The
former part of this psalm is the prayer of a saint militant, and now in
distress (ver. 1-3), to which is added the doom of God's implacable enemies,
ver. 4, 5. The latter part of the psalm is the thanksgiving of a saint
triumphant, and delivered out of his distresses (ver. 6-8), to which is
added a prophetical prayer for all God's faithful loyal subjects, ver. 9. So
that it is hard to say which of these two conditions David was in when he
penned it. Some think he was now in trouble seeking God, but at the same
time preparing to praise him for his deliverance, and by faith giving him
thanks for it, before it was wrought. Others think he was now in triumph,
but remembered, and recorded for his own and others' benefit, the prayers he
made when he was in affliction, that the mercy might relish the better, when
it appeared to be an answer to them.
A psalm of David.
1
Unto thee will I cry, O LORD
my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become
like them that go down into the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my
supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy
oracle. 3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers
of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is
in their hearts. 4 Give them according to their deeds, and
according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of
their hands; render to them their desert. 5 Because they regard
not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build
them up.
In these verses David is
very earnest in prayer.
I. He prays that God would
graciously hear and answer him, now that, in his distress, he called upon
him, v. 1, 2. Observe his faith in prayer: O Lord, my rock,
denoting his belief of God's power (he is a rock) and his dependence upon
that power--"He is my rock, on whom I build my hope."
Observe his fervency in prayer: "To thee will I cry, as one in
earnest, being ready to sink, unless thou come in with seasonable
succour." And observe how solicitous he is to obtain an answer: "Be
not silent to me, as one angry at my prayers, Ps. lxxx. 4. Lord, speak
to me, answer me with good words and comfortable words (Zech. i. 13);
though the thing I pray for has not been given me, yet let God speak to me
joy and gladness, and make me to hear them. Lord, speak for me, in answer to
my prayers, plead my cause, command deliverances for me, and thus hear and
answer the voice of my supplications." Two things he pleads:-- 1. The
sad despair he should be in if God slighted him: "If thou be silent
to me, and I have not the tokens of thy favour, I am like those that
go down into the pit (that is, I am a dead man, lost and undone); if God
be not my friend, appear not to me and appear not for me, my hope and my
help will have perished." Nothing can be so cutting, so killing, to a
gracious soul, as the want of God's favour and the sense of his displeasure.
I shall be like those that go down to hell (so some understand it);
for what is the misery of the damned but this, that God is ever silent to
them and deaf to their cry? Those are in some measure qualified for God's
favour, and may expect it, who are thus possessed with a dread of his wrath,
and to whom his frowns are worse than death. 2. The good hopes he had that
God would favour him: I lift up my hands towards thy holy oracle,
which denotes, not only an earnest desire, but an earnest expectation,
thence to receive an answer of peace. The most holy place within the veil is
here, as elsewhere, called the oracle; there the ark and the
mercy-seat were, there God was said to dwell between the cherubim,
and thence he spoke to his people, Num. vii. 89. That was a type of Christ,
and it is to him that we must lift up our eyes and hands, for through him
all good comes from God to us. It was also a figure of heaven (Heb. ix. 24);
and from God as our Father in heaven we are taught to expect an answer to
our prayers. The scriptures are called the oracles of God, and to
them we must have an eye in our prayers and expectations. There is the word
on which God hath caused and encouraged us to hope.
II. He deprecates the doom
of wicked people, as before (Ps. xxvi. 9, "Gather not my soul with
sinners): Lord, I attend thy holy oracle, draw me not away from
that with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity," v.
