Psalms 56:3

_WHAT TIME I AM AFRAID, I WILL TRUST IN THEE._ What, time I am afraid, I will trust in thee - literally, 'what, day.' As 'man daily oppresseth me' (Psalms 56:1), so 'everyday, when I am afraid, I trust in thee.' The Psalmist's fear (Psalms 56:1) here gives place to confident hope....

3._In the day that I was afraid, etc. _In the Hebrew, the words run in the future tense, but they must be resolved into the praeterite. He acknowledges his weakness, in so far as he was sensible of fear, but denies having yielded to it. Dangers might distress him, but could not induce him to surrender his hope. He makes no pretensions to that lofty heroism which contemns danger, and yet while he allows that he felt fear, he declares his fixed resolution to persist in a confident expectation of the divine favor. The true proof of faith consists in this, that when we feel the solicitations of natural fear, we can resist them, and prevent them from obtaining an undue ascendancy. Fear and hope may seem opposite and incompatible affections, yet it is proved by observation, that the latter never comes into full sway unless there exists some measure of the former. In a tranquil state of the min...

1-7 Be merciful unto me, O God. This petition includes all the good for which we come to throne of grace. If we obtain mercy there, we need no more to make us happy. It implies likewise our best plea, not our merit, but God's mercy, his free, rich mercy. We may flee to, and trust the mercy of God, when surrounded on all sides by difficulties and dangers. His enemies were too hard for him, if God did not help him. He resolves to make God's promises the matter of his praises, and so we have reason to make them. As we must not trust an arm of flesh when engaged for us, so we must not be afraid of an arm of flesh when stretched out against us. The sin of sinners will never be their security. Who knows the power of God's anger; how high it can reach, how forcibly it can strike?...

WHAT TIME I AM AFRAID - literally, “the day I am afraid.” David did not hesitate to admit that there were times when he was afraid. He saw himself to be in danger, and he had apprehensions as to the result. There is a natural fear of danger and of death; a fear implanted in us: (a) to make us cautious, and (b) to induce us to put our trust in God as a Preserver and Friend. Our very nature - our physical constitution - is full of arrangements most skillfully adjusted, and most wisely planted there, to lead us to God as our Protector. Fear is one of these things, designed to make us feel that we “need” a God, and to lead us to him when we realize that we have no power to save ourselves from impending dangers. I WILL TRUST IN THEE - As one that is able to save, and one that will order all things a

EXPOSITION THIS and the following have been called "twin psalms." They begin with the same words, are nearly of the same length, and have each a refrain which divides them into two portions. Formally, the chief difference between the two is that Psalms 56:1. has an epilogue, or appendix (Psalms 56:12, Psalms 56:13), after the second refrain, to which there is nothing correspondent in Psalms 57:1. Both psalms were written under circumstances of great distress, and the tone of thought in them is very similar. Each begins with complaint, and earnest prayer for deliverance, while each ends with praise and triu

WHAT TIME I AM AFRAID,.... It was a time of fear with him now; he was afraid of Achish king of Gath, 1 Samuel 21:12; so believers have their times of fear; about their interest in the love, and grace, and covenant of God; about their sins and corruptions, and the prevalence of them, fearing they shall perish by them; and about their enemies, who are many, lively, and strong; I WILL TRUST IN THEE; trust and confidence in the Lord is the best antidote against fears; who is unchangeable in his love, in whom is everlasting strength, and who is faithful and true to every word of promise; and therefore there is great reason to trust in him, and not be afraid....

Psalms 56:1. _Be merciful unto me, O God for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me._ «Man has no mercy upon me, but, O God, be thou merciful unto me! If thy justice doth for a while let loose mine enemies upon me, let thy mercy diminish their power over me, for they are very cruel. They would make a complete end of me if they could, devouring me utterly.» Psalms 56:2. _Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee._ In God I will praise his word, David means, «Through his grace, I will praise his word,» for we cannot rightly praise God unless he gives us the grace to do it. To receive from God, is more easy for us; but to return gratitude to Go

TRUST (_ See Scofield) - (Psalms 2:12). _...

Psalms 56 The Faithfulness of God, the Comfort of His People _ 1. Trust and Comfort (Psalms 56:1)_ 2. Praise for anticipated deliverance (Psalms 56:10) These five Psalms which are grouped together are Michtam Psalms. This one was written by David when the Philistines took him at Gath. The inscription Jonathelem-rechokim has been rendered by the Septuagint translators as “upon the people driven afar from the holy place,” the literal rendering is, “The dove of silence in far off places.” On account of the great tribulation, the abomination in Jerusalem, seen in the previous Psalm, the godly have left the city and here we have the expressions of their trust in the faithfulness of their God. Whatever th

LVI. A PRAYER AGAINST STRONG, NUMEROUS, AND CRAFTY FOES. Psalms 56:2. For enemies read they that lie in wait for me (_mg.),_ PROUDLY: read bitterly. Psalms 56:4. Will praise his word, _i.e._ the fulfilment of His promise. The fulfilment comes, of course, through God. The verse recurs in Psalms 56:10 f., which is probably its original place since it cannot be a refrain. It has been anticipated here by a mistake of the scribe. Psalms 56:6_ b_, _c_, PSALMS 56:7_ a_. Read, with slight change in text,