PSALM 143 COMME TARYWritten and edited by Glenn Pease

PREFACE

My goal has been to collect the comments of those who add to our understanding of the Psalms.These comments are available to everyone, but I have brought them together in one place to savethe Bible student time in research. There is a great deal more, but this gives a good foundation tobuild on. If I quote anyone who does not wish to be quoted in this study they can let me know andI will remove their wisdom. My e-mail is glenn_p86@yahoo.com

I TRODUCTIO

1. Treasury of David

Whole Psalm. This psalm of David most aptly answereth to that psalm which precedes it; for inPsalms 142:1-7 he showeth that he prayed, repeating it twice (Psalms 143:1); and here he twicesaith, "Hear my prayer, give ear to my supplication." In Psalms 142:3 he saith, "When my spiritwas overwhelmed within me"; here (Psalms 143:4), "My spirit is overwhelmed within me."--John Mayer.

Whole Psalm. The promise referred to throughout this octave of Psalms 138- 145. is that recordedin 2 Samuel 7:12 , etc., "When thy days be fulfilled ... I will set up thy seed after thee ... and I willestablish his kingdom ... If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him ... But my mercy shall notdepart away from him; and thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever." Whatfixes the connection of the psalm with the history is the frequent application of the term "Thy(Jehovah's) servant", by David to himself in the latter, as in Psalms 143:2 144:12 of the former.Jehovah had first used it of David, "Tell to my servant, to David"; David therefore fastens on itas his plea again and again (2 Samuel 7:5,9-21,25-29 ). David's plea, "For I am thy servant", is noboast of his service, but a magnifying of God's electing grace: "Who am I, O Lord God? andwhat is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?" 2 Samuel 7:18 .

The cry (Psalms 143:6) "My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land", answers to David's ownwords in Ps 63:1, when he was fleeing from Absalom, and still in the wilderness of Judah (title,Ps. 63.) on the near side of Jordan: "My soul thirsteth for thee." The history here again is anundesigned agreement with the psalm (2 Samuel 16:2,14 ): "The King, and all the people withhim, came weary, and refreshed themselves" with Ziba's fruits; also 2 Samuel 17:2 . The Hebrewfor "thirsty" in Psalm 143 is the same as for "weary" in Psalms 63:1, and in 2 Samuel 16:14 , andmeans "panting", "weary", "thirsting." --Andrew Robert Fausset, in "Studies in the 150.Psalms", 1876.

Whole Psalm. At the making of this psalm (as it plainly appeareth) David was cast into somedesperate danger; whether by Saul when he was forced to flee into the cave, as in the formerpsalm, or by Absalom his son, or by any other, it is uncertain. Howsoever, in this he complains

grievously to God of the malice of his enemies, and desireth God to hear his prayers, heacknowledgeth that he suffereth those things by God's just judgment, most humbly cravingmercy for his sins; desiring not only to be restored, but also to be governed by God's Spirit, thathe may dedicate and consecrate the rest of his life to God's service. This worthy psalm, then,containeth these three things. First, a confession of his sins. Secondly, a lamentation over hisinjuries. Thirdly, a supplication for temporal deliverance and spiritual graces. --ArchibaldSymson.

Whole Psalm. It is not without some use to observe in this psalm how the, heart of its devoutcomposer turned alternately from spiritual to temporal, and again from temporal to spiritualsubjects. He first complains of his sins, and begs for mercy; then of his enemies, and prays fordeliverance. Then he laments his darkness, and pleads for the light of God's countenance, and forwisdom, and understanding. After this, the thought of his enemies rushes in again upon his soul,and he flees to God for protection. Lastly, he again puts up his prayer for wisdom and holiness:"Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: spirit is good; lead me into the land ofuprightness." This is a peculiarly important petition: before he had prayed to know the way inwhich he should walk, he now prays that he may walk in it. --John Fawcett, 1769-1851.

Whole Psalm. This is appointed by the Church for Ash Wednesday, and is the seventh and last ofthe Penitential Psalms. These seven Penitential Psalms also sometimes called "the SpecialPsalms", and have long been used in Church as the completest and most spiritual acts ofrepentance which she possesses. They have sometimes been considered as directed against theseven deadly sins; as, for instance, Psalms 6:1-10, against Wrath; Ps 32:1-11, against PridePsalms 38:1-22, against Gluttony; Psalms 51:1-19, against Impurity; Ps 102:1-28, againstCovetousness; Psalms 130:1-8, against Envy; and the present Psalm against Indifference,Carelessness. --J. W. Burgon.

2. Calvin, “Although the enemies with whom David had to contend were wicked, and theirpersecution as unjust as it was cruel, David recognized the just judgment of God in it all, andseeks to conciliate his favor by humbly supplicating pardon. Having complained of the cruelty ofhis enemies, and declared that amidst all his affliction he still remembered God, he prays forrestoration, and the guidance of God’s Spirit, that the remainder of his life might be devoted tohis fear.”

A psalm of David.

1. Spurgeon, “Title. A Psalm of David. It is so much like other Davidic psalms that we accept thetitle without a moment's hesitation. David's history illustrates it, and his spirit breathes in it.Why it has been set down as one of the seven Penitential Psalms we can hardly tell; for it is rathera vindication of his own integrity, and an indignant prayer against his slanderers, than aconfession of fault. It is true the second verse proves that he never dreamed of justifying himselfbefore the Lord; but even in it there is scarcely the brokenness of penitence. It seems to us rathermartial than penitential, rather a supplication for deliverance from trouble than a weepingacknowledgment of transgression. We suppose that seven penitentials were needed byecclesiastical rabbis, and therefore this was impressed into the service. In truth, it is a mingledstrain, a box of ointment composed of divers ingredients, sweet and bitter, pungent and precious.

It is the outcry of an overwhelmed spirit, unable to abide in the highest state of spiritual prayer,again and again descending to bewail its deep temporal distress; yet evermore struggling to riseto the best things. The singer moans at intervals; the petitioner for mercy cannot withhold hiscries for vindication. His hands are outstretched to heaven, but at his girdle hangs a sharp sword,which rattles in its scabbard as he closes his psalm.”

1 LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy;in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.

1. The first concern in prayer is that the prayer is heard, and so David often prays that God willlisten to what he prays. He prays for his prayer to be one that is heard among the millions ofprayers that are offered from all over the world. It makes one wonder if prayer is like the lottery,and it is just amazing good fortune if your prayer gets through. Is it like caller one thousand getstheir prayer answered, and every thousandth one thereafter? The cry to be heard is a majorelement in the prayers of David, but I doubt if it is because he is worried that God might notnotice his prayer among the many coming to him. It is his way of expressing his earnest andpassionate desire to be heard.

1B. All prayers are not answered for many good reasons. A key one is that if all prayers wereanswered this would not be a fallen world, but one fully redeemed, and a taste of heaven rightnow. If all prayers were answered, a handful of people could save the world in a day. Onepersistent prayer partner and I could eliminate all evil by noon. It is unrealistic expectation tohope that all prayers will be answered, but it is valid to plead for it as David does often, and hisrecord is quite amazing because of God's faithfulness to him.

1C. Calvin, “Hear my prayer, O Jehovah! It is evident that the oppression of his enemies musthave been extreme, when David laments his case in such earnest and pathetic terms. Theintroductory words show that the grief he felt was great. His reason for speaking of the justiceand faithfulness of God in connection we have shown elsewhere. Under the term justice, orrighteousness, we are not to suppose that he speaks of merit, or hire, as some ignorantly imagine,but of that goodness of God which leads him to defend his people. To the same effect does hespeak of God’s truth or faithfulness; for the best proof he can give of his faithfulness is in notforsaking those whom he has promised to help. In helping his people he shows himself to be a justand true God, both in not frustrating their expectation, and in so far as he shows in this extensionof mercy what his nature is, that David very properly encourages himself in prayer by makingmention of both.”

1D. Calvin's editor, “ Walford thinks there is probably here a reference to the greattransgression, the consequences of which followed David all his days. “As he would not fail to bereminded of it,” says that writer, “by the sorrows which had now come upon him, fromAbsalom’s misconduct, and as his purpose was, notwithstanding, to implore divine support anddeliverance, he deprecates God’s righteous judgment, since if no man could be just with God,certainly he, who had so greatly transgressed, could have no claim to such a state. Theconsciousness of his guilt, though he had reason to believe it was forgiven, induced him thus toabase himself before God, when he was about to offer earnest entreaties for deliverance fromdangers which threatened his dignity and life; while he still maintained his hope, that God lookedupon him as his servant, whom he had pledged himself to protect.”

2. Barnes, “In thy faithfulness answer me - That is, Show thy faithfulness to thy promises. Godhad made gracious promises to David (compare Ps. 89:19-37), and he now pleads that he wouldremember those promises, and accomplish in his behalf what he had said he would. God has alsomade gracious promises to his people, and they may always plead those promises as a reason whythey should be heard, and why their prayers should be answered. And in thy righteousness -Compare Psa_31:1. In thy disposition to do right; to vindicate a righteous cause; to interposewhen wrong is done. We, though sinners before God, may feel that our cause is a just one astoward our fellowmen, and, when wronged, we may ask God to interpose, as a righteous God, inour behalf. We cannot, however, ask him to save us on the ground of our righteousness towardhim, for we have no such righteousness.”

3. Gill, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications,.... With these requests Davidbegins the psalm; for it was to no purpose to pray and were heard; and for which he alwaysappears to be concerned, as every good man will, and not to be heard only, but to be answered, asfollows;

in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness; he does not plead his own faith, withwhich he believed in God, as rama interprets it; though the prayer of faith is very effectual; butthe faithfulness of God to his promises; he had promised to hear, answer, and deliver such ascalled on him in a time of trouble; and he is faithful that has promised, nor will he suffer hisfaithfulness to fail; he cannot deny himself; and on this the psalmist relied for an answer, as wellas desired and expected it; not on account of his own righteousness, but either on account of thegoodness and grace of God, sometimes designed by righteousness, or because of the righteousnessof Christ, or for the sake of Christ, the Lord our righteousness; on whose account God is just andfaithful to forgive sin, the blessing the psalmist wanted, as appears from Psa_143:2.”

4. Henry, “David humbly begs to be heard (Psa_143:1), not as if he questioned it, but he earnestlydesired it, and was in care about it, for, having desired it, and was in care about it, for havingdirected his prayer, he looked up to see how it sped, Hab_2:1. He is a suppliant to his God, and hebegs that his requests may be granted: Hear my prayer; give ear to my supplications. He is anappellant against his persecutors, and he begs that his case may be brought to hearing and thatGod will give judgment upon it, in his faithfulness and righteousness, as the Judge of right andwrong. Or, “Answer my petitions in thy faithfulness, according to the promises thou hast made,which thou wilt be just to.” We have no righteousness of our own to plead, and therefore mustplead God's righteousness, the word of promise which he has freely given us and caused us tohope in.”

5. K&D, “The poet pleads two motives for the answering of his prayer which are to be found inGod Himself, viz., God's ֱאמּונָה, truthfulness, with which He verifies the truth of His promises,that is to say, His faithfulness to His promises; and His ְצָדָקה, righteousness, not in arecompensative legal sense, but in an evangelical sense, in accordance with His counsel, i.e., thestrictness and earnestness with which He maintains the order of salvation established by His holylove, both against the ungratefully disobedient and against those who insolently despise Him.Having entered into this order of salvation, and within the sphere of it serving Jahve as his Godand Lord, the poet is the servant of Jahve. And because the conduct of the God of salvation, ruledby this order of salvation, or His “righteousness” according to its fundamental manifestation,consists in His justifying the sinful man who has no righteousness that he can showcorresponding to the divine holiness, but penitently confesses this disorganized relationship, and,eager for salvation, longs for it to be set right again - because of all this, the poet prays that Hewould not also enter into judgment ( ּבֹוא ְּבִמְׁשָּפט as in Job_9:32; Job_22:4; Job_14:3) with him,that He therefore would let mercy instead of justice have its course with him. For, apart from thefact that even the holiness of the good spirits does not coincide with God's absolute holiness, andthat this defect must still be very far greater in the case of spirit-corporeal man, who hasearthiness as the basis of his origin-yea, according to Psa_51:7, man is conceived in sin, so that heis sinful from the point at which he begins to live onward - his life is indissolubly interwoven withsin, no living man possesses a righteousness that avails before God (Job_4:17; Job_9:2;Job_14:3., Job_15:14, and frequently).

( ote: Gerson observes on this point (vid., Thomasius, Dogmatik, iv. 251): I desire therighteousness of pity, which Thou bestowest in the present life, not the judgment of thatrighteousness which Thou wilt put into operation in the future life - the righteousness whichjustifies the repentant one.)

6. Spurgeon, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications. In the preceding psalm hebegan by declaring that he had cried unto the Lord; here he begs to be favourably regarded byJehovah the living God, whose memorial is that he heareth prayer. He knew that Jehovah didhear prayer, and therefore he entreated him to hear his supplication, however feeble and brokenit might be. In two forms he implores the one blessing of gracious audience: -- "hear" and "giveear." Gracious men are so eager to be heard in prayer that they double their entreaties for thatboon. The Psalmist desires to be heard and to be considered; hence he cries, "hear", and then"give ear." Our case is difficult, and we plead for special attention. Here it is probable that Davidwished his suit against his adversaries to be heard by the righteous Judge; confident that if hehad a hearing in the matter whereof he was slanderously accused, he would be triumphantlyacquitted. Yet while somewhat inclined thus to lay his case before the Court of King's Bench, heprefers rather to turn it all into a petition, and present it before the Court of Requests, hence hecries rather "hear my prayer" than "hear my suit." Indeed David is specially earnest that hehimself, and the whole of his life, may not become the subject of trial, for in that event he couldnot hope for acquittal. Observe that he offered so much pleading that his life became onecontinual prayer; but that petitioning was so varied in form that it broke out in manysupplications.

In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. Saints desire to be answered as well asheard: they long to find the Lord faithful to his promise and righteous in defending the cause ofjustice. It is a happy thing when we dare appeal even to righteousness for our deliverance; and

this we can do upon gospel principles, for "if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgiveus our sins." Even the sterner attributes of God are upon the side of the man who humbly trusts,and turns his trust into prayer. It is a sign of our safety when our interests and those ofrighteousness are blended. With God's faithfulness and righteousness upon our side we areguarded on the right hand and on the left. These are active attributes, and fully equal to theanswering of any prayer which it would be light to answer. Requests which do not appeal toeither of these attributes it would not be for the glory of God to hear, for they must containdesires for things not promised, and unrighteous.”

7. Steven Cole, “Although David was God’s servant (2, 12) and was a man after God’s heart (1Sam. 13:14), God allowed David to be pushed to the brink, where he despaired of life itself. Manytimes he thought that Saul would succeed in killing him. As he told Jonathan (1 Sam.20:3), “… there is hardly a step between me and death.” During Absalom’s rebellion, David’sarmy would not let him go into battle, because they knew that he was the main target (2 Sam.18:2-4). ote how he describes his situation in Psalm 143. He says (vv. 3-4), “For the enemy haspersecuted my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me dwell in dark places,like those who have long been dead. Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart isappalled within me.” Derek Kidner (Psalms 73-150 [IVP], p. 475) observes, “Every phrase here isso heavy with distress, that no sufferer need feel unique in what he experiences. And thesimilarity of these terms to those that describe our Lord’s emotions (cf. Mt. 26:37 ff.; Heb. 4:15ff.) remind us that none need feel himself alone, or less than fully understood.”

This lesson, that God does not exempt any of us from trials, is especially needed now because ofthe popular, but false “health and wealth” teaching. Some of the pastors of the largest churchesin America promote this error, and it is spreading rapidly in Africa and other places. The claimis, God wants you healthy and wealthy. You don’t have to suffer illness or poverty. Just claimyour healing or that new car by faith. And, if you’ll send your generous gift to us, we’ll pray foryour miracle! Suckers are born every minute! But Scripture clearly exposes the falsehood of thiserror, which appeals to the flesh. God uses trials so that we may share His holiness (Heb. 12:5-11).

The apostle Paul shares (2 Cor. 1:8-9), For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of ouraffliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, sothat we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that wewould not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. He goes on (2 Cor. 4:7-10) to explainthat we have the treasure of the gospel… … in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness ofthe power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may bemanifested in our body. Several more times in this letter he tells of the difficult trials that hadcome upon him as an apostle (2 Cor. 6:4-10; 11:23-33; 12:7-10). The Savior, who suffered horriblyat the hands of sinners, warned us (John 15:20), “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecuteyou” (also see John 16:2). The apostle Peter warned (1 Pet. 4:12), “Beloved, do not be surprisedat the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strangething were happening to you.” So don’t fall for the health and wealth lie. Being godly does notexempt anyone from trials. But, you need to know how to respond when you encounter suchtrials.”

