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Psalm Seventy-seven
Psalm 77
Chapter Contents
The psalmist's troubles and temptation. (1-10) He
encourages himself by the remembrance of God's help of his people. (11-20)
Commentary on Psalm 77:1-10
(Read Psalm 77:1-10)
Days of trouble must be days of prayer; when God seems to
have withdrawn from us, we must seek him till we find him. In the day of his
trouble the psalmist did not seek for the diversion of business or amusement,
but he sought God, and his favor and grace. Those that are under trouble of
mind, must pray it away. He pored upon the trouble; the methods that should
have relieved him did but increase his grief. When he remembered God, it was
only the Divine justice and wrath. His spirit was overwhelmed, and sank under
the load. But let not the remembrance of the comforts we have lost, make us
unthankful for those that are left. Particularly he called to remembrance the
comforts with which he supported himself in former sorrows. Here is the
language of a sorrowful, deserted soul, walking in darkness; a common case even
among those that fear the Lord, Isaiah 50:10. Nothing wounds and pierces like
the thought of God's being angry. God's own people, in a cloudy and dark day,
may be tempted to make wrong conclusions about their spiritual state, and that
of God's kingdom in the world. But we must not give way to such fears. Let
faith answer them from the Scripture. The troubled fountain will work itself
clear again; and the recollection of former times of joyful experience often raises
a hope, tending to relief. Doubts and fears proceed from the want and weakness
of faith. Despondency and distrust under affliction, are too often the
infirmities of believers, and, as such, are to be thought upon by us with
sorrow and shame. When, unbelief is working in us, we must thus suppress its
risings.
Commentary on Psalm 77:11-20
(Read Psalm 77:11-20)
The remembrance of the works of God, will be a powerful
remedy against distrust of his promise and goodness; for he is God, and changes
not. God's way is in the sanctuary. We are sure that God is holy in all his
works. God's ways are like the deep waters, which cannot be fathomed; like the
way of a ship, which cannot be tracked. God brought Israel out of Egypt. This
was typical of the great redemption to be wrought out in the fulness of time,
both by price and power. If we have harboured doubtful thoughts, we should,
without delay, turn our minds to meditate on that God, who spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all, that with him, he might freely give us
all things.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 77
Verse 2
[2] In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran
in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.
Night — Which to others was a time of rest and quietness.
Verse 3
[3] I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my
spirit was overwhelmed. /*Selah*/.
Troubled — Yea, the thoughts of God were now a matter of trouble,
because he was angry with me.
Overwhelmed — So far was I from finding relief.
Verse 4
[4] Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I
cannot speak.
Waking — By continual grief.
Verse 5
[5] I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient
times.
The days — The mighty works of God in former times.
Verse 6
[6] I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune
with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.
My song — The mercies of God vouchsafed to me, and to his
people, which have obliged me to sing his praises, not only in the day, but
also by night.
Verse 7
[7] Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be
favourable no more?
Cut off — His peculiar people.
Verse 10
[10] And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember
the years of the right hand of the most High.
I said — These suspicions of God's faithfulness proceed from
the weakness of my faith.
The years — The years wherein God hath done
great and glorious works, which are often ascribed to God's right-hand.
Verse 13
[13] Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a
God as our God?
In holiness — God is holy and just, and true in
all his works.
Verse 16
[16] The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they
were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
Afraid — And stood still, as men astonished, do.
Verse 17
[17] The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound:
thine arrows also went abroad.
Poured — When the Israelites passed over the sea.
Arrows — Hail-stones or lightnings.
Verse 19
[19] Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters,
and thy footsteps are not known.
Not known — Because the water returned and
covered them.
Verse 20
[20] Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of
Moses and Aaron.
Leddest — First through the sea, and afterwards through the
wilderness, with singular care and tenderness, as a shepherd doth his sheep.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
Other Works
TITLE. To the
Chief Musician, to Jeduthun. It was meet that another leader of the
psalmody should take his turn. No harp should be silent in the courts of the
Lord's house. A Psalm of Asaph. Asaph was a man of exercised mind, and
often touched the minor key; he was thoughtful, contemplative, believing, but
withal there was a dash of sadness about him, and this imparted a tonic flavour
to his songs. To follow him with understanding, it is needful to have done
business on the great waters, and weathered many an Atlantic gale.
DIVISION. If we follow
the poetical arrangement, and divide at the Selahs, we shall find the troubled
man of God pleading in Ps 77:1-3, and then we shall hear him lamenting and
arguing within himself, Ps 77:4-9. From Ps 77:10-15 his meditations run toward
God, and in the close he seems as in a vision to behold the wonders of the Red
Sea and the wilderness. At this point, as if lost in an ecstasy, he hurriedly
closes the Psalm with an abruptness, the effect of which is quite startling.
The Spirit of God knows when to cease speaking, which is more than those do
who, for the sake of making a methodical conclusion, prolong their words even
to weariness. Perhaps this Psalm was meant to be a prelude to the next, and, if
so, its sudden close is accounted for. The hymn now before us is for
experienced saints only, but to them it will be of rare value as a transcript
of their own inner conflicts.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. I cried unto God with my voice. This Psalm has much
sadness in it, but we may be sure it will end well, for it begins with prayer,
and prayer never has an ill issue. Asaph did not run to man but to the Lord,
and to him he went, not with studied, stately, stilted words, but with a cry,
the natural, unaffected, unfeigned expression of pain. He used his voice also,
for though vocal utterance is not necessary to the life of prayer, it often
seems forced upon us by the energy of our desires. Sometimes the soul feels
compelled to use the voice, for thus it finds a freer vent for its agony. It is
a comfort to hear the alarm bell ringing when the house is invaded by thieves.
Even unto God with my voice. He returned to his pleading. If once sufficed not,
he cried again. He needed an answer, he expected one, he was eager to have it
soon, therefore he cried again and again, and with his voice too, for the sound
helped his earnestness. And he gave ear unto me. Importunity prevailed. The
gate opened to the steady knock. It shall be so with us in our hour of trial,
the God of grace will hear us in due season.
Verse
2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. All day long
his distress drove him to his God, so that when night came he continued still
in the same search. God had hidden his face from his servant, therefore the
first care of the troubled saint was to seek his Lord again. This was going to
the root of the matter and removing the main impediment first. Diseases and
tribulations are easily enough endured when God is found of us, but without him
they crush us to the earth. My sore ran in the night, and ceased not. As by day
so by night his trouble was on him and his prayer continued. Some of us know
what it is, both physically and spiritually, to be compelled to use these
words: no respite has been afforded us by the silence of the night, our bed has
been a rack to us, our body has been in torment, and our spirit in anguish. It
appears that this sentence is wrongly translated, and should be, "my hand
was stretched out all night, "this shows that his prayer ceased not, but
with uplifted hand he continued to seek succour of his God. My soul refused to
be comforted. He refused some comforts as too weak for his case, others as
untrue, others as unhallowed; but chiefly because of distraction, he declined
even those grounds of consolation which ought to have been effectual with him.
As a sick man turns away even from the most nourishing food, so did he. It is
impossible to comfort those who refuse to be comforted. You may bring them to
the waters of the promise, but who shall make them drink if they will not do
so? Many a daughter of despondency has pushed aside the cup of gladness, and
many a son of sorrow has hugged his chains. There are times when we are
suspicious of good news, and are not to be persuaded into peace, though the
happy truth should be as plain before us as the King's highway.
Verse
3. I remembered God, and was troubled. He who is the
wellspring of delight to faith becomes an object of dread to the psalmist's
distracted heart. The justice, holiness, power, and truth of God have all a
dark side, and indeed all the attributed may be made to look black upon us if
our eye be evil; even the brightness of divine love blinds us, and fills us
with a horrible suspicion that we have neither part nor lot in it. He is
wretched indeed whose memories of the Ever Blessed prove distressing to him;
yet the best of men know the depth of this abyss. I complained, and my spirit
was overwhelmed. He mused and mused but only sank the deeper. His inward
disquietudes did not fall asleep as soon as they were expressed, but rather
they returned upon him, and leaped over him like raging billows of an angry
sea. It was not his body alone which smarted, but his noblest nature writhed in
pain, his life itself seemed crushed into the earth. It is in such a case that
death is coveted as a relief, for life becomes an intolerable burden. With no
spirit left in us to sustain our infirmity, our case becomes forlorn; like man
in a tangle of briars who is stripped of his clothes, every hook of the thorns
becomes a lancet, and we bleed with ten thousand wounds. Alas, my God, the
writer of this exposition well knows what thy servant Asaph meant, for his soul
is familiar with the way of grief. Deep glens and lonely caves of soul
depressions, my spirit knows full well your awful glooms! Selah. Let the song
go softly; this is no merry dance for the swift feet of the daughters of music,
pause ye awhile, and let sorrow take breath between her sighs.
