joyful sentence in connection with so much sorrow? Truly the life of
faith is a miracle. When faith led David to his God, she set him singing
at once. He does not tell us how great was God’s goodness, for he could
not; there are no measures which can set forth the immeasurable goodness
of Jehovah, who is goodness itself. Holy amazement uses interjections
where adjectives utterly fail. Notes of exclamation suit us when words
of explanation are of no avail. If we cannot measure we can marvel; and
though we may not calculate with accuracy, we can adore with fervency.
“_Which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee._” The Psalmist in
contemplation divides goodness into two parts, that which is in store
and that which is wrought out. The Lord has laid up in reserve for his
people supplies beyond all count. In the treasury of the covenant, in
the field of redemption, in the caskets of the promises, in the
granaries of providence, the Lord has provided for all the needs which
can possibly occur to his chosen. We ought often to consider the laid-up
goodness of God which has not yet been distributed to the chosen, but is
already provided for them: if we are much in such contemplations, we
shall be led to feel devout gratitude, such as glowed in the heart of
David. “_Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the
sons of men._” Heavenly mercy is not all hidden in the storehouse; in a
thousand ways it has already revealed itself on behalf of those who are
bold to avow their confidence in God; before their fellow men this
goodness of the Lord has been displayed, that a faithless generation
might stand rebuked. Overwhelming are the proofs of the Lord’s favour to
believers, history teems with amazing instances, and our own lives are
full of prodigies of grace. We serve a good Master. Faith receives a
large reward even now, but looks for her full inheritance in the future.
Who would not desire to take his lot with the servants of a Master whose
boundless love fills all holy minds with astonishment?
20. “_Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride
of man._” Pride is a barbed weapon: the proud man’s contumely is iron
which entereth into the soul; but those who trust in God, are safely
housed in the Holy of holies, the innermost court, into which no man may
dare intrude; here in the secret dwelling place of God the mind of the
saint rests in peace, which the foot of pride cannot disturb. Dwellers
at the foot of the cross of Christ grow callous to the sneers of the
haughty. The wounds of Jesus distil a balsam which heals all the scars
which the jagged weapons of contempt can inflict upon us; in fact, when
armed with the same mind which was in Christ Jesus, the heart is
invulnerable to all the darts of pride. “_Thou shalt keep them secretly
in a pavilion from the strife of tongues._” Tongues are more to be
dreaded than beasts of prey—and when they strive, it is as though a
whole pack of wolves were let loose; but the believer is secure even in
this peril, for the royal pavilion of the King of kings shall afford him
quiet shelter and serene security. The secret tabernacle of sacrifice,
and the royal pavilion of sovereignty afford a double security to the
Lord’s people in their worst distresses. Observe the immediate action of
God, “_Thou_ shalt hide,” “_Thou_ shalt keep,” the Lord himself is
personally present for the rescue of his afflicted.
21. “_Blessed be the Lord._” When the Lord blesses us we cannot do less
than bless him in return. “_For he hath showed me his marvellous
kindness in a strong city._” Was this in Mahanaim, where the Lord gave
him victory over the hosts of Absalom? Or did he refer to Rabbath of
Ammon, where he gained signal triumphs? Or, best of all, was Jerusalem
the strong city where he most experienced the astonishing kindness of
his God? Gratitude is never short of subjects: her Ebenezers stand so
close together as to wall up her path to heaven on both sides. Whether
in cities or in hamlets our blessed Lord has revealed himself to us, we
shall never forget the hallowed spots: the lonely mount of Hermon, or
the village of Emmaus, or the rock of Patmos, or the wilderness of
Horeb, are all alike renowned when God manifests himself to us in robes
of love.
22. Confession of faults is always proper; and when we reflect upon the
goodness of God, we ought to be reminded of our own errors and offences.
“_For I said in my haste._” We generally speak amiss when we are in a
hurry. Hasty words are but for a moment on the tongue, but they often
lie for years on the conscience. “_I am cut off from before thine
eyes._” This was an unworthy speech; but unbelief will have a corner in
the heart of the firmest believer, and out of that corner it will vent
many spiteful things against the Lord if the course of providence be not
quite so smooth as nature might desire. No saint ever was, or ever could
be, cut off from before the eyes of God, and yet no doubt many have
thought so, and more than one have said so. For ever be such dark
suspicions banished from our minds. “_Nevertheless thou heardest the
voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee._” What a mercy that if
_we_ believe not, yet God abideth faithful, hearing prayer even when we
are labouring under doubts which dishonour his name. If we consider the
hindrances in the way of our prayers, and the poor way in which we
present them, it is a wonder of wonders that they ever prevail with
heaven.