8. Treasury of David, “Verse 1. Hear my prayer, O LORD, etc. Alas, O Lord, if thou hear notprayer, I were as good not pray at all; and if thou hear it, and give not car it, it were as good thoudidst not hear it at all. O, therefore, "hear my O God, and give ear to my supplications"; thatneither my praying may be lost, want of thy hearing it, nor thy hearing it be lost for want of thyattending it. When I only make a prayer to God, it seems enough that he hear it; but make asupplication, it requires that he give ear unto it: for seeing a supplication hath a greater intentionin the setting out, it cannot without a greater, attention be entertained.

But what niceness of words is this? as though it were not all one "to hear" and "to give ear"? oras though there were any difference between a prayer a supplication? Is it not perhaps so indeed?for hearing sometimes may be passive, where giving ear is always active; and seeing Christ, wedoubt not, heard the woman of Canaan's first cry, while it was a prayer; but gave no ear till hersecond cry, when it was grown to a supplication. However it be, as hearing, O God, withoutgiving ear would be to no purpose, so thy giving without giving answer would do me no good; O,therefore, "answer me," God: for if thou answer not my prayer, how canst thou answer myexpectations. My prayer is but the seed; it is thy answer that makes the harvest. If thou shouldestnot answer me at all, I could not hope for any harvest at all; thou shouldest answer me, and not"in thy righteousness", that would be a indeed, but nothing but of blasted corn. Therefore,answer me, O God, but" thy righteousness"; for thy righteousness never made an unpleasinganswer was an answer in thy righteousness which thou madest to oah: "My shall not alwaysstrive with man; for the imagination of man's heart is evil his infancy." It was an answer in thyrighteousness which thou madest to Abraham: "Fear not; I will be thy shield, and thy exceedinggreat reward." It was an answer in thy righteousness which thou madest to the thief upon thecross: "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise." Oh, then, answer me in thy righteousness, OGod, and then the harvest of my hope will be as the seven years of plenty foretold by Joseph. --SirRichard Baker.

Verse 1. Hear my prayer. ... give ear to my supplications... answer me. He doth here three timesrepeat his camest desire to be heard, as in fifth psalm four times he doubles and ingeminateth thissame suit to be heard. ... When he doubles his request of hearing, he would have God hear withboth his ears, that is, most attentively and readily: so instant is a mind that he desireth the prayerhe putteth up to be remembered, as was said the angel to the centurion: "Thy prayer andalmsdeeds are come up God": Acts 10:4. -- Archibald Symson.

Verse 1. In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. It was thy righteousness thatthou didst make the promise, but it is thy faithfulness that thou wilt keep thy promise: and seeingI am certain of thy making it, how can I be doubtful of thy keeping it? If thou shouldest notanswer me in thy righteousness, yet thou shouldest be righteous still; but if thou shouldest notanswer me in thy faithfulness, thou shouldest not be faithful still. -- Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 1. Answer me in thy righteousness. Forgiveness is not inconsistent with truth orrighteousness, and the pardon which in mercy God bestows upon the sinner is bestowed in justiceto the well beloved Son who accepted and discharged the sinner's obligations. This is an infinitelyprecious truth, and the hearts of thousands in every age have been sustained and gladdened by it.A good old Christian woman in humble life so fully realized this, that when a revered servant ofGod asked her, as she lay on her dying pillow, the ground of her hope for eternity, she replied,with great composure, "I rely on the justice of God"; adding, however, when the reply excitedsurprise, "justice, not to me, but to my Substitute, in whom I trust." --Robert Macdonald, in"From Day to Day; or, Helpful Words for Christian Life", 1879.

2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.

1. Barnes, “And enter not into judgment with thy servant - Do not deal with me on the ground ofjustice as toward “thee;” do not mark my own offenses against thee, when I plead that justicemay be done as between me and my fellow-men. While I plead that thou wouldst judgerighteously between me and them, I am conscious that I could not claim thy needed interpositionon the ground of any righteousness toward thee. There I must confess that I am a sinner; there Ican rely only on mercy; there I could not hope to be justified. For in thy sight - As before thee; inthy presence; by thee. Shall no man living - o one of the race, no matter what his rank, hisoutward conduct, his gentleness, his amiableness, his kindness; no matter how just and uprighthe may be toward his fellow-men.

Be justified - Be regarded as righteous; be acquitted from blame; be held to be innocent. Themeaning is, “I do not come before thee and plead for thy favor on the ground of any claim onthee, for I am conscious that I am a sinner, and that my only hope is in thy mercy.” See the notesat Rom_3:20. Compare Job_4:17; Job_9:2, Job_9:20; Job_15:14-16; Job_25:4-6. This is a greatand momentous truth in regard to man; it is the foundation of the necessity for a plan ofsalvation through an atonement - for some way in which man “may” properly be regarded andtreated as righteous. Assuredly every man, conscious of what he is in himself, may and shouldfervently pray that God “would” not enter into judgment with him; that he would not mark hisoffences; that he would not judge him as strict justice would demand. Our hope is in the “mercy,”not in the “justice” of God.

2. Clarke, “Enter not into judgment - אל תבוא al tabo. Do not come into court, either as a Witnessagainst me, or as a Judge, else I am ruined; for thou hast seen all my ways that they are evil, andthy justice requires thee to punish me. or can any soul that has ever lived be justified in thesight of thy justice and righteousness. Had I my desert from thee, I should have worse than evenmy unnatural son intends me. O what a relief is Jesus crucified to a soul in such circumstances!

3. Gill, “And enter not into judgment with thy servant,.... The house of judgment, as the Targum,or court of judicature; God is a Judge, and there is and will be a judgment, universal, righteous,and eternal; and there is a day fixed for it, and a judgment seat before which all must stand, anda law according to which all must be judged; but the psalmist knew he was but a man, and couldnot contend with God; and a sinful creature, and could not answer him for one of a thousandfaults committed by him; and though his servant, yet an unprofitable one; his nature, his heart,his thoughts, words, and actions, would not bear examining, nor stand the test of the holy law ofGod; nor was he able to answer the demands of divine justice in his own person; and thereforepleads for pardon and acceptance through Christ and his righteousness, and entreats that Godwould not proceed against him in a judicial way, now nor hereafter;

for in thy sight shall no man living be justified; in a legal sense, so as to be acquitted in opencourt, and not condemned; that is, by the deeds of the law, as the apostle explains it, Rom_3:20;by obedience to it, by a man's own works of righteousness; because these are imperfect, areopposed to the grace of God, and would disannul the death of Christ, and encourage boasting;and much less in the sight of God; for, however men may be justified hereby in their own sight,and before men, in their esteem and account, yet not before God, the omniscient God; who seesnot as man sees, and judges not according to the outward appearance, and is perfectly holy andstrictly just; and none but the righteousness of Christ can make men righteous, or justify thembefore him; and this can and does, and presents men unblamable and irreprovable in his sight.

4. Henry, “ He humbly begs not to be proceeded against in strict justice, Psa_143:2. He seemshere, if not to correct, yet to explain, his plea (Psa_143:1), Deliver me in thy righteousness; “Imean,” says he, “the righteous promises of the gospel, not the righteous threatenings of the law; ifI be answered according to the righteousness of this broken covenant of innocency, I am quiteundone;” and therefore, 1. His petition is, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant; do not dealwith me in strict justice, as I deserve to be dealt with.” In this prayer we must own ourselves to beGod's servants, bound to obey him, accountable to him, and solicitous to obtain his favour, andwe must approve ourselves to him. We must acknowledge that in many instances we haveoffended him, and have come short of our duty to him, that he might justly enquire into ouroffences, and proceed against us for them according to law, and that, if he should do so, judgmentwould certainly go against us; we have nothing to move in arrest or mitigation of it, but executionwould be taken out and awarded and then we should be ruined for ever. But we must encourageourselves with a hope that there is mercy and forgiveness with God, and be earnest with him forthe benefit of that mercy. “Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for thou hast already enteredinto judgment with thy Son, and laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Enter not into judgment with

thy servant, for thy servant enters into judgment with himself;” and, if we will judge ourselves, we

shall not be judged. 2. His plea is, “In thy sight shall no man living be justified upon those terms,for no man can plead innocency nor any righteousness of his own, either that he has not sinned orthat he does not deserve to die for his sins; nor that he has any satisfaction of his own to offer;”nay, if God contend with us, we are not able to answer him for one of a thousand, Job_9:3;Job_15:20. David, before he prays for the removal of his trouble, prays for the pardon of his sin,and depends upon mere mercy for it.”

4B. Calvin, “When overtaken by adversity, we are ever to conclude that it is a rod of correctionsent by God to stir us up to pray. Although he is far from taking pleasure in our trials, it iscertain that our sins are the cause of his dealing towards us with this severity. While those towhom David was opposed were wicked men, and he was perfectly conscious of the rectitude of hiscause as regarded them, he freely acknowledged his sin before God as a condemned suppliant.We are to hold this as a general rule in seeking to conciliate God, that we must pray for thepardon of our sins. If David found refuge nowhere else than in prayer for pardon, who is thereamongst us who would presume to come before God trusting in his own righteousness andintegrity? or does David here merely set an example before God’s people how they ought topray, but declares that there is none amongst men who could be just before God were he called toplead his cause. The passage is one fraught with much instruction, teaching us, as I have justhinted, that God can only show favor to us in our approaches by throwing aside the character ofa judge, and reconciling us to himself in a gratuitous remission of our sins. All humanrighteousnesses, accordingly, go for nothing, when we come to his tribunal. This is a truth whichis universally acknowledged in words, but which very few are seriously impressed with. As thereis an indulgence which is mutually extended to one another amongst men, they all come

confidently before God for judgment, as if it were as easy to satisfy him as to gain man’sapproval. In order to obtain a proper view of the whole matter, we are first to note what is meantby being justified. The passage before us clearly proves that the man who is justified, is he who isjudged and reckoned just before God, or whom the heavenly Judge himself acquits as innocent. ow, in denying that any amongst men can claim this innocence, David intimates that anyrighteousness which the saints have is not perfect enough to abide God’s scrutiny, and thus hedeclares that all are guilty before God, and can only be absolved in the way of acknowledgingthey might justly be condemned. Had perfection been a thing to be found in the world, hecertainly of all others was the man who might justly have boasted of it; and the righteousness ofAbraham and the holy fathers was not unknown to him; but he spares neither them nor himself,but lays it down as the one universal rule of conciliating God, that we must cast ourselves uponhis mercy.”

5. Spurgeon, “And enter not into judgment with thy servant. He had entreated for audience atthe mercy seat, but he has no wish to appear before the judgment seat. Though clear before men,he could not claim innocence before God. Even though he knew himself to be the Lord's servant,yet he did not claim perfection, or plead merit; for even as a servant he was unprofitable. If suchbe the humble cry of a servant, what ought to be the pleading of a sinner? For in thy sight shallno man living be justified. one can stand before God upon the footing of the law. God's sight ispiercing and discriminating; the slightest flaw is seen and judged; and therefore pretence andprofession cannot avail where that glance reads all the secrets of the soul. In this verse David toldout the doctrine of universal condemnation by the law long before Paul had taken his pen towrite the same truth. To this day it stands true even to the same extent as in David's day: no manliving even at this moment may dare to present himself for trial before the throne of the GreatKing on the footing of the law. This foolish age has produced specimens of n pride so rank thatmen have dared to claim perfection in the flesh; but these vain glorious boasters are no exceptionto the rule here laid down: they are but men, and poor specimens of men. When their lives areexamined they are frequently found to be more faulty than the humble penitents before whomthey vaunt their superiority.

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 2. Enter not into judgment with thy servant. The Divine justice hasjust been invoked in the first verse; and now the appellant suddenly seems to deprecate it. Theseverses really sum up the apparent paradox of the Book of Job (see Job 4:17 9:2,32 14:3 Job 15:1422:4, etc.). In one breath Job frequently pours forth pathetic protestations of his innocence, and adread lest God should take him at his word, and arraign him for trial. The godly man, in hisdesire to have his character vindicated before man, appeals to the just Judge, but instantly fallsback with a guilty sense that before his tribunal none can stand:

"For merit lives from man to man,And not from man, O Lord, to thee." --A. S. Aglen.

Verse 2. He doth not pray absolutely that God "would not enter into judgment with him", for thiswere to forego his government of the world; but that he would not do so on account of his ownduties and obedience. But if so be these duties and obedience did answer, in any sense or way,what is required of us as a righteousness unto justification, there was no reason why he shoulddeprecate a trial by them, or upon them. --John Owen.

Verse 2. He doth not say, "with an enemy, a rebel, a traitor, an impenitent sinner"; but "with thyservant", one that is devoted to thy fear, one that is consecrated to thy service, one that is really

and indeed "wholly thine, as much and as fully as he can be." As if he had said, "Lord, if theholiest, purest, best of men should come and stand before thee in judgment, or plead with thee,they must needs be cast in their cause. `If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities,' alas! `O Lord,who shall stand?'" Ps 130:3. --Thomas Lye (1621-1684), in "The Morning Exercises."

Verse 2. Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for thou hast already entered into judgmentwith thy Son, and laid upon him the iniquity of us all. "Enter not into judgment with thyservant", for thy servant enters into judgment with himself; and "if we will judge ourselves weshall not be judged." --Matthew Henry.

Verse 2. %ot the proudest philosopher among the Gentiles, nor the most precise Pharisee amongthe Jews; we may go yet further and say, not the holiest saint that ever lived, can stand righteousbefore that bar. God hath nailed that door up, that none can for ever enter by a law righteousnessinto life and happiness. This way to heaven is like the northern passage to the Indies, whoeverattempts it is sure to be frozen up before he gets half way thither. --William Gurnall.

Verse 2. Enter not into judgment, etc. Some years ago I visited a poor young woman dying withconsumption. She was a stranger in our town, and had been there a few weeks before, some timein her girlhood, and had attended my Sabbath school class. What did I find was her only stay,and hope, and comfort in the view of the dark valley of the shadow of death, which was drawingdown upon her? One verse of a psalm she had learned at the class, and never forgot. Sherepeated it with clasped hands, piercing eyes, and thin voice trembling from her white lips.

"Thy servant also bring thou notIn judgment to be tried:Because no living man can beIn thy sight justify'd."

o sinner can endure sight of thee, O God, if he tries to be self justified. --James Comper Gray, in"The Biblical Museum", 1879.

Verse 2. Enter not into judgment with thy servant. We read of a certain Dutch divine, who being todie, was full of fears and doubts. And when some said to him, "You have been so active andfaithful, why should you fear?" Oh, said he, the judgment of man and the judgment of God aredifferent. --John Trapp.

Verse 2. Enter not into judgment. A metaphor taken from the course pursued by those who seek torecover the very utmost to which they are entitled by strict legal process. Compare Job 22:4-5. Ina similar sense we are commanded to pray to God that he will forgive us our debts. --DanielCresswell.

Verse 2. There is probably here a tacit reference to the great transgression, the consequences ofwhich followed David all his days. --William Walford.

Verse 2. Thy servant. A servant is one who obeys the will of another ... There were these four waysin which one might come to be a servant -- by birth, by purchase, by conquest, and by voluntaryengagement. Some were servants in one of the ways, and some in another. There were servantswho were born in the master's house, servants who were bought with the master's money,servants who were the captives of his sword and bow, and servants who had freely engagedthemselves to do his work ... In the case of the believer there is something that is peculiar andremarkable. He is God's servant by birth. But he is more -- he is God's servant by purchase. Andthat is not all: he is God's servant by conquest. Yes, and by voluntary engagement too. He is theservant of God, not in some one of the four ways, but in all of them together. --Andrew Gray

(1805-1861), in "Gospel Contrasts and Parallels."

Verse 2. %ot only the worst of my sins, but the best of my duties speak me a child of Adam.--William Beveridge.

Verse 2. So far from being able to answer for my sins, I cannot answer even for my righteousness.--Bernard of Clairvaux, 1091-1153.

Verse 2. A young man once said to me: "I do not think I am a sinner." I asked him if he would bewilling his mother or sister should know all he had done, or said, or thought, -- all his motionsand all his desires. After a moment he said: " o, indeed, I should not like to have them know; no,not for the world." "Then can you dare to say, in the presence of a holy God, who knows everythought of your heart, `I do not commit sin'?" --John B. Gough, in "Sunlight and Shadow", 1881.

3 The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground;he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead.

1. Barnes, “For the enemy hath persecuted my soul - Has persecuted me; has sought my life.He hath smitten my life down to the ground - He has, as it were, trampled me down to the earth.The word rendered “smitten” means to break in pieces, to beat small, to crush. See Psa_72:4;Psa_89:10; Job_6:9. His very life seemed to be crushed out as one that is trodden down to theground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness - He has made my life like that of one who dwellsin darkness; he has made it a life of sorrow, so that I have no comfort - no light. As those thathave been long dead - A similar expression occurs in Lam_3:6 : “He hath set me in dark places,as they that be dead of old.” The same Hebrew words are used. The word rendered “long”means, age, duration, eternity: Psa_139:24. The idea here is, that his condition was like that ofthose who had been long in their graves; who had long since ceased to see any light; whose abodewas utter and absolute gloom.”