Verse
4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. The fears which thy strokes
excite in me forbid my eyelids to fall, my eyes continue to watch as sentinels
forbidden to rest. Sleep is a great comforter, but it forsakes the sorrowful,
and then their sorrow deepens and eats into the soul. If God holds the eyes
waking, what anodyne shall give us rest? How much we owe to him who giveth his
beloved sleep! I am so troubled that I cannot speak. Great griefs are dumb.
Deep streams brawl not among the pebbles like the shallow brooklets which live
on passing showers. Words fail the man whose heart fails him. He had cried to
God but he could not speak to man, what a mercy it is that if we can do the
first, we need not despair though the second should be quite out of our power.
Sleepless and speechless Asaph was reduced to great extremities, and yet he
rallied, and even so shall we.
Verse
5. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
If no good was in the present, memory ransacked the past to find consolation.
She fain would borrow a light from the altars of yesterday to light the gloom
of today. It is our duty to search for comfort, and not in sullen indolence
yield to despair; in quiet contemplation topics may occur to us which will
prove the means of raising our spirits, and there is scarcely any theme more
likely to prove consolatory than that which deals with the days of yore, the
years of the olden time, when the Lord's faithfulness was tried and proven by
hosts of his people. Yet it seems that even this consideration created
depression rather than delight in the good man's soul, for he contrasted his
own mournful condition with all that was bright in the venerable experiences of
ancient saints, and so complained the more. Ah, sad calamity of a jaundiced
mind, to see nothing as it should be seen, but everything as through a veil of
mist.
Verse
6. I call to remembrance my song in the night. At other times
his spirit had a song for the darkest hour, but now he could only recall the
strain as a departed memory. Where is the harp which once thrilled
sympathetically to the touch of those joyful fingers? My tongue, hast thou
forgotten to praise? Hast thou no skill except in mournful ditties? Ah me, how
sadly fallen am I! How lamentable that I, who like the nightingale could charm
the night, am now fit comrade for the hooting owl. I commune with mine own
heart. He did not cease from introspection, for he was resolved to find the
bottom of his sorrow, and trace it to its fountain head. He made sure work of
it by talking not with his mind only, but with his inmost heart; it was heart
work with him. He was no idler, no melancholy trifler; he was up and at it,
resolutely resolved that he would not tamely die of despair, but would fight
for his hope to the last moment of life. And my spirit made diligent search. He
ransacked his experience, his memory, his intellect, his whole nature, his
entire self, either to find comfort or to discover the reason why it was denied
him. That man will not die by the hand of the enemy who has enough force of
soul remaining to struggle in this fashion.
Verse
7. Wilt the Lord cast off forever? This was one of the
matters he enquired into. He painfully knew that the Lord might leave his
people for a season, but his fear was that the time might be prolonged and have
no close; eagerly, therefore, he asked, will the Lord utterly and finally
reject those who are his own, and suffer them to be the objects of his
contemptuous reprobation, his everlasting cast offs? This he was persuaded
could not be. No instance in the years of ancient times led him to fear that
such could be the case. And will he be favourable no more? Favourable he had
been; would that goodwill never again show itself? Was the sun set never to
rise again? Would spring never follow the long and dreary winter? The questions
are suggested by fear, but they are also the cure for fear. It is a blessed
thing to have grace enough to look such questions in the face, for their answer
is self evident and eminently fitted to cheer the heart.
Verse
8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? If he has no love for
his elect, has he not still his mercy left? Has that dried up? Has he no pity
for the sorrowful? Doth his promise fail for evermore? His word is pledged to
those who plead with him; is that become of none effect? Shall it be said that
from one generation to another the Lord's word has fallen to the ground;
whereas aforetime he kept his covenant to all generations of them that fear
him? It is a wise thing thus to put unbelief through the catechism. Each one of
the questions is a dart aimed at the very heart of despair. Thus have we also
in our days of darkness done battle for life itself.
Verse
9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Has El, the Mighty One,
become great in everything but grace? Does he know how to afflict, but not how
to uphold? Can he forget anything? Above all, can he forget to exercise that
attribute which lies nearest to his essence, for he is love? Hath he in anger
shut up his tender mercies? Are the pipes of goodness choked up so that love
can no more flow through them? Do the bowels of Jehovah no longer yearn towards
his own beloved children? Thus with cord after cord unbelief is smitten and
driven out of the soul; it raises questions and we will meet it with questions:
it makes us think and act ridiculously, and we will heap scorn upon it. The
argument of this passage assumes very much the form of a reductio ad
absurdam. Strip it naked, and mistrust is a monstrous piece of folly.
Selah. Here rest awhile, for the battle of questions needs a lull.
Verse
10. And I said, This is my infirmity. He has won the day, he
talks reasonably now, and surveys the field with a cooler mind. He confesses that
unbelief is an infirmity, a weakness, a folly, a sin. He may also be understood
to mean, "this is my appointed sorrow, "I will bear it without
complaint. When we perceive that our affliction is meted out by the Lord, and
is the ordained portion of our cup, we become reconciled to it, and no longer
rebel against the inevitable. Why should we not be content if it be the Lord's
will? What he arranges it is not for us to cavil at. But I will remember the
years of the right hand of the most High. Here a good deal is supplied by our
translators, and they make the sense to be that the psalmist would console
himself by remembering the goodness of God to himself and others of his people
in times gone by: but the original seems to consist only of the words, "the
years of the right hand of the most High, "and to express the idea that
his long continued affliction, reaching through several years, was allotted to
him by the Sovereign Lord of all. It is well when a consideration of the divine
goodness and greatness silences all complaining, and creates a childlike
acquiescence.
Verse
11. I will remember the works of the Lord. Fly back my soul,
away from present turmoil, to the grandeurs of history, the sublime deeds of
Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts; for he is the same and is ready even now to defend
his servants as in days of yore. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
Whatever else may glide into oblivion, the marvellous works of the Lord in the
ancient days must not be suffered to be forgotten. Memory is a fit handmaid for
faith. When faith has its seven years of famine, memory like Joseph in Egypt
opens her granaries.
Verse
12. I will meditate also of all thy work. Sweet work to enter
into Jehovah's work of grace, and there to lie down and ruminate, every thought
being absorbed in the one precious subject. And talk of thy doings. It is well
that the overflow of the mouth should indicate the good matter which fills the
heart. Meditation makes rich talking; it is to be lamented that so much of the
conversation of professors is utterly barren, because they take no time for
contemplation. A meditative man should be a talker, otherwise he is a mental
miser, a mill which grinds corn only for the miller. The subject of our
meditation should be choice, and then our task will be edifying; if we meditate
on folly and affect to speak wisdom, our double mindedness will soon be known
unto all men. Holy talk following upon meditation has a consoling power in it
for ourselves as well as for those who listen, hence its value in the connection
in which we find it in this passage.
Verse
13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, or in holiness.
In the holy place we understand our God, and rest assured that all his ways are
just and right. When we cannot trace his way, because it is "in the sea,
"it is a rich consolation that we can trust it, for it is in holiness. We
must have fellowship with holiness if we would understand "the ways of God
to man." He who would be wise must worship. The pure in heart shall see
God, and pure worship is the way to the philosophy of providence. Who is so
great a God as our God? In him the good and the great are blended. He surpasses
in both. None can for a moment be compared with the mighty One of Israel.
Verse
14. Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou alone art
Almighty. The false gods are surrounded with the pretence of wonders, but you
really work them. It is thy peculiar prerogative to work marvels; it is no new
or strange thing with thee, it is according to thy wont and use. Herein is
renewed reason for holy confidence. It would be a great wonder if we did not
trust the wonder working God. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people.
Not only Israel, but Egypt, Bashan, Edom, Philistia, and all the nations have
seen Jehovah's power. It was no secret in the olden time and to this day it is
published abroad. God's providence and grace are both full of displays of his
power; he is in the latter peculiarly conspicuous as "mighty to
save." Who will not be strong in faith when there is so strong an arm to
lean upon? Shall our trust be doubtful when his power is beyond all question?
My soul see to it that these considerations banish thy mistrusts.