23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: _for_ the LORD preserveth the
faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye
that hope in the LORD.
23. “_O love the Lord, all ye his saints._” A most affecting
exhortation, showing clearly the deep love of the writer to his God:
there is the more beauty in the expression, because it reveals love
towards a smiting God, love which many waters could not quench. To bless
him who gives is easy, but to cling to him who takes away is a work of
grace. All the saints are benefited by the sanctified miseries of one,
if they are led by earnest exhortations to love their Lord the better.
If saints do not love the Lord, who will? Love is the universal debt of
all the saved family: who would wish to be exonerated from its payment?
Reasons for love are given, for believing love is not blind. “_For the
Lord preserveth the faithful._” They have to bide their time, but the
recompense comes at last, and meanwhile all the cruel malice of their
enemies cannot destroy them. “_And plentifully rewardeth the proud
doer._” This also is cause for gratitude: pride is so detestable in its
acts that he who shall mete out to it its righteous due, deserves the
love of all holy minds.
24. “_Be of good courage._” Keep up your spirit, let no craven thoughts
blanch your cheek. Fear weakens, courage strengthens. Victory waits upon
the banners of the brave. “_And he shall strengthen your heart._” Power
from on high shall be given in the most effectual manner by
administering force to the fountain of vitality. So far from leaving us,
the Lord will draw very near to us in our adversity, and put his own
power into us. “_All ye that hope in the Lord._” Every one of you, lift
up your heads and sing for joy of heart. God is faithful, and does not
fail even his little children who do but _hope_, wherefore then should
we be afraid?
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
_Verse 1.—“In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust.”_ Let us therefore shun
mistrust; doubt is death, trust alone is life. Let us make sure that we
trust the Lord, and never take our trust on trust. “_Let me never be
ashamed._” If David prays against being ashamed, let us strive against
it. Lovers of Jesus should be ashamed of being ashamed.—_C. H. S._
_Verse 1.—“Deliver me in thy righteousness.”_ For supporting thy faith,
mark well whereon it may safely rest; even upon God’s _righteousness_,
as well as upon his mercy. On this ground did the apostle in faith
expect the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8), because the Lord
from whom he expected it is a righteous judge; and the Psalmist is bold
to appeal to the righteousness of God. Ps. xxxv. 24. For we may be well
assured that what God’s goodness, grace, and mercy moved him to promise,
his truth, his faithfulness, and righteousness will move him to
perform.—_William Gouge._
_Verses 1, 2, 3_:—
Shadows are faithless, and the rocks are false;
No trust in brass, no trust in marble walls;
Poor cots are e’en as safe as princes’ halls.
Great God! there is no safety here below;
Thou art my fortress, thou that seem’st my foe,
’Tis thou, that strik’st the stroke, must guard the blow.
Thou art my God, by thee I fall or stand;
Thy grace hath giv’n me courage to withstand
All tortures, but my conscience and thy hand.
I know thy justice is thyself; I know,
Just God, thy very self is mercy too;
If not to thee, where, whither shall I go?
_Francis Quarles._
_Verse 2.—“Bow down thine ear.”_ Listen to my complaint. Put thy ear to
my lips, that thou mayest hear all that my _feebleness_ is capable of
uttering. We generally put our ear near to the lips of the sick and
dying that we may hear what they say. To this the text appears to
allude.—_Adam Clarke._
_Verse 2.—“Deliver me speedily.”_ In praying that he may be delivered
_speedily_ there is shown the greatness of his danger, as if he had
said, All will soon be over with my life, unless God make haste to help
me.—_John Calvin._
_Verses 2, 3.—“Be thou my strong rock,”_ etc. What the Lord is engaged
to be unto us by covenant, we may pray and expect to find him in effect.