3. 1. "Save me from being entangled in the snares they have laid for
me. They flatter and cajole me, and speak peace to me; but they have a
design upon me, for mischief is in their heart; they aim to disturb
me, nay, to destroy me. Lord, suffer me not to be drawn away and ruined by
their cursed plots; for they have, can have, no power, no success, against
me, except it be given them from above." 2. "Save me from being
infected with their sins and from doing as they do. Let me not be drawn away
by their fallacious arguments, or their allurements, from the holy oracle
(where I desire to dwell all the days of my life), to practise any wicked
works;" see Ps. cxli. 4. "Lord, never leave me to myself, to use
such arts of deceit and treachery for my safety as they use to my ruin. Let
no event of Providence be an invincible temptation to me, to draw me either
into the imitation or into the interest of wicked people." Good men
dread the way of sinners; the best are sensible of the danger they are in of
being drawn aside into it; and therefore we should all pray earnestly to God
for his grace to keep us in our integrity. 3. "Save me from being
involved in their doom; let me not be led forth with the workers of
iniquity, for I am not one of those that speak peace while war is in their
hearts." Note, Those that are careful not to partake with sinners in
their sins have reason to hope that they shall not partake with them in
their plagues, Rev. xviii. 4.
III. He imprecates the
just judgments of God upon the workers of iniquity (v. 4): Give
them according to their deeds. This is not the language of passion or
revenge, nor is it inconsistent with the duty of praying for our enemies.
But, 1. Thus he would show how far he was from complying with the workers of
iniquity, and with what good reason he had begged not to be drawn away with
them, because he was convinced that they could not be made more miserable
then to be dealt with according to their deeds. 2. Thus he would express his
zeal for the honour of God's justice in the governing world. "Lord,
they think all well that they do, and justify themselves in their wicked
practices. Lord, give them after the work of their hands, and so
undeceive those about them, who think there is no harm in what they do
because it goes unpunished," Ps. xciv. 1, 2. 3. This prayer is a
prophecy that God will, sooner or later, render to all impenitent sinners
according to their deserts. If what has been done amiss be not undone by
repentance, there will certainly come a reckoning day, when God will render
to every man who persists in his evil deeds according to them. It is a
prophecy particularly of the destruction of destroyers: "They speak
peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts; Lord, give
them according to their deeds, let the spoilers be spoiled, and let
those be treacherously dealt with who have thus dealt treacherously;"
see Isa. xxxiii. 1; Rev. xviii. 6; xiii. 10. Observe, He foretels that God
will reward them, not only according to their deed, but according to the
wickedness of their endeavours; for sinners shall be reckoned with, not
only for the mischief they have done, but for the mischief they would have
done, which they designed, and did what they could to effect. And, if God go
by this rule in dealing with the wicked, surely he will do so in dealing
with the righteous, and will reward them, not only for the good they have
done, but for the good they have endeavoured to do, though they could not
accomplish it.
IV. He foretels their
destruction for their contempt of God and his hand (v. 5): "Because
they regard not the works of the Lord and the operations of his hands,
by which he manifests himself and speaks to the children of men, he will
destroy them in this world and in the other, and not build them up."
Note, A stupid regardlessness of the works of God is the cause of their
ruin. Why do men question the being or attributes of God, but because they
do not duly regard his handiworks, which declare his glory, and in which the
invisible things of him are clearly seen? Why do men forget God, and live
without him, nay, affront God, and live in rebellion against him, but
because they consider not the instances of that wrath of his which is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men?
Why do the enemies of God's people hate and persecute them, and devise
mischief against them, but because they regard not the works God has wrought
for his church, by which he has made it appear how dear it is to him? See
Isa. v. 12.
In singing this we must
arm ourselves against all temptations to join with the workers of iniquity,
and animate ourselves against all the troubles we may be threatened with by
the workers of iniquity.
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Devout
Thanksgiving and Praise.
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6
Blessed be the LORD,
because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. 7 The LORD
is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am
helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise
him. 8 The LORD
is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his
anointed. 9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed
them also, and lift them up for ever.
In these verses,
I. David gives God thanks
for the audience of his prayers as affectionately as a few verses before he
had begged it: Blessed be the Lord, v. 6. How soon are the
saints' sorrows turned into songs and their prayers into praises! It was in
faith that David prayed (v. 2), Hear the voice of my
supplications; and by the same faith he gives thanks (v. 6) that God
has heard the voice of his supplications. Note, 1. Those that pray in
faith may rejoice in hope. "He hath heard me (graciously accepted me)
and I am as sure of a real answer as if I had it already." 2. What we
win by prayer we must wear by praise. Has God heard our supplications? Let
us then bless his name.