Verse
15. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of
Jacob and Joseph. All Israel, the two tribes of Joseph as well as those
which sprang from the other sons of Jacob, were brought out of Egypt by a
display of divine power, which is here ascribed not to the hand but to the arm
of the Lord, because it was the fulness of his might. Ancient believers were in
the constant habit of referring to the wonders of the Red Sea, and we also can
unite with them, taking care to add the song of the Lamb to that of Moses, the
servant of God. The comfort derivable from such a meditation is obvious and
abundant, for he who brought up his people from the house of bondage will
continue to redeem and deliver till we come into the promised rest. Selah. Here
we have another pause preparatory to a final burst of song.
Verse
16. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were
afraid. As if conscious of its Maker's presence, the sea was ready to flee
from before his face. The conception is highly poetical, the psalmist has the
scene before his mind's eye, and describes it gloriously. The water saw its
God, but man refuses to discern him; it was afraid, but proud sinners are
rebellious and fear not the Lord. The depths also were troubled. To their heart
the floods were made afraid. Quiet caves of the sea, far down in the abyss,
were moved with fear; and the lowest channels were left bare, as the water
rushed away from its place, in terror of the God of Israel.
Verse
17. The clouds poured out water. Obedient to the Lord, the
lower region of the atmosphere yielded its aid to overthrow the Egyptian host.
The cloudy chariots of heaven hurried forward to discharge their floods. The
skies sent out a sound. From the loftier aerial regions thundered the dread
artillery of the Lord of Hosts. Peal on peal the skies sounded over the heads
of the routed enemies, confusing their minds and adding to their horror. Thine
arrows also went abroad. Lightnings flew like bolts from the bow of God.
Swiftly, hither and thither, went the red tongues of flame, on helm and shield
they gleamed; anon with blue bale fires revealing the innermost caverns of the
hungry sea which waited to swallow up the pride of Mizraim. Behold, how all the
creatures wait upon their God, and show themselves strong to overthrow his
enemies.
Verse
18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven, or in the
whirlwind. Rushing on with terrific swiftness and bearing all before it,
the storm was as a chariot driven furiously, and a voice was heard (even thy
voice, O Lord!) out of the fiery car, even as when a mighty man in battle urges
forward his charger, and shouts to it aloud. All heaven resounded with the
voice of the Lord. The lightnings lightened the world. The entire globe shone
in the blaze of Jehovah's lightnings. No need for other light amid the battle
of that terrible night, every wave gleamed in the fire flashes, and the shore
was lit up with the blaze. How pale were men's faces in that hour, when all
around the fire leaped from sea to shore, from crag to hill, from mountain to
star, till the whole universe was illuminated in honour of Jehovah's triumph.
The earth trembled and shook. It quaked and quaked again. Sympathetic with the
sea, the solid shore forgot its quiescence and heaved in dread. How dreadful
art thou, O God, when thou comest forth in thy majesty to humble thine arrogant
adversaries.
Verse
19. Thy way is in the sea. Far down in secret channels of the
deep is thy roadway; when thou wilt thou canst make a sea a highway for thy
glorious march. And thy path in the great waters. There, where the billows
surge and swell, thou still dost walk; Lord of each crested wave. And thy
footsteps are not known. None can follow thy tracks by foot or eye. Thou art
alone in thy glory, and thy ways are hidden from mortal ken. Thy purposes thou
wilt accomplish, but the means are often concealed, yea, they need no concealing,
they are in themselves too vast and mysterious for human understanding. Glory
be to thee, O Jehovah.
Verse
20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and
Aaron. What a transition from tempest to peace, from wrath to love. Quietly
as a flock Israel was guided on, by human agency which veiled the excessive
glory of the divine presence. The smiter of Egypt was the shepherd of Israel.
He drove his foes before him, but went before his people. Heaven and earth
fought on his side against the sons of Ham, but they were equally subservient
to the interests of the sons of Jacob. Therefore, with devout joy and full of
consolation, we close this Psalm; the song of one who forgot how to speak and
yet learned to sing far more sweetly than his fellows.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it
clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all
the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that
the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the
national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national
distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the
time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his
own sorrow, not the sorrow of others under which he sighs, and of which he has
left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
1. In the beginning of the Psalm, before speaking of his sorrows, he
hastens to show the necessary and most efficacious remedy for allaying sorrow.
He says that he did not, as many do, out of their impatience of grief or
murmuring, either accuse God of cruelty or tyranny, or utter blasphemous words
by which dishonour might fall upon God, or by indulging in sorrow and distrust
hasten his own destruction, or fill the air with vain complaining, but fled
straight to God and to him unburdened his sorrow, and sought that he would not
shut him out from that grace which he bountifully offers to all. This is the
only and sure sovereign remedy which most effectually heals his griefs. Mollerus.
Verse
1. I cried. To the Orientals the word qeu presented the idea
of a crash, as of the heavens sending out thunders and lightnings.
Whence beyond other things he metaphorically says, he cried for sorrow;
...shaken with a tempest of thoughts he burst out into an open and loud
sounding complaint. Hermann Venema.
Verse
1. Even unto God with my voice. The repetition here is
emphatic. The idea is that it was an earnest or fervent cry. Albert Barnes.
Verse
1. (last clause). At the second knock, the door of grace flew
open: the Lord heard me. John Collings.
Whole
Psalm. See Psalms on "Ps 77:1" for further information.
Verse
2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. Days of
trouble must be days of prayer; in days of inward trouble, especially when God
seems to have withdrawn from us, we must seek him, and seek till we find him.
In the day of his trouble he did not seek for the diversions of business or
recreation, to shake off his trouble that way, but he sought God, and his
favour and grace. Those that are under trouble of mind, must not think to drink
it away, or laugh it away, but pray it away. Matthew Henry.
Verse
2. My sore ran in the night. Hebrew: My hand was poured
out; that is, stretched out in prayer; or wet with continual weeping. Non
fuit remissa, nec retracta in lectum. John Trapp.
Verse
2. My sore ran in the night, and ceased not, etc. There is no
healing of this wound, no easing of this sore, no cleansing of the conscience,
no quieting of a man's spirit: till God whom the soul seeketh show himself as
the Physician, the evil continueth still and groweth. David Dickson.
Verse
2. My soul refused to be comforted. God has provided suitable
and sufficient comfort for his people. He sends them comforters just as their
circumstances require. But they at times refuse to hear the voice of the
charmer. The Lord has perhaps taken away an idol—or he withholds his sensible
presence, that they may learn to live by faith—or he has blighted their worldly
prospects—or he has written vanity and emptiness upon all their gourds,
cisterns, and delights. They give way to passion, as did Jonah—or they sink
into sullen gloom—or allow unhumbled pride to rule the spirit—or yield to
extreme sorrow, as Rachel did—or fall under the power of temptation—or imbibe
the notion that they have no right to comfort. This is wrong, all wrong,
decidedly wrong. Look at what is left you, at what the gospel presents to you,
at what heaven will be to you. But the psalmist was recovered from this state.
He was convinced that it was wrong. He was sorry for his sin. He was reformed
in his spirit and conduct. He wrote this Psalm to instruct, caution, and warn
us. Observe, they who are entitled to all comfort, often through their own
folly, enjoy the least. The Lord's people are often their own tormentors, they
put away the cup of comfort from them, and say they are unworthy of it
O
Thou source of every blessing,
Chase my sorrows, cheer my heart,
Till in heaven, thy smiles possessing,
Life, and joy, and peace impart. James Smith.
Verse
2. My soul refused to be comforted. Poor I, that am but of
yesterday, have known some that have been so deeply plunged in the gulf of
despair, that they would throw all the spiritual cordials that have been
tendered to them against the walls. They were strong in reasoning against their
own souls, and resolved against everything that might be a comfort and support
unto them. They have been much set against all ordinances and religious
services; they have cast off holy duties themselves, and peremptorily refused
to join with others in them; yea, they have, out of a sense of sin and wrath,
which hath laid hard upon them, refused the necessary comforts of this life,
even to the overthrow of natural life, and yet out of this horrible pit, this
hell upon earth, hath God delivered their souls, and given them such
manifestations of his grace and favour, that they would not exchange them for a
thousand worlds. O despairing souls, you see that others, whose conditions have
been as bad if not worse than yours, have obtained mercy. God hath turned their
hell into a heaven; he hath remembered them in their low estate; he hath
pacified their raging consciences, and quieted their distracted souls; he hath
wiped all tears from their eyes; and he hath been a well spring of life unto
their hearts. Therefore be not discouraged, O despairing souls, but look up to
the mercyseat. Thomas Brooks.