1B. Phillips, “The Psalmist employs hyperbolical language in this verse; he says, the enemy hathbeaten his life to the ground, hath made him dwell in dark places, and for such a length of time,that there remained no remembrance of him, and that he had become like those persons who hadlong since been in their graves. The design of all this is to express emphatically great sorrow andoppression.”

2. Clarke, “He hath made me to dwell in darkness - Literally, in dark places. This may beunderstood of David’s taking refuge in caves and dens of the earth, to escape from hispersecuting son; yea, even to take refuge in the tombs, or repositories of the dead.

3. Gill, “For the enemy hath persecuted my soul,.... Which is to be connected with Psa_143:1; andis a reason why he desires his prayer might be answered, seeing his enemy, either Saul, orAbsalom his own son, persecuted him, or pursued him in order to take away his soul, or life; orSatan, the enemy and avenger, who goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour;or persecuting men, who are his emissaries and instruments, whom he instigates to persecute theLord's people, and employs them therein;

he hath smitten my life down to the ground: brought him into a low, mean, and abject state, andnear to death; had with a blow struck him to the ground, and left him wallowing in the mire anddirt, just ready to expire. The phrase is expressive of a very distressing state and condition. Somerender it "my company" (r); meaning the men that were with him, his soldiers, who werereduced to a low condition with him, and greatly enfeebled and dispirited;

he hath made me to dwell in darkness: in the sides of the cave, as Kimchi; see 2Sa_24:3; or ingreat affliction of body and mind, frequently signified by darkness, as prosperity is by light; hewas not only obliged by his enemy to hide himself in woods and wildernesses, and in caves anddens, but was filled with gloomy apprehensions of things, Psa_88:6;

as those that have been long dead; or "of old" (s), an age or two ago, who are out of mind andforgotten, and of whom there is no hope of their coming to life again until the resurrection; orwho are "dead for ever" (t); will remain so till that time comes; signifying hereby his hopeless,helpless, and forlorn state and condition; see Psa_31:12.

4. Henry, “He complains of the prevalency of his enemies against him (Psa_143:3): “Saul, thatgreat enemy, has persecuted my soul, sought my life, with a restless malice, and has carried thepersecution so far that he has already smitten it down to the ground. Though I am not yet underground, I am struck to the ground, and that is next door to it; he has forced me to dwell in

darkness, not only in dark caves, but in dark thoughts and apprehensions, in the clouds ofmelancholy, as helpless and hopeless as those that have been long dead. Lord, let me find mercywith thee, for I find no mercy with men. They condemn me; but, Lord, do not thou condemn me.Am not I an object of thy compassion, fit to be appeared for; and is not my enemy an object ofthy displeasure, fit to be appeared against?”

5. Spurgeon, “For the enemy hath persecuted my soul. He has followed me up with maliciousperseverance, and has worried me as often as I have been within his reach. The attack was uponthe soul or life of the Psalmist: our adversaries mean us the worst possible evil, their attacks areno child's play, they hunt for the precious life. He hath smitten my life down to the ground. Theexistence of David was made bitter by the cruelty of his enemy; he was as one who was hurleddown and made to lie upon the ground, where he could be trampled on by his assailant. Slanderhas a very depressing effect upon the spirits; it is a blow which overthrows the mind as though itwere knocked clown with the fist. He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have beenlong dead. The enemy was not content with felling his life to the ground -- he would lay him lowerstill, even in the grave; and lower than that, if possible, for the enemy would shut up the saint inthe darkness of hell if he could. David was driven by Saul's animosity to haunt caverns and holes,like an unquiet ghost; he wandered out by night, and lay hid by day like an uneasy spirit whichhad long been denied the repose of the grave. Good men began to forget him, as though he hadbeen long dead; and bad men made ridicule of his rueful visage as though it belonged not to a

living man, but was dark with the shadow of the sepulchre. Poor David! He was qualified to blessthe house of the living, but he was driven to consort with the dead! Such may be our case, and yetwe may be very dear to the Lord. One thing is certain, the Lord who permits us to dwell indarkness among the dead, will surely bring us into light, and cause us to dwell with those whoenjoy life eternal.”

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 3. For the enemy, etc. If ever trouble be just cause for calling uponthee, how can mine be more just, when the enemy hath persecuted my soul, hath smitten my lifedown to the ground, and hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead?All this "the enemy" hath done unto me: but what enemy? Is it not the enemy of all mankind,who hath singled me out, as it were to a duel? And can I resist him myself alone, whom the wholearmy of mankind cannot? But is it not the enemy of thyself, O God, who is but my enemy becauseI am thy servant? And wilt thou see thy servants persecuted -- in thy cause persecuted -- and notprotect them? Shall I suffer, grievously suffer, for thy sake, and wilt thou forsake me? Alas, OLord; if they were but some light evils that are inflicted upon me I would bear them withoutcomplaining, and never make my moan to thee about them; but they are the three greatestmiseries that can be thought of; the greatest persecution, the greatest overthrow, and the greatestcaptivity. For what persecution so grievous as to be persecuted in my soul? for he plays no less agame than for souls: he casts indeed at the body sometimes, and sometimes at goods, yet these arebut the bye; the main of his aim is at the soul; for if he can otherwise win the soul he cares notmuch for either body or goods, but rather makes use of them to keep men in security; forwhatsoever he doth, whatsoever he leaves undone, it is all done but in persecution of the soul; andhe can persecute as well with prosperity as with adversity, and knows how to fit their severalapplication. It seems as if he takes me for another Job; he sees he can do no good upon me withfawning and clawing, and therefore falls now to quarrelling and striking, and he strikes no lightblows; for "he hath stricken my life down to the ground"; and lower would have struck it, ifthou, God, hadst nut broken his blow. He strikes me downward, to keep me from heaven, asmuch as he can: and now that he sees me down, he lets not me rest so neither; but seizes upon me,and being himself the prince of darkness, hath kept me in darkness; not for a night or two, asmen stay at their inn, but for a much longer time, as at their dwelling; and it is no ordinarydarkness that he hath made me to dwell in, but even the darkness of dead men; and that in thehighest degree, as those that have been long dead. They that have been dead but a while are yetremembered sometimes, and sometimes talked of; but they that have been long dead are as quiteforgotten as if they had never been; and such, alas, am

1. So long have I been made to dwell in darkness, as if I had been dead many years ago, thathe that would seek to find me out must be fain to look for me amongst the tombs andmonuments. Indeed, to dwell in darkness is no better than the house of death: for as longas we are in life, if we want sometimes the light of the sun, yet the light of a candle willserve to supply it; but I, alas, am kept in such darkness that neither the sunshine of thygospel nor the lantern of thy law gives any light unto me. I cannot with confidence say, asonce I did, "Thou, O Lord, shalt light my candle for me"; and as a body being dead growscold and stiff, and is not to be bowed, so my soul with continuance in sinning is grownhardened, and, as it were, stiff in sin; that it is as hard a matter to make me flexible to anygoodness as to bring a body long dead to life again. --Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 3. To dwell in darkness. To seek my safety in holes and obscure places in the wilderness. See2 Samuel 17:16 . As those that have been long dead. That is, where I seem to be buried alive, andto have no more hopes of being restored to a happy condition in this world than those that havebeen long dead have of living again in it. --Thomas Fenton.

4 So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.

1. Barnes, “His spirit was broken and crushed. He was in a state of despair as to any human help.My heart within me is desolate - I have no comfort; no cheerfulness; no hope. My soul is like

the waste desert where there is no water; where nothing grows; where there are only rocks andsands.

2. Clarke, “Therefore is my spirit - I am deeply depressed in spirit, and greatly afflicted in body.My heart within me is desolate - It has no companion of its sorrows, no sympathetic friend. I

am utterly destitute of comfort.

3. Gill, “Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me,.... Covered over with grief, borne downwith sorrow, ready to sink and fail; See Gill on Psa_142:3;

my heart within me is desolate; destitute of the spirit and presence of God, and with respect tothe exercise of grace, and filled with fears and misgivings; or "astonished" (u), at the providencehe was under, like one stunned and filled with sore amazement, not knowing what to make ofthings, or what the issue of them would be; so David's antitype was "sore amazed" in the garden,when his troubles and agonies came upon him, Mar_14:33.

4. Henry, “He bemoans the oppression of his mind, occasioned by his outward troubles(Psa_143:4): Therefore is my spirit overpowered and overwhelmed within me, and I am almostplunged in despair; when without are fightings within are fears, and those fears greater tyrantsand oppressors than Saul himself and not so easily out-run. It is sometimes the lot of the best mento have their spirits for a time almost overwhelmed and their hearts desolate, and doubtless it istheir infirmity. David was not only a great saint, but a great soldier, and yet even he wassometimes ready to faint in a day of adversity. Howl, fir-trees, if the cedars be shaken.

5. Spurgeon, “Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.David was no stoic: he felt his banishment, and smarted under the cruel assaults which weremade upon his character. He felt perplexed and overturned, lonely and afflicted. He was a man ofthought and feeling, and suffered both in spirit and in heart from the undeserved andunprovoked hostility of his persecutors. Moreover, he laboured under the sense of fearfulloneliness; he was for a while forsaken of his God, and his soul was exceeding heavy, even untodeath. Such words our Lord Jesus might have used: in this the Head is like the members, and themembers are as the Head.”

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 4. (second clause.) Within -- literally, "in the midst of me"; implying

how deeply the feeling had penetrated. "Is desolate", or rather, "is stupefied", in a similar senseto that of the Hebrew (Isaiah 59:16 63:5 Daniel 8:27). So the Chaldaic, The 70., Vulgate, Arabic,and Syriac, "is agitated." --Andrew Robert Fausset. Verse 4. Is desolate. Or rather, "is full of amazement", literally, "astonishes itself"; seeks tocomprehend the mystery of its sufferings, and is ever beaten back upon itself in its perplexity:such is the full force of the reflexive conjugation here employed. --J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 4-5. How poor a judgment can be formed of a man's state from the considerations of comfort

only. A holy man, we clearly see, may be void of comfort; his spirit may be overwhelmed, and hisheart desolate. ay, was it not so even with the holy Jesus himself? was he not very heavy, and hissoul exceeding sorrowful even unto death? But never did the Saviour's faith and submission tohis Father's will shine more brightly than in that hour of darkness. And David's faith also rises tomeet the occasion. His trial is great, and his faith is great also. Hardly when he is on the mount ofpraise, and singing his songs of Zion in the most triumphant strain, does he appear moreadmirable than when struggling through this painful conflict. He is troubled on every side, yetnot removed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but notdestroyed. He has no arm of flesh to trust to, and nothing within himself to support his hope; butwith what simplicity, and energy of trust, does he betake himself to God, revolving ill his memorypast seasons of deliverance, and staying his mind on the power and truth of Jehovah! "Iremember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands." --JohnFawcett.

5 I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.

1. The past looks really good when the present turns sour. We need these good memories to focuson when the present is dark. Good old days get you through bad new days. Precious memoriescan be life savers. The God who delivered in the past is the God who can still deliver us today,and so the memories of all God has done is a major encouragement for today. If we had no recordof the wonders of what God has done in history, we would be left on our own, but we have suchrecords, and so we can be greatly encouraged in the present and the future. The God of yesterdayis still the God of today and tomorrow.

1B. Barnes, “I remember the days of old - Former times.(1) as contrasted with my present condition.

(2) as times when I called upon thee, and thou didst interpose.

(3) as encouraging me now to come to thee, and spread out my case before thee. See Psa_77:5-11, note; Psa_42:4, note.

I meditate on all thy works ... - On what thou hast done; on thy gracious interpositions in the

time of trial; on the manifestations of thy power in my behalf, and in behalf of thy people. I callall this to mind, remembering that thou art an unchangeable God; that thou hast the same powerstill; that thou canst interpose now as thou didst then; and that, as an unchangeable God, thouwilt do it in the same circumstances. I, therefore, come to thee, and pray that thou wilt interposein my behalf.

1C. Calvin, “The very best method in order to obtain relief in trouble, when we are about to faintunder it, is to call to mind the former loving-kindness of the Lord. or does David mean such ashe had experienced from childhood, as some have thought, adopting in my judgment toorestricted a sense; for the word קדם, kedem, has a more extensive signification. I have no doubt,therefore, that he includes past history, as well as his own personal experience, it being easy todiscover proofs there of God’s continued goodness to his people. We should ourselves learn by hisexample, in reflecting upon personal favors received from God, to remember also how often hehas assisted those that served him, and improve the truth for our own benefit. Should this notimmediately or at once abate the bitterness of our grief, yet the advantage of it will afterwardsappear. In the passage before us, David complains that he did not get relief from his anxieties andcares from this consolatory source, but he prosecuted his meditations in expectation of findingthe good result in due time. The verb שוה, suach, I have elsewhere observed, may mean either todeclare with the tongue, or to revolve in the mind. Some accordingly read — “I have discoursed ofthy works.” But as the verb הגה, hagah, means to meditate, I consider that the Psalmist repeatsthe same thing twice, and this in token of earnestness. We will often upon a slight exercise of thethoughts upon God’s works, start aside from them almost immediately; nor is it matter ofsurprise, that, in this case, there results no solid comfort. That our knowledge may be abiding wemust call in the aid of constant attention.”

2. Gill, “I remember the days of old,.... Former times he had read and heard of, in which the Lordappeared for his people that trusted in him; or the former part of his own life, his younger days,when the Lord delivered him from the lion and bear, and from the uncircumcised Philistine,whom he slew; and made him victorious in battles, and preserved him from the rage and maliceof Saul. If this was written on account of Absalom, those times of deliverance he called to mind, inorder to encourage his faith and hope, and cheer his drooping spirits;

I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands; the works of creation andprovidence, in order to observe the instances of divine power, wisdom, and goodness in them; andfrom thence fetch arguments, to engage his trust and confidence in the Lord: he both thought ofthese things within himself, and he "talked" (w) of them to his friends that were with him, as thelast of these words used may signify; and all this he did to cheer his own spirit, and the spirits ofthe men that were with him, in the time of distress and danger.

3. Henry, “He applies himself to the use of proper means for the relief of his troubled spirit. Hehad no force to muster up against the oppression of the enemy, but, if he can keep possession ofnothing else, he will do what he can to keep possession of his own soul and to preserve his inwardpeace. In order to this, 1. He looks back, and remembers the days of old (Psa_143:5), God's formerappearances for his afflicted people and for him in particular. It has been often a relief to thepeople of God in their straits to think of the wonders which their fathers told them of, Psa_77:5,Psa_77:11. 2. He looks round, and takes notice of the works of God in the visible creation, and theprovidential government of the world: I meditate on all thy works. Many see them, but do not seethe footsteps of God's wisdom, power, and goodness in them, and do not receive the benefit they

might by them because they do not meditate upon them; they do not dwell on that copiouscurious subject, but soon quit it, as if they had exhausted it, when they have scarcely touchedupon it. I muse on, or (as some read it) I discourse of, the operation of thy hands, how great, howgood, it is! The more we consider the power of God the less we shall fear the face or force of man,Isa_51:12, Isa_51:13.

4. Spurgeon, “I remember the days of old. When we see nothing new which can cheer us, let usthink upon old things. We once had merry days, days of deliverance, and joy and thanksgiving;why not again? Jehovah rescued his people in the ages which lie back, centuries ago; wily shouldhe not do the like again? We ourselves have a rich past to look back upon; we have sunnymemories, sacred memories, satisfactory memories, and these are as flowers for the bees of faithto visit, from whence they may make honey for present use. I meditate on all thy works. Whenmy own works reproach me, thy works refresh me. If at the first view the deeds of the Lord donot encourage us, let us think them over again, ruminating and considering the histories of divineprovidence. We ought to take a wide and large view of all God's works; for as a whole they worktogether for good, and in each part they are worthy of reverent study. I muse on the work of thyhands. This he had done in former days, even in his most trying hours. Creation had been thebook in which he read of the wisdom and goodness of the Lord. He repeats his perusal of the pageof nature, and counts it a balm for his wounds, a cordial for his cares, to see what the Lord hasmade by his skilful hands. When the work of our own hand grieves us, let us look to the work ofGod's hands. Memory, meditation, and musing are here set together as the three graces,ministering grace to a mind depressed and likely to be diseased. As David with his harp playedaway the evil spirit from Saul, so does he hero chase away gloom from his own soul by holycommunion with God.”

