Book 19 - Psalms Chapter 119 Part 2

Other Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150

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David begs God would make haste to comfort him,

1. Because his affliction was great, and therefore he was an object of God's pity: Lord, make haste to help me, for I have become like a bottle in the smoke, a leathern bottle, which, if it hung any while in the smoke, was not only blackened with soot, but dried, and parched, and shrivelled up. David was thus wasted by age, and sickness, and sorrow. See how affliction will mortify the strongest and stoutest of men! David had been of a ruddy countenance, as fresh as a rose; but now he is withered, his colour is gone, his cheeks are furrowed. Thus does man's beauty consume under God's rebukes, as a moth fretting a garment. A bottle, when it is thus wrinkled with smoke, is thrown by, and there is no more use of it. Who will put wine into such old bottles? Thus was David, in his low estate, looked upon as a despised broken vessel, and as a vessel in which there was no pleasure. Good men, when they are drooping and melancholy, sometimes think themselves more slighted than really they are.

2. Because, though his affliction was great, yet it had not driven him from his duty, and therefore he was within the reach of God's promise: Yet do I not forget thy statutes. Whatever our outward condition is we must not cool in our affection to the word of God, nor let that slip out of our minds; no care, no grief, must crowd that out. As some drink and forget the law (Prov 31:5), so others weep and forget the law; but we must in every condition, both prosperous and adverse, have the things of God in remembrance; and, if we be mindful of God's statutes, we may pray and hope that he will be mindful of our sorrows, though for a time he seems to forget us.

Psa 119:84

Here, I. David prays against the instruments of his troubles, that God would make haste to execute judgment on those that persecuted him. He prays not for power to avenge himself (he bore no malice to any), but that God would take to himself the vengeance that belonged to him, and would repay (Rom. 12:19), as the God that sits in the throne judging right. There is a day coming, and a great and terrible day it will be, when God will execute judgment on all the proud persecutors of his people, tribulation to those that troubled them; Enoch foretold it (Jude 14), whose prophecy perhaps David here had an eye to; and that day we are to look for and pray for the hastening of. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

2. He pleads the long continuance of his trouble: "How many are the days of thy servant? The days of my life are but few (so some); "therefore let them not all be miserable, and therefore make haste to appear for me against my enemies, before I go hence and shall be seen no more. Or rather, "The days of my affliction are many; thou seest, Lord, how many they be; when wilt thou return in mercy to me? Sometimes, for the elect's sake, the days of trouble are shortened. O let the days of my trouble be shortened; I am thy servant; and therefore, as the eyes of a servant are to the hand of his master, so are mine to thee, until thou have mercy on me.

Psa 119:85-87

David's state was herein a type and figure of the state both of Christ and Christians that he was grievously persecuted; as there are many of his psalms, so there are many of the verses of this psalm, which complain of this, as those here. Here observe,

I. The account he gives of his persecutors and their malice against him.

1. They were proud, and in their pride they persecuted him, glorying in this, that they could trample upon one who was so much cried up, and hoping to raise themselves on his ruins.

2. They were unjust: They persecuted him wrongfully; so far was he from giving them any provocation that he had studied to oblige them; but for his love they were his adversaries.

3. They were spiteful: They dug pits for him, which intimates that they were deliberate in their designs against him and that what they did was of malice prepense; it intimates likewise that they were subtle and crafty, and had the serpent's head as well as the serpent's venom, that they were industrious and would refuse no pains to do him a mischief, and treacherous, laying snares in secret for him, as hunters do take wild beasts, Ps. 35:7. Such has been the enmity of the serpent's seed to the seed of the woman.

4. They herein showed their enmity to God himself. The pits they dug for him were not after God's law; he means they were very much against his law, which forbids to devise evil to our neighbour, and has particularly said, Touch not my anointed. The law appointed that, if a man dug a pit which occasioned any mischief, he should answer for the mischief (Ex. 21:33, 34), much more when it was dug with a mischievous design.

5. They carried on their designs against him so far that they had almost consumed him upon earth; they went near to ruin him and all his interests. It is possible that those who shall shortly be consummate in heaven may be, for the present, almost consumed on earth; and it is of the Lord's mercies (and, considering the malice of their enemies, it is a miracle of mercy) that they are not quite consumed. But the bush in which God is, though it burns, shall not be burnt up.

II. His application to God in his persecuted state.

1. He acknowledges the truth and goodness of his religion, though he suffered: "However it be, all thy commandments are faithful, and therefore, whatever I lose for my observance of them, I know I shall not lose by it. True religion, if it be worth anything, is worth everything, and therefore worth suffering for. "Men are false; I find them do; men of low degree, men of high degree, are so, there is no trusting them. But all thy commandments are faithful; on them I may rely.

2. He begs that God would stand by him, and succour him: "They persecute me; help thou me; help me under my troubles, that I may bear them patiently, and as becomes me, and may still hold fast my integrity, and in due time help me out of my troubles. God help me is an excellent comprehensive prayer; it is a pity that it should ever be used lightly and as a by-word.

III. His adherence to his duty notwithstanding all the malice of his persecutors (Psa 119:87): But I forsook not thy precepts. That which they aimed at was to frighten him from the ways of God, but they could not prevail; he would sooner forsake all that was dear to him in this world than forsake the word of God, would sooner lose his life than lose the comfort of doing his duty.

Psa 119:88

Here is, 1. David in care to be found in the way of his duty. His constant desire and design are to keep the testimony of God's mouth, to keep to it as his rule and to keep hold of it as his confidence and portion forever. This we must keep, whatever we lose.

2. David at prayer for divine grace to assist him therein: "Quicken me after thy loving-kindness (make me alive and make me lively), so shall I keep thy testimonies, implying that otherwise he should not keep them. We cannot proceed, nor persevere, in the good way, unless God quicken us and put life into us; we are therefore here taught to depend upon the grace of God for strength to do every good work, and to depend upon it as grace, as purely the fruit of God's favour. He had prayed before, Quicken me in thy righteousness (Psa 119:40); but here, Quicken me after thy loving-kindness. The surest token of God's good-will toward us is his good work in us.

12. LAMED.

Psa 119:89-91

Here, 1. The psalmist acknowledges the unchangeableness of the word of God and of all his counsels: "Forever, O Lord! thy word is settled. Thou art for ever thyself (so some read it); thou art the same, and with thee there is no variableness, and this is a proof of it. Thy word, by which the heavens were made, is settled there in the abiding products of it; or the settling of God's word in heaven is opposed to the changes and revolutions that are here upon earth. All flesh is grass; but the word of the Lord endures forever. It is settled in heaven, that is, in the secret counsel of God, which is hidden in himself and is far above out of our sight, and is immovable, as mountains of brass. And his revealed will is as firm as his secret will; as he will fulfil the thoughts of his heart, so no word of his shall fall to the ground; for it follows here, Thy faithfulness is unto all generations, that is, the promise is sure to every age of the church and it cannot be antiquated by lapse of time. The promises that look ever so far forward shall be performed in their season.

2. He produces, for proof of it, the constancy of the course of nature: Thou hast established the earth forever and it abides; it is what it was at first made, and where it was at first placed, poised with its own weight, and notwithstanding the convulsions in its own bowels, the agitations of the sea that is interwoven with it, and the violent concussions of the atmosphere that surrounds it, it remains unmoved. "They (the heavens and the earth and all the hosts of both) "continue to this day according to thy ordinances; they remain in the posts wherein thou hast set them; they fill up the place assigned them, and answer the purposes for which they were intended. The stability of the ordinances of the day and night, of heaven and earth, is produced to prove the perpetuity of God's covenant, Jer. 31:35, 36; 33:20, 21. It is by virtue of God's promise to Noah (Gen. 8:22) that day and night, summer and winter, observe a steady course. "They have continued to this day, and shall still continue to the end of time, acting according to the ordinances which were at first given them; for all are thy servants; they do thy will, and set forth thy glory, and in both are thy servants. All the creatures are, in their places, and according to their capacities, serviceable to their Creator, and answer the ends of their creation; and shall man be the only rebel, the only revolter from his allegiance, and the only unprofitable burden of the earth.?

Psa 119:92

Here is, 1. The great distress that David was in. He was in affliction, and ready to perish in his affliction, not likely to die, so much as likely to despair; he was ready to give up all for gone, and to look upon himself as cut off from God's sight; he therefore admires the goodness of God to him, that he had not perished, that he kept the possession of his own soul, and was not driven out of his wits by his troubles, but especially that he was enabled to keep close to his God and was not driven off from his religion by them. Though we are not kept from affliction, yet, if we are kept from perishing in our affliction, we have no reason to say, We have cleansed our hands in vain; or, What profit is it that we have served God?

2. His support in this distress. God's law was his delight,

(1.) It had been so formerly, and the remembrance of that was a comfort to him, as it afforded him a good evidence of his integrity.

(2.) It was so now in his affliction; it afforded him abundant matter of comfort, and from these fountains of life he drew living waters, when the cisterns of the creature were broken or dried up. His converse with God's law, and his meditations on it, were his delightful entertainment in solitude and sorrow. A Bible is a pleasant companion at any time if we please.

Psa 119:93

Here is, 1. A very good resolution: "I will never forget thy precepts, but will always retain a remembrance of and regard to thy word as my rule. It is a resolution for perpetuity, never to be altered. Note, The best evidence of our love to the word of God is never to forget it. We must resolve that we will never, at any time, cast off our religion, and never, upon any occasion, lay aside our religion, but that we will be constant to it and persevere in it.

2. A very good reason for it: "For by them thou hast quickened me; not only they are quickening, but,

(1.) "They have been so to me; I have found them so. Those speak best of the things of God who speak by experience, who can say that by the word the spiritual life has been begun in them, maintained and strengthened in them, excited and comforted in them.

