Psalms 13
ButlerChurch would be dispersed, and ashamed at the sight of its magna charta. But the result has blasted all their hopes, and the oracles of God are found to be preserved in immaculate integrity.
The storm which shakes the oak only loosens the earth around its roots, and its violence enables the tree to strike its roots deeper in the soil. So it is that Scripture has gloriously surmounted every trial. These gather round the Bible a dense “cloud of witnesses,” from the ruins of Nineveh and the valley of the Nile; from the slabs and bas-reliefs of Sennacherib, and tombs and monuments of Pharaoh; from rolls of Chaldee paraphrast, and Syrian versionists; from the cells of monastic scribes, and the dry and dusty labors of scholars and antiquarians. Our present Bibles are undiluted by the lapse of ages. Her oracles written amid such strange diversity of time, place and condition—among the sands and cliffs of Arabia, the fields and hills of Palestine—in the palaces of Babylon, and in the dungeons of Rome—have come to us in such unimpaired fulness and accuracy, that we are placed as advantageously toward them as the generation which hung on the lips of Jesus as He recited a parable on the shores of the Galilean lake, or as those churches which received from Paul or Peter one of their epistles of warning exposition.
Yes; the river of life, which issues out from beneath the throne of God and the Lamb, may, as it flows through so many countries, sometimes bear with it the earthly evidences of its conquests; but the great volume of its waters has neither been diminished nor dimmed in its transparency, nor bereft of its healing virtue. North British Review.
1. How long, O LORD, wilt thou forget me for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God: Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
In this Psalm we see a servant of God long and sorely tried by the persecutions of unrelenting enemies, and, as it seems to himself, forgotten and forsaken of God, pouring out the agony of his soul in prayer. It is a long and weary struggle; it is a daily and hourly martyrdom; and, wrestling with his despair, he can but cry (like the souls under the altar, Rev. 6: 10), How long? And then calmer words of prayer rise to his lips (vs. 3, 4). And at last faith asserts her perfect victory (v. 5). The rapid transition of feeling, from a depth of misery bordering on despair to hope, and even joy, is very remarkable. P.
David probably passed through experiences of this sort more than once. They are not unusual in the life-history of God’s people. It is well therefore that such a Psalm should have a
4. Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; Lest mine adversaries rejoice when I am moved. 5 But I have trusted in thy mercy: My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation: 6 I will sing unto the LORD, Because he hath dealt bountifully with me.
place in the devotional songs of Zion, evermore impressing the precious truth that God’s trustful children will surely come forth from every affliction, however sore, with a song of praise; that God will not forget them forever; that, having put their faith to stern trial, He will make this very trial yield the fruit of a purer and stronger faith, a richer joy in God, and a firmer footing upon His promises. C.
1,2. The refusal or delay of the Divine help is here, as often elsewhere, represented by the figures of forgetfulness and an averted countenance. To the eye of sense and reason, the abandonment seemed final; but faith still prompted the inquiry, how long, which implies that it was not to last forever. A.—This is a state in which Hope despairs, and yet Despair hopes at the same time; and all that lives is
“the groaning that cannot be uttered,” wherewith the Holy Spirit maketh intercession for us, brooding over the waters shrouded in darkness, to use the expression in Gen. 1. This no one understands who has not tasted it. Luther.—The self-contradiction of the question is to be explained by the conflict between the spirit and the flesh that is raging within. The desponding heart thinks, God has forgotten me forever; but the spirit repels this thought and turns it into a question, which marks this forsaking as being only apparent: how long shall it seem that Thou forgettest me forever? Four times does David raise this cry of faith from the very depths of his spirit. D.
The intenseness of the affliction renders it trying to our fortitude; but it is by the continuance of it that patience is put to the test. It is not under the sharpest, but the longest trials, that we are most in danger of fainting. In the first case, the soul collects all its strength, and feels in earnest to call in help from above; but, in the last, the mind relaxes, and sinks into despondency. A. Fuller.—And what if there be some impatience mingled therewith; is not this the more true a portrait of our own experience? It is not easy to prevent desire from degenerating into impatience. O for grace, that while we wait on God we may be kept from indulging a murmuring spirit! S.
3. Look, hear me, Jehovah, my God, lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the death.** The complaint is now followed by a corresponding prayer. In allusion to the hiding of the face in v. 1, he now beseeches God to look toward him or upon him, to show by His acts that He has not lost sight of him. As he before complained of God’s forgetting him, so here he prays that He will hear and answer him. The idea of Jehovah as a God in covenant with His people is brought out still more fully by the phrase my God, i.e., one on whom I have a right to call, with a well-founded hope of being heard. Enlighten my eyes, or make them shine, is by some understood to mean, dispel my doubts and extricate me out of my perplexities. Others with more probability suppose an allusion to the dimness of the eyes produced by extreme weakness or approaching death, and understand the prayer as one for restoration and deliverance from imminent destruction. Compare 1 Sam. 14: 27, 29, where the relief of Jonathan’s debility occasioned by long fasting is described by saying that his eyes were enlightened. Lest I sleep (in) death, or lest I sleep the (sleep of) death, as in the common version. Compare the beautiful description of death as a sleep of perpetuity, a perpetual or everlasting sleep, in Jer. 51: 39, 57. A.