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 5. I remember the days of old; I meditate, etc. This meditation givesan ease to the overwhelming of my spirits, a comfort to the desolateness of my heart; for I amthinking sometimes upon Jonah, how he was overwhelmed with waters and swallowed up of awhale, and yet at last delivered; sometimes I am thinking of Joseph, how he was bound and leftdesolate in a pit, and yet at last relieved; and then I meditate thus with myself, -- Is God's powerconfined to persons? could he deliver them in their extremities, and can he not deliver me inmine? --Sir Richard Baker. Verse 5. I meditate on all thy works. Let us look for God in the future more earnestly than we havedone in the past, -- look for him in vineyards and orchards and harvest fields, -- in the brightplumage of birds, and the delicate bloom of fruit, and the sweet gracefulness of flowers, -- in thedense foliage of the forest, and the sparse heather of the moor, -- in the rich luxuriance of fertilevalleys, and the rugged grandeur of the everlasting hills, -- in the merry dance of the rivulet, andthe majestic tides of the ocean -- in the gay colours of the rainbow, and the splendour of thestarry heavens, -- in the gentle radiance of the moon, and the gorgeous light of setting suns, -- inthe clear azure sky, and the weird pageantry of clouds, -- in the snow mantled wintry landscape,and the brilliant effulgence of a summer's noon, -- in the virgin loveliness of spring, and in thepensive fading beauty of autumn, -- let us look for him with an earnest, eager, and unweariedgaze, till we see him to be a God of wisdom as well as power, of love as well as sovereignty, ofbeauty as well as glory. --A. W. Momerie, in "The Origin of Evil, and other Sermons", 1881.

Verse 5, 6. I meditate. I stretch forth my hands. Meditation is prayer's handmaid to wait on it,both before and after the performance of supplication. It is as the plough before the sower, toprepare the heart for the duty of prayer; and as the harrow after the sower, to cover the seedwhen 'tis sown. As the hopper feeds the mill with grist, so does meditation supply the heart with

matter for prayer. --William Gurnall.

6 I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.[a]

1. Barnes, “I stretch forth my hands unto thee - In prayer. I have nowhere else to go. SeePsa_88:9. My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land - As land in a time of drought “seems” tothirst for rain. See the notes at Psa_63:1. Compare Psa_42:1. The word rendered “thirsty” heremeans properly “weary.” The idea is that of a land which seems to be weary; which has no vigorof growth; and where everything seems to be exhausted. The same word occurs in Isa_32:2 : “Asthe shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”

2.Clarke, “ I stretch forth my hands - This is a natural action. All in distress, or under theinfluence of eager desire, naturally extend their hands and arms, as if to catch at help and obtainsuccor. As a thirsty land - Parched and burned by the sun, longs for rain, so does my thirsty soulfor the living God.

3. Gill, “I stretch forth my hands unto thee,.... In prayer, as the Targum adds; for this is a prayergesture, 1Ki_8:38; both hands were stretched forth, earnestly imploring help, and ready toreceive and embrace every blessing bestowed with thankfulness; my soul thirsteth after thee as athirsty land. As a dry land, which wants water, gapes, and as it were thirsts for rain, which is veryrefreshing to it; so his soul thirsted after God, after his word and ordinances, after communionwith him in them, after his grace and fresh supplies of it; particularly after pardoning grace andmercy, after the coming of Christ, and the blessings of grace by him; as reconciliation, atonement,righteousness, and salvation; after more knowledge of God and Christ, and divine truths; andafter the enjoyment of them in heaven to all eternity. Some copies read, "in a thirsty land" (x),and so some versions; see Psa_42:1.

4. Henry, “He looks up with earnest desires towards God and his favour (Psa_143:6): “I stretch

forth my hands unto thee, as one begging an alms, and big with expectation to receive somethinggreat, standing ready to lay hold on it and bid it welcome. My soul thirsteth after thee; it is to thee

(so the word is), entire for thee, intent on thee; it is as a thirsty land, which, being parched withexcessive heat, gapes for rain; so do I need, so do I crave, the support and refreshment of divineconsolations under my afflictions, and nothing else will relieve me.” This is the best course we cantake when our spirits are overwhelmed; and justly do those sink under their load who will nottake such a ready way as this to ease themselves.

4B. Calvin, “I have stretched forth my hands to thee. Here appears the good effect of meditation,that it stirred David up to pray; for if we reflect seriously upon the acting’s of God towards hispeople, and towards ourselves in our own experience, this will necessarily lead out our minds toseek after him, under the alluring influence of his goodness. Prayer, indeed, springs from faith;but as practical proofs of the favor and mercy confirm this faith, they are means evidently fitted

for dissipating languor. He makes use of a striking figure to set forth the ardor of his affection,comparing his soul to the parched earth. In great heats we see that the earth is cleft, and opens, asit were, its mouth to heaven for moisture. David therefore intimates, he drew near to God withvehement desire, as if the very sap of life failed him, as he shows more fully in the verse whichfollows. In this he gives another proof of his extraordinary faith. Feeling himself weak, and readyto sink into the very grave, he does not vacillate between this and the other hope of relief, butfixes his sole dependence upon God. And heavy as the struggle was that he underwent with hisown felt weakness, the fainting of spirit he speaks of was a better stimulant to prayer than anystoical obstinacy he might have shown in suppressing fear, grief, or anxiety. We must notoverlook the fact, how in order to induce himself to depend exclusively upon God, he dismisses allother hopes from his mind, and makes a chariot to himself of the extreme necessity of his case, inwhich he ascends upwards to God.”

5. Spurgeon, “I stretch forth my hands unto thee. He was eager for his God. His thoughts of Godkindled in him burning desires, and these led to energetic expressions of his inward longings. As aprisoner whose feet are bound extends his hands in supplication when there is hope of liberty, sodoes David. My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. As the soil cracks, and yawns, and thusopens its mouth in dumb pleadings, so did the Psalmist's soul break with longings. o heavenlyshower had refreshed him from the sanctuary: banished from the means of grace, his soul feltparched and dry, and he cried out, "My soul to thee"; nothing would content him but thepresence of his God. ot alone did he extend his hands, but his heart was stretched out towardsthe Lord. He was athirst for the Lord. If he could but feel the presence of his God he would nolonger be overwhelmed or dwell in darkness; nay, everything would turn to peace and joy. Selah. It was time to pause, for the supplication had risen to agony point. Both harp strings andheart strings were strained, and needed a little rest to get them right again for the second half ofthe song.

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee. As a poor beggar for an alms.Beggary here is not the easiest and poorest trade, but the hardest and richest of all other. --JohnTrapp.

Verse 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee, as if I were in hope thou wouldst take me by the handand draw me to thee. --Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 6. My soul thirsteth after thee, etc. Alas! this thirst is rare to be found. Worldly thirsts thereare in many: the drunkard's thirst, Deuteronomy 29:19; the worldling's thirst, Habakkuk 2:5;the epicure's thirst, whose belly is his god, Philippians 3:19; the ambitious man's thirst --Diotrephes, 3 John 1:9 ; and the malicious man's thirst, the blood thirsty, Psalms 5:6. Thirst afterthese things doth keep away that thirst after grace without which we shall never escape Dives'thirst in hell, Luke 16:24. If we have a godly thirst, it will appear by diligence in frequenting theplace and means of grace, Proverbs 8:34; brute beasts for want of water will break throughhedges, and grace thirsty souls will make their ways through all encumbrances to come wherethey may have satisfaction. --Thomas Pierson, 1570-1633.

Verse 6. My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. He declareth his vehement affection to Godby a very pretty similitude, taken from the ground which is thirsty by the long drought ofsummer, wherein the earth, rent in pieces, as it were, and with open mouth through long thirst,seeketh drink from heaven. By which he showeth that he came to God as destitute of naturalsubstance, and therefore seeketh from above that which he lacked. So in all his extremities he

looked ever upward; from above he seeketh help and comfort. Albeit we be in extremity, and as itwere rent asunder, yet here is comfort, -- there are waters in heaven which will refresh us, if wegape after them. Here is a blessing -- those that thirst shall be satisfied. If we thirst for mercy, fordeliverance, for spiritual or temporal comfort, we shall be satisfied therewith; for if God heardthe prayers of Hagar and Ishmael being athirst in the wilderness, and opened unto them afountain (Ge 21:17,19), will he forsake Isaac, the child of promise? If he heard Samson in thebitterness of his heart, when he said, "I die from thirst", and opened a spring out of the jawboneof an ass (Judges 15:19), will he forsake us in time of our distress, if we thirst aright? -- ArchibaldSymson.

Verse 6. My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Sir John Chardin, in his MSS. says: - - "Thelands of the East, which the great dryness there causes to crack, are the ground of this figure,which is certainly extremely beautiful; for these dry lands have chinks too deep for a person tosee the bottom of: this may be observed in the Indies more than anywhere, a little before the rainsfall, and wherever the lands are rich and hard." -- Harmer's Observations.

Verse 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee, etc. It is not a strange thing, then, for the soul to findits life in God. This is its native air: God as the Environment of the soul has been from theremotest age the doctrine of all the deepest thinkers in religion. How profoundly Hebrew poetryis saturated with this high thought will appear when we try to conceive of it with this left out.True poetry is only science in another form. And long before it was possible for religion to givescientific expression to its greatest truths, men of insight uttered themselves in psalms whichcould not have been truer to ature had the most modern light controlled the inspiration. "Asthe hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." What fine senseof the natural analogy of the natural and spiritual does not underlie these words. As the hartafter its environment, so man after his; as the water brooks are fitly designed to meet the naturalwants, so fitly does God implement the spiritual need of man. It will be noticed that in theHebrew poets the longing for God never strikes one as morbid, or unnatural to the men whouttered it. It is as natural for them to long for God as for the swallow to seek her nest.Throughout all their images no suspicion rises within us that they are exaggerating. We feel howtruly they are reading themselves, their deepest selves. o false note occurs in all their aspiration.There is no weariness even in their ceaseless sighing, except the lover's weariness for the absent --if they would fly away, it is only to be at rest. Men who have no soul can only wonder at this. Menwho have a soul, but with little faith, can only envy it. How joyous a thing it was to the Hebrewsto seek their God! How artlessly they call upon him to entertain them in his pavilion, to coverthem with his feathers, to hide them in his secret place, to hold them in the hollow of his hand, orstretch around them the everlasting arms! These men were true children of nature. As thehumming bird among its own palm trees, as the ephemera in the sunshine of a summer evening,so they lived their joyous lives. And even the full share of the sadder experiences of life whichcame to all of them but drove them the further into the secret place, and led them with moreconsecration to make, as they expressed it, "the Lord their portion." All that has been said sincefrom Marcus Aurelius to Swedenborg, from Augustine to Schleiermacher, of a besetting God asthe full complement of humanity is but a repetition of the Hebrew poets' faith. And even the ewTestament has nothing higher to offer man than this. The Psalmist's" God is our refuge andstrength" is only the earlier form, less defined, less practicable, but not less noble, of Christ's"Come unto me, and I will give you rest." -- Henry Drummond, in " atural Law in the SpiritualWorld", 1884.

Verse 6-7. I stretch forth my hands ... Hear me, etc. So will the weary bands be raised yet again,through faith in him who stretched forth his hands upon the cross. So will the fainting soul wait

and long for the outpouring of his grace, who upon the cross said, "I thirst." We shall thirst forour salvation, even as the parched up fields and dying herbs seem to gasp and pant like livingthings for the sweet and cheering showers in the fierce heat of summer. So will the soul cry to theheard, and that soon, lest its faith grow faint with delay; and the hiding of God's face, thedenying of his smile of pardon, will press on the spirit like sickness, and weigh it down like theheaviness of death. --J. W. Burgon.

7 Answer me quickly, LORD; my spirit fails.Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit.

1. Barnes, ““Hear me speedily, O Lord.” Hasten to hear me; do not delay. Literally, “Hasten;answer me.” I am in imminent danger. Do not delay to come to my relief.

My spirit faileth - My strength is declining. I can hold out no longer. I am ready to give up anddie.

Hide not thy face from me - Do not refuse or delay to look favorably upon me; to lift up thelight of thy countenance upon me.

Lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit - Margin, “For I am become like.” The ideais, Unless thou shalt lift up the light of thy countenance - unless thou shalt interpose and help me,I shall die. The “pit” here refers to the grave. See the notes at Psa_28:1.

2. Gill, “ Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth,.... Ready to sink, swoon, and faint away,through the weight of the affliction on him, by reason of the persecution of his enemy, and forwant of the divine Presence; hence the Targum renders it, "my spirit desireth thee;'' see Son_5:6;and therefore entreats that God would hear and answer him quickly; or, "make haste to answer"him, and not delay, lest he should be quite gone. Wherefore it follows,

hide not thy face from me; nothing is more desirable to a good man than the "face" or presenceof God, the light of his countenance, and sensible communion with him; which may be said to be"hid" when he withdraws his gracious presence, and withholds the discoveries of his love, andthe manifestations of his free grace and favour; which he sometimes does on account of sin, and isthe case at times of the best of saints; and is consistent with the love of God, though very grievingto them, and therefore here deprecated: the Targum is, "cause not thy Shechinah to remove fromme;''

lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit; either the house of the grave, as the Targum;look wan and pale, become lifeless and spiritless, or like a dead man; for as in the favour of Godis life, his absence is as death: or the pit of hell, the pit of destruction; that is, be in such horrorand despair, and under such apprehensions of divine wrath, as the damned feel.

3. Henry, “David here tells us what he said when he stretched forth his hands unto God; hebegins not only as one in earnest, but as one in haste: “Hear me speedily, and defer no longer, formy spirit faileth. I am just ready to faint; reach the cordial - quickly, quickly, or I am gone.” Itwas not a haste of unbelief, but of vehement desire and holy love. Make haste, O God! to help me.

Three things David here prays for: - The manifestations of God's favour towards him, that Godwould be well pleased with him and let him know that he was so; this he prefers before any good,Psa_4:6. 1. He dreads God's frowns: “Lord, hide not thy face from me; Lord, be not angry withme, do not turn from me, as we do from one we are displeased with; Lord, let me not be leftunder the apprehensions of thy anger or in doubt concerning thy favour; if I have thy favour, letit not be hidden from me.” Those that have the truth of grace cannot but desire the evidence of it.He pleads the wretchedness of his case if God withdrew from him: “Lord, let me not lie under thywrath, for then I am like those that go down to the pit, that is, down to the grave (I am a deadman, weak, and pale, and ghastly; thy frowns are worse than death), or down to hell, thebottomless pit.” Even those who through grace are delivered from going down to the pit maysometimes, when the terrors of the Almighty set themselves in array against them, look like thosewho are going to the pit. Disconsolate saints have sometimes cried out of the wrath of God, as ifthey had been damned sinners, Job_6:4; Psa_88:6.

4. K&D, “In this second half the Psalm seems still more like a reproduction of the thoughts ofearlier Psalms. The prayer, “answer me speedily, hide not Thy face from me,” sounds likePsa_69:18; Psa_27:9, cf. Psa_102:3. The expression of languishing longing, ָּכְֽלָתה רּוִחי, is likePsa_84:3. And the apodosis, “else I should become like those who go down into the pit,” agreesword for word with Psa_28:1, cf. Psa_88:5. In connection with the words, “cause me to hear Thyloving-kindness in the early morning,” one is reminded of the similar prayer of Moses inPsa_90:14, and with the confirmatory “for in Thee do I trust” of Psa_25:2, and frequently. Withthe prayer that the night of affliction may have an end with the next morning's dawn, and thatGod's helping loving-kindness may make itself felt by him, is joined the prayer that God wouldbe pleased to grant him to know the way that he has to go in order to escape the destruction intowhich they are anxious to ensnare him. This last prayer has its type in Exo_33:13, and in thePsalter in Psa_25:4 (cf. Psa_142:4); and its confirmation: for to Thee have I lifted up my soul,viz., in a craving after salvation and in the confidence of faith, has its type in Psa_25:1; Psa_86:4.But the words ִכִּסיִתי sֵאֶלי, which are added to the petition “deliver me from mine enemies”(Psa_59:2; Psa_31:16), are peculiar, and in their expression without example.”

5. Spurgeon, “Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth. If long delayed, the deliverancewould come too late. The afflicted suppliant faints, and is ready to die. His life is ebbing out; eachmoment is of importance; it will soon be all over with him. o argument for speed can be morepowerful than this. Who will not run to help a suppliant when his life is in jeopardy? Mercy haswings to its heels when misery is in extremity. God will not fail when our spirit fails, but therather he will hasten his course and come to us on the wings of the wind. Hide not thy face fromme, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Communion with God is so dear to a trueheart that the withdrawal of it makes the man feel as though he were ready to die and perishutterly. God's withdrawals reduce the heart to despair, and take away all strength from the mind.Moreover, his absence enables adversaries to work their will without restraint; and thus, in asecond way, the persecuted one is like to perish. If we have God's countenance we live, but if heturns his back upon us we die. When the Lord looks with favour upon our efforts we prosper, butif he refuses to countenance them we labour in vain.”