(2.) "Thou hast made them so; the word of itself, without the grace of God, would not quicken us. Ministers can but prophesy upon the dry bones, they cannot put life into them; but, ordinarily, the grace of God works by the word and makes use of it as a means of quickening, and this is a good reason why we should never forget it, but should highly value what God has put such honour upon, and dearly love what we have found and hope still to find such benefit by. See here what is the best help for bad memories, namely, good affections. If we are quickened by the word, we shall never forget it; nay, that word that does really quicken us to and in our duty is not forgotten; though the expressions be lost, if the impressions remain, it is well.

Psa 119:94

Here, 1. David claims relation to God: "I am thine, devoted to thee and owned by thee, thine in covenant. He does not say, Thou art mine (as Dr. Manton observes), though that follows of course, because that were a higher challenge; but, I am thine, expressing himself in a more humble and dutiful way of resignation; nor does he say, I am thus, but, I am thine, not pleading his own good property or qualification, but God's propriety in him: "I am thine, not my own, not the world's.

2. He proves his claim: "I have sought thy precepts; I have carefully enquired concerning my duty and diligently endeavoured to do it. This will be the best evidence that we belong to God; all that are his, though they have not found perfection, are seeking it.

3. He improves his claim: "I am thine; save me; save me from sin, save me from ruin. Those that have in sincerity given up themselves to God to be his may be sure that he will protect them and preserve them to his heavenly kingdom, Mal. 3:18.

Psa 119:95

Here, 1. David complains of the malice of his enemies: The wicked (and none but such would be enemies to so good a man) have waited for me to destroy me. They were very cruel, and aimed at no less than his destruction; they were very crafty, and sought all opportunities to do him a mischief; and they were confident (they expected, so some read it), that they should destroy him; they thought themselves sure of their prey.

2. He comforts himself in the word of God as his protection: "While they are contriving my destruction, I consider thy testimonies, which secure to me my salvation. God's testimonies are then likely to be our support, when we consider them, and dwell in our thoughts upon them.

Here we have David's testimony from his own experience,

1. Of the vanity of the world and its insufficiency to make us happy: I have seen an end of all perfection. Poor perfection which one sees an end of! Yet such are all those things in this world which pass for perfections. David, in his time, had seen Goliath, the strongest, overcome, Asahel, the swiftest, overtaken, Ahithophel, the wisest, befooled, Absalom, the fairest, deformed; and, in short, he had seen an end of perfection, of all perfection. He saw it by faith; he saw it by observation; he saw an end of the perfection of the creature both in respect of sufficiency (it was scanty and defective; there is that to be done for us which the creature cannot do) and in respect of continuance; it will not last our time, for it will not last to eternity as we must. The glory of man is but as the flower of the grass.

2. Of the fullness of the word of God, and its sufficiency for our satisfaction: But thy commandment is broad, exceedingly broad. The word of God reaches to all cases, to all times. The divine law lays a restraint upon the whole man, is designed to sanctify us wholly. There is a great deal required and forbidden in every commandment. The divine promise (for that also is commanded) extends itself to all our burdens, wants, and grievances, and has that in it which will make a portion and happiness for us when we have seen an end of all perfection.

13. MEM.

Psa 119:97

Here is, 1. David's inexpressible love to the word of God: O how love I thy law! He protests his affection to the word of God with a holy vehemency; he found that love to it in his heart which, considering the corruption of his nature and the temptations of the world, he could not but wonder at, and at that grace which had wrought it in him. He not only loved the promises, but loved the law, and delighted in it after the inner man.

2. An unexceptionable evidence of this. What we love we love to think of; by this it appeared that David loved the word of God that it was his meditation. He not only read the book of the law, but digested what he read in his thoughts, and was delivered into it as into a mould: it was his meditation not only in the night, when he was silent and solitary, and had nothing else to do, but in the day, when he was full of business and company; nay, and all the day; some good thoughts were interwoven with his common thoughts, so full was he of the word of God.

Psa 119:98-100

We have here an account of David's learning, not that of the Egyptians, but of the Israelites indeed.

I. The good method by which he got it. In his youth he minded business in the country as a shepherd; from his youth he minded business in the court and camp. Which way then could he get any great stock of learning? He tells us here how he came by it; he had it from God as the author: Thou hast made me wise. All true wisdom is from God. He had it by the word of God as the means, by his commandments and his testimonies. These are able to make us wise to salvation and to furnish the man of God for every good work.

1. These David took for his constant companions: "They are ever with me, ever in my mind, ever in my eye. A good man, wherever he goes, carries his Bible along with him, if not in his hands, yet in his head and in his heart.

2. These he took for the delightful subject of his thoughts; they were his meditation, not only as matters of speculation for his entertainment, as scholars meditate on their notions, but as matters of concern, for his right management, as men of business think of their business, that they may do it in the best manner.

3. These he took for the commanding rules of all his actions: I keep thy precepts, that is, I make conscience of doing my duty in everything. The best way to improve in knowledge is to abide and abound in all the instances of serious godliness; for, if any man do his will, he shall know of the doctrine of Christ, shall know more and more of it, Jn. 7:17. The love of the truth prepares for the light of it; the pure in heart shall see God here.

II. The great eminency he attained to in it. By studying and practising God's commandments, and making them his rule, he learnt to behave himself wisely in all his ways, 1 Sa. 18:14.

2. He outwitted his enemies; God, by these means, made him wiser to baffle and defeat their designs against him than they were to lay them. Heavenly wisdom will carry the point, at last, against carnal policy. By keeping the commandments we secure God on our side and make him our friend, and therein are certainly wiser than those that make him their enemy. By keeping the commandments we preserve in ourselves that peace and quiet of mind which our enemies would rob us of, and so are wise for ourselves, wiser than they are for themselves, for this world as well as for the other.

3. He outstripped his teachers, and had more understanding than all of them. He means either those who would have been his teachers, who blamed his conduct and undertook to prescribe to him (by keeping God's commandments he managed his matters so that it appeared, in the event, he had taken the right measures and they had taken the wrong), or those who should have been his teachers, the priests and Levites, who sat in Moses's chair, and whose lips ought to have kept knowledge, but who neglected the study of the law, and minded their honours and revenues, and the formalities only of their religion; and so David, who conversed much with the scriptures, by that means became more intelligent than they. Or he may mean those who had been his teachers when he was young; he built so well upon the foundation which they had laid that, with the help of his Bible, he became able to teach them, to teach them all. He was not now a babe that needed milk, but had spiritual senses exercised, Heb. 5:14. It is no reflection upon our teachers, but rather an honour to them, to improve so as really to excel them, and not to need them. By meditation we preach to ourselves, and so we come to understand more than our teachers, for we come to understand our own hearts, which they cannot.

4. He outdid the ancients, either those of his day (he was young, like Elihu, and they were very old, but his keeping God's precepts taught more wisdom than the multitude of their years, Job 32:7, 8) or those of former days; he himself quotes the proverb of the ancients (1 Sa. 24:13), but the word of God gave him to understand things better than he could do by tradition and all the learning that was handed down from preceding ages. In short, the written word is a surer guide to heaven than all the doctors and fathers, the teachers and ancients, of the church; and the sacred writings kept, and kept to, will teach us more wisdom than all their writings.

Psa 119:101

Here is, 1. David's care to avoid the ways of sin: "I have refrained my feet from the evil ways they were ready to step aside into. I checked myself and drew back as soon as I was aware that I was entering into temptation. Though it was a broad way, a green way, a pleasant way, and a way that many walked in, yet, being a sinful way, it was an evil way, and he refrained his feet from it, foreseeing the end of that way. And his care was universal; he shunned every evil way. By the words of thy lips I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer, Ps. 17:4. 2. His care to be found in the way of duty; That I might keep thy word, and never transgress it.

His abstaining from sin was, (1.) An evidence that he did conscientiously aim to keep God's word and had made that his rule.

(2.) It was a means of his keeping God's word in the exercises of religion; for we cannot with any comfort or boldness attend on God in holy duties, so as in them to keep his word, while we are under guilt or in any by-way.

Psa 119:102

Here is, 1. David's constancy in his religion. He had not departed from God's judgments; he had not chosen any other rule than the word of God, nor had he wilfully deviated from that rule. A constant adherence to the ways of God in trying times will be a good evidence of our integrity.

2. The cause of his constancy: "For thou hast taught me; that is, they were divine instructions that I learned; I was satisfied that the doctrine was of God, and therefore I stuck to it. Or rather, "It was divine grace in my heart that enabled me to receive those instructions. All the saints are taught of God, for he it is that gives the understanding; and those, and those only, that are taught of God, will continue to the end in the things that they have learned.

Psa 119:103-104

Here is, 1. The wonderful pleasure and delight which David took in the word of God; it was sweet to his taste, sweeter than honey. There is such a thing as a spiritual taste, an inward savour and relish of divine things, such an evidence of them to ourselves, by experience, as we cannot give to others. We have heard him ourselves, Jn. 4:42. To this scripture-taste the word of God is sweet, very sweet, sweeter than any of the gratifications of sense, even those that are most delicious. David speaks as if he wanted words to express the satisfaction he took in the discoveries of the divine will and grace; no pleasure was comparable to it.

2. The unspeakable profit and advantage he gained by the word of God.

(1.) It helped him to a good head: "Through thy precepts I get understanding to discern between truth and falsehood, good and evil, so as not to mistake either in the conduct of my own life or in advising others.

(2.) It helped him to a good heart: "Therefore, because I have got understanding of the truth, I hate every false way, and am steadfastly resolved not to turn aside into it.

Observe here, 1.] The way of sin is a false way; it deceives, and will ruin, all that walk in it; it is the wrong way, and yet it seems to a man right, Prov 14:12.

2.] It is the character of every good man that he hates the way of sin, and hates it because it is a false way; he not only refrains his feet from it (Psa 119:101), but he hates it, has an antipathy to it and a dread of it.

3.] Those who hate sin as sin will hate all sin, hate every false way, because every false way leads to destruction.

And, 4.] The more understanding we get by the word of God the more rooted will our hatred of sin be (for to depart from evil, that is understanding, Job 28:28), and the more ready we are in the scriptures the better furnished we are with answers to temptation.