“_Be thou my strong rock_,” saith he, “_for thou art my rock_.”—_David
Dickson._
_Verse 3.—“For thy name’s sake.”_ If merely a creature’s honour, the
credit of ministers or the glory of angels were involved, man’s
salvation would indeed be uncertain. But every step involves the honour
of God. We plead for _his name’s sake_. If God should begin and not
continue, or if he should carry on but not complete the work, all would
admit that it was for some reason that must bring reproach on the
Almighty. This can never be. God was self-moved to undertake man’s
salvation. His glorious name makes it certain the top-stone shall be
laid in glory.—_William S. Plumer._
_Verse 3.—“For thy name’s sake.”_ On account of the fame of thy power,
thy goodness, thy truth, etc. “_Lead me._” As a shepherd an erring
sheep, as a leader military bands, or as one leads another ignorant of
the way. See Gen. xxiv. 27; Neh. ix. 12, 13; Ps. xxiii. 3; lxxiii. 24.
Govern my counsels, my affections, and my thoughts.—_Martin Geier,
1614-1681._
_Verse 4.—“Pull me out of the net:”_ that _noted net_, as the Hebrew
hath it.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 4.—“Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me.”_
By these words, he intimateth that his enemies did not only by open
force come against him, but by cunning and policy attempted to
circumvent him, as when they put him on, as Saul instructed them, to be
the king’s son-in-law, and to this end set him on to get two hundred
foreskins of the Philistines for a dowry, under a pretence of good-will,
seeking his ruin; and when wait also was laid for him to kill him in his
house. But he trusted in God, and prayed to be delivered, if there
should be any the like enterprise against him hereafter.—_John Mayer._
_Verse 4.—“For thou art my strength.”_ Omnipotence cuts the net which
policy weaves. When we poor puny things are in the net, God is not. In
the old fable the mouse set free the lion, here the lion liberates the
mouse.—_C. H. S._
_Verse 5.—“Into thine hand I commit my spirit.”_ These were the last
words of Polycarp, of Bernard, of Huss, of Jerome of Prague, of Luther,
Melancthon, and many others. “Blessed are they,” says Luther, “who die
not only _for_ the Lord, as martyrs, not only _in_ the Lord, as all
believers, but likewise _with_ the Lord, as breathing forth their lives
in these words, ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit.’” _J. J. Stewart
Perowne._
_Verse 5.—“Into thine hand I commit my spirit.”_ These words, as they
stand in the _Vulgate_, were in the highest credit among our ancestors;
by whom they were used in all dangers, difficulties, and in the article
of death. _In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum_, was used by
the sick when about to expire, if they were sensible; and if not, the
priest said it in their behalf. In _forms of prayer_ for sick and dying
persons, these words were frequently inserted in Latin, though all the
rest of the prayer was English; for it was supposed there was something
sovereign in the _language_ itself. But let not the abuse of such words
hinder their usefulness. For an ejaculation nothing can be better; and
when the pious or the tempted with confidence use them, nothing can
exceed their effect.—_Adam Clarke._
_Verse 5.—“Into thine hand I commit my spirit,”_ etc. For what are the
saints to commit their spirits into the hands of God by Jesus Christ?
1. That they may be safe; _i.e._, preserved in their passage to heaven,
from all the enemies and dangers that may stand in the way. When saints
die, the powers of darkness would, doubtless, if possible, hinder the
ascending of their souls to God. As they are cast out of heaven, they
are filled with rage to see any out of our world going thither. One
thing, therefore, which the saint means in committing his spirit into
the hands of God, is, that the precious _depositum_ may be kept from all
that wish or would attempt its ruin. And they are sure that almighty
power belongs to God: and if this is engaged for their preservation,
none can pluck them out of his hand. The Redeemer hath spoiled
principalities and powers, and proved it by his triumphant ascension to
glory; and hath all his and the believer’s enemies in a chain, so that
they shall be more than conquerors in and through him. Angels, for
order’s sake, are sent forth to minister to them and be their guard, who
will faithfully attend them their charge, till they are brought to the
presence of the common Lord of both. “I know,” saith the apostle, “whom
I have believed; and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I
have committed unto him against that day.”
2. They commit their soul into the hands of God, that they may be
admitted to dwell with him, even in that presence of his where there is
fulness of joy, and where there are pleasures for evermore: where all
evil is excluded, and all good present, to fill their desires, and find
them matter of praise to all eternity.
