“That I may live.” Without abundant mercy he could not live. It takes
great grace to keep a saint alive. Even life is a gift of divine bounty to such
undeserving ones as we are. Only the Lord can keep us in being, and it is
mighty grace which preserves to us the life which we have forfeited by our
sin. It is right to desire to live, it is meet to pray to live, it is just to ascribe
prolonged life to the favor of God. Spiritual life, without which this natural
life is mere existence, is also to be sought of the Lord’s bounty; for it is the
noblest work of divine grace, and in it the bounty of God is gloriously
displayed. The Lord’s servants cannot serve him in their own strength, for
they cannot even live unless his grace abounds towards them.
“And keep thy word.” This should be the rule, the object, and the joy of
our life. We may not wish to live and sin; but we may pray to live and
keep God’s word. Being is a poor thing if it be not well-being. Life is only
worth keeping while we can keep God’s word; indeed, there is no life in
the highest sense apart from holiness: life while we break the law is but a
name to live.

The prayer of this verse shows that it is only through divine, bounty or
grace that we can live as faithful servants of God, and manifest obedience
to his commands. If we give God service it must be because he gives us
grace. We work for him because he works in us. Thus we may make a
chain out of the opening verses of the three first octaves of this psalm:
verse 1 blesses the holy man, verse 9 asks how we can attain to such
holiness, and verse 17 traces such holiness to its secret source, and shows
us how to seek the blessing. The more a man prizes holiness, and the more
earnestly he strives after it, the more will he be driven towards God for
help therein; for he will plainly perceive that his own strength is
insufficient, and that he cannot even so much as live without the bounteous
assistance of the Lord his God. Top of Page

18. “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
“Open thou mine eyes.” This is a part of the bountiful dealing which he
has asked for; no bounty is greater than that which benefits our person, our
soul, our mind, and benefits it in so important an organ as the eye. It is far
better to have the eyes opened than to be placed in the midst of the noblest
prospects and remain blind to their beauty. “That I may behold wondrous
things out of thy law.” Some men can perceive no wonders in the gospel,
but David felt sure that there were glorious things in the law: he had not
half the Bible, but he prized it more than some men prize the whole. He
felt that God had laid up great beauties and bounties in his word, and he
begs for power to perceive, appreciate, and enjoy the same. We need not
so much that God should give us more benefits, as the ability to see what
he has given.

The prayer implies a conscious darkness, a dimness of spiritual vision, a
powerlessness to remove that defect, and a full assurance that God can
remove it. It shows also that the writer knew that there were vast treasures
in the word which he had not yet fully seen, marvels which he had not yet
beheld, mysteries which he had scarcely believed. The Scriptures teem with
marvels; the Bible is wonder-land; it not only relates miracles, but it is itself
a world of wonders. Yet what are these to closed eyes? And what man can
open his own eyes, since he is born blind? God himself must reveal
revelation to each heart. Scripture needs opening, but not one half so much
as our eyes do; the veil is not on the book, but on our hearts. What perfect
precepts, what precious promises, what priceless privileges are neglected
by us, because we wander among them like blind men among the beauties
of nature, and they are to us as a landscape shrouded in darkness!
The Psalmist had a measure of spiritual perception, or he would never have
known that there were wondrous things to be seen, nor would he have
prayed, “Open thou mine eyes”; but what he had seen made him long for
a clearer and wider sight. This longing proved the genuineness of what he
possessed, for it is a test mark of the true knowledge of God that it causes
its possessor to thirst for deeper knowledge.

David’s prayer in this verse is a good sequel to verse 10, which
corresponds to it in position in its octave: there he said, “O let me not
wander”; and who so apt to wander as a blind man? and there, too, he
declared, “With my whole heart have I sought thee”; and hence the desire
to see the object of his search. Very singular are the interlacings of the
toughs of the huge tree of this psalm, which has many wonders even within
itself if we have opened eyes to mark them. Top of Page

19. “I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.”
“I am a stranger in the earth.” This is meant for a plea. By divine
command men are bound to be kind to strangers, and what God commands
in others he will exemplify in himself. The Psalmist was a stranger for
God’s sake, else had he been as much at home as worldlings are: he was
not a stranger to God, but a stranger to the world, a banished man so long
as he was out of heaven. Therefore he pleads, “Hide not thy
commandments from me.” If these are gone, what have I else? Since
nothing around me is mine, what can I do if I lose thy word? Since none
around me know or care to know the way to thyself, what shall I do if I fail
to see thy commands, by which alone I can guide my steps to the land
where thou dwellest? David implies that God’s commands were his solace
in his exile: they reminded him of home, and they showed him the way
thither, and therefore he begged that they might never be hidden from him,
by his being unable either to understand them or to obey them. If spiritual
light be withdrawn, the command is hidden, and this a gracious heart
greatly deprecates. What would be the use of opened eyes if the best object
of sight were hidden from their view? While we wander here we can
endure all the ills of this foreign land with patience, if the word of God is
applied to our hearts by the Spirit of God; but if the heavenly things which
make for our peace were hid from our eyes, we should be in an evil case —
in fact, we should be at sea without a compass, in a desert without a guide,
in an enemy’s country without a friend.