Verse
3. I remembered God, and was troubled. If our hearts or
consciences condemn us, it is impossible to remember him without being
troubled. It will then be painful to remember that he is our Creator and
Redeemer, for the remembrance will be attended with a consciousness of base
ingratitude. It will be painful to think of him as Lawgiver; for such thoughts
will remind us that we have broken his law. It will be painful to think of his
holiness; for if he is holy, he must hate our sins, and be angry with us as sinners:—of
his justice and truth, for these perfections make it necessary that he should
fulfil his threatenings and punish us for our sins. It will be painful to think
of his omniscience—for this perfection makes him acquainted with our most
secret offences, and renders it impossible for conceal them from his view; of
his omnipresence—for the constant presence of an invisible witness must be
disagreeable to those who wish to indulge their sinful propensities. It will be
painful to think of his power—for it enables him to restrain or destroy, as he
pleases: of his sovereignty, for sinners always hate to see themselves in the
hands of a sovereign God: of his eternity and immutability—for from his
possessing these perfections it follows that he will never alter the
threatening which he has denounced against sinners, and that he will always
live to execute them. It will be painful to think of him as judge; for we shall
feel, that as sinners, we have no reason to expect a favourable sentence from
his lips. It will even be painful to think of the perfect goodness and
excellence of his character; for his goodness leaves us without excuse in
rebelling against him, and makes our sins appear exceedingly sinful. Edward
Payson.
Verse
3. I remembered God, and was troubled. All had not been well
between God and him; and whereas formerly, in his remembrance of God, his
thoughts were chiefly exercised about his love and kindness, now they were
wholly possessed with his own sin and unkindness. This causeth his trouble.
Herein lies a share of the entanglements occasioned by sin. Saith such a soul
in itself, "Foolish creature, hast thou thus requited the Lord?" Is
this the return that thou hast made unto him for all his love, his kindness,
his consolations, mercies? Is this thy kindness for him, thy love to him? Is
this thy kindness to thy friend? Is this thy boasting of him, that thou hadst
found so much goodness and excellence in him and his love, that though all men
should forsake him, thou never would do so? Are all thy promises all thy
engagements which thou madest unto God, in times of distress upon prevailing
obligations, and mighty impressions of his good Spirit upon thy soul, now come
to this, that thou shouldest so foolishly forget, neglect, despise, cast him
off? Well! now he is gone; he is withdrawn from thee; and what wilt thou do?
Art thou not even ashamed to desire him to return? They were thoughts of this
nature that cut Peter to the heart upon his fall. The soul finds them cruel as
death, and strong as the grave. It is bound in the chains of them, and cannot
be comforted, Ps 38:3-6. John Owen.
Verse
3. There are moments in the life of all believers when God and his
ways become unintelligible to them. They get lost in profound meditation, and
nothing is left them but a desponding sigh. But we know from Paul the apostle
that the Holy Spirit intercedes for believers with God, when they cannot utter
their sighs. Ro 8:26. Augustus F. Tholuck.
Verse
3. Selah. In the end of this verse is put the word Selah.
And it doth note unto the reader or hearer what a miserable and comfortless
thing man is in trouble, if God be not present with him to help him. It is also
put as a spur and prick for every Christian man and woman to remember and call
upon God in the days of their troubles. For as the Jews say, wheresoever this
word Selah is, it doth admonish and stir up the reader or hearer to mark
what was said before it; for it is a word always put after very notable
sentences. John Hooper.
Verse
4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. Thou art afflicted with
want of sleep:—A complaint incident to distempered bodies and thoughtful minds.
Oh, how wearisome a thing it is to spend the long night in tossing up and down
in a restless bed, in the chase of sleep; which the more eagerly it is followed,
flies so much the farther from us! Couldest thou obtain of thyself to forbear
the desire of it, perhaps it would come alone: now that thou suest for it, like
to some froward piece, it is coy and overly, and punishes thee with thy
longing. Lo, he that could command a hundred and seven and twenty provinces,
yet could not command rest. `On that night his sleep departed from him, 'Es
6:1, neither could be forced or entreated to his bed. And the great Babylonian
monarch, though he had laid some hand on sleep, yet he could not hold it; for
"his sleep brake from him, "Da 2:1. And, for great and wise Solomon,
it would not so much as come within his view. "Neither day nor night seeth
he sleep with his eyes." Ec 8:16. Surely, as there is no earthly thing
more comfortable to nature than bodily rest (Jer 31:26); so, there is nothing
more grievous and disheartening... Instead of closing thy lids to wait for
sleep, lift up thy stiff eyes to him that "giveth his beloved rest,
"Ps 127:2. Whatever be the means, he it is that holdeth mine eyes
waking. He that made thine eyes, keeps off sleep from thy body, for the
good of thy soul: let not thine eyes wake, without thy heart. The spouse of
Christ can say, "I sleep, but my heart waketh, "So 5:2. How much more
should she say, "Mine eyes wake, and my heart waketh also!" When thou
canst not sleep with thine eyes, labour to see him that is invisible: one
glimpse of that sight is more worth than all the sleep that thine eyes can be
capable of. Give thyself up into his hands, to be disposed of at his will. What
is this sweet acquiescence but the rest of the soul? which if thou canst find
in thyself, thou shalt quietly digest the want of thy bodily sleep. Joseph
Hall, in his "Balm of Gilead."
Verse
4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. He adds that he was
so cut down and lifeless that he could not speak. Little griefs, as it is often
said, are uttered, great ones strike us dumb. In great troubles and fears the
spirit fails the exterior members, and flows back to its fountain; the limbs
stand motionless, the whole body trembles, the eyes remain fixed, and the
tongue forgets its office. Hence it is that Niobe was represented by the poets
as turned into a stone. The history of Psammentius also, in Herodotus, is well
known, how over the misfortunes of his children he sat silent and overwhelmed,
but when he saw his friend's calamities he bewailed them with bitter tears. Mollerus.
Verse
4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. Sometimes our grief
is so violent that it finds no vent, it strangles us, and we are overcome. It
is with us in our desertions as with a man that gets a slight hurt; at first he
walks up and down, but not looking betimes to prevent a growing mischief, the
neglected wound begins to fester, or to gangrene, and brings him to greater
pain and loss. So it is with us many times in our spiritual sadness; when we
are first troubled, we pray and pour out our souls before the Lord; but
afterwards the waters of our grief drown our cries and we are so overwhelmed,
that if we might have all the world we cannot pray, or at least we can find no
enlargement, no life, no pleasure in our prayers; and God himself seems to take
no delight in them, and that makes us more sad, Ps 22:1. Timothy Rogers
(1660-1729), in "A Discourse on Trouble of Mind, and the Disease of
Melancholy."
Verse
4. Troubled. Or, bruised: the Hebrew word probably
signifieth an astonishment caused by some great blow received. John Diodati.
Verse
4. I cannot speak. Words are but the body, the garment, the
outside of prayer; sighs are nearer the heart work. A dumb beggar getteth an
alms at Christ's gates, even by making signs, when his tongue cannot plead for
him; and the rather, because he is dumb. Objection. I have not so much
as a voice to utter to God; and Christ saith, "Cause me to hear thy
voice" (Canticles 2:14). Answer. Yea, but some other thing hath a
voice beside the tongue: "The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping"
(Ps 6:8). Tears have a tongue, and grammar, and language, that our Father
knoweth. Babes have no prayer for the breast, but weeping: the mother can read
hunger in weeping. Samuel Rutherford.
Verse
4. If through all thy discouragements thy condition prove worse and
worse, so that thou canst not pray, but are struck dumb when thou comest into
his presence, as David, then fall making signs when thou canst not speak;
groan, sigh, sob, "chatter, "as Hezekiah did; bemoan thyself for
thine unworthiness, and desire Christ to speak thy requests for thee, and God
to hear him for thee. Thomas Goodwin.
Verse
5. The days of old. Doubtless to our first parents the
darkness of the first night was somewhat strange; persons who had never seen
anything but the light of the day, when the shadows of the night first did
encompass them, could not be without some apprehension: yet when at the back of
a number of nights they had seen the day spring of the morning lights
constantly to arise; the darkness of the blackest nights was passed over
without fear, and in as great security, as the light of the fairest days. To
men who have always lived upon land, when first they set to sea, the winds,
waves, and storms are exceeding terrible; but when they are a little beaten
with the experience of tempests, their fears do change into resolution and
courage. It is of no small use to remember that those things which vex most our
spirit, are not new, but have already been in times before our days. Robert
Baylie's Sermon before the House of Commons. 1643.
