Ver. 25.-Quickening the exhausted. In this verse there is characteristic extravagant Eastern _figure, which is difficult for the calmer Western mind to appreciate. Such exaggerated descriptions of mental conditions seem to us untruthful. '.l'he presentation does not accord with the fact. But the Eastern would urge that his mode of speech suggests the fact, and does not pretend to state it. And that is strictly true which it suggests. We may think of the worm, laboriously creeping over the ground, and longing to become a butterfly, and be quickened into the higher life that is possible to it. It is possible to find allusion to the custom of sitting in sackcloth and ashes as an expression of mourning. Sitting in dust is the attitude of humiliation, and so it fittingly expresses the depressed and exhausted spiritual mood of the psalmist. It may be that in the Christian life we ought never to be depressed; it is certainly the fact of Christian life that we often are. Depression does not always come as response to outward circumstances, hut it often does; and we may think of conditions that encourage it. J. DEPRESSION FOLLOWS ON THE DIFFICULTIES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS OF BUSINESS LIFE. "Souls cleave to the dust" of worldly care. When things will not go rightly, mind and heart are very full day and night, and brooding always tends to encourage fears, and to make the dark things grow darker. When the soul is full of care, better things are pushed out, and faith fails. At such times we need the prayer, "Quicken thou me "-give me life, new life, life of energy to battle with difficulty; life of hope to keep me in good cheer. JL Dfil'BESSION FOLLOWS ON BODILY PAIN AND VARYING CONDITIONS OF HEALTH. Then the " soul cleaves to the dust," self and feeling are made too pr~minent; they force themselves out of place and proportion; and all truth seems discoloured and distorted. Illustrate by the effect of looking through coloured glass. The self of feeling can never give other than distorted views of life. At such times we need the prayer, " Quicken thou me "-give me the life of ~trength to bear; give ~e to k~~p sure of the fatherliness of chastisement, and to cherish the trustful and patient spmt of a son. Ill. DEPRESSION FOLLOWS ON AFFLICTIONS AFFECTING THOSE WHOM WE LOVE, We cleave to the dust of kindred, and are afllicted in their afflictions. Some of our worst times of depression are times of sympathy. ~hen we need to pr~f • ",Quicke~ ~e i~to the life of trust, that will enable me to commit all I love to God. 'I rue Christian hfo is a series of Divine quicke:1ings into higher forms of life.-R. T.
Ver. 32.-Strength to run. Running is to be distinguished from walking, o.s involving active determination and JJersistent energy. A man may walk in simple habit and routine; a man only runs when he wills to run, and makes positive efforts. So the psalmist is not satisfied with a kind of obedience to the Law of God which is a sort of regular thing in which he has beon brought up; be cannot be content without havin~ hit1 P~. OXIlt, 1-170.] THF. BOOK OF PSALMS. 149
heart in it, putting energy into it-, and making a life-work of it; and this he expresses in the figure of 'T'Unninq. The Revised Version gives, " when thou shalt enlarge my heart." 'l'he Prayer-book Version gives," when thou hast set my heart at liberty." Putting these together, we learn that the "enlargement of the heart" is not so much any expansion of the facultie~, as deliverance from oppressing fears that prevent the free movement of the soul. 'l'he heart enlarged is the heart set in a large place, where there is room to run; then run it will. So often, by reason of bodily conditions or hindering circumstances, our hearts are limited and confined-they can neither" fly nor go." It is a good sign if then the heart frets against the bondages, and is ready to run whenever God is pleased to set it free. The key-note of the whole psalm may be expre~sed in the words, "I would if I could;" and the whole prayer of the psalm is, " 0 God, let me." I, IT IS WELL THAT WE SHOULD WANT TO RUN IN THE WAYS OF OBEDIENCE AND GODLINESS. The peril of the godly life is drifting into ease and indifference ; the doing of religious duties as mere routine; the meeting of religious obligations listlessly and without heart. It may be that we cannot run; it ought always to be that we want to run. We must not rest without energy and activity in the religious life. A formal obedience should be as distressing to us as it is to God. II. IT IS WELL THAT THE CHERISHED WANT SHOULD KEEP us WAITING ON Goo FOR THE OPPORTUNITY. The want would soon die down if we trusted to ourselves for cherishing it. It never dies down if we keep turning it into the prayer of patient, but persistent, waiting upon God. 111. IT rs CERTAIN THAT Goo RESPONDS TO THOSE WHO IN THIS SPIRIT WAIT ON HIM. The liberties and enlargements always come. And God makes the waiting for them as true a blessing as getting them.-Il. 'l'.