6. Treasury of David, “Hear me speedily. David is in trouble, and he betakes himself to prayer.Prayer is the sovereign remedy the godly fly to in all their extremities. The saints in sorrows havefled for comfort and healing unto prayers and supplications. Heaven is a shop full of all goodthings -- there are stored up blessings and mercies; this the children of God know who fly to thisshop in their troubles, begging for help from this holy sanctuary. "In the day of my trouble Isought the Lord": Psalms 77:2. When any vexation makes our life grievous unto us, what shouldwe seek but help? of whom should we seek, but of the Lord? how should we seek, but byprayer? ... "Speedily." His request is not only for hearing, but for speedy hearing: "Hear me, andhear me speedily"; answer, and answer quickly. This is the tone and tune of men in distress. Manin misery earnestly sues for speedy delivery. In our afflictions and troubles, deliverance, though itshould come with wings, we never think it comes soon enough. Weak man cannot content himselfto know he shall have help, unless it be present help. -- Thomas Calvert, 1647. Verse 7. My spirit faileth. This is David's first reason to move the Lord; he is at the last cast andeven giving up the ghost with long waiting for help: from his low condition we may see what isoften the condition of God's children, -- and the best of God's servants have waited for comfortand the feelings of his Spirit, to the very failing of their own spirit. David, a man after God's ownheart, is yet brought low with the faintness and failing of his heart, in waiting for help from God."In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Ge 3:19); this lies upon the sons of men. But here,not sweat of face only, that were but small; but sighs and fainting of the heart lie upon the sons ofGod, in seeking and hungering after a taste of God's bread of life, inward comfort, assurance,and joy of the Holy Ghost. Thus the Church was brought to this sick bed ere her comfort came:"For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforterthat should relieve my soul is far from me:" Lamentations 1:16. The disciples spirits were evenfailing in the tempest, when Christ slept and seemed to neglect them, as if he cared not thoughthey perished. How should our spirits do other but fail, when our Comforter sleeps, when ouronly friend seems to be our enemy?

Failing of spirit is both a motive which God means to yield unto and to be won by withal; and it isalso his opportunity, when he usually helps. It is a strong motive in our prayers to move him, forhe is pitiful, and will not let his children utterly fail and perish; he is a pitiful Spirit to failingspirits. "I will not contend (saith the Lord) for ever, neither will I be always wroth;" why? wedeserve his wrath should last and take fire for ever against us; yea, but (saith the Lord) this is thereason, "The spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made" (Isaiah 57:16): I loveand pity the fainting souls and spirits of men: I will help my children; how can I see my creatureswhom I made and do love, to perish for want of my help? David knew the Lord's nature, and thatthis was speeding argument in prayer, which made him here and elsewhere so often use it. Apitiful father will not see the spirit of his children utterly fail. It is his opportunity; he usuallyhelps when all other helps fail, that we may the more strongly cleave to him, and groundourselves upon him, as knowing how infirm we are, if he confirm us not. When man's cruse of oilis dry, and fails, and can drop no more, then is God's time to prepare his. Thus helped he theIsraelites at the Red Sea, when all man's strength and wisdom was at a stand. He loves to be seenin the mount, in extremities. --Condensed from Thomas Calvert.

Verse 7. The prayer of David becomes, as he proceeds, both more spiritual and more fervent. Inthe sixth verse we find him thirsting after God; and now that thirst is become so intense that itadmits of no delay. In the beginning of the psalm he was content to say, "Hear my prayer"; butnow he cries, "Hear me speedily." This is not the language of sinful impatience: it is, indeed, goodthat a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God; yet a man may desire, notonly an answer, but also a speedy answer, without incurring the charge of impatience. Whatevera man desires to have he desires to have soon; nor can he be otherwise than grieved at anything

which delays the accomplishment of his wishes. In such desire or grief there is nothing sinful,provided it do not lead to murmuring or distrust of God. Hence this petition for speedy relief,and manifestation of God's presence and favour is very frequent with the Psalmist. He oftenprays, "Make haste, O Lord, to deliver; make haste to help me, O Lord." ay, if a man does notdesire the light of God's countenance soon, it is a certain proof that he does not desire it at all. Ifthe natural language of his heart be not, "hear me speedily", delay is to him no exercise ofpatience. The very idea of patience implies that something is contrary to our wish; and thestronger the desire is, the more difficult will that exercise of patience become.

"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick"; and therefore David adds, "my spirit faileth." Hebelieved verily to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living; yet so intense was hisdesire, that faith could hardly keep his spirit from fainting, while the blessing, which he soeagerly pursued, seemed still distant, and fled before him. He is afraid lest if God should longdelay, and withdraw himself, faith and hope could hold out no longer. He therefore pleads, "hidenot thy face from me, lest I become like them that go down into the pit"; and urges the failing ofhis spirit before him who" will not contend for ever, lest the spirit should fait before him." --JohnFawcett.

Verse 7-8, 10-11. Observe how David mixes together prayers for joy, for guidance, and forsanctification -- "Hide not thy face from me." "Cause me to know the way wherein I shouldwalk." "Teach me to do thy will." "Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning.""Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake." ow this is exactly right: our prayers, as well as ourother obedience, must be without partiality; nay, we should desire comfort for the sake ofholiness, rather than holiness for the sake of comfort. --John Fawcett.

8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.

1. Here is a great example of listening prayer, for David wakes up in the morning and he praysthat he will hear from God, and especially that he will hear of God's unfailing love. Today wehave the Word of God, and if we wake up and begin our day by reading the Word, we can hearfrom God of his love and many other things about his will for our day. David wants guidance forthe day to go the way God would have him go, and that is the way all believers should begin theirday. You can pray this as soon as you rise, again as you get ready, and again as you drive to work.

Morning Prayer by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Let me to-day do something that shall takeA little sadness from the world’s vast store, And may I be so favored as to make

Of joy’s too scanty sum a little more.Let me not hurt, by any selfish deedOr thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend; or would I pass, unseeing, worthy need, Or sin by silence when I should defend.However meager be my worldly wealth, Let me give something that shall aid my kind –A word of courage, or a thought of health, Dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to find.Let me to-night look back across the span‘Twixt dawn and dark, and to my conscience say –Because of some good act to beast or man –“The world is better that I lived today.”

1B. Below are some other morning prayers printed in Christianity Today.

Richard A. Kauffman , “I OWE the Lord a morning songof gratitude and praise,for the kind mercy he has shownin lengthening out my days.He kept me safe another night;I see another day. ow may his Spirit, as the light,direct me in his way.

1C. OW A OTHER day is breaking;sleep was sweet, and so is waking.Dear Lord, I promised you last nightnever again to sulk or fight.Such vows are easier to keepwhen a child is sound asleep.Today, O Lord, for your dear sake,I'll try to keep them when awake.Ogden ash, excerpted by David Yount in Breaking Through God's Silence

1D. WHO CA TELL what a day may bring forth? Cause me, therefore, gracious God, to liveevery day as if it were to be my last, for I know not but that it may be such. Cause me to live nowas I shall wish I had done when I come to die. Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

1E. Barnes, “Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness - The voice of thy lovingkindness, or thy mercyand favor. Permit me to hear thee addressing me in the language of kindness, and with theassurances of mercy.

In the morning - Early; speedily; with the first rays of the morning. Let it be, as it were, thefirst thing in the day; the first thing that is done. The idea is not that he would wait for anotherday, but that he would interpose as the very first act - as when one enters on a day. See the notesat Psa_46:5, where the margin is, when the morning appeareth; Hebrew, In the faces of themorning.

For in thee do I trust - I have no other confidence or ground of reliance; but I have confidencein thee.

Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk ... - The safe way; the way in which I mayfind safety. See the notes at Psa_5:8.

2. Clarke, “Cause me to hear thy Loving-kindness in the morning - This petition was probablyoffered in the night-season. David had despatched his messengers in all directions; and prays toGod that he might by the morning get some good news.Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk - Absalom and his partisans are in possessionof all the country. I know not in what direction to go, that I may not fall in with them: point outby thy especial providence the path I should take.

3. Gill, “ Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning,.... ot only externally in theministry of the word; but internally by the Spirit, so as to feel and perceive, and have somesensible experience of it; which he desired he might have in the morning, early, speedily, by thenext morning; it being now night perhaps when he was in this distress, and put up this prayer;see 2Sa_18:1; Jarchi interprets it, when the redemption arises or springs out; meaning thedeliverance of the Jews from their present captivity: and so Kimchi, of the time of salvation; as atime of distress is called the evening; for in thee do I trust: alone for salvation; being encouragedby his loving kindness, and the goodness of God being for such that trust in him, Psa_36:7; theTargum is, "in thy Word do I hope;''

cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; either literally, which way he should take toescape his enemies, and get out of danger; or the way and course of his life and conversation,according to the will of God; the way or truth, and path of faith; the way of righteousness andholiness, the way of God's commandments and ordinances; which he desired to have a moredistinct knowledge of, and grace to enable him to walk therein; for I lift up my soul unto thee; "inprayer", as the Targum adds, which this phrase is expressive of; and unless the heart is lifted upto God, and the affections of the soul, and the desires of it, are drawn out unto him, and grace isin exercise on him in prayer, the lifting up of the hands will be of no avail; see Psa_25:1.”

4. Henry, “He entreats God's favour (Psa_143:8): Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the

morning. He cannot but think that God has a kindness for him, that he has some kind things tosay to him, some good words and comfortable words; but the present hurry of his affairs, andtumult of his spirits, drowned those pleasing whispers; and therefore he begs, “Lord, do not onlyspeak kindly to me, but cause me to hear it, to hear joy and gladness,” Psa_51:8. God speaks to usby his word and by his providence, and in both we should desire and endeavour to hear his

lovingkindness (Psa_107:43), that we may set that always before us: “Cause me to hear it in the

morning, every morning; let my waking thoughts be of God's lovingkindness, that the sweet relishof that may abide upon my spirits all the day long.” His plea is, “For in thee do I trust, and in theeonly; I look not for comfort in any other.” God's goodness is commonly wrought for those who

trust in him (Psa_31:8), who by faith draw it out.II. The operations of God's grace in him. Those he is as earnest for as for the tokens of God's

favour to him, and so should we be. He prays,

1. That he might be enlightened with the knowledge of God's will; and this is the first work ofthe Spirit, in order to his other works, for God deals with men as men, as reasonable creatures.Here are three petitions to this effect: - (1.) Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk.

Sometimes those that are much in care to walk right are in doubt, and in the dark, which is theright way. Let them come boldly to the throne of grace, and beg of God, by his word, and Spirit,and providence, to show them the way, and prevent their missing it. A good man does not askwhat is the way in which he must walk, or in which is the most pleasant walking, but what is theright way, the way in which he should walk. He pleads, “I lift up my soul unto thee, to be mouldedand fashioned according to thy will.” He did not only importunately, but impartially, desire toknow his duty; and those that do so shall be taught. (2.) “Teach me to do thy will, not only showme what thy will is, but teach me how to do it, how to turn my hand dexterously to my duty.” It isthe desire and endeavour of all God's faithful servants to know and to do his will, and to standcomplete in it. He pleads, “Thou art my God, and therefore my oracle, by whom I may expect tobe advised - my God, and therefore my ruler, whose will I desire to do.” If we do in sincerity takeGod for our God, we may depend upon him to teach us to do his will, as a master does hisservant.”

4B. Calvin, “Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness. In this verse he again prays that God wouldshow him his favor visibly and effectually. The expression cause me to hear, may seem not veryproper, as the goodness of God is rather felt than heard; but as the mere perception of God’sbenefits, without a believing apprehension and improvement of them, would do us little good,David very properly begins with hearing. We see how wicked men riot in the abundance of them,while yet they have no sense of the Lord’s goodness, through want of attention to the word, and abelieving apprehension of God as a father. The adverb in the morning some confine to a referenceto sacrifices — which is a meager interpretation — in allusion to the well-known fact thatsacrifices used to be offered twice, in the morning and in the evening. Others give a more strainedsense, understanding that when God deals in a more favorable way with his people, he is said toform a new day. Others consider it to be a metaphor for a prosperous and happy condition, as anafflicted and calamitous time is often denoted by darkness. I wonder that there should be such asearch after extraneous meanings for this word, by which he is simply to be considered asrepeating his former prayer to God — make haste. In the morning means the same with speedilyor seasonably. He founds a reason here, as elsewhere, upon his having hoped in God, this beingsomething by which, in a sense, we lay God under obligation to us, for in making a liberal offer ofhimself to us, and promising to sustain the relationship of a father, he gives what men would calla pledge. This, accordingly, is a species of obligation. But so far is this from implying anyworthiness or merit on our part, that the hope we entertain rather proves our nothingness andhelplessness. His prayer that a way might be opened up for him to walk in, refers to the anxietieswhich perplexed him. He intimates that he was dismayed, and brought to a stand, unable to movea step, if God did not open a way, by his divine power; that all the desires of his soul terminatedupon him; and that he looked for counsel from him to procure relief in his perplexity.”

5. Spurgeon, “Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust. Lord,my sorrow makes me deaf, -- cause me to hear: there is but one voice that can cheer me -- causeme to hear thy lovingkindness; that music I would fain enjoy at once -- cause me to hear it in themorning, at the first dawning hour. A sense of divine love is to the soul both dawn and dew; theend of the night of weeping, the beginning of the morning of joy. Only God can take away fromour weary ears the din of our care, and charm them with the sweet notes of his love. Our pleawith the Lord is our faith: if we are relying upon him, he cannot disappoint us: "in thee do Itrust" is a sound and solid argument with God. He who made the ear will cause us to hear: hewho is love itself will have the kindness to bring his lovingkindness before our minds. Cause meto know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. The Great First Cause

must cause us to hear and to know. Spiritual senses are dependent upon God, and heavenlyknowledge comes from him alone. To know the way we ought to take is exceedingly needful, forhow can we be exact in obedience to a law with which we are not acquainted? or how can therebe an ignorant holiness? If we know not the way, how shall we keep in it? If we know not whereinwe should walk, how shall we be likely to follow the right path?, The Psalmist lifts up his soul:faith is good at a dead lift: the soul that trusts will rise. We will not allow our hope to sink, but wewill strive to get up and rise out of our daily griefs. This is wise. When David was in any difficultyas to his way he lifted his soul towards God himself, and then he knew that he could not go veryfar wrong. If the soul will not rise of itself we must lift it, lift it up unto God. This is goodargument in prayer: surely the God to whom we endeavour to lift up our soul will condescend toshow us what he would have us to do. Let us attend to David's example, and when our heart islow, let us heartily endeavour to lift it up, not so much to comfort as to the Lord himself.”

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 8. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness. Here he craveth God'sfavour and kindness, as tie doth in many other psalms. Because in his favour is life, wealth, andgrace, all good things, and pleasure for evermore, so that if he look kindly to us we need be afraidof nothing. But how shall he be assured of his favour? Even by hearing it, as he saith in the fifty-first psalm: "Make me to hear joy and gladness." The voice which is heard is the word of God,which, being apprehended by faith, is able to comfort our souls in whatsoever temptation. It is nomarvel that such atheists and papists who altogether refuse the word of God, live comfortless anddie without comfort, because they refuse that instrument which should carry joy to them. Goodreason they die athirst, since they reject that vessel, the word of God, by which they might berefreshed. Therefore since faith cometh by hearing of God's word, and all our comfort cometh byit, let us pray God to bore our ears and our hearts, that we may receive the glad tidings ofreconciliation from God. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk. The second petition ariseth very well from thefirst. For when we have obtained an assurance of God's favour, as he is reconciled to us in JesusChrist, it followeth next that we should desire to conform our lives to the obedience of hiscommandments. For no man will frame himself to walk in God's ways till he be assured of God'sfavour. Therefore faith in God's promises is the most effectual cause to bring forth good works;and an assurance of justification the surest means to produce sanctification.

For I lift up my soul unto thee. Behold what a wonderful effect God worketh by afflictions: theydepress and cast down the outward man, and our inward man by them is elevated and raisedaloft; yea, the more we are afflicted, the more we are stirred up. The oftener the messenger ofSatan is sent to buffet us, the more earnestly (with Paul) we cry unto the Lord to be delivered(2 Corinthians 12:8 ). So if we be cast down to hell in our feelings, what the worse are we if by thatwe be raised up to heaven? --Archibald Symson.

Verse 8. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the mourning, etc. To hear thy lovingkindness inthe morning makes my waking to be saluted, as it were, with music; makes my troubles seem as ifthey were but dreams; makes me find it true that though "weeping may endure for a night, yetjoy cometh in the morning": Psalms 30:5 ... It may well be said we hear this lovingkindness in themorning, seeing it makes it morning to us whensoever we hear it. --Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 8. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning. If evil fall upon us in the night, wewould have it removed ere the morning; if in the morning, we would not have it our bed fellow inthe evening. We would have the Lord's promise run thus, -- Your sorrows shall not endure thewhole night, your joy shall come long before the morning. The luxurious Emperor ?Smyndiridesthe Sybarite and his drunken mates sat and drank all the night, and slept all the day, insomuch

that it was said of them, they never saw sunset nor sunrise. Such would we have the evils wesuffer -- of so short continuance that, neither sunset nor sunrise might see us in our misery. Thismakes me wonder at that strange Egyptian beast called Pharaoh, who being demanded of Moseswhen he would have God's plague of the frogs removed, answered, "Tomorrow." Surely, here hespake not as a man, to whom one hour's trouble is accounted a day, a day a month, a month ayear. For in leaving of two things we change our desires, and are much different.