14. NUN.

Psa 119:105

Observe here, 1. The nature of the word of God, and the great intention of giving it to the world; it is a lamp and a light. It discovers to us, concerning God and ourselves, that which otherwise we could not have known; it shows us what is amiss, and will be dangerous; it directs us in our work and way, and a dark place indeed the world would be without it. It is a lamp which we may set up by us, and take into our hands for our own particular use, Prov 6:23. The commandment is a lamp kept burning with the oil of the Spirit; it is like the lamps in the sanctuary, and the pillar of fire to Israel.

2. The use we should make of it. It must be not only a light to out eyes, to gratify them, and fill our heads with speculations, but a light to our feet and to our path, to direct us in the right ordering of our conversation, both in the choice of our way in general and in the particular steps we take in that way, that we may not take a false way nor a false step in the right way. We are then truly sensible of God's goodness to us in giving us such a lamp and light when we make it a guide to our feet, our path.

Verse 106

Here is, 1. The notion David had of religion; it is keeping God's righteous judgments. God's commands are his judgments, the dictates of infinite wisdom. They are righteous judgments, consonant to the eternal rules of equity, and it is our duty to keep them carefully.

2. The obligation he here laid upon himself to be religious, binding himself, by his own promise, to that which he was already bound to by the divine precept, and all little enough. "I have sworn (I have lifted up my head to the Lord, and I cannot go back) and therefore must go forward: I will perform it.

Note, (1.) It is good for us to bind ourselves with a solemn oath to be religious. We must swear to the Lord as subjects swear allegiance to their sovereign, promising fealty, appealing to God concerning our sincerity in this promise, and owning ourselves liable to the curse of we do not perform it.

(2.) We must often call to mind the vows of God that are upon us, and remember that we have sworn.

(3.) We must make conscience of performing unto the Lord our oaths (an honest man will be as good as his word); nor have we sworn to our own hurt, but it will be unspeakably to our hurt if we do not perform.

Psa 119:107

Here is, 1. The representation David makes of the sorrowful condition he was in: I am afflicted very much, afflicted in spirit; he seems to mean that especially. He laboured under many discouragements; without were fighting's, within were fears. This is often the lot of the best saints; therefore think it not strange if sometimes it be ours.

2. The recourse he has to God in this condition; he prays for his grace: "Quicken me, O Lord! make me lively, make me cheerful; quicken me by afflictions to greater diligence in my work. Quicken me, that is, deliver me out of my afflictions, which will be as life from the dead. He pleads the promise of God, guides his desires by it, and grounds his hopes upon it: Quicken me according to thy word. David resolved to perform his promises to God (Psa 119:106) and therefore could, with humble boldness, beg of God to make good his word to him.

Two things we are here taught to pray for, in reference to our religious performances:-

1. Acceptance of them. This we must aim at in all we do in religion, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of the Lord. What David here earnestly prays for the acceptance of are the free-will-offerings, not of his purse, but of his mouth, his prayers and praises. The calves of our lips (Hos. 14:2), the fruit of our lips (Heb. 1:15), these are the spiritual offerings which all Christians, as spiritual priests, must offer to God; and they must be free-will-offerings, for we must offer them abundantly and cheerfully, and it is this willing mind that is accepted. The more there is of freeness and willingness in the service of God the more pleasing it is to him.

2. Assistance in them: Teach me thy judgments. We cannot offer anything to God which we have reason to think he will accept of, but what he is pleased to instruct us in the doing of; and we must be as earnest for the grace of God in us as for the favour of God towards us.

Psa 119:109-110

Here is, 1. David in danger of losing his life. There is but a step between him and death, for the wicked have laid a snare for him; Saul did so many a time, because he hated him for his piety. Wherever he was he found some design or other laid against him to take away his life, for it was that they aimed at. What they could not effect by open force they hoped to compass by treachery, which made him say, My soul is continually in my hand. It was so with him, not only as a man (so it is true of us all; wherever we are we lie exposed to the strokes of death; what we carry in our hands is easily snatched away from us by violence, or if sandy, as our life is, it easily of itself slips through our fingers), but as a man of war, a soldier, who often jeoparded his life in the high places of the field, and especially as a man after God's own heart, and, as such, hated and persecuted, and always delivered to death (2 Co. 4:11), killed all the day long.

2. David in no danger of losing his religion, notwithstanding this, thus in jeopardy every hour and yet constant to God and his duty.

None of these things move him; for, (1.) He does not forget the law, and therefore he is likely to persevere. In the multitude of his cares for his own safety he finds room in his head and heart for the word of God, and has that in his mind as fresh as ever; and where that dwells richly it will be a well of living water.

(2.) He has not yet erred from God's precepts, and therefore it is to be hoped he will not. He had stood many a shock and kept his ground, and surely that grace which had helped him hitherto would not fail him, but would still prevent his wanderings.

Verses 111-112

The psalmist here in a most affectionate manner, like an Israelite indeed, resolves to stick to the word of God and to live and die by it.

I. He resolves to portion himself in it, and there to seek his happiness, nay, there to enjoy it; "Thy testimonies (the truths, the promises, of thy word) have I taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. The present delight he took in them was an evidence that the good things contained in them were in his account the best things, and the treasure which he set his heart upon.

1. He expected an eternal happiness in God's testimonies. The covenant God had made with him was an everlasting covenant, and therefore he took it as a heritage forever. If he could not yet say, "They are my heritage, yet he could say, "I have made choice of them for my heritage; and will never take up with a portion in this life, Ps. 17:14, 15. God's testimonies are a heritage to all that have received the Spirit of adoption; for, if children, then heirs. They are a heritage forever, and that no earthly heritage is (1 Pt. 1:4); all the saints accept them as such, take up with them, live upon them, and can therefore be content with but little of this world.

2. He enjoyed a present satisfaction in them: They are the rejoicing of my heart, because they will be my heritage forever. It requires the heart of a good man to see his portion in the promise of God and not in the possessions of this world.

II. He resolves to govern himself by it and thence to take his measures: I have inclined my heart to do thy statutes. Those that would have the blessings of God's testimonies must come under the bonds of his statutes. We must look for comfort only in the way of duty, and that duty must be done,

1. With full consent and complacency: "I have, by the grace of God, inclined my heart to it, and conquered the aversion I had to it. A good man brings his heart to his work and then it is done well. A gracious disposition to do the will of God is the acceptable principle of all obedience.

2. With constancy and perseverance. He would perform God's statutes always, in all instances, in the duty of every day, in a constant course of holy walking, and this to the end, without weariness. This is following the Lord fully.

15. SAMECH.

Psa 119:113

Here we have, 1. David's dread of the risings of sin, and the first beginnings of it: I hate vain thoughts. He does not mean that he hated them in others, for there he could not discern them, but he hated them in his own heart. Every good man makes conscience of his thoughts, for they are words to God. Vain thoughts, how light so ever most make of them, are sinful and hurtful, and therefore we should account them hateful and dreadful, for they do not only divert the mind from that which is good, but open the door to all evil, Jer. 4:14. Though David could not say that he was free from vain thoughts, yet he could say that he hated them; he did not countenance them, nor give them any entertainment, but did what he could to keep them out, at least to keep them under. The evil I do I allow not.

2. David's delight in the rule of duty: But thy law do I love, which forbids those vain thoughts, and threatens them. The more we love the law of God the more we shall get the mastery of our vain thoughts, the more hateful they will be to us, as being contrary to the whole law, and the more watchful we shall be against them, lest they draw us from that which we love.

Psa 119:114

Here is, 1. God's care of David to protect and defend him, which he comforted himself with when his enemies were very malicious against him: Thou art my hiding-place and my shield. David, when Saul pursued him, often betook himself to close places for shelter; in war he guarded himself with his shield. Now God was both these to him, a hiding-place to preserve him from danger and a shield to preserve him in danger, his life from death and his soul from sin. Good people are safe under God's protection. He is their strength and their shield, their help and their shield, their sun and their shield, their shield and their great reward, and here their hiding-place and their shield. They may by faith retire to him, and repose in him as their hiding-place, where they are kept in secret. They may by faith oppose his power to all the might and malice of their enemies, as their shield to quench every fiery dart.

2. David's confidence in God. He is safe, and therefore he is easy, under the divine protection: "I hope in thy word, which has acquainted me with thee and assured me of thy kindness to me. Those who depend on God's promise shall have the benefit of his power and be taken under his special protection.

Psa 119:115

Here is, 1. David's firm and fixed resolution to live a holy life: I will keep the commandments of my God. Bravely resolved! like a saint, like a soldier; for true courage consists in a steady resolution against all sin and for all duty. Those that would keep God's commandments must be often renewing their resolutions to do so: "I will keep them. Whatever others do, this I will do; though I be singular, though all about me be evil-doers, and desert me; whatever I have done hitherto, I will for the future walk closely with God. They are the commandments of God, of my God, and therefore I will keep them. He is God and may command me, my God and will command me nothing but what is for my good.

2. His farewell to bad company, pursuant to this resolution: Depart from me, you evil-doers. Though David, as a good magistrate, was a terror to evil-doers, yet there were many such, even about court, intruding near his person; these he here abdicates, and resolves to have no conversation with them. Note, Those that resolve to keep the commandments of God must have no society with evil-doers; for bad company is a great hindrance to a holy life. We must not choose wicked people for our companions, nor be intimate with them; we must not do as they do nor do as they would have us do, Ps. 1:1; Eph. 5:11.

Psa 119:116-117

Here, 1. David prays for sustaining grace; for this grace sufficient he be sought the Lord twice: Uphold me; and again, Hold thou me up. He sees himself not only unable to go on in his duty by any strength of his own, but in danger of falling into sin unless he was prevented by divine grace; and therefore he is thus earnest for that grace to uphold him in his integrity (Ps. 41:12), to keep him from falling and to keep him from tiring, that he might neither turn aside to evil-doing nor be weary of well-doing. We stand no longer than God holds us and go no further than he carries us.

2. He pleads earnestly for this grace.

(1.) He pleads the promise of God, his dependence upon the promise, and his expectation from it: "Uphold me, according to thy word, which word I hope in; and, if it be not performed, I shall be made ashamed of my hope, and be called a fool for my credulity. But those that hope in God's word may be sure that the word will not fail them, and therefore their hope will not make them ashamed.