This prayer is a supplement to “Open thou mine eyes,” and as the one
prays to see, the other deprecates the negative of seeing, namely the
command being hidden, and so out of sight. We do well to look at both
sides of the blessing we are seeking, and to plead for it from every point of
view. The prayers are appropriate to the characters mentioned: as he is a
servant, he asks for opened eyes that his eyes may ever be towards his
Lord, as the eyes of a servant should be; as a stranger, he begs that he may
not be strange to the way in which he is to walk towards his home. In each
case his entire dependence is upon God alone.

Note how the third of the second octave (11) has the same keyword as this
third of the third octave: “Thy word have I hid,” “Hide not thy
commandments from me.” This invites a meditation upon the different
senses of hiding in and hiding from. Top of Page

20. “My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.” True godliness lies very much in desires. As we are not what we shall be, so also we are not what we would be. The desires of gracious men after holiness are intense; or they cause a wear of heart, a straining of the mind, till it feels ready to snap with the heavenly pull. A high value of the Lord’s commandment leads to a pressing desire to know and to do it, and this so weighs upon the soul that it is ready to break in pieces under
the crush of its own longings. What a blessing it is when all our desires are
after the things of God! We may well long for such longings.

God’s judgments are his decisions upon points which else had been in
dispute. Every precept is a judgment of the highest court upon a point of
action, an infallible and immutable decision upon a moral or spiritual
question. The word of God is a code of justice from which there is no
appeal.

“This is the Judge which ends the strife
Where wit and reason fail;
Our guide through devious paths of life,
Our shield when doubts assail.”

David had such reverence for the Word, and such a desire to know it, and
to be conformed to it, that his longings caused him a sort of heartbreak,
which he here pleads before God. Longing is the soul of praying, and when
the soul longs till it breaks, it cannot be long before the blessing will be
granted. The most intimate communion between the soul and its God is
carried on by the process described in the text. God reveals his will, and
our heart longs to be conformed thereto. God judges, and our heart
rejoices in the verdict. This is fellowship of heart most real and thorough.
Note well that our desire after the mind of God should be constant; we
should feel holy longings “at all times.” Desires which cart be put off
and on like our garments are at best but mere wishes, and possibly they are
hardly true enough to be called by that name, — they are temporary
emotions born of excitement, and doomed to die when the heat which
created them has cooled down. He who always longs to know and do the
right is the truly right man. His judgment is sound, for he loves all God’s
judgments, and follows them with constancy. His times shall be good, since
he longs to be good and to do good at all times.

Remark how this fourth of the third eight chimes with the fourth of the
fourth eight. “My soul breaketh;” “My soul melteth.” There is surely
some recondite poetic art about all this, and it is well for us to be careful in
studying what the Psalmist was so careful in composing.
Top of Page

21. “Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.”
“Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed.” This is one of God’s
judgments: he is sure to deal out a terrible portion to men of lofty looks.
God rebuked Pharaoh with sore plagues, and at the Red Sea “the
foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord.” In the
person of the haughty Egyptian he taught all the proud that he will
certainly abase them. Proud men are cursed men: nobody blesses them, and
they soon become a burden to themselves. In itself, pride is a plague and
torment. Even if no curse came from the law of God, there seems to be a
law of nature that proud men should be unhappy men. This led David to
abhor pride; he dreaded the rebuke of God and the curse of the law. The
proud sinners of his day were his enemies, and he felt happy that God was
in the quarrel as well as he.

“Which do err from thy commandments.” Only humble hearts are
obedient, for they alone will yield to rule and government. Proud men’s
looks are high, too high to mark their own feet and keep the Lord’s way.
Pride lies at the root of all sin: if men were not arrogant they would not be
disobedient.

God rebukes pride even when the multitudes pay homage to it, for he sees
it in rebellion against his own majesty, and the seeds of yet further
rebellions. It is the sum of sin. Men talk of an honest pride; but if they
were candid they would see that it is of all sins the least honest, and the
least becoming in a creature, and especially in a fallen creature: yet so little
do proud men know their own lame condition under the curse of God, that
they set up to censure the godly, and express contempt for them, as may be
seen in the next verse. They are themselves contemptible, and yet they are
contemptuous towards their betters. We may well love the judgments of
God, when we see them so decisively leveled against the haughty upstarts
who would fain lord it over righteous men; and we may well be of good
comfort under the rebukes of the ungodly, since their power to hurt us is
destroyed by the Lord himself. “The Lord rebuke thee” is answer enough
for all the accusations of men or devils.