1. In leaving of sin, then we procrastinate and put off; and when God says, "Today hear myvoice", we answer, "Tomorrow", and are like the Levite's wife's father (Judges 19:6), tookind hosts to such bad guests: saying to our sins, "tarry till the morning." Our pace torepentance is slow, we are far from haste in that matter.

2. But for afflictions to leave us, then we wish they had feet like hinds' feet, to run away fromus, or we the wings of a dove to fly away from them, and be at rest ... What prisonerdesires not to be presently set free, and that liberty's soft hand may loose his iron knots?What mariner wishes a long storm? What servant sighs not over his hard apprenticeship?Yea, who is he, that if there were an appearance of an offering to take the cup of calamityfrom his mouth, saying, "Thou shalt drink no more", would answer, "This cup shall notyet pass from me, I delight to carouse and drink deeply of these bitter waters"? Yea, thisdesire extends so far that it comes to the Son of man, the blessed Seed of the woman, whowas so clad with human weakness that he earnestly prayed for speedy help from his heavyanguish; and that not once, but often, -- "Oh, my Father, if it be possible", etc.; and whenhis Father answers not, he cries like one ready to fall under the burden, "My God, myGod, why hast thou forsaken me?" The reason for Christ's thus complaining is to befetched from thence, whence his flesh came; even from us. It was our human flesh, not hisDivine spirit, which was so weary of suffering; his spirit was willing, it was our flesh thatwas so weak. --Thomas Calvert.

Verse 8. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning. This is a short and sweet morningprayer. God hears early prayer, and lovingly responds to it. The smiles of his face, the sweetnessof his voice, the gifts of his hand, bless the morning, bless all the day. Do we write and readexperimentally? Then we know the blessedness of divine love. The subject is truly pleasant andprecious. "Lovingkindness" is a favourite expression, is a choice theme of David's. It is used morein the Book of Psalms than in any other book in the Scriptures. Lovingkindness is love showingkindness; it is the sun of love shining with rays of kindness; the river of love sending forthstreams of kindness; it is the heart of love uttering itself by words of kindness, doing deeds, andgiving gifts of kindness.

Here it is the voice of the lovingkindness of the Lord that David desires to hear. This voice is themusic of heaven, the joyful sound of the gospel, and it makes a jubilee in the Christian's heart. Tohim there is beauty, sweetness, fulness in the theme; it is his joy and rejoicing. This is the voicethat speaks pardon. Pardon is through Jesus the medium of this kindness. Apart from this thereis no hope of forgiveness. We plead this and realize pardon. "Have mercy upon me, O God,according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out mytransgressions": Psalms 51:1. It is the Lord's lovingkindness that pardons me. This voice speakspeace: "The Lord will speak peace unto his people." Precious peace is the result of pardoningkindness. This voice also speaks joy. This is the alone and all sufficient source of joy. It is soughtelsewhere, but found only here. It sweetens every bitter, and makes sweeter every sweet. It is abalsam for every wound, a cordial for every fear. The present is but a taste, but a drop of thefuture fulness of joy. How sweetly refreshing is the joy of the Lord's lovingkindness. This voicespeaks hope. With the sweet music of this voice falling upon our ears, the night of hopelessness

passes away, and the morning of expectation opens upon us. It assures us of supplies for ourwants, of safety in danger, of endurance to the end, and of a glorious portion in eternity.

The morning is the season in which David desires to hear the voice of the lovingkindness of theLord. The morning is a season often mentioned by him, and as a time of devotion is much prizedby him. "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct myprayer unto thee, and will look up": Psalms 5:3. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in themorning: let it engage my thoughts and affections. It is well to have a subject like this to occupyour waking thoughts, and to take hold of our first desires. If other thoughts get into our hearts inthe morning, we may not be able to turn them out all the day. Prayer and praise, reading andmeditation, will be sweet with such a subject occupying and influencing our minds. They will beexercises of cheerfulness, freedom, and blessedness.

Cause me to hear this voice. It speaks every morning, but many ears are deaf to it. But whileothers are indifferent to it, cause me to hear it; let me not lose the opportunity: waken my earmorning by morning, so that I may hail the season and enjoy the privilege. And when themorning of eternity shall come, "cause me to hear the voice of thy lovingkindness" welcoming meto its joys. --W. Abbot, in "The Baptist Messenger", 1870.

Verse 8. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk. The whole valley is surrounded byranges of regal crags; but the mountain of the Gemmi, apparently absolutely inaccessible, is thelast point to which you would turn for an outlet. A side gorge that sweeps up to the glaciers andsnowy pyramids flashing upon you in the opposite direction is the route which you suppose yourguide is going to take; and visions of pedestrians perilously scaling icy precipices, or strugglingup to the middle through ridges of snow, begin to surround you, as the prospect of your ownexperience in this day's expedition. So convinced was I that the path must go in that direction,that I took a short cut, which I conceived would bring me again into the mule path at a pointunder the glaciers; but after scaling precipices and getting lost in a wood of firs in the valley, Iwas glad to rejoin my friend with the guide, and to clamber on in pure ignorance and wonder ... ow what a striking symbol is this of things that sometimes take place in our spiritualpilgrimage. We are often brought to a stand, hedged up and hemmed in by the providence of Godso that there seems no way out. A man is sometimes thrown into difficulties in which he sits downbeginning to despair, and says to himself, "Well, this time it is all over with me"; like Sterne'sstarling, or, worse, like Bunyan's man in the cage, he says, "I cannot get out." Then when Godhas drawn him from all self confidence and self resource, a door opens in the wall and he rises up,and walks at liberty, praising God. --George Barrell Cheerer, 1807-.

Verse 8-10. After thou hast prayed, observe what God doth towards thee; especially how lie dothguide thy feet and heart after prayer; there is much in that. That which was the spirit ofsupplication in a man when he prayed, rests upon him as the spirit of obedience in his course.That dependence which he hath upon God for the mercy he seeks for is a special motive andmeans to keep him fearful of offending, and diligent in duty. He looks to his paths, andendeavours to behave himself as becomes a suitor, as well as to pray as a suitor. David walked bythis principle when he said (Psalms 66:18), "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will nothear me"; that consideration still came in as a curb unto sin. Therefore David, in these verses,when he was to pray, even as for his life, for deliverance from his enemies, he specially prays Godto direct him and keep him, that he might not sin against him; for he knew that by sinning heshould enervate and spoil all his prayers. He cries not only "Hear me speedily", but also, "Causeme to know the way wherein I should walk; teach me to do thy will." This he especially prays for,more than for deliverance, for else he knew God would not hear him. Therefore when thou art intreaty with God for any mercy, observe, doth God still after praying keep thee in a more obedient

frame of spirit? If so, it is a sign he intends to answer thee. The same is true when he keeps theefrom using ill means, etc. When he meant to give David the kingdom, he kept him innocent, andmade his heart tender, so that it smote him but for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment.--Thomas Goodwin.

9 Rescue me from my enemies, LORD, for I hide myself in you.

1. Phillips wrote, “He ran to God as a child would run to a parent to escape a barking dog, aschicks run to the mother hen when danger looms, as a man runs to the cleft in the rock to escapethe violence of the storm.”

1B. Barnes, “I flee unto thee to hide me - Margin, “Hide me with thee.” The Hebrew is, I hidemyself with thee; that is, I take refuge with thee; I put myself under thy protection; I makemyself thus secure, as thou art secure.”

2. Gill, “Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies,.... Either Saul and his courtiers, or Absalom andthe conspirators along with him; who were many, and lively and strong, stronger than he; andtherefore God only could deliver him, and to him he sought for it, and not to men; and sodeliverance from spiritual enemies is only from the Lord;

I flee unto thee to hide me; from their rage and fury; who was the only asylum or place of refugefor him, where he could be safe. It may be rendered, "with thee have I hid" (y); that is, myself: soArama gives the sense, "I have hid myself with thee.'' Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, interpret itto this purpose, "I have hid my affairs, my straits and troubles, my difficulties and necessities,from men; and have revealed them unto thee, who alone can save.'' The Targum is, "I haveappointed thy Word to be (my) Redeemer.''

3. Henry, ““Deliver me, O Lord! from my enemies, that they may not have their will against me;for I flee unto thee to hide me; I trust to thee to defend me in my trouble, and therefore to rescueme out of it.” Preservations are pledges of salvation, and those shall find God their hiding-placewho by faith make him such.”

3B. Calvin, “Deliver me, O Jehovah! from my enemies. This prayer is to the same effect, hisenemies being so earnestly bent upon his destruction as to leave no outgate for him. The verbchisithi, some render to hope: the proper meaning is to cover, and I am unwilling to depart ,כסיתי from it. The explanation some give is, that David upon perceiving the imminent danger to whichhe was exposed, betook himself to the covert of God’s shadow, and concealed himself under theprotection of it. This seems a very natural rendering, at least I prefer it to another which hasrecommended itself to some as being ingenious — that David, instead of having recourse tovarious quarters for relief, was satisfied to have God cognizant of his case, and called upon him ina hidden manner and apart.”

4. Spurgeon, “Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies. Many foes beset us, we cannot overcomethem, we cannot even escape from them; but Jehovah can and will rescue us if we pray to him.The weapon of all prayer will stand us in better stead than sword and shield. I flee unto thee tohide me. This was a good result from his persecutions. That which makes us flee to our God maybe an ill wind, but it blows us good. There is no cowardice in such flight, but much holy courage.God can hide us out of reach of harm, and even out of sight Of it. He is our hiding place; Jesushas made himself the refuge of his people: the sooner, and the more entirely we flee to him thebetter for us. Beneath the crimson canopy of our Lord's atonement believers are completelyhidden; let us abide there and be at rest. In the seventh verse our poet cried, "Hide not thy face",and here he prays, "Hide me." ote also how often he uses the words "unto thee"; he is after hisGod; lie must travel in that direction by some means, even though he may seem to be beating aretreat; his whole being longs to be near the Lord. Is it possible that such thirsting for God will beleft unsupplied? ever, while the Lord is love.”

4B. Spurgeon, “What a great mercy it is for us that David had not a smooth path and an easy life!We should have lost much valuable instruction if he had been able to hold on the even tenor of hisway continually; whereas, now, we are great gainers by his trials and sufferings. In reading thePsalms of David, you will often find a verse which just suits your own case. It is hardly possiblefor you to be placed in any position without discovering that the son of Jesus has been therebefore you. I cannot, in all respects, liken him to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was in all pointstempted like as we are; yet, to a large extent, it was so with David as well as with “great David’sgreater Son.” He seems to have been, not merely one man, but “all mankind’s epitome,” and tohave known almost all human temptations, and human sins, and human joys, having been led,sometimes by the Spirit, and sometimes, alas, by his own frailty and foolishness, into all sorts ofstrange places in order that he might become an instructor to us.

ow, brethren and sisters, in our weakness lies our strength. The apostle Paul says, “When I amweak, then am I strong;” and I wish it were possible for me to produce in all of you, whether youare sinners or saints, the sense of positive inability and utter weakness; for, until you feel that,you will never say to the Lord, “I flee unto thee, to hide me.” On the contrary, you will stand outboldly in the place of danger, and you will even defy your foes to do their worst against you. Youwill venture into worldliness; you will go up to the very mouth of the furnace of sin; you willbecome more daring and more presumptuous, and you will be less on your watch-tower; you willkeep on going further and further in the wrong way as long as you imaging that you are strong.But if the Lord will aim his arrows right at the very heart of your strength, and lay all yourfancied glory in the mire, and make you to know that you are less than the least of all saints, thenit will be better for you. But before you will reach this point, you will have to confess your ownnothingness, and say, —

“But, oh! for this no strength have I; My strength is at thy feet to lie.”

Then you will flee unto the Lord to hide you, and then you will be hidden by him in a safe place,but never till then.”

5. Treasury of David, “Verse 9. Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies. In the former verse hedesireth God's mercy and lovingkindness, and that he might be showed the way wherein heshould walk: now he desireth to be free of temporal danger. This is a good method in prayer, firstto seek the kingdom of God and spiritual graces, for then all other things shall be added to us. Weseek in vain temporal deliverances of God if we neglect to seek spiritual graces, which are mostnecessary for us. As for enemies, the church and her members neither have wanted nor shall want innumerablefoes, against whom we can only oppose God's protection. In number, in power, in policy andsubtilty they are ever above us. There is no help for us against them all but our gracious God.Esau came with four hundred against Jacob, a naked man, with his wife, children, and droves ofcattle. But Mahanaim was with him; he was guarded by God's angels. And, therefore, since thechurch of God in France, Germany, and elsewhere is in danger of the Leviathan and the sons ofAnak, let us run to the Lord, and cry unto him, -- O God Jehovah, who art one against all, deliverthy church from her enemies, who likewise are thy enemies. --Archibald Symson.

Verse 9. I flee unto thee to hide me. Is David's valour come to this, that ho is come now to be gladto fly? Had he not done better to have died valiantly than to fly basely? O my soul, to fly is notalways a sign of baseness; it is not always a point of valour to stand to it; but then to fly when wefeel our own weakness, and to him to fly, in whom is our strength -- this is, if not valour, at leastwisdom, but it is, to say true, both wisdom and true valour. And now, O God, seeing I find myown weakness, and know thy strength, what should I do but fly, and whither fly but only to thee?-- to thee, a strong fortress to all that build upon thee; to thee, a safe sanctuary to all that fly untothee. --Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 9. I flee unto thee to hide me. This implies,

1. Danger: the Christian may be in danger from sin, self, foes.2. Fear: his fears may be groundless, but they are often very painful. 3. Inability -- to defend himself or overcome his opposers.4. Foresight: he sees the storm in the distance, and looks out for the covert.5. Prudence: he hides before the storm, ere the enemy comes upon him. 6. A laudable concern for safety and comfort. The believer, if wise, will at all times flee to

Jehovah. Jacob flies to Laban; the manslayer to the refuge; the bird to his mountain; andthe Christian to his God. Ass may seek to physicians'; Ephraim to king Jareb; and Saul tothe witch; but the believer looks to his God. The Lord receives, befriends, and secures him.Let us flee to him by prayer, in faith, with hope, for salvation; and he will receive us,shelter us, and be our refuge and strength. Flee from sin, from self, from the world; butflee to Jesus. His heart is ever toward us, his ear is open to us, and his hand is ready tohelp, protect, and deliver us. His throne is our asylum. His promise is our comfort, and hisomnipotence is our guard.

Happy soul, that, free from harms,Rests within his Shepherd's arms!Who his quiet shall molest?Who shall violate his rest?He who found the wandering sheep,Loves, and still delights to keep. --James Smith, in "The Believer's DailyRemembrancer."

Verse 9. I flee unto thee to hide me. The Lord hid the prophets so that Ahab could not find themout: 1 Kings 18:13 . If we will creep under his wings he will surely keep us. -- Archibald Symson.

Verse 9. I flee unto thee to hide me. It may be rendered, "With thee have I hid"; that is, myself: soArama gives the sense. "I have hid myself with thee." Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi interpret itto this purpose, "I have hid my affairs, my straits and troubles, my difficulties and necessities,from men, and have revealed them unto thee, who alone can save." The Targum is, "I haveappointed thy Word to be (my) Redeemer." --John Gill.

Verse 9-10. Be persuaded actually to hide yourselves with Jesus Christ. To have a hiding place andnot to use it is as bad as to want one: fly to Christ; run into the holes of this rock. Three thingsmust be done by all those that would hide themselves with Christ.

1. You must put away sin by repentance. Jesus Christ will not be a sanctuary for rebels, hewill not protect evil doers. Christ will never hide the devil, nor any of his servants. Isaiah55:6-7: "Let the ungodly forsake his way", etc. David knew this, therefore he prays thatGod would teach him to do his will: "Deliver me, etc. I fly unto thee to hide me. Teach meto do thy will." He that will not do the will of Christ shall receive no protection fromChrist. Protectio sequitur allegiantiam. You must be his liege people if you will have him todefend you. Job 22:23,25.

2. You must pray that he would hide you. The promise is made to prayer: Isaiah 65:10,"Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie downin, for my people that have sought me." He that prays most fervently is like to be hid mostsecurely. And then,

3. You must believe in him. Faith is the key that opens the door of this hiding place, and locksit again. One word in the Hebrew signifies to trust and to make a refuge. Psalms 57:1. Hethat doth not make Christ his trust shall not have Christ for his hiding place; he will hidenone but those that commit themselves to him: "I will set him on high, because he hathknown my name": Psalms 91:9,14. --Ralph Robinson.

10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God;may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

1. The biggest mistake of life is to miss God's will, and David was too wise for that. He longed toknow God's will and to do it, and so that was a major request of his prayer. He believed God wasthe master teacher, and he would teach him to understand his will so he could live it.