(2.) He pleads the great need he had of God's grace and the great advantage it would be off to him: Uphold me, that I may live, intimating that he could not live without the grace of God; he should fall into sin, into death, into hell, if God did not hold him up; but, supported by his hand, he shall live; his spiritual life shall be maintained and be an earnest of eternal life. Hold me up, and I shall be safe, out of danger and out of the fear of danger. Our holy security is grounded on divine supports.

(3.) He pleads his resolution, in the strength of this grace, to proceed in his duty: "Hold me up, and then I will have respect unto thy statutes continually and never turn my eyes or feet aside from them. I will employ myself (so some), I will delight myself (so others) in thy statutes. If God's right hand uphold us, we must, in his strength, go on in our duty both with diligence and pleasure.

Psa 119:118-120

Here is, I. God's judgment on wicked people, on those that wander from his statutes, that take their measures from other rules and will not have God to reign over them. All departure from God's statutes is certainly an error, and will prove a fatal one. These are the wicked of the earth; they mind earthly things, lay up their treasures in the earth, live in pleasure on the earth, and are strangers and enemies to heaven and heavenly things. Now see how God deals with them, that you may neither fear them nor envy them.

1. He treads them all down. He brings them to ruin, to utter ruin, to shameful ruin; he makes them his footstool. Though they are ever so high, he can bring them low (Amos 2:9); he has done it many a time, and he will do it, for he resists the proud and will triumph over those that oppose his kingdom. Proud persecutors trample upon his people, but, sooner or later, he will trample upon them.

2. He puts them all away like dross. Wicked people are as dross, which, though it be mingled with the good metal in the ore, and seems to be of the same substance with it, must be separated from it. And in God's account they are worthless things, the scum and refuse of the earth, and no more to be compared with the righteous than dross with fine gold. There is a day coming which will put them away from among the righteous (Mt. 13:49), so that they shall have no place in their congregation (Ps. 1:5), which will put them away into everlasting fire, the fittest place for the dross. Sometimes, in this world, the wicked are, by the censures of the church, or the sword of the magistrate, or the judgments of God, put away as dross, Prov 25:4, 5.

II. The reasons of these judgments. God casts them off because they err from his statutes (those that will not submit to the commands of the word shall feel the curses of it) and because their deceit is falsehood, that is, because they deceive themselves by setting up false rules, in opposition to God's statutes, which they err from, and because they go about to deceive others with their hypocritical pretences of good and their crafty projects of mischief. Their cunning is falsehood, so Dr. Hammond. The utmost of their policy is treachery and perfidiousness; this the God of truth hates and will punish.

III. The improvement David made of these judgments. He took notice of them and received instruction from them.

The ruin of the wicked helped to increase, 1. His love to the word of God. "I see what comes of sin; therefore I love thy testimonies, which warn me to take heed of those dangerous courses and keep me from the paths of the destroyer. We see the word of Go fulfilled in his judgments on sin and sinners, and therefore we should love it.

2. His fear of the wrath of God: My flesh trembles for fear of thee. Instead of insulting over those who fell under God's displeasure, he humbled himself. What we read and hear of the judgments of God upon wicked people would make us,

(1.) To reverence his terrible majesty, and to stand in awe of him: Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? 1 Sa. 6:20.

(2.) To fear lest we offend him and become obnoxious to his wrath. Good men have need to be restrained from sin by the terrors of the Lord, especially when judgment begins at the house of God and hypocrites are discovered and put away as dross.

16. AIN.

Psa 119:121-122

David here appeals to God, 1. As his witness that he had not done wrong; he could truly say, "I have done judgment and justice, that is, I have made conscience of rendering to all their due, and have not by force or fraud hindered any of their right. Take him as a king, he executed judgment and justice to all his people, 2 Sa. 8:15. Take him in a private capacity, he could appeal to Saul himself that there was no evil or transgression in his hand, 1 Sa. 24:11. Note, Honesty is the best policy and will be our rejoicing in the day of evil.

2. As his Judge, that he might not be wronged. Having done justice for others that were oppressed, he begs that God would do him justice and avenge him of his adversaries: "Be surety for thy servant, for good; undertake for me against those that would run me down and ruin me. He is sensible that he cannot make his part good himself, and therefore begs that God would appear for him. Christ is our surety with God; and, if he be so, Providence shall be our surety against all the world. Who or what shall harm us if God's power and goodness be engaged for our protection and rescue? He does not prescribe to God what he should do for him; only let it be for good, in such way and manner as Infinite Wisdom sees best; "only let me not be left to my oppressors. Though David had done judgment and justice, yet he had many enemies; but, having God for his friend, he hoped they should not have their will against him; and in that hope he prayed again, Let not the proud oppress me. David, one of the best of men, was oppressed by the proud, whom God beholds afar off; the condition therefore of the persecuted is better than that of the persecutors, and will appear so at last.

Psa 119:123

David, being oppressed, is here waiting and wishing for the salvation of the Lord, which would make him easy.

1. He cannot but think that it comes slowly: My eyes fail for thy salvation. His eyes were towards it and had been long so. He looked for help from heaven (and we deceive ourselves if we look for it any other way), but it did not come so soon as he expected, so that his eyes began to fail, and he was sometimes ready to despair, and to think that, because the salvation did not come when he looked for it, it would never come. It is often the infirmity even of good men to be weary of waiting God's time when their time has elapsed.

2. Yet he cannot hope that it comes surely; for he expects the word of God's righteousness, and no other salvation than what is secured by that word, which cannot fall to the ground because it is a word of righteousness. Though our eyes fail, yet God's word does not, and therefore those that build upon it, though now discouraged, shall in due time see his salvation.

Psa 119:124-125

Here is, 1. David's petition for divine instruction: "Teach me thy statutes; give me to know all my duty; when I am in doubt, and know not for certain what is my duty, direct me, and make it plain to me; now that I am afflicted, oppressed, and my eyes are ready to fail for thy salvation, let me know what my duty is in this condition. In difficult times we should desire more to be told what we must do than what we may expect, and should pray more to be led into the knowledge of scripture-precepts than of scripture-prophecies. If God, who gave us his statutes, do not teach us, we shall never learn them. How God teaches is implied in the next petition: Give me understanding (a renewed understanding, apt to receive divine light), that I may know thy testimonies. It is God's prerogative to give an understanding, that understanding without which we cannot know God's testimonies. Those who know most of God's testimonies desire to know more, and are still earnest with God to teach them, never thinking they know enough.

2. His pleas to enforce this petition.

(1.) He pleads God's goodness to him: Deal with me according to thy mercy. The best saints count this their best plea for any blessing, "Let me have it according to thy mercy; for we deserve no favour from God, nor can we claim any as a debt, but we are most likely to be easy when we cast ourselves upon God's mercy and refer ourselves to it. Particularly, when we come to him for instruction, we must beg it as a mercy, and reckon that in being taught we are well dealt with.

(2.) He pleads his relation to God: "I am thy servant, and have work to do for thee; therefore teach me to do it, and to do it well. The servant has reason to expect that, if he be at a loss about his work, his master should teach him, and, if it were in his power, give him an understanding. "Lord, says David, "I desire to serve thee; show me how. If any man resolve to do God's will as his servant, he shall be made to know his testimonies, Jn. 7:17; Ps. 25:14.

Psa 119:126

Here is, 1. A complaint of the daring impiety of the wicked. David, having in himself a holy indignation at it, humbly represents it to God: "Lord, there are those that have made void thy law, have set thee and thy government at defiance, and have done what in them lay to cancel and vacate the obligation of thy commands. Those that sin through infirmity transgress the law, but presumptuous sinners do in effect make void the law, saying, Who is the Lord? What is the Almighty, that we should fear him? It is possible a godly man may sin against the commandment, but a wicked man would sin away the commandment, would repeal God's laws and enact his own lusts. This is the sinfulness of sin and the malignity of the carnal mind.

2. A desire that God would appear, for the vindication of his own honour: "It is time for thee, Lord, to work, to do something for the effectual confutation of atheists and infidels, and the silencing of those that set their mouth against the heavens. God's time to work is when vice has become most daring and the measure of iniquity is full. Now will I arise, saith the Lord. Some read it, and the original will bear it, It is time to work for thee, O Lord! it is time for everyone in his place to appear on the Lord's side—against the threatening growth of profaneness and immorality. We must do what we can for the support of the sinking interests of religion, and, after all, we must beg of God to take the work into his own hands.

Psa 119:127-128

David here, as often in this psalm, professes the great love he had to the word and law of God; and, to evidence the sincerity of it, observe,

1. The degree of his love. He loved his Bible better than he loved his money—above gold, yea, above fine gold. Gold, fine gold, is what most men set their hearts upon; nothing charms them and dazzles their eyes so much as gold does. It is fine gold, a fine thing in their eyes; they will venture their souls, their God, their all, to get and keep it. But David saw that the word of God answers all purposes better than money does, for it enriches the soul towards God; and therefore he loved it better than gold, for it had done that for him which gold could not do, and would stand him instead when the wealth of the world would fail him.

2. The ground of his love. He loved all God's commandments because he esteemed them to be right, all reasonable and just, and suited to the end for which they were made. They are all as they should be, and no fault can be found with them; and we must love them because they bear God's image and are the revelations of his will. If we thus consent to the law that it is good, we shall delight in it after the inner man.

3. The fruit and evidence of this love: He hated every false way. The way of sin being directly contrary to God's precepts, which are right, is a false way, and therefore those that have a love and esteem for God's law hate it and will not be reconciled to it.

17. PE.

Psa 119:129

See here how David was affected towards the word of God.

1. He admired it, as most excellent in itself: Thy testimonies are wonderful. The word of God gives us admirable discoveries of God, and Christ, and another world; admirable proofs of divine love and grace. The majesty of the style, the purity of the matter, the harmony of the parts, are all wonderful. Its effects upon the consciences of men, both for conviction and comfort, are wonderful; and it is a sign that we are not acquainted with God's testimonies, or do not understand them, if we do not admire them.