3. They commit their departing spirits into the hands of God, that their
bodies may be at length raised and reunited to them, and that so they
may enter at last into the blessedness prepared for them that love
him....
The grounds on which they may do this with comfort, _i.e._, with lively
hopes of being happy for ever, are many. To mention only two:—
1. God’s interest in them, and upon the most endearing foundation, that
of redemption. “_Into thine hand I commit my spirit: for thou hast
redeemed me._”
_Redeemed me_ from hell and the wrath to come, by giving thy Son to die
for me. Lord, I am not only thy creature, but thy redeemed creature,
bought with a price, saith the saint.
_Redeemed me_ from the power of my inward corruption, and from love to
it, and delight in it; and with my consent hast drawn me to be thine,
and thine for ever. _Lord, I am thine_, save me unchangeably.
2. His known faithfulness. “_Into thine hand I commit my spirit, O Lord
God of truth._” Into thine hand I commit my spirit, who hast been _a God
of truth_, in performing thy promises to all thy people that are gone
before me out of this world; and hast been so to me hitherto, and, I
cannot doubt, wilt continue so to the end.—_Daniel Wilcox._
_Verse 5.—“Into thine hand.”_ When those hands fail me, then am I indeed
abandoned and miserable! When they sustain and keep me, then am I safe,
exalted, strong, and filled with good.
Receive me, then, O Eternal Father, for the sake of our Lord’s merits
and words; for he, by his obedience and his death, hath now merited from
thee everything which I do not merit of myself. Into thy hands, my
Father and my God, I commend my spirit, my soul, my body, my powers, my
desires. I offer up to thy hands, all; to them I commit all that I have
hitherto been, that thou mayest forgive and restore all; my wounds, that
thou mayest heal them; my blindness, that thou mayest enlighten it; my
coldness, that thou mayest inflame it; my wicked and erring ways, that
thou mayest set me forth in the right path; and all my evils, that thou
mayest uproot them all from my soul. I commend and offer up into thy
most sacred hands, O my God, what I am, which thou knowest far better
than I can know, weak, wretched, wounded, fickle, blind, deaf, dumb,
poor, bare of every good, nothing, yea, less than nothing, on account of
my many sins, and more miserable than I can either know or express. Do
thou, Lord God, receive me and make me to become what he, the divine
Lamb, would have me to be. I commend, I offer up, I deliver over into
thy divine hands, all my affairs, my cares, my affections, my success,
my comforts, my labours, and everything which thou knowest to be coming
upon me. Direct all to thy honour and glory; teach me in all to do thy
will, and in all to recognise the work of thy divine hands; to seek
nothing else, and with this reflection alone to find rest and comfort in
everything.
O hands of the Eternal God, who made and still preserve the heavens and
earth for my sake, and who made me for yourselves, suffer me not ever to
stray from you. In those hands I possess my Lamb, and all I love; in
them therefore must I be also, together with him. Together with him, in
these loving hands I shall sleep and rest in peace, since he in dying
left me hope in them and in their infinite mercies, placed me within
them, as my only and my special refuge. Since by these hands I live and
am what I am, make me continually to live through them, and in them to
die; in them to live in the love of our Lord, and from them only to
desire and look for every good; that from them I may at last, together
with the Lord, receive the crown.—_Fra Thomé de Jesu._
_Verse 5.—“Into thine hand I commit my spirit.”_ No shadowy form of a
dark destiny stands before him at the end of his career, although he
must die on the cross, the countenance of his Father shines before him.
