The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 228

The higher our position, and the greater our usefulness, the more likely is it that Satan will aim at us with bis fiery darts. 'l'be more we disturb him, the more ho will disturb us. And, for wise and holy reasons, the Lord may allow a messenger of Satan to buffet 1 us. II. EVEN WHEN IN THE LOWEST DEPTHS, THERE IS NO MIST lKING THE SAINT Fon A BTh"'NER, the believ~r for an alien, the godly one for a godless man. Sclll"ce any one could have a longer list of woes to enumerate than David had, but yet the saint shines through all. 1. He knows when to flee for protection. (Ver. 1, Hebrew.) '£he wo.y in which he still s.peaks to God as his God, his strong Rock, etc., is inexpressibly touching. " Be thou my Rock, ... because thou art my Rock," is a wonderfully tender appeal to the loving heart of God. Even in the densest darkness the loving child must clasp the Father's hand, and cry, " Father I" Yea, because of the darkness, and tho denser it is, the louder and more piercing will be his cry. 2. He knows to whom he flees --even to One who has redeemed him (ver. 5). (For the Scripture usage of this word "redeemed," see Deut. iir. 26; xxi. 8; 1 Chron. xvii. 21; Isa. x.xix. 22; Jer. xxxi. 11; Micah vi. 4; Pss. cx.xx. 8; :xxv. 22; Hos. xiii. 14.) David was one who knew God, not only as a Deliverer from earthly calamity, but as a Redeemer from sin. And he could well put in this as a plea on which to base his petitions. The richest evangelical form of this argument is gil'en in Rom. v. 10; viii, 32. If God has taught us and drawn us by his Spirit to plead with him, that is the witness of the Spirit to the fact that we are redeemed out of the world. 3. He knows he may tell all ltis woes to God, J°ust as they are. It has been no small comfort to us in writing these homilies to note, again and again, how the psalmist told God everything, just as he felt it. This we, too, may do, knowing that God will accept the prayer of faith and will bury all itit faults. 4. He can absolutely leave all with God, not as one who finds it useless to contend with the inevitable, but as one who can implicitly trust his redeeming God. (1) All his times are in God's hand; the entire ordering of them; nothing will be neglected or overlooked. (2) He trusts his spirit 2 in God's hands 3 (ver. 5); i.e. bis inner self, the immortal part of his being, wherein be is made io the image of God. Note: Since we know God as our redeeming God, who has graciously promised to be ours to the end, in our deepest sorrows, we may trust everything with him. III. Gon's SATh'TS CAN SCARCELY END THEIR MOAN ERE THEIR WORDS TURN TO BONG. When the Spirit of God presides at the soul's keyboard, the sounds may at first be in the minor key, but they will not long continue so. The plaint will be a diminu- endo, and will be substituted by a crescendo of joyful song. Hence so many of the psalms which begin woefully end joyfully. There are three several mercies here recorded. 1. Deliverance. (Vers. 7, 8.) The narrow straits in which David was hedged vp gave way, and he had amplitude of room. And sooner or later, in his own time and way God will deliver the righteous out of the hands of the wicked.' 2. Treasures of goodness laid up. (Ver. 9.)· 'l'he thought of this evokes a very shout of praise, rts well it may. Let the stude □ t compare the three exp~essions in ver, 4, "the net which they have laid privily;" ver. 19, "goodness . . . laid up secretly;" ver. 20, "Thou shalt keep them secretly." Is not the antithesis beautiful? The wicked have their nets laid in secret. But God's secrecy of love outwits theirs. He hides the saints in the secret place of his" pavilion," aod prepares for them in secret "treasures of goodness,'' to be brought forth in all their richness as occasion requires. Note: God will be bringing forth from his secret treasury of love to all eternity. 3. Marvellous l~indness manifested; and this in a beseiged (Heh. v. 21) city (cf. Ps. xxiii. 5). At the very moment foes were encamping round him, God ministered such rich loving-kindness as to bear him up e.nd bring him through. So it will ever be. 'l'he moment of man's fiercest plots will be that of God's most vigilant care (Ps. cxxi. 4). And within the walls of the thickest dungeon God can minister richest supplies of heavenly food I 1 2 Cor. xii. 7. Koll.rz4>((E111 is "to give a blow on the face,'' or mouth, or ear. • Canon Girdlestone, in hie • Old Testament Syoonyms,' be.a 11n admirable oh11pter on the Bible use or the words 1'!ll and mi, eh. iv. pp. 92, et Beq. • Our Saviour quoted, o~'"'the c"'ross, the first he.If ~f ver. 5. On those sympathctio quotations, from One who was in e.11 points tempted like o.s we a.re, see our remarks on I's. xxii. • On the petitions age.inst enemies, in vcre. 17, 18, soe our rume.rks on Pa. xxviii. 4. r!!. XXXI. 1-24,] TllE BOOK OF PSALM3. 223