2. He adhered to it as of constant use to him: "Therefore doth my soul keep them, as a treasure of inestimable value, which I cannot be without. We do not keep them to any purpose unless our souls keep them. There they must be deposited, as the tables of testimony in the ark, there they must have the innermost and uppermost place. Those that see God's word to be admirable will prize it highly and preserve it carefully, as that which they promise themselves great things from.

Psa 119:130

Here is, 1. The great use for which the word of God was intended, to give light, that is, to give understanding, to give us to understand that which will be of use to us in our travels through this world; and it is the outward and ordinary means by which the Spirit of God enlightens the understanding of all that are sanctified. God's testimonies are not only wonderful for the greatness of them, but useful, as a light in a dark place.

2. Its efficacy for this purpose.

It admirably answers the end; for, (1.) Even the entrance of God's word gives light. If we begin at the beginning, and take it before us, we shall find that the very first verses of the Bible give us surprising and yet satisfying discoveries of the origin of the universe, about which, without that, the world is utterly in the dark. As soon as the word of God enters into us, and has a place in us, it enlightens us; we find we begin to see when we begin to study the word of God. The very first principles of the oracles of God, the plainest truths, the milk appointed for the babes, bring a great light into the soul, much more will the soul be illuminated by the sublime mysteries that are found there. "The exposition or explication of thy word gives light; then it is most profitable when ministers do their part in giving the sense, Neh. 8:8. Some understand it of the New Testament, which is the opening or unfolding of the Old, which would give light concerning life and immortality.

(2.) It would give understanding even to the simple, to the weakest capacities; for it shows us a way to heaven so plain that the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

Psa 119:131

Here is, 1. The desire David had towards the word of God: I longed for thy commandments. When he was under a forced absence from God's ordinances he longed to be restored to them again; when he enjoyed ordinances he greedily sucked in the word of God, as new-born babes desire the milk. When Christ is formed in the soul there are gracious longings, unaccountable to one that is a stranger to the work.

2. The degree of that desire appearing in the expressions of it: I opened my mouth and panted, as one overcome with hear, or almost stifled, pants for a mouthful of fresh air. Thus strong, thus earnest, should our desires be towards God and the remembrance of his name, Ps. 42:1, 2. Lk. 12:50.

Psa 119:119:132

Here is, 1. David's request for God's favour to himself: "Look graciously upon me; let me have thy smiles, and the light of thy countenance. Take cognizance of me and my affairs, and be merciful to me; let me taste the sweetness of thy mercy and receive the gifts of thy mercy. See how humble his petition is. He asks not for the operations of God's hand, only for the smiles of his face; a good look is enough; and for that he does not plead merit, but implores mercy.

2. His acknowledgment of his favour to all his people: As thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.

This is either, (1.) A plea for mercy: "Lord, I am one of those that love thy name, love thee and thy word, and thou usest to be kind to those that do so; and wilt thou be worse to me than to others of thy people?

Or, (2.) A description of the favour and mercy he desired—"that which thou usest to bestow on those that love thy name, which thou bearest to thy chosen, Ps. 106:4, 5. He desires no more, no better, than neighbour's fare, and he will take up with no less; common looks and common mercies will not serve, but such as are reserved for those that love him, which are such as eye has not seen, 1 Co. 2:9. Note, The dealings of God with those that love him are such that a man needs not desire to be any better dealt with, for he will make them truly and eternally happy. And as long as God deals with us no otherwise than as he uses to deal with those that love him we have no reason to complain, 1 Co. 10:13.

Psa 119:133

Here David prays for two great spiritual blessings, and is, in this verse, as earnest for the good work of God in him as, in the verse before, for the good-will of God towards him.

He prays, 1. For direction in the paths of duty: "Order my steps in thy word; having led me into the right way, let every step I take in that way be under the guidance of thy grace. We ought to walk by rule; all the motions of the soul must not only be kept within the bounds prescribed by the word, so as not to transgress them, but carried out in the paths prescribed by the word, so as not to trifle in them. And therefore we must beg of God that by his good Spirit he would order our steps accordingly.

2. For deliverance from the power of sin: "Let no iniquity have dominion over me, so as to gain my consent to it, and that I should be led captive by it. The dominion of sin is to be dreaded and deprecated by every one of us; and, if in sincerity we pray against it, we may receive that promise as an answer to the prayer (Rom. 6:14), Sin shall not have dominion over you.

Psa 119:134

Here, 1. David prays that he might live a quiet and peaceable life, and might not be harassed and discomposed by those that studied to be vexatious: "Deliver me from the oppression of man—man, whom God can control, and whose power is limited. Let them know themselves to be but men (Ps. 9:20), and let me be delivered out of the hands of my enemies, that I may serve God without fear; so will I keep thy precepts. Not but that he would keep God's precepts, though he should be continued under oppression; "but so shall I keep thy precepts more cheerfully and with more enlargement of heart, my bonds being loosed. Then we may expect temporal blessings when we desire them with this in our eye, that we may serve God the better.

Psa 119:135

David here, as often as elsewhere, writes himself God's servant, a title he gloried in, though he was a king; now here, as became a good servant,

1. He is very ambitious of his Master's favour, accounting that his happiness and chief good. He asks not for corn and wine, for silver and gold, but, "Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; let me be accepted of thee, and let me know that I am so. Comfort me with the light of thy countenance in every cloudy and dark day. If the world frown upon me, yet do thou smile.

2. He is very solicitous about his Master's work, accounting that his business and chief concern. This he would be instructed in, that he might do it, and do it well, so as to be accepted in the doing of it: Teach me thy statutes. Note, We must pray as earnestly for grace as for comfort. If God hides his face from us, it is because we have been careless in keeping his statutes; and therefore, that we may be qualified for the returns of his favour, we must pray for wisdom to do our duty.

Psa 119:136

Here we have David in sorrow. 1. It is a great sorrow, to such a degree that he weeps rivers of tears. Commonly, where there is a gracious heart, there is a weeping eye, in conformity to Christ, who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. David had prayed for comfort in God's favour (Psa 119:135), now he pleads that he was qualified for that comfort, and had need of it, for he was one of those that mourned in Zion, and those that do so shall be comforted, Isa. 61:3.

2. It is godly sorrow. He wept not for his troubles, though they were many, but for the dishonour done to God: Because they keep not thy law, either because my eyes keep not thy law, so some (the eye is the inlet and outlet of a great deal of sin, and therefore it ought to be a weeping eye), or, rather, they, that is, those about me, Psa 119:139. Note, The sins of sinners are the sorrows of saints. We must mourn for that which we cannot mend.

18. TZADDI.

Psa 119:137-138

Here is, 1. The righteousness of God, the infinite rectitude and perfection of his nature. As he is what he is, so he is what he should be, and in everything acts as becomes him; there is nothing wanting, nothing amiss, in God; his will is the eternal rule of equity, and he is righteous, for he does all according to it.

2. The righteousness of his government. He rules the world by his providence, according to the principles of justice, and never did, nor ever can do, any wrong to any of his creatures: Upright are thy judgments, the promises and threatenings and the executions of both. Every word of God is pure, and he will be true to it; he perfectly knows the merits of every cause and will judge accordingly.

3. The righteousness of his commands, which he has given to be the rule of our obedience: "Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded, which are backed with thy sovereign authority, and to which thou dost require our obedience, are exceedingly righteous and faithful, righteousness and faithfulness itself. As he acts like himself, so his law requires that we act like ourselves and like him, that we be just to ourselves and to all we deal with, true to all the engagements we lay ourselves under both to God and man. That which we are commanded to practise is righteous; that which we are commanded to believe is faithful. It is necessary to our faith and obedience that we be convinced of this.

Psa 119:139

Here is, 1. The great contempt which wicked men put upon religion: My enemies have forgotten thy words. They have often heard them, but so little did they heed them that they soon forgot them, they willingly forgot them, not only through carelessness let them slip out of their minds, but contrived how to cast them behind their backs. This is at the bottom of all the wickedness of the wicked, and particularly of their malignity and enmity to the people of God; they have forgotten the words of God, else those would give check to their sinful courses.

2. The great concern which godly men show for religion. David reckoned those his enemies who forgot the words of God because they were enemies to religion, which he had entered into a league with, offensive and defensive. And therefore his zeal even consumed him, when he observed their impieties. He conceived such an indignation at their wickedness as preyed upon his spirits, even ate them up (as Christ's zeal, Jn. 2:17), swallowed up all inferior considerations, and made him forget himself. My zeal has pressed or constrained me (so Dr. Hammond reads it), Acts 18:5. Zeal against sin should constrain us to do what we can against it in our places, at least to do so much the more in religion ourselves. The worse others are the better we should be.

Psa 119:140

Here is, 1. David's great affection for the word of God: Thy servant loves it. Every good man, being a servant of God, loves the word of God, because it lets him know his Master's will and directs him in his Master's work. Wherever there is grace there is a warm attachment to the word of God.

2. The ground and reason of that affection; he saw it to be very pure, and therefore he loved it. Our love to the word of God is then an evidence of our love to God when we love it for the sake of its purity, because it bears the image of God's holiness and is designed to make us partakers of his holiness. It commands purity, and, as it is itself refined from all corrupt mixture, so if we receive it in the light and love of it it will refine us from the dross of worldliness and fleshly-mindedness.

Psa 119:141

Here is, 1. David pious and yet poor. He was a man after God's own heart, one whom the King of kings did delight to honour, and yet small and despised in his own account and in the account of many others. Men's excellency cannot always secure them from contempt; nay, it often exposes them to the scorn of others and always makes them low in their own eyes. God has chosen the foolish things of the world, and it has been the common lot of his people to be a despised people.

2. David poor and yet pious, small and despised for his strict and serious godliness, yet his conscience can witness for him that he did not forget God's precepts. He would not throw off his religion, though it exposed him to contempt, for he knew that was designed to try his constancy. When we are small and despised we have the more need to remember God's precepts, that we may have them to support us under the pressures of a low condition.