He does not behold his life melting away into the gloomy floods of
mortality. He commends it into the hands of his Father. It is not alone
in the general spirit of humanity, that he will continue to live. He
will live on in the definite personality of his own spirit, embraced by
the special protection and faithfulness of his Father. Thus he does not
surrender his life despondingly to death for destruction, but with
triumphant consciousness to the Father for resurrection. It was the very
centre of his testament; assurance of life; surrender of his life into
the hand of a living Father. With loud voice he exclaimed it to the
world, which will for ever and ever sink into the heathenish
consciousness of death, of the fear of death, of despair of immortality
and resurrection, because it for ever and ever allows the consciousness
of the personality of God, and of personal union with him, to be
obscured and shaken. With the heart of a lion, the dying Christ once
more testified of life with an expression which was connected with the
word of the Old Testament Psalm, and testified that the Spirit of
eternal life was already operative, in prophetic anticipation, in the
old covenant. Thus living as ever, he surrendered his life, through
death, to the eternally living One. His death was the last and highest
fact, the crown of his holy life.—_J. P. Lange, D.D., in “The Life of
the Lord Jesus Christ,” 1864._
_Verse 5.—“Into thine hand I commit my spirit.”_ David committed his
spirit to God that he might not die, but Christ and all Christians after
him, commit their spirit to God, that they may live for ever by death,
and after death. This Psalm is thus connected with the twenty-second
Psalm. Both of these Psalms were used by Christ on the cross. From the
twenty-second he derived those bitter words of anguish, “Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani?” From the present Psalm he derived those last words of
love and trust which he uttered just before his death. The Psalter was
the hymn-book and prayer-book of Christ.—_Christopher Wordsworth._
_Verse 6.—“I have hated.”_ Holy men have strong passions, and are not so
mincing and charitable towards evil doers as smooth-tongued
latitudinarians would have them. He who does not hate evil does not love
good. There is such a thing as a good hater.—_C. H. S._
_Verse 6.—“They that regard lying vanities.”_ The Romanists feign
miracles of the saints to make them, as they suppose, the more glorious.
They say that the house wherein the Virgin Mary was when the angel
Gabriel came unto her was, many hundred years after, translated, first,
out of Galilee into Dalmatia, above 2,000 miles, and thence over the sea
into Italy, where also it removed from one place to another, till at
length it found a place where to abide, and many most miraculous cures,
they say, were wrought by it, and that the very trees when it came, did
bow unto it. Infinite stories they have of this nature, especially in
the Legend of Saints, which they call “The Golden Legend,” a book so
full of gross stuff that Ludovicus Vives, a Papist, but learned and
ingenuous, with great indignation cried out, “What can be more
abominable than that book?” and he wondered why they should call it
“golden,” when as he that wrote it was a man “of an iron mouth and of a
leaden heart.” And Melchior Canus, a Romish bishop, passed the same
censure upon that book, and complains (as Vives also had done before
him), that Laertius wrote the lives of philosophers, and Suetonius the
lives of the Cæsars, more sincerely than some did the lives of the
saints and martyrs.
They are most vain and superstitious in the honour which they give to
the relics of the saints; as their dead bodies, or some parts of them;
their bones, flesh, hair; yea, their clothes that they wore, or the
like. “You may now, everywhere,” saith Erasmus, “see held out for gain,
Mary’s milk, which they honour almost as much as Christ’s consecrated
body; prodigious oil; so many pieces of the cross, that if these were
all gathered together a great ship would scarce carry them. Here
Francis’s hood set forth to view; there the innermost garment of the
Virgin Mary; in one place, Anna’s comb; in another place, Joseph’s
stocking; in another place, Thomas of Canterbury’s shoe; in another
place, Christ’s foreskin, which, though it be a thing uncertain, they
worship more religiously than Christ’s whole person. Neither do they
bring forth these things as things that may be tolerated, and to please
the common people, but all religion almost is placed in
them.”[4]—_Christopher Cartwright._
_Verse 6._—The sense lies thus, that heathen men, when any danger or
difficulty approacheth them, are solemnly wont to apply themselves to
auguries and divinations, and so to false gods, to receive advice and
direction from them: but doing so and observing their responses most
superstitiously, they yet gain nothing at all by it. These David
detests, and keeps close to God, hoping for no aid but from him.—_H.
Hammond, D.D._
_Verse 7.—“I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy.”_—In the midst of
trouble faith will furnish matter of joy, and promise to itself
gladness, especially from the memory of by-past experiences of God’s
mercy; as here, “_I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy._”... The
ground of our gladness, when we have found a proof of God’s kindness to
us should not be in the benefit so much as in the fountain of the
benefit; for this giveth us hope to drink again of the like experience
from the fountain which did send forth that benefit. Therefore David
says, “_I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy._”—_David Dickson._
_Verse 7.—“Thou hast considered my trouble:”_
Man’s plea to man, is, that he never more
Will beg, and that he never begg’d before:
Man’s plea to God, is, that he did obtain
A former suit, and, therefore sues again.
How good a God we serve; that when we sue,
Makes his old gifts the examples of his new!
_Francis Quarles._