(e) Very profitable.
2. The toilsome effort: make it a well.
(a) Comfort may be obtained in the deepest trouble.
(b) Comfort must be obtained by exertion.
(c) Comfort obtained by one is of use to others, as a well may be.
3. The heavenly supply. The rain also filleth the pools. All is from God; effort is of no avail without him.
Verse 7.
1. Trusting God in trouble brings present comfort—Who passing, etc.
2. Present comfort ensures still larger supplies— The rain also , etc. G. R.
Verse 8. There is,
1. Progression. They go;
(a) The people of God cannot remain stationary;
(b) They must not recede;
(c) They should always be advancing.
2. Invigoration. From strength to strength.
(a) From one ordinance to another;
(b) from one duty to another;
(c) from one grace to another;
(d) from one degree of grace to another. Add faith to faith, virtue to virtue, knowledge to knowledge, etc.
3. Completion. Every one of them, etc. G. R.
Verse 8.
1. Prayer is not confined to the Sanctuary. David, inhis banishment, says, Hear my prayer.
2. Help is not confined to the Sanctuary. The Lord ofhosts is "here, "as well as in his tabernacle. SeePs 84:1.
3. Grace is not confined to the Sanctuary. Here, too,in the wilderness is the covenanting God, the God ofJacob. G. R.
Verse 8. Pleas for answers to prayer in the titles here used.
1. He is JEHOVAH, the living, all wise, all powerful, faithful, gracious, and immutable God.
2. He is God of hosts, having abundant agencies under his control; he can send angels, restrain devils, actuate good men, overrule bad men, and govern all other agents.
3. He is the God of Jacob, of chosen Jacob, as seen in Jacob's dream; God of Jacob in his banishment, in his wrestling (and so a God overcome by prayer), God pardoning Jacob's sins, God preserving Jacob and his seed after him.
Verse 9. Observe,
1. The Faith. Our shield is thine anointed—Thine Anointed is our Shield. This is not David, because he says our Shield, but David's greater Son. A gleam of Gospel light through the thick clouds.
2. The Prayer. Behold, O God, etc. Look, etc. Look upon him as our Representative, and look upon us in him.
3. The Plea.
(a) He has engaged to be our defence from thine anger;
(b) he has been anointed to this office by thee. G. R.
Verse 9.
1. What God is to us.
2. What we would have him look at.
3. Where we would be: hidden behind the shield—seen in the person of Christ.
Verse 10. Here is,
1. A comparison of Places. A day in thy courts, etc. How much more a day in heaven! What, then, must an eternity in heaven be!
2. A comparison of Persons. I would rather be a doorkeeper , etc. Better be the least in the Church than the greatest in the world. If "better reign in hell than serve in heaven" was Satan's first thought after he fell, it was the first thought only. G.R.
Verse 10.
1. Days in God's courts. Days of hearing, of repenting, of believing, of adoration, of communion, of revival, etc.
2. Their preciousness. Better than a thousand days of victory, of pleasure, of money making, of harvest, of discussion, of travelling amid beauties of nature.
3. Reasons for this preciousness. They are more pleasurable, more profitable now, and more preparatory for the future and for heaven. The employment, the society, the enjoyment, the result, etc., are all better.
Verse 11.
1. What God is to his people. A sun and shield.
(a) The source of all good;
(b) a defence from all evil.
2. What he gives.
(a) Grace here;
(b) glory hereafter.
3. What he withholds. All that is not good. If he withholds health or wealth, or his own smiles from us, it is because they are not good for us at that particular time. G. R.
Verse 12.
1. The one thing that makes man blessed. Trust in God. Blessed, etc.
(a) For all things;
(b) at all times;
(c) in all circumstances.
2. The Blessing contained in that one thing. God himself becomes ours;
(a) his mercy for our pardon;
(b) his power for our protection;
(c) his wisdom for our guidance;
(d) his faithfulness for our preservation;
(e) his all sufficiency for our supply.
3. The certainty of the blessing.
(a) From David's own experience;
(b) from the solemn appeal to God respecting it. O Lord God of hosts, etc. G. R.
Verse 12. The blessedness of the life of faith over that of carnal enjoyment, religious feeling, self confidence, living upon marks and evidences, trusting in man, etc.
WORKS UPON THE EIGHTY-FOURTH PSALM
The Faith of the Church Militant, made moste effectualie described in this exposition of the 84. Psalme, by that reverend Pastor, and publike Professor of God's word, in the famous universitie of Haffine in Denmarke, NICHOLAS HEMMINGIVS. A treatise written as to the instruction of the ignorant in the groundes of religion, so to the confutation of the Jews, the Turkes, Atheists, Papists, Heretiks, and all other adversaries of the trueth whatsoever. Translated out of Latin into English, &c. by THOMAS ROGERS. At London, printed by H. Middleton for Andrew Maunsel. Anno. 1581.
David's Heart's Desire; or An Exposition of Psalm 84.; in Excellent Encouragments against Afflictions... by Thomas Pierson, M.A. (Reprinted in Nichol's Series of Puritan Commentaries.)
An Exposition upon some select Psalms of David... By ROBERT ROLLOCK. 1600. 16mo.
Meditations and Disquisitions upon seven Consolatorie Psalmes of David... By Sir RICHARD BAKER, Knight. 1640. (pg 119-142.)
Meditations on the Eighty-fourth Psalm, in "Things New and Old. A Monthly Magazine." Vol. IX. 1866.