Psalms 31:9

_HAVE MERCY UPON ME, O LORD, FOR I AM IN TROUBLE: MINE EYE IS CONSUMED WITH GRIEF, YEA, MY SOUL AND MY BELLY._ The second strophe. His distress, and his commission of it to the Lord in prayer. I AM IN TROUBLE - `I am in straits.' MINE EYE ... GRIEF - `agitation' (_ BªKA`AC_ (H3708)), caused by enemies, and acting on the health so as to dull the expression of the eye. Compare note, Psalms 6:7. MY BELLY - i:e., my body. The intestinal organs are affected by excessive vexation....

9._Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah! _To move God to succor him, he magnifies the greatness of his misery and grief by the number of his complaints; not that God needs arguments to persuade him, but because he allows the faithful to deal familiarly with him, that they may disburden themselves of their cares. The greater the number of afflictions with which they are oppressed, the more do they encourage themselves, while bewailing them before God, in the hope of obtaining his assistance. These forms of expression may seem hyperbolical, but it is obvious that it was David’s purpose to declare and set forth what he had felt in his own person. First, he says that _his eyes, his soul, and his belly, were consumed with grief. _From this it appears that it was neither lightly nor for a short time that he was thus tormented and vexed by these calamities. Indeed, he was endued with so much meekness...

9-18 David's troubles made him a man of sorrows. Herein he was a type of Christ, who was acquainted with grief. David acknowledged that his afflictions were merited by his own sins, but Christ suffered for ours. David's friends durst not give him any assistance. Let us not think it strange if thus deserted, but make sure of a Friend in heaven who will not fail. God will be sure to order and dispose all for the best, to all those who commit their spirits also into his hand. The time of life is in God's hands, to lengthen or shorten, make bitter or sweet, according to the counsel of his will. The way of man is not in himself, nor in our friend's hands, nor in our enemies' hands, but in God's. In this faith and confidence he prays that the Lord would save him for his mercies's sake, and not for any merit of his own. He prophesies the silencing of those that reproach and speak evil of the p...

Verse Psalms 31:9. _MINE EYE IS CONSUMED_] He now returns, and speaks of his present situation. Grief had brought many tears from his eyes, many agonies into his soul, and many distressful feelings into his whole frame. _MY SOUL AND MY BELLY._] The _belly_ is often taken for the whole body. But the term _belly_ or _bowels_, in such as case as this, may be the most proper; for in distress and misery, the _bowels_ being the most tender part, and in fact the very _seat of compassion_, they are often most affected. In Greek the word σπλαγχνον signifies a _bowel_, and σπλαγχνιζομαι signifies to _be moved with_ _compassion_; to feel misery in the bowels at the sight of a person in pain and distress....

HAVE MERCY UPON ME, O LORD, FOR I AM IN TROUBLE - The nature and sources of his trouble are specified in the verses following. He seems to have regarded all his trouble as the result of sin, either the sin of his heart, of which he alone was conscious, or of some open act of sin, that had been the means of bringing this affliction upon him, Psalms 31:10. As a consequence of this, he says that he was subjected to the reproach of his enemies, and shunned by his neighbors and his acquaintances; that he was forgotten by them like a dead man out of mind; that he was exposed to the slander of others, and that they conspired against his life, Psalms 31:11. In view of all this he calls earnestly upon God to save him in his troubles, and to be his helper and friend....

EXPOSITION THIS psalm is, in the main, a cry for deliverance out of pressing danger and trouble; but it is interspersed with passages of a more cheerful tone, expressive of faith and confidence (Psalms 31:5, Psalms 31:14,_ _Psalms 31:15); and it winds up with a eulogy of God's goodness (Psalms 31:19), and an exhortation to the saints of God to "be strong," and trust in him. The title declares it to be David's; and it both breathes his spirit, and has many of his turns of expression. It has been thought to belong to the period of his early persecution by Saul; but, on the whole, it seems rather su

HAVE MERCY UPON ME, O LORD, FOR I AM IN TROUBLE,.... A sudden change of case and frame this! and so it is with the people of God; as soon as, out of one trouble, they are in another; these are what are appointed for them, and lie in their pathway to heaven, and are necessary; and under them it is quite right to betake themselves to the Lord, who is a merciful God; and it is best to cast themselves upon his mercy, having no merit of their own to plead with him; and they may freely tell him all their distresses, as the psalmist here does, and hope for grace and mercy to help them in time of need; MINE EYE, IS CONSUMED WITH GRIEF; expressed by tears; through the multitude of which, by reason of trouble, his sight was greatly harmed; according to Jarchi, the word signifies, that his sight was so dim as is a man's when he puts a glass before his eyes, to see what is beyond the glass: this sh...

Psalms 31:1. _In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust;_ Can we say as much as that? However else this Psalm of David may end, it strikes a grand key-note, that which should be the first indication of our spiritual life, confidence in God. Here is an ancient weather-beaten saint who, in the very midst of the storm, can say, «In thee, O Jehovah, do I put my trust.» There will the anchor of his soul find a sure hold. Psalms 31:1. _Let me never be ashamed:_ «How canst thou let me be put to shame after having trusted in thee, O my God? I shall be ashamed, if thou dost forsake me, if thy promises be not kept to me, O my Lord! Therefore, ‘let me never be ashamed.'» Psalms 31:1. Deliver

Psalms 31 The Enemies of Israel and the Victory _ 1. The prayer for deliverance (Psalms 31:1)_ 2. The victory (Psalms 31:19) Psalms 31:1. Many saints have turned to this Psalm for encouragement in time of trouble and sorrow. And there is much in it which helps the trusting soul. Notice the different names of Jehovah--my rock--my house of defense--my strong rock--my fortress--my strength--God of truth. But like the previous Psalms this one also unfolds prophetically the sufferings of the remnant of Israel during the last days of this age. Yet likewise we may think of Him who endured the contradiction of sinne

XXXI. Prayer in distress strangely intermingled with such confidence in God that the deliverance seems to be already accomplished. PSALMS 31:1_ A_. Recurs with textual variants in Psalms 71:1. Psalms 31:5. The poet commends his spirit to God, that God may preserve it from death. In Luke 22:46 the application is different. TRUTH: _i.e._ faithfulness. Psalms 31:15. The crises of life are in the hands of Yahweh, and Israel has, therefore, no room for such comfort as, _e.g.,_ astrology....