Verse
6. I call to remembrance my song in the night. Either (1)
"I will now, in the present night of affliction, remember my former
songs." "Though this is a time of distress, and my present
circumstances are gloomy, yet I have known brighter days. He that lifted me up,
has cast me down, and he can raise me up again." Sometimes this reflection,
indeed, adds a poignancy to our distress, as it did to David's trouble, Ps
42:4. Yet it will bear a better improvement, which he seems to make of it; Ps
77:11, and so Job, (Job 2:10.) "Shall we receive good at the hand of
God, and shall we not receive evil?" And his case shows that after the
most sweeping calamities the Lord can again give things a turn in favour of
them that hope in him. Therefore, present troubles should not make us forget
former comforts, especially as the former so much exceeded our deserts, and the
present afflictions fall so short of our demerits. Or (2) the text may mean,
"I will remember how I have been enabled to sing in the former nights of
affliction." And surely it is especially seasonable to remember supports and
consolations granted under preceding distresses. Elihu complained (Job 35:10),
"There is none that saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs on the
night." David comforted himself with the thought, "Though deep
calleth unto deep, yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime,
and in the night his song shall be with me." Ps 42:8. And the Lord
promised by Isaiah (Isa 30:29), "Ye shall have a song, as in the night
when a holy solemnity is kept." No doubt Paul and Silas remembered their
song in the night, when imprisoned at Philippi; and it afforded them
encouragement under subsequent trials. And cannot many of you, my brethren, in
like manner, remember the supports and consolations you have enjoyed in former
difficulties, and how the Lord turned the shadow of death into morning? And
ought you not to trust to him that hath delivered, that he will yet deliver? He
that hath delivered in six troubles, will not forsake you in seven. The
"clouds may return after the rain, "but not a drop can fail without
the leave of him, who rides on the heavens for your help, and in his excellency
on the sky. Did you not forbode at first a very different termination of the
former troubles? and did the Lord disappoint your fears, and put a new song
into your mouth; and will you not now begin to trust him, and triumph in him?
Surely you have found that the Lord can clear the darkest skies. "Light is
sown for the righteous, "and ere long you shall see an eternal day. If
such songs are given to the pilgrims of the night, how shall they sing in that
world where the sun shall set no more! There will be no night there. John
Ryland. 1753-1825.
Verse
6. I call to remembrance: being glad in this scarcity of
comfort, to live upon the old store, as bees do in winter. John Trapp.
Verse
6. My song in the night. The "songs of the night"
is as favourite a word of the Old Testament as "glory in tribulation"
is of the New, and it is one of those which prove that both Testaments have the
self same root and spirit. John Kerr.
Verse
6. My spirit made diligent search. He falls upon self
examination, and searcheth his spirit, to consider why the hand of God was so
against him, and why the face of God was so hid from him. Some read it, "I
digged into my spirit; "as Ezekiel digged into the wall, to search for and
find out the abomination, that made the Lord thus leave him in the dark, and
hide his face from him. He searcheth the wound of his spirit; that was another
way to cure it. It is a notable way to cure the wounds of the soul, for the
soul to search them. John Collings.
Verse
6. My spirit made diligent search. The verb vbx, chaphas,
signifies such an investigation as a man makes who is obliged to strip
himself in order to do it; or to lift up coverings, to search fold
by fold, or in our own phrase, to leave no stone unturned. Adam Clarke.
Verse
6. My spirit made diligent search. As Ahasuerus, when he
could not sleep, called for the records and chronicles of his kingdom, so the
doubting soul betakes himself to the records of heaven, the word of God in the
Scriptures, and one while he is reading there, another while looking into his
heart, if he can find there anything that answers the characters of Scripture
faith, as the face in the glass doth the face of man. David, when he was at a
loss what to think of himself, and many doubts did clog his faith, insomuch
that the thinking of God increased his trouble, he did not sit down and let the
ship drive, as we say, not regarding whether God loved him or no, but communes
with his own heart, and his spirit makes diligent search. Thus it is with
every sincere soul under doubting: he dares no more sit down contented in that
unresolved condition, than one who thinks he smells fire in his house dares
settle himself to sleep till he hath looked in every room and corner, and
satisfied himself that all is safe, lest he should be waked with the fire about
his ears in the night: and the poor doubting soul is much more afraid, lest it
should wake with hell fire about it: whereas a soul in a state and under the
power of unbelief is secure and careless. William Gurnall.
Verse
6. Diligent search. Thus duty requires diligence. External
acts of religion are facile; to lift up the eye to heaven, to bow the knee, to
read a prayer, this requires no more labour than for a papist to tell over his
beads; but to examine a man's self, to take the heart all in pieces as a watch,
and see what is defective, this is not easy. Reflective acts are hardest. The
eye can see everything but itself. It is easy to spy the faults of others, but
hard to find out our own. Thomas Watson.
Verse
8. Doth his promise fail for evermore? Let no appearing
impossibilities make you question God's accomplishment of any of his gracious
words. Though you cannot see how the thing can be done, it is enough, if God
has said that he will do it. There can be no obstructions to promised
salvation, which we need to fear. He who is the God of this salvation, and the
Author of the promise, will prepare his own way for the doing of his own work,
so that "every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill brought
low." Lu 3:5. Though the valleys be so deep that we cannot see the bottom,
and the mountains so high that we cannot see the tops of them, yet God knows
how to raise the one and level the other; Isa 53:1: "I that speak in
righteousness (or faithfulness) am mighty to save." If anything would keep
back the kingdom of Christ, it would be our infidelity; but he will come,
though he should find no faith on the earth. See Ro 3:3. Cast not away your confidence
because God defers his performances. Though providence run cross, though they
move backwards and forwards, you have a sure and faithful word to rely upon.
Promises, though they be for a time seemingly delayed, cannot be finally
frustrated. Dare not to harbour such a thought within yourselves. The being of
God may as well fail as the promise of God. That which does not come in your
time, will be hastened in his time, which is always the more convenient season.
Timothy Cruso.
Verse
9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? In what pangs couldest
thou be, O Asaph, that so woeful a word should fall from thee: Hath God
forgotten to be gracious? Surely, the temptation went so high, that the
next step had been blasphemy. Had not that good God, whom thy bold weakness questions
for forgetfulness, in great mercies remembered thee, and brought thee speedily
to remember thyself and him; that, which you confess to have been infirmity,
had proved a sinful despair. I dare say for thee, that word washed thy cheeks
with many a tear, and was worthy of more; for, O God, what can be so dear to
thee, as the glory of thy mercy? There is none of thy blessed attributes, which
thou desirest to set forth so much unto the sons of men, and so much abhorrest
to be disparaged by our detraction, as thy mercy. Thou canst, O Lord, forget
thy displeasure against thy people; thou canst forget our iniquities, and cast
our sins out of thy remembrance, Mic 7:18-19; but thou canst no more forget to
be gracious, than thou canst cease to be thyself. O my God, I sin against thy
justice hourly, and thy mercy interposes for my remission: but, oh, keep me
from sinning against thy mercy. What plea can I hope for, when I have made my
advocate my enemy? Joseph Hall.
Verse
9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? The poor child crieth
after the mother. What shall I do for my mother! Oh, my mother, my mother, what
shall I do for my mother! And it may be the mother stands behind the back of
the child, only she hides herself, to try the affection of the child: so the poor
soul cries after God, and complains, Oh my Father! my Father! Where is my
heavenly Father? Hath he forgotten to be gracious? Hath he shut up his
lovingkindness in displeasure? when, (all the while), God is nearer than they
think for, shining upon them in "a spirit of grace and supplications,
"with sighs and "groans that cannot be uttered." Thus the
gracious woman, weeps: My dear Saviour, my dear Lord and Master, he is
"taken out of the sepulchre, and I know not where they have laid
him!" Thus she complains to the disciples, and thus she complains to the
angels, when Christ stood at her very back and overheard all: nay, when she
turned her about and saw him, yet at first she did not know him; nay, when he
spoke to her and she to him, yet she knew him not, but thought he had been the
gardener, Joh 20:15. Thus it is with many a gracious soul; though God speaks
home to their hearts in his Word, and they speak to him by prayer, and they
cannot say but the Spirit "helps their infirmities; "yet they
complain for want of his presence, as if there were nothing of God in them. Matthew
Lawrence.
Verse
9. Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? The metaphor
here is taken from a spring, the mouth of which is closed, so that its
waters can no longer run in the same channel; but, being confined, break out
and take some other course. Wilt thou take thy mercy from the Israelites and
give it to some other people? Adam Clarke.
Verse
9. Selah. Thus was he going on with his dark and dismal
apprehensions, when on a sudden he first checked himself with that word, Selah;
stop there; go no further; let us hear no more of these unbelieving surmises;
and then he chid himself, Ps 77:10: This is mine infirmity. Matthew Henry.