The illuminating light is the loving light of the Divine countenance. Light, love, life and their opposites, darkness, wrath, death, are ideas closely linked together in Scripture. He whom God looks upon in love continues to live; new vital powers permeate him; he does not have to sleep death, i.e., the sleep of death. For such a light of life he prays. D.
The sleep of death. It is not the enemy death which seizes a believer, but the shadow, or emblem of it, sleep. Weary soul, tired out with the burden of sin, corruptions, afflictions, accusations, temptations—is sleep an enemy to you? Are you afraid of rest? What! fear to fall asleep in Jesus, to awake in His presence, to be satisfied with perfect likeness to Him, and eternally to enjoy Him! W. Mason.—If you would awake satisfied in the perfected likeness of Christ, and with the closest, most endearing fellowship with Christ; if, shining in the light of the Lamb, you would join the saintly hosts in their new rapt song of grateful love, and if, to crown and complete this blessed experience, you would have your spirit pervaded with the assured conviction that this holy character, this Divine fellowship, this unutterable joy will be unchangeably, forever yours, then hold steadfastly on in trustful, full-hearted consecration to your Saviour King! B.
5,6. The five lines of lamentation and the four of supplication are now followed by four of joyous anticipation. In the stormily agitated soul of the suppliant all has now become calm. Although the storm may still continue to rage without, there is peace in the depths of his heart. D.—How often do we find the holy prophet when he first kneels down to pray full of fears and doubts, who, before he and the duty part, grows into a sweet familiarity with God and repose in his own spirit! He begins his prayer as if he thought God would never give him a kind look more: “How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord? forever?” But by the time he had exercised himself a little in duty his distemper wears off, the mists scatter and his faith breaks out as the sun in its strength: “I have trusted in Thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord.” Gurnall.
In the beginning of the Psalm we have him drooping, trembling, and ready to sink into melancholy and despair; but in the close of it, rejoicing in God, and elevated and enlarged in his praises. See the power of faith, the power of prayer, and how good it is to draw near to
God. If we bring our cares and griefs to the throne of grace and leave them there, we may go away like Hannah, and our countenance will be no more sad (1 Sam. 1 : 18). And still I do trust in Thy mercy; so some read it. “I refer myself to that, with an assurance that it will do well for me at last.” This he pleads with God, knowing what pleasure he takes in those that hope in His mercy (147 : 11). H.—It was mercy that first washed us in that precious blood; it was mercy that put that glorious robe around us; and having done so much for us, mercy will not now forsake us. It is mercy’s voice that will pronounce us blessed; mercy’s hand that will open heaven to us; and mercy’s power and riches that will make us happy in it. Hence the heirs of heaven are called by an apostle “vessels of mercy prepared unto glory;” and another apostle calls the very glory they look for, mercy. It is “the mercy,” he says, “of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life;” mercy that becomes at last salvation, mercy laying aside the form of earthly grace and consolation, and shining forth in the splendor of heavenly joy. C. Bradley.
His faith in God’s mercy filled his heart with joy in his salvation; for joy and peace come by believing. Believing, ye rejoice (1 Pet. 1 : 8). Having put his trust in the mercy of God, he is fully assured of salvation, and that his heart, which was now daily grieving, should rejoice in that salvation. Though weeping endure long, joy will return. H.—Rejoice that ye have passed from death to life, and that there is now no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus. Rejoice that you are also advanced to the dearest and most intimate relation to all the Persons of the ever-blessed Godhead. By your new birth ye are become the sons of God, members of Christ, and temples for the Holy Ghost. Rejoice that God hath made with you an everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things and sure. He hath given you a variety of exceeding great and precious promises, so that there can be no possible exigence in your situation, in which you may not find a suitable and abunabundant relief, in these gracious assurances of a faithful God. Rejoice that the life which is begun in you is an immortal principle that can never be extinguished. Ye are born again by the Spirit of God; and ye are kept by His mighty power through faith unto salvation. And rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. “Fear not, little flock,” said the blessed Jesus, “for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Erelong your trials and sufferings shall come to an end, and your light afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall be followed by an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory. R. Walker.
6. His joy in God’s salvation would fill his mouth with songs of praise; “I will sing unto the Lord, sing in remembrance of what He has done formerly. I will sing in hope of what He will do for me at last; being confident that all will end well, will end everlastingly well. But he speaks of it as a thing past; He has dealt bountifully with me; because by faith he had received the earnest of the salvation, and he was as confident of it as if it had been done already. H.—Faith keeps the soul from sinking under heavy trials, by bringing in former experiences of the power, mercy, and faithfulness of God to the afflicted soul. Hereby was the Psalmist supported in distress. Oh, saith faith, remember what God hath done both for thy outward and inward man; He hath not only delivered thy body when in trouble, but He hath done great things for thy soul; He hath brought thee out of a state of black nature, entered into a covenant relation with thee, made His goodness pass before thee; He hath helped thee to pray, and many times hath heard thy prayers and thy tears. Willison.
The Psalm closes with a sentence which is a refutation of the charge of forgetfulness which David had uttered in the first verse, “He hath dealt bountifully with me.” So shall it be with us if we wait awhile. The complaint which in our haste we utter shall be joyfully retracted, and we shall witness that the Lord hath dealt bountifully with us. S.