Psa 119:142

Observe, 1. That God's word is righteousness, and it is an everlasting righteousness. It is the rule of God's judgment, and it is consonant to his counsels from eternity and will direct his sentence for eternity. The word of God will judge us, it will judge us in righteousness, and by it our everlasting state will be determined. This should possess us with a very great reverence for the word of God that it is righteousness itself, the standard of righteousness, and it is everlasting in its rewards and punishments.

2. That God's word is a law, and that law is truth. See the double obligation we are under to be governed by the word of God. We are reasonable creatures, and as such we must be ruled by truth, acknowledging the force and power of it. If the principles be true, the practices must be agreeable to them, else we do not act rationally. We are creatures, and therefore subjects, and must be ruled by our Creator; and whatever he commands we are bound to obey as a law. See how these obligations are here twisted, these cords of a man. Here is truth brought to the understanding, there to sit chief, and direct the motions of the whole man; but, lest the authority of that should become weak through the flesh, here is a law to bind the will and bring that into subjection. God's truth is a law (Jn. 18:37) and God's law is the truth; surely we cannot break such words as these asunder.

Psa 119:143-144

These two verses are almost a repetition of the two foregoing verses, but with improvement.

1. David again professes his constant adherence to God and his duty, notwithstanding the many difficulties and discouragements he met with. He had said (Psa 119:14), I am small and despised, and yet adhere to my duty. Here he finds himself not only mean, but miserable, as far as this world could make him so: Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me—trouble without, anguish within; they surprised him, they seized him, they held him. Sorrows are often the lot of saints in this vale of tears; they are in heaviness through manifold temptations. There he had said, Yet do I not forget thy precepts; here he carries his constancy much higher: Yet thy commandments are my delights. All this trouble and anguish did not put his mouth out of taste for the comforts of the word of God, but he could still relish them and find that peace and pleasure in them which all the calamities of this present time could not deprive him of. There are delights, variety of delights, in the word of God, which the saints have often the sweetest enjoyment of when they are in trouble and anguish, 2 Co. 1:5.

2. He again acknowledges the everlasting righteousness of God's word as before (Psa 119:142): The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting and cannot be altered; and, when it is admitted in its power into a soul, it is there an abiding principle, a well of living water, Jn. 4:14. We ought to meditate much and often upon the equity and the eternity of the word of God. Here he adds, by way of inference,

(1.) His prayer for grace: Give me understanding. Those that know much of the word of God should still covet to know more; for there is more to be known. He does not say, "Give me a further revelation, but, Give me a further understanding; what is revealed we should desire to understand, and what we know to know better; and we must go to God for a heart to know.

(2.) His hope of glory: "Give me this renewed understanding, and then I shall live, shall live forever, shall be eternally happy, and shall be comforted, for the present, in the prospect of it. This is life eternal, to know God, Jn. 17:3.

19. KOPH.

Psa 119:145-146

Here we have, I. David's good prayers, by which he sought to God for mercy; these he mentions here, not as boasting of them, or trusting to any merit in them, but reflecting upon them with comfort, that he had taken the appointed way to comfort.

Observe here, 1. That he was inward with God in prayer; he prayed with his heart, and prayer is acceptable no further than the heart goes along with it. Lip-labour, if that be all, is lost labour.

2. He was importunate with God in prayer; he cried, as one in earnest, with fervour of affection and a holy vehemence and vigour of desire. He cried with his whole heart; all the powers of his soul were not only engaged and employed, but exerted to the utmost, in his prayers. Then we are likely to speed when we thus strive and wrestle in prayer.

3. That he directed his prayer to God: I cried unto thee. Whither should the child go but to his father when anything ails him?

4. That the great thing he prayed for was salvation: Save me. A short prayer (for we mistake if we think we shall be heard for our much speaking), but a comprehensive prayer: "Not only rescue me from ruin, but make me happy. We need desire no more than God's salvation (Ps. 50:23) and the things that accompany it, Heb. 6:9. 5. That he was earnest for an answer; and not only looked up in his prayers, but looked up after them, to see what became of them (Ps. 5:3): "Lord, hear me, and let me know that thou hearest me.

II. David's good purposes, by which he bound himself to duty when he was in the pursuit of mercy. "I will keep thy statutes; I am resolved that by thy grace I will; for, if we turn away our ear from hearing the law, we cannot expect an answer of peace to our prayers, Prov 28:9. This purpose is used as a humble plea (Psa 119:146): "Save me from my sins, my corruptions, my temptations, all the hindrances that lie in my way, that I may keep thy testimonies. We must cry for salvation, not that we may have the ease and comfort of it, but that we may have an opportunity of serving God the more cheerfully.

Psa 119:147-148

David goes on here to relate how he had abounded in the duty of prayer, much to his comfort and advantage: he cried unto God, that is, offered up to him his pious and devout affections with all seriousness. Observe,

I. The handmaids of his devotion. The two great exercises that attended his prayers, and were helpful to them, were, 1. Hope in God's word, which encouraged him to continue instant in prayer, though the answer did not come immediately: "I cried, and hoped that at last I should speed, because the vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it will speak and not lie. I hoped in thy word, which I knew would not fail me.

2. Meditation in God's word. The more intimately we converse with the word of God, and the more we dwell upon it in our thoughts, the better able we shall be to speak to God in his own language and the better we shall know what to pray for as we ought. Reading the word will not serve, but we must meditate in it.

II. The hours of his devotion. He anticipated the dawning of the morning, nay, and the night-watches.

See here, 1. That David was an early riser, which perhaps contributed to his eminency. He was none of those that say, Yet a little sleep.

2. That he began the day with God. The first thing he did in the morning, before he admitted any business, was to pray, when his mind was most fresh and in the best frame. If our first thoughts in the morning be of God they will help to keep us in his fear all the day long.

3. That his mind was so full of God, and the cares and delights of his religion, that a little sleep served his turn. Even in the night-watches, when he awaked from his first sleep, he would rather meditate and pray than turn himself and go to sleep again. He esteemed the words of God's mouth more than his necessary repose, which we can as ill spare as our food, Job 23:12.

4. That he would redeem time for religious exercises. He was full of business all day, but that will excuse no man from secret devotion; it is better to take time from sleep, as David did, than not to find time for prayer. And this is our comfort, when we pray in the night, that we can never come unseasonably to the throne of grace; for we may have access to it at all hours. Baal may be asleep, but Israel's God never slumbers, nor are there any hours in which he may not be spoken with.

Psa 119:149

Here, 1. David applies to God for grace and comfort with much solemnity. He begs of God to hear his voice: "Lord, I have something to say to thee; shall I obtain a gracious audience? Well, what has he to say? What is his petition and what is his request? It is not long, but it has much in a little: "Lord, quicken me; stir me up to that which is good, and make me vigorous, and lively, and cheerful in it. Let habits of grace be drawn out into act.

2. He encourages himself to hope that he shall obtain his request; for he depends,

(1.) Upon God's loving-kindness: "He is good, therefore he will be good to me, who hope in his mercy. His loving-kindness manifested to me will help to quicken me, and put life into me.

(2.) Upon God's judgment, that is, his wisdom ("He knows what I need, and what is good for me, and therefore will quicken me), or his promise, the word which he has spoken, mercy secured by the new covenant: Quicken me according to the tenour of that covenant.

Psa 119:150-151

Here is, I. The apprehension David was in of danger from his enemies.

1. They were very malicious, and industrious in prosecuting their malicious designs: They follow after mischief, any mischief they could do to David or his friends; they would let slip no opportunity nor let fall any pursuit that might be to his hurt.

2. They were very impious, and had no fear of God before their eyes: They are far from thy law, setting themselves as far as they can out of the reach of its convictions and commands. The persecutors of God's people are such as make light of God himself; we may therefore be sure that God will take his people's part against them.

3. They followed him closely and he was just ready to fall into their hands: They draw nigh, higher than they were; so that they got ground of him. They were at his heels, just upon his back. God sometimes suffers persecutors to prevail very far against his people, so that, as David said (1 Sa. 20:3), There is but a step between them and death. Perhaps this comes in here as a reason why David was so earnest in prayer, Psa 119:149. God brings us into imminent perils, as he did Jacob, that, like him, we may wrestle for a blessing.

II. The assurance David had of protection with God: "They draw nigh to destroy me, but thou art near, O Lord! to save me, not only mightier than they and therefore able to help me against them, but nearer than they and therefore ready to help. It is the happiness of the saints that, when trouble is near, God is near, and no trouble can separate between them and him. He is never far to seek, but he is within our call, and means are within his call, Deut. 4:7. All thy commandments are truth. The enemies thought to defeat the promises God had made to David, but he was sure it was out of their power; they were inviolably true, and would be infallibly performed.

Psa 119:152

This confirms what he had said in the close of the foregoing verses, All thy commandments are truth; he means the covenant, the word which God has commanded to a thousand generations. This is firm, as true as truth itself. For, 1. God has founded it so; he has framed it for a perpetuity. Such is the constitution of it, and so well ordered is it in all things, that it cannot but be sure. The promises are founded forever, so that when heaven and earth shall have passed away every iota and tittle of the promise shall stand firm, 2 Co. 1:20.

2. David had found it so, both by a work of God's grace upon his heart (begetting in him a full persuasion of the truth of God's word and enabling him to rely upon it with a full satisfaction) and by the works of his providence on his behalf, fulfilling the promise beyond what he expected. Thus he knew of old, from the days of his youth, ever since he began to look towards God, that the word of God is what one may venture one's all upon. This assurance was confirmed by the observations and experiences of his own life all along, and of others that had gone before him in the ways of God. All that ever dealt with God, and trusted in him will own that they have found him faithful.

20. RESH.

Psa 119:153-154

Here, I. David prays for succour in distress. Is any afflicted? let him pray; let him pray as David does here.

