_O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger._ A SONG OF SORROW It is needless to look for a historical occasion of the Psalm; but to an oar that knows the tones of sorrow, or to a heart that has itself uttered them, the supposition that in these pathetic cries we hear only a representative Israelite bewa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak._ CURE FOR THE SOUL’S WEAKNESS There is a very immediate connection between soul sickness and bodily ailments. The material affects the mental, and presently the mental affects the soul. When David was weak in body he became more than ever conscious of hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_My soul is sore vexed._ YOKE FELLOWS IN SIN, YOKE FELLOWS IN PUNISHMENT Yoke fellows in sin are yoke fellows in pain; the soul is punished for informing, the body for performing, and as both the informer and performer, the cause and the instrument, so shall the stirrer up of sin and executor be p... [ Continue Reading ]
_Return, O Lord, deliver my soul._ A POSTULATORY PRAYER “O Lord, return” implies a former presence, a present absence, and a confidence for the future. This is God’s return to us, in a general apprehension. After He hath made us, and blest us in our nature and by His natural means, He returns to m... [ Continue Reading ]
_In death there is no remembrance of Thee._ DOES CONSCIOUSNESS CEASE WITH DEATH There is some obscurity in these words, literally understood. They at least seem to teach that all thought and consciousness ceased with man at his death. If that be their meaning, they certainly show that David’s views... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am weary with my groaning._ THE PENITENT’S SORROW The penitent here expresses the effects which his sorrow had upon him in its outward manifestations. His eye was consumed because of grief, and he was weary with his groaning. An impression now seems generally to prevail that outward manifestatio... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping._ A CHANGE FROM SORROW TO HOPE I. Grateful acknowledgment of mercy. The expressions of the Psalm indicate sorrow of no ordinary kind. Much of this sorrow caused by a sense of the indignation of God against sin (Psalms 6:1). What he pleads for is the par... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed._ THE TOLERANCE AND INTOLERANCE OF THE GOSPEL A difficulty is often felt in reading or repeating these imprecations. These denunciations are appalling, withering. Are they not essentially personal, the breathing of a Jewish spirit of revenge, and in... [ Continue Reading ]