1B. Barnes, “Teach me to do thy will ... - To do that which will be agreeable or pleasing to thee;which will meet with thy approbation. That is, Teach me in the present emergency to do thatwhich thou wilt approve; which will be wise; which will be best adapted to secure my deliverance

and my safety.Thy spirit is good - The spirit which guides those who trust in thee; the spirit with which

“thou” dost guide people. That spirit is wise, prudent, judicious, reliable. It will not lead astray.Grant me “that” spirit, and I shall be certain that I am going in the right path. There is nocertain evidence that the psalmist here refers distinctively to the Holy Spirit, considered as theThird Person of the Trinity; but the prayer is one for guidance from on high in the day ofdarkness and trouble. It is an acknowledgment of dependence on God for direction, and theexpression of confidence that under the divine guidance he would not go astray.

Lead me into the land of uprightness - Or rather here, “land of evenness;” level ground;ground where I may walk without the dangers to which I am exposed where I am now, in a placeof ambuscades, caverns, rocks, where I may be assailed at any moment without the power ofseeing my enemy, or of defending myself. See this use of the word in the following places where itis rendered “plain,” meaning a level country, Deu_3:10; Deu_4:43; Jos_13:9, Jos_13:16-17,Jos_13:21; 1Ki_20:23, 1Ki_20:25; Psa_27:11; Jer_21:13; Jer_48:8, Jer_48:21; Zec_4:7. Hedesired to be led, as it were, into a “level” country where he might be safe. It is not a prayer, aswould seem from our translation, to be so guided that he might lead an upright life. Such aprayer is proper, but it is not the prayer offered here.

2. Clarke, “Teach me to do thy will - רצונך retsonecha, thy pleasure. To be found doing the will ofGod is the only safe state for man.

Thy Spirit is good - The Author of every good desire and holy purpose.

Lead me - Let it lead me by its continued inspirations and counsels.

Into the land of uprightness - “Into a right land,” Chaldee. Into the place where I shall be safe.

2B. Steven Cole, “Idolaters try to use their god to get what they want. Followers of the living andtrue God submit to Him even through trials. Also, whenever you’re in a trial caused by a sinfulperson who is trying to get you, it is easy to react against their sin by sinning yourself. He angrilythreatens you, so you yell back threats at him. He cheated you, so you connive to cheat him. Helied about you, so you lie about him. So it is especially important that you be on guard againstthis. With a teachable heart, pray that you will know and be obedient to God’s will in the trial.Thus David here prays that he might know and do God’s will. He asks (v. 8), “Teach me the wayin which I should walk.” Then he goes a step further and asks (v. 10a), “Teach me to do Yourwill.” He’s asking not just that he will know God’s way or will, but also that he will know how todo it.” He doesn’t want to be just a hearer of the word, but also a doer (James 1:22). He adds (v.10b), “Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” This is similar to the request in the Lord’sPrayer (Matt. 6:13a), “do not lead us into temptation.” Derek Kidner (p. 476) points out thatDavid’s three requests for guidance (vv. 8-10) each has its own nuance. The first (“Teach me theway in which I should walk,” 8b) has an individual flavor, showing that each of us is uniquelyplaced and called. The second (“Teach me to do Your will,” 10a), “settles the priorities, makingthe goal not self-fulfillment but pleasing God and finishing His work.” The third (“Let Your goodSpirit lead me on level ground,” 10b), “speaks with the humility of one who knows his need ofshepherding, not merely of having the right way pointed out to him.” The request for levelground “implies the admission that one is prone to stumble, not only to stray.” Thus Davidteaches us that our prayers in times of crisis must be heartfelt, humble, believing, and obedient.”

3. Gill, “ Teach me to do thy will,.... Revealed in the word; which saints desire a greater

knowledge of in order to do it, and in which they delight; and also are desirous of being taught,and to practise submission to the will of God under afflictions; which was now the case of thepsalmist;

for thou art my God; his covenant God; and from whom all his afflictions came in a covenantway, and therefore desires to be instructed by him in them; see Jer_31:18;

thy Spirit is good; thy holy good Spirit, as the Targum; the Spirit of thy holiness, as the Arabicversion: the Holy Spirit of God is meant, the third Person in the Trinity; who is "good"essentially, being of the same nature and essence with the Father and Son, with God, who is onlygood; and effectively is the author of the good work of grace upon the heart, and of the severalparticular graces there implanted, and who performs many good offices to the saints;

lead me into the land of uprightness; or, "let thy good Spirit lead me into the land ofuprightness" (z): either into a right land, as the Targum, where honesty prevails, and honest andupright men live; or, "through a plain way" (a), easy to be found, in which he should not err, andwhere would be no occasion of stumbling; or, "through the way of life", as the Syriac version; theway to eternal life, to heaven and happiness; the land where only truly righteous and uprightpersons dwell: such will be the new heavens and the new earth, as well as the ultimate state ofglory, 2Pe_3:13; and to this the Spirit of God is the leader and guide of his people, Psa_48:14.

4. Spurgeon, “Teach me to do thy will. How childlike -- "teach me"! How practical "Teach me todo"! How undivided in obedience -- "to do thy will"! To do all of it, let it be what it may. This isthe best form of instruction, for its source is God, its object is holiness, its spirit is that of heartyloyalty. The man is hidden in the Lord, and spends his peaceful life in learning the will of hisPreserver. A heart cannot long be desolate which is thus docile. For thou art my God. Who elsecan teach me as thou canst? Who else will care to do it but my God? Thou hast given me thyself,thou wilt surely give me lily teaching. If I have thee, may I not ask to have thy perfect mind?When the heart can sincerely call Jehovah "my God", the understanding is ready to learn of him,the will is prepared to obey him, the whole man is eager to please him. "Thy spirit is good." Godis all spirit and all good. His essence is goodness, kindness, holiness: it is his nature to do good,and what greater good can he do to us than to hear such a prayer as that which follows -- Leadwe into the land of uprightness? David would fain be among the godly, in a land of another sortfrom that which had cast him out. He sighed for the upland meadows of grace, the table lands ofpeace, the fertile plains of communion. He could not reach them of himself; he must be led there.God, who is good, can best conduct us to the goodly land. There is no inheritance like a portion inthe land of promise, the land of precept, the land of perfectness. He who teaches us must put usinto leading strings, and guide and conduct us to his own dwelling place in the country ofholiness. The way is long, and steep, and he who goes without a divine leader will faint on thejourney; but with Jehovah to lead it is delightful to follow, and there is neither stumbling norwandering.

He speaks of his cruel persecutors. He declares that though he looked all around he could findnone who would help him. Then he prays, “Teach me to do Your will; for You are my God.” Anddepend upon it, the surest way to escape from harm is to do no ill. If you are surrounded by thosewho would slander you, your best defense is a blameless life! If many are watching for yourhalting and maliciously desiring your fall, your safety lies in holiness! The very best prayeryou can pray for your own protection is, “Teach me to do Your will.” If you do right, none canharm you. This prayer was suggested by the perplexity of the Psalmist’s mind. He was

overwhelmed and did not know what to do and, therefore, he cried, “Teach me to do Your will, OGod,” He had come to a place where many roads met and he did not know which path to takeand so he prayed God to guide him in the way appointed. I commend this prayer to all who maybe sorely puzzled and anxious. You have exercised your own judgment and you have, perhaps,consulted too much with friends and yet your way seems entirely blocked up—resort to God withthis as your heart’s prayer, “Teach me to do Your will; for You are my God.

There is faith in God in this claim. “You are my God”—and there is faith in God’s condescensionthat He will act as a Teacher. Brothers and Sisters, we have two faults. We do not think God to beas great as He is and we do not think God can be so little as He can be. We err on both sides andneither know His height of Glory nor His depth of Grace. We practically say, “This trial is toomenial. I will bear it without Him.” We forget that the same God who rules the stars condescendsto be a Teacher and teaches us to do His will! We heard, once, of a president of a great nationwho, nevertheless, taught in a Sunday school—it was thought to be great condescension—butwhat shall I say of Him who, while He sits amid the choirs of angels and accepts their praises,comes down to His little children and teaches them to do His will? The prayer before us is veryprecious, for it is holy, humble, docile, acquiescent and believing.

Let us now notice what the actual request is. In so many words it says, “Teach me to do Yourwill.” So, Brothers and Sisters, it is a practical prayer. He does not say merely, “Teach me to know

Your will”—a very excellent prayer, that—but there are a great many who stick fast in theknowing and do not go on to the doing! These are forgetful hearers deceiving themselves. Anounce of doing is worth a ton of knowing! The most orthodox faith in the world, if it isaccompanied by an unholy life, will only increase a man’s damnation. There must be the yieldingup of the members and of the mind unto God in obedience, or else the more we know, the greaterwill be our condemnation!

5. Alexander Maclaren, “These two clauses mean substantially the same thing. The Psalmist’slongings are expressed in the first of them in plain words, and in the second in a figure. ‘To doGod’s will’ is to be in ‘the land of uprightness.’ That phrase, in its literal application, means astretch of level country, and hence is naturally employed as an emblem of a moral or religiouscondition. A life of obedience to the will of God is likened to some far stretching plain, easy totraverse, broken by no barren mountains or frowning cliffs, but basking, peaceful and fruitful,beneath the smile of God. Into such a garden of the Lord the Psalmist prays to be led.In each case his prayer is based upon a motive or plea. ‘Thou art my God’; his faith apprehendsa personal bond between him and God, and feels that that bond obliges God to teach him Hiswill. If we adopt the reading in our Bibles of our second clause a still deeper and more wonderfulplea is presented there. ‘Thy Spirit is good,’ and therefore the trusting spirit has a right to ask tobe made good likewise. The relation of the believing spirit to God not only obliges God to teach itHis will, but to make it partaker of His own image and conformed to His own purity. So high onwings of faith and desire soared this man, who, at the beginning of his psalm, was crushed to thedust by enemies and by dangers. So high we may rise by like means.

I. otice, then, first, the supreme desire of the devout soul.

We do not know who wrote this psalm. The superscription says that it was David’s, and althoughits place in the Psalter seems to suggest another author, the peculiar fervour and closeness ofintimacy with God which breathes through it are like the Davidic psalms, and seem to confirmthe superscription. If so, it will naturally fall into its place with the others which were pressed

from his heart by the rebellion of Absalom. But be that as it may, whosoever wrote the psalm, wasa man in extremest misery and peril, and as he says of himself, ‘persecuted,’ ‘overwhelmed,’‘desolate.’ The tempest blows him to the Throne of God, and when he is there, what does he ask?Deliverance? Scarcely. In one clause, and again at the end, as if by a kind of after-thought, heasks for the removal of the calamities. But the main burden of his prayer is for a closerknowledge of God, the sound of His lovingkindness in his inward ear, light to show him the waywherein he should walk, and the sweet sunshine of God’s face upon his heart. There is a betterthing to ask than exemption from sorrows, even grace to bear them rightly. The supreme desireof the devout soul is practical conformity to the will of God. For the prayer of our text is not‘Teach me to know Thy will.’ The Psalmist, indeed, has asked that in a previous clause—‘Causeme to know the way wherein I should walk.’ But knowledge is not all that we need, and the gulfbetween knowledge and practice is so deep that after we have prayed that we may be caused toknow the way, and have received the answer, there still remains the need for God’s help thatknowledge may become life, and that all which we understand we may do. To such practicalconformity to the will of God all other aspects of religion are meant to be subservient.

Christianity is a revelation of truth, but to accept it as such is not enough. Christianity brings tome exemption from punishment, escape from hell, deliverance from condemnation and guilt, andby some of us, that is apt to be regarded as the whole Gospel; but pardon is only a means to anend. Christianity brings to us the possibility of indulgence in sweet and blessed emotions, and afervour of feeling which to experience is the ante-past of heaven, and for some of us, all ourreligion goes off in vaporous emotion; but feeling alone is not Christianity. Our religion brings tous sweet and gracious consolations, but it is a poor affair if we only use it as an anodyne and acomfort. Our Christianity brings to us glorious hopes that flash lustre into the darkness, andmake the solitude of the grave companionship, and the end of earth the beginning of life, but it isa poor affair if the mightiest operation of our religion be relegated to a future, and flung on to theclose. All these things, the truth which the Gospel brings, the pardon and peace of consciencewhich it ensures, the joyful emotion which it sets loose from the ice of indifference, the sweetconsolations with which it pillows the weary head and bandages the bleeding heart, and the greathopes which flash light into glazing eyes, and make the end glorious with the rays of a beginning,and the western heaven bright with the promise of a new day—all these things are butsubservient means to this highest purpose, that we should do the will of God, and be conformedto His image. They whose religion has not reached that apex have yet to understand its highestmeaning. The river of the water of life that proceeds from the Throne of God and the Lamb is notsent merely to refresh thirsty lips, and to bring music into the silence of a waterless desert, but itis sent to drive the wheels of life. Action, not thought, is the end of God’s revelation, and theperfecting of man.

You and I have Jesus Christ for our Teacher, the answer to the psalm. His teaching is inward anddeep and real, and answers to all the necessities of the case. We have His example to stand as ourperfect law. If we want to know what is God’s will, we have only to turn to that life; and howeverdifferent from ours His may have been in its outward circumstances, and however fragmentaryand brief its records in the Gospels may sometimes seem to us, yet in these little booklets, tellingof the quiet life of the carpenter’s Son, there is guidance for every man and woman in allcircumstances, however complicated, and we do not need anything more to teach us what God’swill is than the life of Jesus Christ. His teaching goes deeper than example. He comes into ourhearts, He moulds our wills. His teaching is by inward impulses and communications of desireand power to do, as well as of light to know. A law has been given which can give life. As themodeller will take a piece of wax into his hand, and by warmth and manipulation make it softand pliable, so Jesus Christ, if we let Him, will take our hard hearts into His hands, and by

gentle, loving, subtle touches, will shape them into the pattern of His own perfect beauty, and willmould all their vagrant inclinations and aberrant distortions into ‘one immortal feature ofloveliness and perfection.’ ‘The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all menteaching that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,’ controllingourselves, ‘righteously,’ fulfilling all our obligations to our fellows, ‘and godly,’ referringeverything to Him, ‘in this present world.’”

5B. Calvin, “Teach me that I may do thy will. He now rises to something higher, praying notmerely for deliverance from outward troubles, but, what is of still greater importance, for theguidance of God’s Spirit, that he might not decline to the right hand or to the left, but be kept inthe path of rectitude. This is a request which should never be forgotten when temptations assailus with great severity, as it is peculiarly difficult to submit to God without resorting tounwarrantable methods of relief. As anxiety, fear, disease, languor, or pain, often tempt personsto particular steps, David’s example should bad us to pray for divine restraint, and that we maynot be hurried, through impulses of feeling, into unjustifiable courses. We are to mark carefullyhis way of expressing himself, for what he asks is not simply to be taught what the will of God is,but to be taught and brought to the observance, and doing of it. The former kind of teaching is ofless avail, as upon God’s showing us our duty we by no means necessarily follow it, and it isnecessary that he should draw out our affections to himself. God therefore must be master andteacher to us not only in the dead letter, but by the inward motions of his Spirit; indeed there arethree ways in which he acts the part of our teacher, instructing us by his word, enlightening ourminds by the Spirit, and engraving instruction upon our hearts, so as to bring us observe it with atrue and cordial consent. The mere hearing of the word would serve no purpose, nor is it enoughthat we understand it; there must be besides the willing’ obedience of the heart. or does hemerely say, Teach me that I may be capable of doing, as the deluded Papists imagine that thegrace of God does no more than make us flexible to what is good, but he seeks something to beactually and presently done.

He insists upon the same thing in the next clause, when he says, Let thy good Spirit lead me, etc.,for he desires the guidance of the Spirit not merely as he enlightens our minds, but as heeffectually influences the consent of our hearts, and as it were leads us by the hand. The passagein its connection warns us of the necessity of being sedulously on our guard against yielding toinordinate passions in any contests we may have with wicked persons, and as we have nosufficient wisdom or power of our own by which to check and restrain these passions, that weshould always seek the guidance of God’s Spirit, to keep them in moderation. More generally, thepassage teaches us what we are to think of free will; for David here denies the will to have thepower of judging rightly, till our hearts be formed to a holy obedience by the Spirit of God. Theterm leading, which I have already adverted to, proves also that David did not hold that middlespecies of grace which Papists talk so much about, and which leaves man in a state of suspensionor indecision, but asserts something much more effectual, agreeably to what Paul says,(Philippians 2:13,) that

“it is God who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

By the words right hand, I understand, figuratively, uprightness; David’s meaning being, that weare drawn into error whenever we decline from what is agreeable to the will of God. The termSpirit is tacitly opposed to that corruption which is natural to us; what he says being tantamountto this, that all men’s thoughts are polluted and perverted, till reduced to right rule by the grace

of the Spirit. It follows that nothing which is dictated by the judgment of the flesh is good orsound. I grant that wicked men are led away by an evil spirit sent from God, for he executes hisjudgments by the agency of devils, (1 Samuel 16:14;) but when David in this place speaks ofGod’s good Spirit, I do not imagine that he has any such strained allusion, but rather that hetakes here to himself the charge of corruption, and assigns the praise of whatever is good,upright, or true, to the Spirit of God. When he says, Because thou art my God, he shows that hisconfidence of obtaining his request was founded entirely upon the free favor and promises ofGod. It is not a matter lying within our own power to make him our God, but it rests with his freepreventing grace.”