1. He has an eye to God's pity, and prays, "Consider my affliction; take it into thy thoughts, and all the circumstances of it, and sit not by as one unconcerned. God is never unmindful of his people's afflictions, but he will have us to put him in remembrance (Isa. 43:26), to spread our case before him, and then leave it to his compassionate consideration to do in it as in his wisdom he shall think fit, in his own time and way.

2. He has an eye to God's power and prays, Deliver me; and again, "Deliver me; consider my troubles and bring me out of them. God has promised deliverance (Ps. 50:15) and we may pray for it, with submission to his will and with regard to his glory, that we may serve him the better.

3. He has an eye to God's righteousness, and prays, "Plead my cause; be thou my patron and advocate, and take me for thy client. David had a just cause, but his adversaries were many and mighty, and he was in danger of being run down by them; he therefore begs of God to clear his integrity and silence their false accusations. If God do not plead his people's cause, who will? He is righteous, and they commit themselves to him, and therefore he will do it, and do it effectually, Isa. 51:22; Jer. 50:34.

(4.) He has an eye to God's grace, and prays, "Quicken me. Lord, I am weak, and unable to bear my troubles; my spirit is apt to droop and sink. O that thou wouldst revive and comfort me, till the deliverance is wrought!

II. He pleads his dependence upon the word of God and his obedient regard to its directions: Quicken and deliver me according to thy word of promise, for I do not forget thy precepts. The more closely we cleave to the word of God, both as our rule and as our stay, the more assurance we may have of deliverance in due time.

Psa 119:155

Here is, 1. The description of wicked men. They do not only do God's statutes, but they do not so much as seek them; they do not acquaint themselves with them, nor so much as desire to know their duty, nor in the least endeavour to do it. Those are wicked indeed who do not think the law of God worth enquiring after, but are altogether regardless of it, being resolved to live at large and to walk in the way of their heart.

2. Their doom: Salvation is far from them. They cannot upon any good grounds promise themselves temporal deliverance. Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. How can those expect to seek God's favour with success, when they are in adversity, who never sought his statutes when they were in prosperity? But eternal salvation is certainly far from them. They flatter themselves with a conceit that it is near, and that they are going to heaven; but they are mistaken: it is far from them. They thrust it from them by thrusting the Saviour from them; it is so far from them that they cannot reach it, and the longer they persist in sin the further it is; nay, while salvation is far from them, damnation is near; it slumbers not. Behold, the Judge stands before the door.

Psa 119:156

Here, 1. David admires God's grace: Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord! The goodness of God's nature, as it is his glory, so it is the joy of all the saints. His mercies are tender, for he is full of compassion; they are many, they are great, a fountain that can never be exhausted. He is rich in mercy to all that call upon him. David had spoken of the misery of the wicked (Psa 119:155); but God is good notwithstanding; there were tender mercies sufficient in God to have saved them, if they had not "despised the riches of those mercies. Those that are delivered from the sinner's doom are bound for ever to own the greatness of God's mercies which delivered them.

2. He begs for God's grace, reviving quickening grace, according to his judgments, that is, according to the tenour of the new covenant (that established rule by which he goes in dispensing that grace) or according to his manner, his custom or usage, with those that love his name, Psa 119:132.

Psa 119:157

Here is, 1. David surrounded with difficulties and dangers: Many are my persecutors and my enemies. When Saul the king was his persecutor and enemy no marvel that many more were so: multitudes will follow the pernicious ways of abused authority. David, being a public person, had many enemies, but withal he had many friends, who loved him and wished him well; let him set the one over-against the other. In this David was a type both of Christ and his church. The enemies, the persecutors, of both, are many, very many.

2. David established in the way of his duty, notwithstanding: "Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies, as knowing that while I adhere to them God is for me; and then no matter who is against me. A man who is steady in the way of his duty, though he may have many enemies, needs fear none.

Psa 119:158

Here is, 1. David's sorrow for the wickedness of the wicked. Though he conversed much at home, yet sometimes he looked abroad, and could not but see the wicked walking on every side. He beheld the transgressors, those whose sins were open before all men, and it grieved him to see them dishonour God, serve Satan, debauch the world, and ruin their own souls, to see the transgressors so numerous, so daring, so very impudent, and so industrious to draw unstable souls into their snares. All this cannot but be a grief to those who have any regard to the glory of God and the welfare of mankind.

2. The reason of that sorrow. He was grieved, not because they were vexatious to him, but because they were provoking to God: They kept not thy word. Those that hate sin truly hate it as sin, as a transgression of the law of God and a violation of his word.

Psa 119:159

Here is, 1. David's appeal to God concerning his love to his precepts: "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love them; consider it then, and deal with me as thou usest to deal with those that love thy word, which thou hast magnified above all thy name. He does not say, "Consider how I fulfil thy precepts; he was conscious to himself that in many things he came short; but, "Consider how I love them. Our obedience is pleasing to God, and pleasant to ourselves, only when it comes from a principle of love.

2. His petition thereupon: "Quicken me, to do my duty with vigour; revive me, keep me alive, not according to any merit of mine, though I love thy word, but according to thy loving-kindness; to that we owe our lives, nay, that is better than live itself. We need not desire to be quickened any further than God's loving-kindness will quicken us.

Psa 119:160

David here comforts himself with the faithfulness of God's word, for the encouragement of himself and others to rely upon it.

1. It has always been found faithful hitherto, and never failed any that ventured upon it; It is true from the beginning. Ever since God began to reveal himself to the children of men all he said was true and to be trusted. The church, from its beginning, was built upon this rock. It has not gained its validity by lapse of time, as many governments, whose best plea is prescription and long usage, Quod initio non valet, tractu temporis convalescit—That which, at first, wanted validity, in the progress of time acquired it. But the beginning of God's word was true (so some read it); his government was laid on a sure foundation. And all, in every age, that have received God's word in faith and love, have found every saying in it faithful and well worthy of all acceptation.

2. It will be found faithful to the end, because righteous: "Every one of thy judgments remains for ever unalterable and of perpetual obligation, adjusting men's everlasting doom.

21. SCHIN.

Psa 119:161

David here lets us know, 1. How he was discouraged in his duty by the fear of man: Princes persecuted him. They looked upon him as a traitor and an enemy to the government, and under that notion sought his life, and bade him go serve other gods, 1 Sa. 26:19. It has been the common lot of the best men to be persecuted; and the case is the worse if princes be the persecutors, for they have not only the sword in their hand, and therefore can do the more hurt, but they have the law on their side, and can do it with reputation and a colour of justice. It is sad that the power which magistrates have from God, and should use for him, should ever be employed against him. But marvel not at the matter, Eccl. 5:8. It was a comfort to David that when princes persecuted him he could truly say it was without cause, he never gave them any provocation.

2. How he was kept to his duty, notwithstanding, by the fear of God: "They would make me stand in awe of them and their word, and do as they bid me; but my heart stands in awe of thy word, and I am resolved to please God, and keep in with him, whoever is displeased and falls out with me. Every gracious soul stands in awe of the word of God, of the authority of its precepts and the terror of its threatening; and to those that do so nothing appears, in the power and wrath of man, at all formidable. We ought to obey God rather than men, and to make sure of God's favour, though we throw ourselves under the frowns of all the world, Lk. 12:4, 5. The heart that stands in awe of God's word is armed against the temptations that arise from persecution.

Psa 119:162

Here is, 1. The pleasure David took in the word of God. He rejoiced at it, rejoiced that God had made such a discovery of his mind, that Israel was blessed with that light when other nations sat in darkness, that he was himself let into the understanding of it and had had experience of the power of it. He took a pleasure in reading it, hearing it, and meditating on it, and everything he met with in it was agreeable to him. He had just now said that his heart stood in awe of his word, and yet here he declares that he rejoiced in it. The more reverence we have for the word of God the more joy we shall find in it.

2. The degree of that pleasure—as one that finds great spoil. This supposes a victory over the enemy. It is through much opposition that a soul comes to this, to rejoice in God's word. But, besides the pleasure and honour of a conquest, there is great advantage gained by the plunder of the field, which adds much to the joy. By the word of God we become more than conquerors, that is, unspeakable gainers.

Psa 119:163

Love and hatred are the leading affections of the soul; if those be fixed aright, the rest move accordingly. Here we have them fixed aright in David.

1. He had a rooted antipathy to sin; he could not endure to think of it: I hate and abhor lying, which may be taken for all sin, inasmuch as by it we deal treacherously and perfidiously with God and put a cheat upon ourselves. Hypocrisy is lying; false doctrine is lying; breach of faith is lying. Lying, in commerce or conversation, is a sin which every good man hates and abhors, hates and doubly hates, because of the seven things which the Lord hates one is a lying tongue and another is a false witness that speaks lies, Prov 6:16. Every man hates to have a lie told him; but we should more hate telling a lie because by the former we only receive an affront from men, by the latter we give an affront to God.

2. He had a rooted affection to the word of God: Thy law do I love. And therefore he abhorred lying, for lying is contrary to the whole law of God; and the reason why he loved the law of God was because of the truth of it. The more we see of the amiable beauty of truth the more we shall see of the detestable deformity of a lie.

Psa 119:164

David, in this psalm, is full of complaints, yet those did neither jostle out his praises nor put him out of tune for them; whatever condition a child of God is in he does not want matter for praise and therefore should not want a heart.

See here, 1. How often David praised God—Seven times a day, that is, very frequently, not only every day, but often every day. Many think that once a week will serve, or once or twice a day, but David would praise God seven times a day at least. Praising God is a duty which we should very much abound in. We must praise God at every meal, praise him upon all occasions, in everything give thanks. We should praise God seven times a day, for the subject can never be exhausted and our affections should never be tired. See Psa 119:62.

2. What he praised God for—because of thy righteous judgments. We must praise God for his precepts, which are all just and good, for his promises and threatenings and the performance of both in his providence. We are to praise God even for our afflictions, if through grace we get good by them.

Psa 119:165

Here is an account of the happiness of good men, who are governed by a principle of love to the word of God, who make it their rule and are ruled by it.

