Psalmist gives glory to God for the mercy which
he is assured will be his position.