Verse
10. This is my infirmity. Literally, this is my disease,—which
appears to mean, This is my lot and I must bear it; lo! it is a partial evil,
for which the equity of God's government should not be questioned. The
authorised version, This is my infirmity, suggests, perhaps advisedly,
another signification, viz., These thoughts are but hallucinations of my
agony,—but to this gloss I should scruple to commit myself. C. B. Cayley.
Verse
10. It is the infirmity of a believer to be thinking of
himself, and drawing false inferences (for all such inferences are necessarily
erroneous), from what he sees or feels, as to the light in which he is beheld
and estimated on the part of God. It is his strength, on the other hand,
to remember the right hand of the Most High—to meditate upon the changeless
truth and mercy of that God who has committed himself in holiness to the
believing sinner's sure salvation, by causing the Son of his love to suffer in
our stead the dread reality of penal death. Arthur Pridham.
Verse
10. Infirmity. An infirmity is this,—some sickness or indisposition
of the soul, that arises from the weakness of grace. Or an infirmity is
this,—when the purpose and inclination of the heart is upright, but a man wants
strength to perform that purpose; when "the spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak" (Mt 26:41); when a man can say with the apostle, "To
will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not,
"Ro 7:18. When the bent and inclination of the soul is right, but either
through some violence of corruption or strength of temptation, a man is
diverted and turned out of the way. As the needle in the seaman's compass, you
know if it be right it will stand always northwards, the bent of it will be
toward the North Pole, but being jogged and troubled, it may sometimes be put
out of frame and order, yet the bent and inclination of it is still northward;
this is an infirmity. James Nalton. 1664.
Verse
10. It is unnecessary to state all the renderings which the learned
have given of this verse. It is unquestionably ambiguous, as the word ytwlh may
be derived from different roots, which have different significations. I derive
it from lwx or llx which signifies to be in pain as a woman in labour,
and as it is in the infinitive, I render it, "the time of my sorrow
or pain." The next term, twgv, I derive from hgv to change,
as the Chaldee does, Ainsworth, Hammond, and others; and I render it
potentially. I consider the whole as a beautiful metaphor. The author considers
himself as in distress, like a woman in travail; and like her, hopes soon to
have his sorrow turned to joy. He confides in God's power to effect such a
change; and hence naturally recollects the past instances of God's favour to
his people. Benjamin Boothroyd.
Verse
10. I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.
Not the moments, nor the hours, nor days of a few short afflictions, that his
left hand hath dealt to me: but the years of his right hand; those long,
large, and boundless mercies wherewith he hath comforted me. Thomas Adams.
Verse
10. I will remember the years, etc. The words in the Hebrew
text are shenoth jemin gneljon, which I find to be variously rendered
and translated by interpreters. I shall not trouble you with them all at this
present time, but only take notice of two of them, which I conceive are the
principal and most comprehensive; the one is our oldest English translation,
and the other of our last and newest; the former reads the words thus: The
right hand of the Most High can change all this. The latter reads the words
thus, as we have it now before us, I will remember the years, etc. The
main ground of this variation is the different exposition of the Hebrew word shenoth,
which may be translated either to change, from the verb in the infinitive
mood, or else may be translated years, from the noun in the plural
number. This hath given the occasion to this difference and variety of
translation, but the sense is very good and agreeable which way soever we take
it—First, take it according to the former translation, as it does
exhibit to us the power of God. The right hand of the Lord can change all
this. This was that whereby David did support himself in his present
affliction; that the Lord was able to change and alter this his
condition to him, and that for the better... For the second sense here
before us, that's this: I will remember the years of the right hand of the
Most High; where the word remember is borrowed from the next
following verse, to supply the sense of this, as otherwise being not in the
text. Now here the prophet David fetches a ground of comfort from God's practice,
as before he did from his power; there, from what God could do;
here, from what he has done already in former time, and ages, and generations. Thomas
Horton.
Verse
11. I will remember, etc. Remember and commemorate,
as the Hebrew (by a double reading) imports. John Trapp.
Verse
11. I will remember. Faith is a considering grace: he that
believes will not make haste; no, not to think or speak of God. Faith hath a
good memory, and can tell the Christian many stories of ancient mercies; and
when his present meal falls short, it can entertain the soul with a cold dish,
and not complain that God keeps a bad house. Thus David recovered himself, when
he was even tumbling down the hill of temptation: This is my infirmity; but
I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember
thy wonders of old. Therefore, Christian, when thou art in the depths of
affliction, and Satan tempts thee to asperse God, as if he were forgetful of
thee, stop his mouth with this: No, Satan, God hath not forgot to do for me,
but I have forgot what he hath done for me, or else I could not question his
fatherly care at present over me. Go, Christian, play over thy own lessons,
praise God for past mercies, and it will not be long before thou hast a new
song put into thy mouth for a present mercy. . . .
Sometimes
a little writing is found in a man's study that helps to save his estate, for
want of which he had gone to prison; and some one experience remembered keeps
the soul from despair, a prison which the devil longs to have the Christian in.
"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope, "La 3:21. David was
famous for his hope, and not less eminent for his care to observe and preserve
the experiences he had of God's goodness. He was able to recount the dealings
of God with him; they were so often the subject of his meditation and matter of
his discourse, that he had made them familiar to him. When his hope is at a
loss, he doth but exercise his memory a little, and he recovers himself
presently, and chides himself for his weakness. I said, this is my
infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.
The hound, when he hath lost his scent, hunts backwards and so recovers it, and
pursues his game with louder cry than ever. Thus, Christian, when thy hope is
at a loss, and you question your salvation in another world, then look backward
and see what God hath already done for thee. Some promises have their day of
payment here, and others we must stay to receive in heaven. Now the payment
which God makes of some promises here, is an earnest given to our faith that
the others also shall be faithfully discharged when their date expires; as
every judgment inflicted here on the wicked is sent as a pledge of that wrath
the full sum whereof God will make up in hell. William Gurnall.
Verse
11. The works of the Lord... Thy wonders. The psalmist does
not mean to draw a distinction between the works and the wonders
of God; but, rather, to state that all God's works are wonders... All, whether
in providence or grace—all God's works are wonderful. If we take the individual
experience of the Christian, of what is that experience made up? Of wonders.
The work of his conversion, wonderful!—arrested in a course of thoughtlessness
and impiety; graciously sought and gently compelled to be at peace with God,
whose wrath he had provoked. The communication of knowledge, wonderful!—Deity
and eternity gradually piled up; the Bible taken page by page, and each page
made a volume which no searching can exhaust. The assistance in warfare,
wonderful!—himself a child of corruption, yet enabled to grapple with the
world, the flesh, and the devil, and often to trample them under foot. The
solaces in affliction, wonderful!—sorrow sanctified so as to minister to joy,
and a harvest of gladness reaped from a field which has been watered with
tears. The foretastes of heaven, wonderful!—angels bringing down the clusters
of the land, and the spirit walking with lightsome tread the crystal river and the
streets of gold. All wonderful! Wonderful that the Spirit should strive with
man; wonderful that God should bear with his backslidings; wonderful that God
should love him notwithstanding his pollution; wonderful that God should
persist in saving him, in spite, as it were, of himself. Oh! those amongst you
who know anything, experimentally, of salvation through Christ, well know that
the work is wonderful in its commencement, wonderful in its continuance, and
they will need no argument to vindicate the transition from works to wonders.
It will be the transition of your own thoughts and your own feelings, and you
will never give in the record of God's dealings with yourselves without
passing, as the psalmist passed, from mentioning to ascription. Ye may set
yourselves to commemorate God's works, ye will find yourselves extolling
God's wonders. Ye may begin with saying, I will remember the works of
the Lord; but ye will conclude by exclaiming, Surely I will remember thy
wonders of old. Henry Melvill.
Verse
11. Thy wonders. The word is in the singular here, and also in
Ps 77:14. So also in the next verse, Thy work, because the one great
wonder, the one great work in which all others were included, is before his
thoughts. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
11. Thy wonders. He had before spoken to others, but here he
turns to God. It is good for a soul in a hard exercise, to raise itself from
thinking of God and of his works, unto speaking unto God directly: no ease or
relief will be found till address be made unto himself, till we turn our face
toward him and direct our speech unto him, as here the psalmist doth, from the
midst of the eleventh verse to the end of the psalm. David Dickson.