1. They are easy, and have a holy serenity; none enjoy themselves more than they do: Great peace have those that love thy law, abundant satisfaction in doing their duty and pleasure in reflecting upon it. The work of righteousness is peace (Isa. 32:17), such peace as the world can neither give nor take away. They may be in great troubles without and yet enjoy great peace within, sat lucis intus—abundance of internal light. Those that love the world have great vexation, for it does not answer their expectation; those that love God's word have great peace, for it outdoes their expectation, and in it they have sure footing.

2. They are safe, and have a holy security: Nothing shall offend them; nothing shall be a scandal, snare, or stumbling-block, to them, to entangle them either in guilt or grief. No event of providence shall be either an invincible temptation or an intolerable affliction to them, but their love to the word of God shall enable them both to hold fast their integrity and to preserve their tranquility. They will make the best of that which is, and not quarrel with anything that God does. Nothing shall offend or hurt them, for everything shall work for good to them, and therefore shall please them, and they shall reconcile themselves to it. Those in whom this holy love reigns will not be apt to perplex themselves with needless scruples, nor to take offence at their brethren, 1 Co. 13:6, 7.

Psa 119:166

Here is the whole duty of man; for we are taught, 1. To keep our eye upon God's favour as our end: "Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, not only temporal but eternal salvation. I have hoped for that as my happiness and laid up my treasure in it; I have hoped for it as thine, as a happiness of thy preparing, thy promising, and which consists in being with thee. Hope of this has raised me above the world, and borne me up under all my burdens in it.

2. To keep our eye upon God's word as our rule: I have done thy commandments, that is, I have made conscience of conforming myself to thy will in everything. Observe here how God has joined these two together, and let no man put them asunder. We cannot, upon good grounds, hope for God's salvation, unless we set ourselves to do his commandments, Rev 22:14. But those that sincerely endeavour to do his commandments ought to keep up a good hope of the salvation; and that hope will both engage and enlarge the heart in doing the commandments. The more lively the hope is the more lively the obedience will be.

Psa 119:167-168

David's conscience here witnesses for him,

I. That his practices were good.

1. He loved God's testimonies, he loved them exceedingly. Our love to the word of God must be a superlative love (we must love it better than the wealth and pleasure of this world), and it must be a victorious love, such as will subdue and mortify our lusts and extirpate carnal affections.

2. He kept them, his soul kept them. Bodily exercise profits little in religion; we must make heart-work of it or we make nothing of it. The soul must be sanctified and renewed, and delivered into the mould of the word; the soul must be employed in glorifying God, for he will be worshipped in the spirit. We must keep both the precepts and the testimonies, the commands of God by our obedience to them and his promises by our reliance on them.

II. That he was governed herein by a good principle: "Therefore I have kept thy precepts, because by faith I have seen thy eye always upon me; all my ways are before thee; thou knowest every step I take and strictly observest all I say and do. Thou dost see and accept all that I say and do well; thou dost see and art displeased with all I say and do amiss. Note, The consideration of this, that God's eye is upon us at all times, should make us very careful in everything to keep his commandments, Gen. 17:1.

22. TAU.

Psa 119:169-170

Here we have, I. A general petition for audience repeated: Let my cry come near before thee; and again, Let my supplication come before thee. He calls his prayer his cry, which denotes the fervency and vehemence of it, and his supplication, which denotes the humility of it. We must come to God as beggars come to our doors for an alms. He is concerned that his prayer might come before God, might come near before him, that is, that he might have grace and strength by faith and fervency to lift up his prayers, that no guilt might interpose to shut out his prayers and to separate between him and God, and that God would graciously receive his prayers and take notice of them. His prayer that his supplication might come before God implied a deep sense of his unworthiness, and a holy fear that his prayer should come short or miscarry, as not fit to come before God; nor would any of our prayers have had access to God if Jesus Christ had not approached to him as an advocate for us.

II. Two particular requests, which he is thus earnest to present:-

1. That God, by his grace, would give him wisdom to conduct himself well under his troubles: Give me understanding; he means that wisdom of the prudent which is to understand his way; "Give me to know thee and myself, and my duty to thee.

2. That God, by his providence, would rescue him out of his troubles: Deliver me, that is, with the temptation make a way to escape, 1 Co. 10:13.

III. The same general plea to enforce these requests—according to thy word. This directs and limits his desires: "Lord, give me such an understanding as thou hast promised and such a deliverance as thou hast promised; I ask for no other. It also encourages his faith and expectation: "Lord, that which I pray for is what thou hast promised, and wilt not thou be as good as thy word?

Psa 119:171

Here is, 1. A great favour which David expects from God, that he will teach him his statutes. This he had often prayed for in this psalm, and urged his petition for it with various arguments; and now that he is drawing towards the close of the psalm he speaks of it as taken for granted. Those that are humbly earnest with God for his grace, and resolve with Jacob that they will not let him go unless he bless them with spiritual blessings, may be humbly confident that they shall at length obtain what they are so importunate for. The God of Israel will grant them those things which they request of him.

2. The grateful sense he promises to have of that favour: My lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me.

(1.) Then he shall have cause to praise God. Those that are taught of God have a great deal of reason to be thankful, for this is the foundation of all these spiritual blessings, which are the best blessings, and the earnest of eternal blessings.

(2.) Then he shall know how to praise God, and have a heart to do it. All that are taught of God are taught this lesson; when God opens the understanding, opens the heart, and so opens the lips, it is that the mouth may show forth his praise. We have learned nothing to purpose if we have not learned to praise God.

(3.) Therefore he is thus importunate for divine instructions, that he might praise God. Those that pray for God's grace must aim at God's glory, Eph. 1:12.

Psa 119:172

Observe here, 1. The good knowledge David had of the word of God; he knew it so well that he was ready to own, with the utmost satisfaction, that all God's commandments are not only righteous, but righteousness itself, the rule and standard of righteousness.

2. The good use he resolved to make of that knowledge: My tongue shall speak of thy word, not only utter praise for it to the glory of God, but discourse of it for the instruction and edification of others, as that which he himself was full of (for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak) and as that which he desired others also might be filled with. The more we see of the righteousness of God's commandments the more industrious we should be to bring others acquainted with them, that they may be ruled by them. We should always make the word of God the governor of our discourse, so as never to transgress it by sinful speaking or sinful silence; and we should often make it the subject-matter of our discourse, that it may feed many and minister grace to the hearers.

Psa 119:173-174

Here, 1. David prays that divine grace would work for him: Let thy hand help me. He finds his own hands are not sufficient for him, nor can any creature lend him a helping hand to any purpose; therefore he looks up to God in hopes that the hand that had made him would help him; for, if the Lord do not help us, whence can any creature help us? All our help must be expected from God's hand, from his power and his bounty.

2. He pleads what divine grace had already wrought in him as a pledge of further mercy, being a qualification for it. Three things he pleads:—

(1.) That he had made religion his serious and deliberate choice: "I have chosen thy precepts. I took them for my rule, not because I knew no other, but because, upon trial, I knew no better. Those are good, and do good indeed, who are good and do good, not by chance, but from choice; and those who have thus chosen God's precepts may depend upon God's helping hand in all their services and under all their sufferings.

(2.) That his heart was upon heaven: I have longed for thy salvation. David, when he had got to the throne, met with enough in the world to court his stay, and to make him say, "It is good to be here; but still he was looking further, and longing for something better in another world. There is an eternal salvation which all the saints are longing for, and therefore pray that God's hand would help them forward in their way to it.

(3.) That he took pleasure in doing his duty: "Thy law is my delight. Not only I delight in it, but it is my delight, the greatest delight I have in this world. Those that are cheerful in their obedience may in faith beg help of God to carry them on in their obedience; and those that expect God's salvation must take delight in his law and their hopes must increase their delight.

Psa 119:175

David's heart is still upon praising God; and therefore,

1. He prays that God would give him time to praise him: "Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee, that is, let my life be prolonged, that I may live to thy glory. The reason why a good man desires to live is that he may praise God in the land of the living, and do something to his honour. Not, "Let me live and serve my country, live and provide for my family; but, "Let me live that, in doing this, I may praise God here in this world of conflict and opposition. When we die we hope to go to a better world to praise him, and that is more agreeable for us, though here there is more need of us. And therefore one would not desire to live any longer than we may do God some service here. Let my soul live, that is, let me be sanctified and comforted, for sanctification and comfort are the life of the soul, and then it shall praise thee. Our souls must be employed in praising God, and we must pray for grace and peace that we may be fitted to praise God.

2. He prays that God would give him strength to praise him: "Let thy judgments help me; let all ordinances and all providences (both are God's judgments) "further me in glorifying God; let them be the matter of my praise and let them help to fit me for that work.

Psa 119:176

Here is, 1. A penitent confession: I have gone astray, or wander up and down, like a lost sheep. As unconverted sinners are like lost sheep (Lk. 15:4), so weak unsteady saints are like lost sheep, Mt. 18:12, 13. We are apt to wander like sheep, and very unapt, when we have gone astray, to find the way again. By going astray we lose the comfort of the green pastures and expose ourselves to a thousand mischief's.

2. A believing petition: Seek thy servant, as the good shepherd seeks a wandering sheep to bring it back again, Eze. 34:12. "Lord, seek me, as I used to seek my sheep when they went astray; for David had been himself a tender shepherd. "Lord, own me for one of thine; for, though I am a stray sheep, I have thy mark; concern thyself for me, send after me by the word, and conscience, and providences; bring me back by thy grace. Seek me, that is, find me; for God never seeks in vain. Turn me, and I shall be turned.

3. An obedient plea: "Though I have gone astray, yet I have not wickedly departed, I do not forget thy commandments. Thus he concludes the psalm with a penitent sense of his own sin and believing dependence on God's grace. With these a devout Christian will conclude his duties, will conclude his life; he will live and die repenting and praying.

Observe here, (1.) It is the character of good people that they do not forget God's commandments, being well pleased with their convictions and well settled in their resolutions.

(2.) Even those who, through grace, are mindful of their duty, cannot but own that they have in many instances wandered from it.

(3.) Those that have wandered from their duty, if they continue mindful of it, may with a humble confidence commit themselves to the care of God's grace.