In the fifth of the former octave the Psalmist wrote, “I have declared all
the judgments of thy mouth,” and here he continues in the same strain,
giving a particular instance of the Lord’s judgments against haughty rebels.
In the next two portions the fifth verses deal with lying and vanity, and
pride is one of the most common form of those evils. Top of Page

22. “Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies?”
“Remove from me reproach and contempt.” These are painful things to
tender minds. David could bear them for righteousness’ sake, but they
were a heavy yoke, and he longed to be free from them. To be slandered,
and then to be despised in consequence of the vile accusation, is a grievous
affliction. No one likes to be traduced, or even to be despised. He who
says, “I care nothing for my reputation,” is not a wise man; for in
Solomon’s esteem “a good name is better than precious ointment.” The
best way to deal with slander is to pray about it: God will either remove it
or remove the sting from it. Our own attempts at clearing ourselves are
usually failures: we are like the boy who wished to remove the blot from
his copy, and by his bungling made it ten times worse. When we suffer
from a libel it is better to pray about it than go to law over it, or even to
demand an apology from the inventor. O ye who are reproached, take your
matters before the highest court, and leave them with the Judge of all the
earth. God will rebuke your proud accuser; be ye quiet, and let your
advocate plead your cause.

God rebukes pride even when the multitudes pay homage to it, for he sees
it in rebellion against his own majesty, and the seeds of yet further
rebellions. It is the sum of sin. Men talk of an honest pride; but if they
were candid they would see that it is of all sins the least honest, and the
least becoming in a creature, and especially in a fallen creature: yet so little
do proud men know their own lame condition under the curse of God, that
they set up to censure the godly, and express contempt for them, as may be
seen in the next verse. They are themselves contemptible, and yet they are
contemptuous towards their betters. We may well love the judgments of
God, when we see them so decisively leveled against the haughty upstarts
who would fain lord it over righteous men; and we may well be of good
comfort under the rebukes of the ungodly, since their power to hurt us is
destroyed by the Lord himself. “The Lord rebuke thee” is answer enough
for all the accusations of men or devils.

In the fifth of the former octave the Psalmist wrote, “I have declared all
the judgments of thy mouth,” and here he continues in the same strain,
giving a particular instance of the Lord’s judgments against haughty rebels.
In the next two portions the fifth verses deal with lying and vanity, and
pride is one of the most common form, of those evils.

“For I have kept thy testimonies.” Innocence may justly ask to be cleared
from reproach. If there be truth in the charges alleged against us, what can
we urge with God?. If, however, we are wrongfully accused, our appeal
has a locus standi in the court and cannot be refused. If through fear of
reproach we forsake the divine testimony we shall deserve the coward’s
doom; our safety lies in sticking close to the true and to the right. God will
keep those who keep his testimonies. A good conscience is the best
security for a good name; reproach will not abide with those who abide
with Christ, neither will contempt remain upon those who remain faithful
to the ways of the Lord.

This verse stands as a parallel both in sense and position to verse 6, and it
has the catchword of  “testimonies,” by which it chimes with verse 14.
Top of Page

23. “Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes?”
“Princes also did sit and speak against me” David was high game, and
the great ones of the earth went a-hawking after him. Princes saw in him a
greatness which they envied, and therefore they abused him. On their
thrones they might have found something better to consider and speak
about, but they turned the seat of judgment into the seat of the scorner.
Most men covet a prince’s good word, and to be spoken ill of by a great
man is a great discouragement to them; but the Psalmist bore his trial with
holy calmness. Many of the lordly ones were his enemies, and made it their
business to speak ill of him, they held sittings for scandal, sessions for
slander, parliaments of falsehood, and yet he survived all their attempts
upon him.

“But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.” This was brave indeed. He
was God’s servant, and therefore he attended to his Master’s business; he
was God’s servant, and therefore felt sure that the Lord would defend him.
He gave no heed to his princely slanderers; he did not even allow his
thoughts to be disturbed by a knowledge of their plotting in conclave. Who
were these malignance that they should rob God of his servant’s attention,
or deprive the Lord’s chosen of a moment’s devout communion? The
rabble of princes were not worth five minutes’ thought, if those five
minutes had to be taken from holy meditation. It is very beautiful to see the
two sittings: the princes sitting to reproach David, and David sitting with
his God and his Bible, answering his traducers by never answering them at
all. Those who feed upon the word grow strong and peaceful, and are by
God’s grace hidden from the strife of tongues.

Note that in the close of the former octave he had said, “I will meditate”;
and here he shows how he had redeemed his promise, even under great
provocation to forget it. It is a praiseworthy thing when the resolve of our
happy hours is duly carried out in our seasons of affliction. Top of Page

24. “Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.”
They were not only themes for meditation, but “also” sources of delight and means of guidance. While his enemies took counsel with each other, the holy man took counsel with the testimonies of God. The fowlers could not drive the
bird from its nest with all their noise. It was their delight to slander and his
delight to meditate. The words of the Lord serve us for many purposes; in
our sorrows they are our delight, and in our difficulties they are our guide;
we derive joy from them and discover wisdom in them. If we desire to find
comfort in the Scriptures we must submit ourselves to their counsel, and
when we follow their counsel it must not be with reluctance, but with
delight This is the safest way of dealing with those who plot for our ruin;
let us give more heed to the true testimonies of the Lord than to the false
witness of our foes. The best answer to accusing princes is the word of the
justifying King.

In verse 16 David said, “I will delight in thy statutes,” and here he says,
“They are my delight”: thus resolutions formed in God’s strength come to
fruit, and spiritual desires ripen into actual attainments. Oh that it might be
so with all the readers of these lines! Top of Page