The state of David was as desperate as it could well be ; yet from thence was he rescued, to his unutterable joy. Hezekiah also seems to have been in a similar state, and to have experienced a similar deliverance : *' Behold, for peace I had great bitterness : but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of cor- ruption ; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy backi'." Thus shall it be with all who will seek God in sincerity and truth, especially when, like David, they seek him through the sacrifice and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their feet shall then be extricated from the mire, and set upon the Rock, where ** their feet shall not slide," and from whence " they shall never be moved." And though their lives hitherto may have been spent in sighing and mourning, yet shall there be given to them " the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." In a word, let them only pray in faith ; and however " wide they open their mouth, it shall be tilled ''."j
P Isai. xxxviii. 17. ^ Ps. Ixxxi. 10.
CONSOLATION TO THE DISTRESSED. Ps, xl. 17. I am poor and needy ; yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
THAT part of the Holy Scriptures which most fully opens the exercises of the heart is the book of Psalms. There we see a man of God unbosoming himself before his Maker, and declaring all his hopes and fears, his griefs and consolations. Some- times he speaks in the person of the Messiah, and sometimes in his own person : sometimes his words are applicable both to the one and the other. These varieties often appear in the very same psalm ; some parts of which exclusively relate to the type, or to the antitype ; and other parts are common to both« It is thus in the psalm before us. That it refers to the Messiah, there can be no doubt ; because it is applied to him by God himself\ Yet there are in it some expressions, which should rather be explained in reference to David only. The twelfth verse in particular must be understood in this way : and the circumstance of all the following verses being re- peated
^Compare vcr. 6 — 8. with Heb. x. 5 — 7-