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 10. Teach me to do thy will. He saith not, Teach me to know thy will,but to do thy will. God teaches us in three ways. First, by his word. Secondly, he illuminates ourminds by the Spirit. Thirdly, he imprints it in our hearts and maketh us obedient to the same; forthe servant who knoweth the will of his master, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with manystripes: Luke 12:47. --Archibald Symson. Verse 10. Teach me to do thy will. We are to pray that God would teach us to know, and then teachus to do, his will. Knowledge without obedience is lame, obedience without knowledge is blind;and we must never hope for acceptance if we offer the blind and the lame to God. --Vincent Alsop(-1703), in "The Morning Exercises."

Verse 10. Teach me to do thy will. The Lord doth no sooner call his people to, himself, but as soonas ever he hath thus crowned them with these glorious privileges, and given them any sense andfeeling of them, them they immediately cry out, O Lord, what shall I now do for thee? How shallI now live to thee? They know now that they are no more their own, but his; and therefore shouldnow live to him.

It is true indeed obedience to the law is not required of us now as it was of Adam; it was requiredof him as a condition antecedent to life, but of those that be in Christ it is required only as a dutyconsequent to life, or as a rule of life, that seeing he hath purchased our lives in redemption, andactually given us life in vocation and sanctification, we should now live unto him, in all thankfuland fruitful obedience, according to his will revealed in the moral law. It is a vain thing toimagine that our obedience is to have no other rule but the Spirit, without an attendance to thelaw: the Spirit is indeed the efficient cause of our obedience, and hence we are said to be "led bythe Spirit" (Romans 8:14); but it is not properly the rule of our obedience, but the will of Godrevealed in his word, especially in the law, is the rule; the Spirit is the wind that drives us in ourobedience; the law is our compass, according to which it steers our course for us: the Spirit andthe law, the wind and the compass, can stand well together. Teach me to do thy will; for thou artmy God (there is David's rule, viz., God's will revealed); Thy Spirit is good (there is David's wind,that enabled him to steer his course according to it). The Spirit of life doth free us from the law ofsin and death; but not from the holy, and pure, and good, and righteous law of God. Romans 8:1-3. --Thomas Shepherd, in "The Sound Believer", 1671.

Verse 10. Teach me to do thy will, etc. We are inclined and enabled to good by the sanctifyingSpirit. In the Christian religion, not only the precepts are good, but there goeth along with themthe power of God to make us good. Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy Spirit isgood. The Spirit's direction hath strength joined with it. And he is a good Spirit, as he dothincline us to good. The Spirit is the only fountain of all goodness and holiness: ehemiah 9:20,"Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them." Why is he so often called the good Spirit, butthat all his operations tend to make men good and holy? Ephesians 5:9, "The fruit of the Spirit is

in all goodness and righteousness and truth." -- Thomas Manton.

Verse 10. Thy Spirit is good; lead me, says the Psalmist. And therefore it is a usual phrase inRomans 8:1-39, and Galatians 4:1-31, our being led by the Spirit. --Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 10. Lead me into the land of uprightness, into the communion of saints, that pleasant land ofthe upright; or into a settled course of holy living, which will lead to heaven, that land ofuprightness, where holiness will be in perfection, and he that is holy will be holy still. We shoulddesire to be led and kept safe to heaven, not only because it is a land of blessedness, but because itis a land of uprightness; it is the perfection of grace. -- Matthew Henry.

Verse 10. Lead me. Man by nature is as a cripple and blind, he cannot go upright unless he be ledby a superior spirit; yea, he must be carried as an eagle carrieth her little ones, or as a motherher tender child. Think not that we can step one right step to heaven but by the conduct andconvoy of God's Holy Spirit. Miserable are those who go without his conduction. --ArchibaldSymson.

Verse 10. The land of uprightness. Mishor is the name for the smooth upland downs of Moab(Deuteronomy 3:10 Joshua 13:17 20:8 Jeremiah 48:8,21). Derived from the root "yashar", "even,level plain", it naturally came to be used figuratively for equity, right, righteous, and uprightness.Malachi 2:6 Isaiah 11:4 Psalms 45:7 67:5 143:10. --Cunningham Geikie, in "Hours with theBible", 1884.

Verse 10. The land of uprightness. The land of plainness, a land where no wickedness of men, andmalice of Satan, vex the soul from day to day; a land where no rough paths and crooked turnslengthen out the traveller's weary journey (see Psalms 143:5); but where all is like the smoothpasture lands of Reuben (Deuteronomy 3:10 Joshua 13:9), a fit place for flocks to lie down.--Andrew A. Bonar.

11 For your name’s sake, LORD, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.0

1. Barnes, “Quicken me, O Lord - Give me life. Compare the notes at Eph_2:1. Make me equal tomy circumstances, for I am ready to sink and to yield.

For thy name’s sake - For thine honor. Compare the notes at Dan_9:17-18. It is in thy cause.Thou wilt thus show thy power, thy faithfulness, thy goodness. Thou wilt thus get honor tothyself. This is the highest motive which can influence us - that God may be glorified.

For thy righteousness’ sake - Thy justice; thy truth; thy faithfulness in performing thypromises and pledges.

Bring my soul out of trouble - Out of this trouble and distress. See the notes at Psa_25:17.

2. Gill, “ Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake,.... Being like one dead, Psa_143:3; that is,

revive and cheer his drooping spirit, ready to fail, being overwhelmed within him, Psa_143:4; aswell as revive the work of grace in him; and quicken his soul to the exercise of grace, anddischarge of duty; and this he desires not only for his own soul's good, but for the glory of God,that his name might be hououred, and not blasphemed;

for thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble; for as he had his bodily troubles andother outward affliction, he had soul troubles, through the corruptions of his nature, thetemptations of Satan, and the hidings of God's face; which beset him around, and greatlystraitened and afflicted him, and filled him with doubts and fears; from all which he desiresdeliverance, for the sake of the righteousness of God, or his faithfulness to his promise, that hewould deliver his people in distress when they called upon him; See Gill on Psa_143:1. Thisinterprets the meaning of the petition in Psa_142:7.

3. Henry, “ “For thy righteousness-sake, bring my soul out of trouble, for thy promise-sake, nay,for thy mercy-sake” (for some by righteousness understand kindness and goodness); “do not onlydeliver me from my outward trouble, but from the trouble of my soul, the trouble that threatensto overwhelm my spirit. Whatever trouble I am in, Lord, let not my heart be troubled,”Joh_14:1.”

3B. Calvin, “For thy name’s sake, O Jehovah! etc. By this expression he makes it still more clearthat it was entirely of God’s free mercy that he looked for deliverance; for, had he broughtforward anything of his own, the cause would not have been in God, and only in God. He is saidto help us for his own name’s sake, when, although he discovers nothing in us to conciliate hisfavor, he is induced to interpose of his mere goodness. To the same effect is the termrighteousness; for God, as I have said elsewhere, has made the deliverance of his people a meansof illustrating his righteousness. He at the same time repeats what he had said as to theextraordinary extent of his afflictions: in seeking to be quickened or made alive, he declareshimself to be exanimated, and that he must remain under the power of death, if the God who hasthe issues of life did not recover him by a species of resurrection.”

4. Spurgeon, “Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's. sake. Oh for more life as well as more light!Teaching and leading call for invigoration, or we shall be dull scholars and slow pilgrims.Jehovah, the Lord and giver of life, is the only one from whom life can come to renew and reviveus; -- hence, the prayer is to him only. Perchance a servant might teach and lead, but only theMaster can enliven. We are often near to death, and hence each one may fitly cry, "Quicken me";but what is there in us which we can plead as a reason for such a favour? othing, literallynothing. We must beg it for his name's sake. He must quicken us because he is the living God, theloving God, the Lord who delighteth in mercy. What blessed arguments lie clustered together inhis glorious name! We need never cease praying for want of acceptable pleas; and we may alwaysfall back upon the one before us -- "thy name's sake." It will render the name of Jehovah themore glorious in the eyes of men if he creates a high degree of spiritual life in his servants; andthis is a reason for his doing so, which we may urge with much confidence. For thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble. Let men see that thou art on the side ofright, and that thou wilt not allow the wicked to ride roughshod over those who trust in thee.Thou hast promised to succour thy people; thou art not unrighteous to forget their work of faith;thou art, on the contrary, righteous in answering sincere player, and in comforting thy people.David was heavily afflicted. ot only was there trouble in his soul, but his soul was in trouble;plunged in it as in a sea, shut up in it as in a prison. God could bring him out of it, and especiallyhe could at once lift up his soul or spirit out of the ditch. The prayer is an eager one, and the

appeal a bold one. We may be sure that trouble was soon over when the Lord heard suchsupplications.

5. Treasury of David, “Verse 11. Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's sake. For the sake of thineown glory, that thou mayest show thyself to be the God of lovingkindness and power which thouart esteemed to be. --Andrew Robert Fausset. Verse 11. For thy righteousness' sake. It is worthy of observation that the Psalmist pleads God'srighteousness as the Foundation on which he bases his supplication for the deliverance of his soulfrom trouble, and God's lovingkindness or mercy as that on which he grounds his prayer, or hisconviction, that God will destroy his enemies. This is not the language of a revengeful andbloodthirsty spirit. --Speaker's Commentary.

Verse 11. Bring my soul out of trouble. I can bring it in, but thou only canst bring it out. -- JohnTrapp.

Verse 11-12. Thy name's sake ... thy righteousness' sake ... And of thy mercy. Mark here, my soul,with what three cords David seeks to draw God to grant him his suits: for his name's sake, for hisrighteousness' sake, and for his mercy's sake, -- three such motives, that it must be a very hardsuit that God will deny, if either of them be used. But though all the three be strong motives, yetas David riseth in his suits, so he may seem also to rise in his motives; and by this account; for hisrighteousness' sake will prove a motive of a higher degree than for his name's sake, and for hismercy's sake the highest of them all -- as indeed his mercy seat is the highest part of all his ark, ifit be not rather that as the attributes of God, so these motives, that are drawn from the attributes,are of equal preeminence. But if the three motives be all of them so strong, being each of themsingle, how strong would they be if they were all united, and twisted, I may say, into one cord?And united they are all, indeed, into a motive, which God hath more clearly revealed to us thanhe did to David (although it be strange, seeing it was his Lord; and yet not strange, seeing it washis son); and this is the motive: for thy Son Christ Jesus' sake; for he is the verbum abbreviatumthe Word in brief, in whom are included all the motives -- all the powerful motives -- that can beused to God for obtaining our suits. --Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 11-12. The verbs in these two last verses, as Dr. Hammond hath noted, should be rendered inthe future; "Thou shalt quicken", etc., and then the psalm will end, as usual, with an act of faithand assurance, that all those mercies, which have been asked, shall be obtained; that God, for thesake of his "name", and his "righteousness", of his glory, and his faithfulness in the performanceof his promises, will not fail to be favourable and gracious to his servants, "quickening" themeven when dead in trespasses and sins, and bringing them, by degrees, "out of all their troubles":going forth with them to the battle against their spiritual "enemies", and enabling them tovanquish the authors of their "affliction" and misery, to mortify the flesh, and to overcome theworld; that so they may triumph with their Redeemer, in the day when he shall likewise quickentheir mortal bodies, and put all enemies under their feet. --George Horne.

12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes,

for I am your servant.

1. Barnes, “And of thy mercy ... - Thy mercy to me; thy mercy to the world. The destruction ofthe wicked is a favor to the universe; just as the arrest and punishment of a robber or a pirate is amercy to society, to mankind; just as every prison is a display of “mercy” as well as of “justice” -mercy to society at large; justice to the offenders. And destroy all them that afflict my soul - Cutthem off; render them powerless to do mischief. For I am thy servant - ot as a matter of privatefeeling - not for personal revenge - but because I am in thy service, and it is only by beingdelivered from these dangers that I can honor thee as I would. It is thine own cause, and I askthat they may be cut off “in order” that the service which I might render thee may beunembarrassed.

2. Clarke, “And of thy mercy - To me and the kingdom. Cut off mine enemies - Who, if theysucceed, will destroy the very form of godliness. The steps he has already taken show that evenmorality shall have no countenance, if Absalom reign. I am thy servant - Whoever is disloyal tome, I will love and serve thee. For a full explanation of this Psalm, as applied to penitents, see theanalysis.

3. Gill, “ And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies,.... Which, though an act of vindictive justice,and terrible righteousness to them, would be an act of grace and mercy to him, who therebywould be delivered from them: or, "for thy grace" (b); for the sake of it, for the honour of it, dothis; those being, as Cocceius thinks, despisers of the grace of God;

and destroy all them that afflict my soul; by their persecutions, reproaches, and blasphemies.These clauses, with those in Psa_143:11, are read in the future tense, "thou shalt quicken--bringout--cut off--destroy", in the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions; and so may beconsidered as a prophecy of what would be the case of David and his enemies, or of the Messiahand his, here typified; as well as a prayer for those things;

for I am thy servant; by creation, by redemption and grace; and by office, being set upon thethrone for the service of God and his people, and therefore pleads for his protection and help;and the rather, as he was the servant of God; and not they, his enemies, as Kimchi observes.

3B. Calvin, “And in thy mercy, etc. In this verse he repeats for the fifth or sixth time that helooked for life only of God’s free mercy. Whatever severity may appear on the part of God whenhe destroys the wicked, David affirms that the vengeance taken upon them would be a proof offatherly mercy to him. Indeed these two things often meet together — the severity and thegoodness of God; for in stretching out his hand to deliver his own people, he directs the thunderof his indignation against their enemies. In short, he comes forth armed for the deliverance of hispeople, as he says in Isaiah, “The day of vengeance is in mine heart, and this is the year of myredemption.” (Isaiah 63:4.)

In calling himself The servant of God, he by no means boasts of his services, but rather commendsthe grace of God, to whom he owed this privilege. This is not an honor to be got by our ownstruggles or exertions — to be reckoned among God’s servants; it depends upon his free choice,by which he condescends before we are born to take us into the number and rank of his followers,

as David elsewhere declares still more explicitly —“I am thy servant, truly I am thy servant, andthe son of thine handmaid.” (Psalm 116:16.)This is equivalent to making himself God’s client,and committing his life to his protection.”

4. Henry, ““Of thy mercy to me cut off my enemies, that I may be no longer in fear of them; and

destroy all those, whoever they be, how numerous, how powerful, soever, who afflict my soul, andcreate vexation to that; for I am thy servant, and am resolved to continue such, and therefore mayexpect to be owned and protected in thy service.” This prayer is a prophecy of the utterdestruction of all the impenitent enemies of Jesus Christ and his kingdom, who will not have himto reign over them, who grieve his Spirit, and afflict his soul, by afflicting his people, in whoseafflictions he is afflicted.

5. Spurgeon, “And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul.He believes that it will be so, and thus prophesies the event; for the words may be read as adeclaration, and it is better so to understand them. We could not pray just so with our Christianlight; but under Old Testament arrangements the spirit of it was congruous to the law. It is apetition which justice sanctions, but the spirit of love is not at home in presenting it. We, asChristians, turn the petition to spiritual use only. Yet David was of so generous a mind, and dealtso tenderly with Saul, that he could hardly have meant all that his words are made in our versionto say. For I am lay servant; and therefore I hope that my Master will protect me in his service,and grant me victory while I fight his battles. It is a warrior's prayer, and smells of the dust andsmoke of battle. It was heard, and therefore it was not asking amiss. Still there is a more excellentway.”

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 12. Of thy mercy cut off mine enemies. He desireth God to slay hisenemies in his mercy, when rather their destruction was a work of his justice? I answer, that thedestruction of the wicked is a mercy to the church. As God showed great mercy and kindness tohis church by the death of Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Herod, and other troublers thereof.--Archibald Symson. Verse 12. Cut off mine enemies, etc. When you find these imprecations to be prophecies of eventswhich the Psalmist himself could not understand; but were to be fulfilled in persons whom thePsalmist could not know, as they were to live in distant future ages, -- for instance, Judas, and theRomans, and leaders of the Jewish nation, -- who would make these imprecations proofs of arevengeful spirit? --James Bennet (1774- 1862), in "Lectures on the Acts of the Apostles", 1847.

Verse 12. I am thy servant. David the king professes himself one of God's pensioners. Paul, whenhe would blaze his coat of arms, and set forth his best heraldry, he doth not call himself Paul, anHebrew of the Hebrews, or Paul of the tribe of Benjamin, but Paul "a servant of Christ":Romans 1:1. Theodosius thought it a greater dignity to be God's servant than to be an emperor.Christ Himself, who is equal with his Father, yet is not ashamed of the title servant: Isaiah 53:11.Every servant of God is a son, every subject a prince: it is more honour to serve God than to havekings to serve us: the angels in heaven are servants to the saints. --Thomas Watson.