Verse
13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. The word sanctuary
is to be taken either for heaven or for the temple. I am rather inclined to
refer it to heaven, conceiving the meaning to be, that the ways of God rise
high above the world, so that if we are truly desirous to know them, we must
ascend above all heavens. Although the works of God are in part manifest to us,
yet all our knowledge of them comes far short of their immeasurable height.
Besides, it is to be observed, that none enjoy the least taste of his works but
those who by faith rise up to heaven. And yet, the utmost point to which we can
ever attain is, to contemplate with admiration and reverence the hidden wisdom
and power of God, which, while they shine forth in his works, yet far surpass
the limited powers of our understanding. John Calvin.
Verse
13. Thy way is in the sanctuary. That is, every one of the
elect may and ought to learn in thy church the conduct and proceedings of thy
providence towards those that were thine. John Diodati.
Verse
13, 19. In the sanctuary and In the sea. His way is in
the sanctuary, and His wayis in the sea. Now there is a great
difference between these two things. First of all, God's way is in the sanctuary,
where all is light, all is clear. There is no mistake there.
There is nothing, in the least degree, that is a harass to the spirit. On the
contrary, it is when the poor, troubled one enters into the sanctuary, and
views things there in the light of God, that he sees the end of all
else—everything that is entangled, the end of which he cannot find on the
earth. But not only is God's way in the sanctuary (and when we are there, all
is bright and happy); but God's way is in the "sea." He walks where
we cannot always trace his footsteps. God moves mysteriously by times, as
we all know. There are ways of God which are purposely to try us. I need not
say that it is not at all as if God had pleasure in our perplexities. Nor is it
as if we had no sanctuary to draw near to, where we can rise above it. But,
still, there is a great deal in the ways of God that must be left entirely in
his own hands. The way of God is thus not only in the sanctuary, but also in
the sea. And yet, what we find even in connection with his footsteps being in
the sea is, "Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses
and Aaron." That was through the sea; afterwards, it was through the
wilderness. But it had been through the sea. The beginnings of the ways of God
with his people were there; because, from first to last, God must be the
confidence of the saint. It may be an early lesson of his soul, but it never
ceases to be the thing to learn. How happy to know that, while the sanctuary is
open to us, yet God himself is nearer still—and to him we are brought now. As
it is said (1 Peter 3), "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust, to bring us to God." This is a most precious thing;
because there we are in the sanctuary at once, and brought to God himself. And
I am bold to say, that heaven itself would be but a small matter if it were not
to God that we are brought. It is better than any freedom from trial—better
than any blessing, to be in the presence of the One we belong to; who is
himself the source of all blessing and joy. That we are brought to him now is
infinitely precious. There we are in the sanctuary brought to God. But, still, there
are other ways of God outside the sanctuary—In the sea. And there we
often find ourselves at a loss. If we are occupied with the sea itself, and
with trying to scan God's footsteps there, then they are not known. But
confidence in God himself is always the strength of faith. May the Lord grant
us increasing simplicity and quietness in the midst of all that we pass
through, for his name's sake. From "Things New and Old." 1865.
Verse
14. The God that doest wonders. If he said, Thou art the
God that hast done wonders, it would be plain that he spake only of those
ancient miracles which were wrought in former days: but now that he saith, Thou
art the God that doest wonders, he evidently refers to those wonderful
works, which he is doing now, and shall not cease to do even to the end of the
world. Gerhohus.
Verse
15. The sons of Jacob and Joseph. The distinction between the
sons of Jacob and Joseph is not meaningless. For by the sons of Jacob or Israel
the believing Jews are properly intended, those that trace their descent to him
not only according to the flesh but according to faith. Of whom although Joseph
was one, yet since he was sold by his brethren and after many sufferings among
foreign tribes raised to high rank, it is highly congruous to distinguish him
from the sons of Jacob, and he is fitly regarded as a prince of the
Gentiles apart from Jacob's sons, who sold him. Gerhohus.
Verse
15. The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Was it Joseph or was it
Jacob that begat the children of Israel? Certainly Jacob begat, but as Joseph
nourished them, they are called by his name also. Talmud.
Verse
16. The waters saw thee, O God, etc. "The waters of the
Red Sea, "says Bishop Horne, "are here beautifully represented as
endued with sensibility; as seeing, feeling, and being confounded, even to the
lowest depths, at the presence and power of their great Creator, when he
commanded them to open a way, and to form a wall on each side of it, until his
people were passed over." This in fact is true poetry; and in this attributing
of life, spirit, feeling, action, and suffering to inanimate objects, there are
no poets who can vie with those of the Hebrew nation. Richard Mant.
Verse
16. The depths also were troubled. The depths are
mentioned in addition to the waters, to show that the dominion and power
of God reach not only to the surface of the waters, but penetrate to the most
profound abysses, and agitate and restrain the waters from their lowest bottom.
Mollerus.
Verses
16-18. The waters saw thee, but men do not see thee. The depths were
troubled, but men say in their heart, There is no God. The clouds poured out
water, but men pour not out cries and tears unto God. The skies send out a
sound, but men say not, Where is God my Maker? Thine arrows also went abroad,
but no arrows of contrition and supplication are sent back by men in return.
The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven, but men hear not the louder
thunders of the law. The lightnings lightened the world, but the light of truth
shines in darkness and the darkness comprehends it not. The earth trembled and
shook, but human hearts remain unmoved.
"My
heart it shakes not at the wrath
And terrors of a God." George Rogers.
Verse
16-19. As soon as ever the whole Egyptian army was within it, the sea
flowed to its own place, and came down with a torrent raised by storms of wind,
and encompassed the Egyptians. Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and
dreadful thunders and lightning, with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts also were
darted upon them; nor was there anything which used to be sent by God upon men,
as indications of his wrath, which did not happen at this time; for a dark and
dismal might oppressed them. And thus did all these men perish, so that there
was not one man left to be a messenger of this calamity to the rest of the
Egyptians. Josephus.
Verse
19. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters,
etc. Until lately, not much was known of oceanic currents, nor of their
influences on the condition of particular localities and the intercourse of man
with man. They are now seen to be the way or path of the Creator in
the great waters. Numerous agencies tend to the production of these
currents. Amongst them we may reckon the propagation of the tide wave in its
progress over the globe, the duration and strength of certain winds, the
variations in density which seawater undergoes in different latitudes, and at
different depths, by change of temperature, and the quantity of salt it
contains, and by the hourly alterations of atmospheric pressure which take
place within the tropics. The oceanic currents are nearly constant in breadth,
crossing the sea in many directions. Long bands of seaweed carried by the
currents shew at once their velocity, and the line of demarcation between the
waters at rest and the waters in motion. Between the tropics there is a general
movement of the sea from east to west, called the equatorial current, supposed
to be due to the trade winds, and the progress of the tide wave. There are
narrower currents carrying warm water to higher and cold water to lower
latitudes. Edwin Sidney, in "Conversations on the Bible and
Science." 1860.
Verse
19. Thy way is in the sea, where no man can wade, except God
be before him, but where any man may walk if God take him by the hand and lead
him through. David Dickson.
Verse
19. Thy footsteps are not known. He often goeth so much out of
our sight, that we are unable to give an account of what he doeth, or what he
is about to do. Frequently the pillar of divine providence is dark throughout,
to Israelites as well as Egyptians; so that his own people understand not the
riddles, till he is pleased to be his own interpreter, and to lead them into
his secrets. Samuel Slater(-1704), in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse
19. Thy footsteps are not known. That is, they are not always
known; or, they are not known in all things; yea, they are not altogether known
in anything. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
19. Thy footsteps are not known. Upon some affair of great
consequence which had occurred in some providential dispensation, Luther was
very importunate at the throne of grace to know the mind of God in it; and it
seemed to him as if he heard God speak to his heart thus: "I am not to be
traced." Referring to this incident, one adds, "If he is not to be
traced, he may be trusted; "and that religion is of little value which
will not enable a man to trust God where he can neither trace nor see him. But
there is a time for everything beneath the sun, and the Almighty has his `times
and seasons.' It has been frequently with my hopes and desires, in regard to
providence, as with my watch and the sun, which has often been ahead of true
time; I have gone faster than providence, and have been forced to stand still
and wait, or I have been set back painfully. That was a fine sentiment of
Flavel, "Some providence, like Hebrew letters, must be read
backwards." Quoted in "Christian Treasury, "1849. Author not
mentioned.