II. He encourages himself
to hope in God for the perfecting of every thing that concerned him. Having
given to God the glory of his grace (v. 6), he is humbly bold to take
the comfort of it, v. 7. This is the method of attaining peace: let
us begin with praise that is attainable. Let us first bless God and then
bless ourselves. Observe, 1. His dependence upon God: "The Lord is
my strength, to support me, and carry me on, through all my services and
sufferings. He is my shield, to protect me from all the malicious
designs of my enemies against me. I have chosen him to be so, I have always
found him so, and I expect he will still be so." 2. His experience of
the benefits of that dependence: "My heart trusted in him, and
in his power and promise; and it has not been in vain to do so, for I am
helped, I have been often helped; not only God has given to me, in his
due time, the help I trusted to him for, but my very trusting in him has
helped me, in the mean time, and kept me from fainting." Ps. xxvii. 13.
The very actings of faith are present aids to a dropping spirit, and often
help it at a dead lift. 3. His improvement of this experience. (1.) He had
the pleasure of it: Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. The joy of a
believer is seated in the heart, while, in the laughter of the fool, the
heart is sorrowful. It is great joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory.
The heart that truly believes shall in due time greatly rejoice; it is joy
and peace in believing that we are to expect. (2.) God shall have the
praise of it: when my heart greatly rejoices, with my song will I praise
him. Thus must we express our gratitude; it is the least we can do; and
others will hereby be invited and encouraged to trust in him too.
III. He pleases himself
with the interest which all good people, through Christ, have in God (v.
8): "The Lord is their strength; not mine only, but the strength
of every believer." Note, The saints rejoice in their friends' comforts
as well as their own; for, as we have not the less benefit from the light of
the sun, so neither from the light of Gods' countenance, for others' sharing
therein; for we are sure there is enough for all and enough for each. This
is our communion with all saints, that God is their strength and ours,
Christ their Lord and ours, 1 Cor. i. 2. He is their strength, the strength
of all Israel, because he is the saving strength of his anointed,
that is, 1. Of David in the type. God, in strengthening him that was their
king and fought their battles, strengthened the whole kingdom. He calls
himself God's anointed because it was the unction he had received
that exposed him to the envy of his enemies, and therefore entitled him to
the divine protection. 2. Of Christ, his anointed, his Messiah, in the
anti-type. God was his saving strength, qualified him for his undertaking
and carried him through it; see Ps. lxxxix. 21; Isa. xlix. 5; l. 7, 9. And
so he becomes their strength, the strength of all the saints; he
strengthened him that is the church's head, and from him diffuses strength
to all the members, has commanded his strength, and so strengthens what
he has wrought for us; Ps. lxviii. 28; lxxx. 17, 18.
IV. He concludes with a
short but comprehensive prayer for the
church
of
God
, v. 9. He prays for
Israel
, not as his people ("save my people, and bless my inheritance"),
though they were so, but, "thine." God's interest in them
lay nearer his heart than his own. We are thy people is a good plea,
Isa. lxiv. 9; lxiii. 19. I am thine, save me. God's people are his
inheritance, dear to him, and precious in his eyes; what little glory he has
from this world he has from them. The Lord's portion is his people.
That which he begs of God for them is, 1. That he would save them from their
enemies and the dangers they were exposed to. 2. That he would bless them
with all good, flowing from his favour, in performance of his promise, and
amounting to a happiness for them. 3. That he would feed them, bless
them with plenty, and especially the plenty of his ordinances, which are
food to the soul. Rule them; so the margin. "Direct their
counsels and actions aright, and overrule their affairs for good. Feed them,
and rule them; set pastors, set rulers, over them, that shall do their
office with wisdom and understanding." 4. That he would lift them up
for ever, lift them up out of their troubles and distresses, and do
this, not only for those of that age, but for his people in every age to
come, even to the end. "Lift them up into thy glorious kingdom, lift
them up as high as heaven." There, and there only, will the saints be
lifted up for ever, never more to sink or be depressed. Observe, Those, and
those only, whom God feeds and rules, who are willing to be taught, and
guided, and governed, by him, shall be saved, and blessed, and lifted up for
ever.
