July 23

1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:

2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The ploughers ploughed upon my back; they made long their furrows.

4 The LORD is righteous, he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked

5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zine.

6 Let them be as the grass upon the bouse-tops, which withereth afore it groweth up:

7 Wherewith the mower is left not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.

8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD

1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.

2 LORD, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications

3 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O LORD, who shall stand?

4 But there is I grievous with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

5 I want for the LORD, my soul doth wast, and in his word do I hope

6 My soul wanteth for the LORD more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.

7 Let Israel hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption

8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

In Psalm cxxix. the poet sings of the trials of Israel, the interposition of the Lord, and the unblessed condition of Israel's foes. In Psalm cxxx he describes the rise of the soul from the deep of self-condemnation to the height of hope in God. Psalm cxxx, "perhaps more than any other, is marked by its mountains; depth; prayer; conviction; light; hope; waiting; watching; longing; confidence; assurance; universal happiness and joy. . . . Just as the barometer marks the rising of the weather, so does this psalm, sentence by sentence, record the progress of the soul. And you may test yourself by it, as by a rule or measure, and ask yourself at each line, 'Have I reached to this? Have I reached to this?' and so take your spiritual gauge."—James Vaughan.

Luther, when he was buffeted by the devil at Coburg, and in great affliction, said to those about him: "Come, let us sing that psalm, 'Out of the depths,' etc., in derision of the devil."

"When, therefore, we are troubled by heavy sickness, or poverty, or oppressed by the tyranny of man, let us make profit and use thereof, considering that God hath cast His best children into such dangers for their profit, and that it is better to be in deep dangers praying, than on the mountains of vanity playing."—Archibald Symson.

Closet Promise.—Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart.—Psalm xcvii. 11.

"What though mortal powers may falter? Fattily plans and prospects fail? With a heaven-born hope which entereth

E'en to that within the veil, All is light, all is light!"

"What though all my future pathway Be from mortal light concealed? With the love of Jesus glowing,

As it lies to faith revealed, All is light, all is light!"