Psalms 119:81-88

My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy Word.

Painful soul moods and their antidotes

I. Painful moods of soul.

1. Painful yearning (Psalms 119:81).

(1) The general objects of this yearning.

(a) A sense of security.

(b) A sense of comfort.

(2) The distress of this yearning.

(a) Weakening (Hebrews 12:3)

(b) Anxious (verse 82). “Hope deferred,” etc.

(c) Consuming (verse 83).

2. Anxious questioning (verse 84).

(1) The shortness of life. “How many are the days of Thy servant?” This means how few, how brief. Why should this life be so short in a world where there are such wonderful results to achieve, and with a being who has immeasurable faculties to develop?

(2) The advent of retribution.

3. A sense of injustice (verse 85). His persecutors were

(1) Crafty.

(2) Wicked.

(3) Cruel.

II. Antidotes.

1. Firm confidence in the Divine Word (verses 81, 83, 87).

2. A spiritual quickening of soul (verse 88). (Homilist.)

The Word of God a support

As a man binds a tender sapling to a stake, that the wind may not wrench it; or throws out an anchor into the boiling sea, that the ship may be held by it; so must we bind our wavering hearts to the support of the Word of God, and stay the storm-tossed ship of our souls with the anchor of hope, that they may not sink.