Verse
20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock, etc. From this verse
the afflicted may learn many consolations. First, that the best people that be
are no better able to resist temptation, than the simple sheep is able to
withstand the brier that catcheth him. The next, that man is of no more ability
to beware of temptations, than the poor sheep is to avoid the brier, being
preserved only by the diligence of the shepherd. The third, that as the
shepherd is careful of his entangled and briard sheep, so is God of his
afflicted faithful. And the fourth is, that the people of Israel could take no
harm of the water, because they entered the sea at God's commandment. Whereof
we learn, that no danger can hurt when God doth command us to enter into it;
and all dangers overcome us if we choose them ourselves, besides God's
commandment; as Peter, when he went at God's commandment upon the water, took
no hurt; but when he entered into the bishop's house upon his own presumption,
was overcome and denied Christ. The Israelites, when they fought at God's
commandment, the peril was nothing; but when they would do it of their own
heads, they perished: so that we are bound to attend upon God's commandment,
and then no danger shall destroy us, though it pain us. The other doctrine is
in this, that God used the ministry of Moses and Aaron in the deliverance of
his people, who did command them to do nothing but that the Lord did first bid.
Whereof we learn that such as be ministers appointed of God, and do nothing but
as God commandeth, are to be followed; as Paul saith, "Follow me, as I
follow Christ." John Hooper.
Verse
20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock. Observe, the good
shepherd leads his followers like sheep: First, with great solicitude
and care, to protect them from wolves. Secondly, with consideration and
kindness, for the sheep is a harmless animal. Thirdly, with a wise strictness,
for sheep easily wander, and they are of all animals the most stupid. Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse
20. Leddest thy people. Our guiding must be mild and gentle,
else it is not duxisti, but traxisti; drawing and driving, and no
leading. Leni spiritu non dure manu, rather by an inward sweet influence
to be led, than by an outward extreme violence to be forced forward. So did God
lead his people here. Not the greatest pace, I wist, for they were a year
marching that they might have posted in eleven days, as Moses saith. (De 1:2.)
No nor yet the nearest way neither, as Moses telleth us. (Ex 8:18.) For he
fetched a compass divers times, as all wise governors by his example must do,
that desire rather safely to lead, than hastily to drive forward. "The
Spirit of God leadeth this people, "saith Isaiah (Isa 63:14) "as an
horse is ridden down the hill into a valley; " which must not be at a
gallop, lest horse and ruler both come down one over another; but warily and
easily. Lancelot Andrewes.
Verse
20. By the hand of Moses and Aaron. He says not, Moses and
Aaron led the people of Israel; but, Thou leddest the people, and that thy
people, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Great was the power of these two men;
nevertheless neither of them was the shepherd of the sheep, but each was a
servant to the one and only true shepherd, to whom the sheep exclusively
belonged. Nor yet was either the leader of the sheep, but the shepherd himself
was present and led his own flock, to whom these two acted as servants. There
are therefore three things to be learned from this passage. First, the sheep do
not belong to the servants, but to the true shepherd. Secondly, the true
shepherd is the leader of his own sheep. Thirdly, the offices of Moses and
Aaron was to attend to this duty, that the Lord's sheep should be properly led
and pastured. So Christ himself leads the sheep, his own sheep, and for this
work he employs the ministry of his servants. Musculus.
Verse
20. The psalmist has reached the climax of his strain, he has found
relief from his sorrow by forcing his thoughts into another channel, by
dwelling on all God's mightiest wonders of old; but there he must end: in his
present intensity of passion he cannot trust himself to draw forth in detail
any mere lessons of comfort. There are seasons when even the holiest
faith cannot bear to listen to words of reasoning; though it can still find a
support whereon to rest, in the simple contemplation, in all their native
grandeur, of the deeds that God hath wrought. Joseph Francis Thrupp.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1. The benefit of using the voice in private prayer.
Verses
1, 3, 5, 10. Note the wise man's progress out of his soul trouble.
1.
I cried.
2. I remembered.
3. I considered.
4. I said.
Verse
2. See "Spurgeon's Sermons, "No. 853. "A Sermon for
the Most Miserable of Men."
Verse
2.
1.
Special prayer: In the days, etc.
2.
Persevering prayer: hands lifted up to God by night as well as by day.
3.
Agonizing prayer: my soul refused to be comforted, until the answer came.
"Being in an agony, he prayed, "etc.
Verse
2. (last clause). When this is wise, and when it is
censurable.
Verse
4.
1.
A good man cannot rest on his bed until his soul rests on God.
2.
He cannot speak freely to others until God speaks peace to his soul. G. R.
Verse
4. Occupation for the sleepless, and consolation for the speechless.
Verses
5-6. There are four rules for obtaining comfort in affliction.
1.
The consideration of God's goodness to his people of old.
2.
Remembrance of our own past experience.
3. Self
examination.
4.
The diligent study of the word. G. R.
Verse
6. Remembrance. A good memory is very helpful and useful.
1.
It is a great means of knowledge: for what signifies your reading or
hearing, if you remember nothing?
2.
It is a means of faith: 1Co 15:2.
3.
It is a means of comfort. If a poor Christian in distress could remember
God's promises they would inspire him with new life; but when they are
forgotten, his spirits sink.
4.
It is a means of thankfulness.
5.
It is a means of hope; for "experience worketh hope" (Ro 5:4),
and the memory is the storehouse of experience.
6.
It is a means of repentance; for, how can we repent or mourn for that
which we have forgotten?
7.
It is a means of usefulness. When one spark of grace is truly kindled in
the heart, it will quickly endeavour to heat others also. R. Steele.
Verse
7. (first clause). To place the question in a strong light,
let us consider,
1.
Of whom is the question raised? the Lord.
2.
What course of action is in question? cast off for ever.
3.
Towards whom would the action be performed?
Verse
8. These questions,
1.
Suppose a change in the immutable Jehovah in two glorious attributes.
2.
Are contrary to all past evidence.
3.
Can only arise from the flesh and Satan; and, therefore,
4.
Are to be met in the power of the Spirit, with strong faith in the Eternal God.
Verse
10. A confession applicable to many other matters. Such as, fear of
death, fear of desertion, dread of public service, sensitiveness of neglect,
etc.
Verse
10. My infirmity. Different meanings of this word. These would
furnish a good subject. Some infirmities are to be patiently endured, others
gloried in, others taken in prayer to God for his Spirit's help, and others
lamented and repented of.
Verses
10-12. Remember, meditate, talk.
Verses
11-12.
1.
Consolation derived from the remembrance of the past.
2.
Consolation increased by meditation.
3.
Consolation strengthened by communication: "and talk," etc. G. R.
Verses
11-12.
1.
Consolation derived from the remembrance of the past.
2.
Consolation increased by meditation.
3.
Consolation strengthened by communication: "and talk," etc. G. R.
Verse
12. Themes for thought and topics for conversation. Creation,
Providence, Redemption, etc.
Verses
13, 19. In the sea, in the sanctuary. God's way incomprehensible,
though undoubtedly right: in his holiness lies the answer to its enigmas.
Verse
14. Thaumaturgeis, or the Great Wonder worker.
Verse
15. And Joseph. The honour of nourishing those who have been
begotten of God by other men's labours.
Verse
15. Redemption thy power, the consequence, evidence, and necessary
attendant of redemption by price.
Verse
15.
1.
The redeemed: thy people; the sons of, etc.
(a)
In captivity though they are his people.
(b)
His people though they are in captivity.
2.
The redemption: from Egyptian bondage.
3.
The Redeemer: Thou, with thine arm, etc. God by Christ, his arm: Mine
own arm brought, etc. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? G. R.
Verses
16-18.
1.
The homage of nature to the God of grace.
2.
Its subserviency to his designs. G. R.
Verse
19.
1.
The ways of God to men are peculiar: In the sea: thy path, etc.
2.
They are uniform, they lie in regular footsteps.
3.
They are inscrutable: like the path of the ship upon the waters, not of the
ploughshare on the land.
Verse
19. God's way is in the sea. In things changeable, ungovernable,
vast, unfathomable, terrible, overwhelming, the Lord has the ruling power.
Verse
20.
1.
The subjects of divine guidance: thy people.
2.
The manner of their guidance: like a flock—separated, united, dependent.
3.
The agents employed: by the hand; the Great Shepherd leads by the hand
of under shepherds. "May every under shepherd keep his eye intent on
Thee."
Verse
20. Church history.
1.
The church a flock.
2. God seen as leading it on.
3. Instrumentality always used.
WORK
UPON THE SEVENTY-SEVENTH PSALM
"An
Exposition upon the Seventy-seventh Psalm, made by the constant Martyr of
Christ, Master John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester." In
the "Later Writings of Bishop Hooper." (In Parker Society's
Publications, and also in the "British Reformer's" series of the
Religious Tract Society.)
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》