Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 04 Exposition of Psalm 119:25-32
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Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 04 Exposition of Psalm 119:25-32
TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 04 Exposition of Psalm 119:25-32
Other Subjects in this Topic:
Exposition of Psa_119:25-32
by Charles Spurgeon
25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according
to thy word.
26. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me; teach me
thy statutes.
27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I
talk of thy wondrous works.
28. My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me
according unto thy word.
29. Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law
graciously.
30. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid
before me.
31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, put me not to
shame.
32. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt
enlarge my heart.
Here, it seems to me, we have the Psalmist in trouble bewailing the
bondage to earthly things in which he finds his mind to be held. His soul
cleaves to the dust, melts for heaviness, and cries for enlargement from its
spiritual prison. In these verses we shall see the influence of the divine
word upon a heart which laments its downward tendencies, and is filled
with mourning because of its deadening surroundings. The word of the
Lord evidently arouses prayer (25-29), confirms choice (30), and inspires
renewed resolve (32): it is in all tribulation, whether of body or mind, the
surest source of help.
This portion has D for its alphabetical letter: it sings of Depression, in the
spirit of Devotion, Determination, and Dependence.
25. “My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy
word.”
“My soul cleaveth unto the dust.” He means in part that he was full of
sorrow; for mourners in the east cast dust on their heads, and sat in ashes,
and the Psalmist felt as if these ensigns of woe were glued to him, and his
very soul was made to cleave to them because of his powerlessness to rise
above his grief. Does he not also mean that he felt ready to die? Did he not
feel his life absorbed and fast held by the grave’s mould, half choked by the
death-dust? It may not be straining the language if we conceive that he also
felt and bemoaned his earthly-mindedness and spiritual deadness. There
was a tendency in his soul to cling to earth which he greatly bewailed.
Whatever was the cause of his complaint, it was no surface evil, but an
affair of his inmost spirit; his soul cleaved to the dust; and it was not a
casual and accidental falling into the dust, but a continuous and powerful
tendency, or cleaving to the earth. But what a mercy that the good man
could feel and deplore whatever there was of evil in the cleaving! The
serpent’s seed can find their meat in the dust, but never shall the seed of
the woman be thus degraded. Many are of the earth earthy, and never
lament it; only the heaven-born and heaven-soaring spirit pines at the
thought of being fastened to this world, and bird-limed by its sorrows or its
pleasures.
“Quicken thou me according to thy word.” More life is the cure for all
our ailments. Only the Lord can give it. He can bestow it, bestow it at
once, and do it according to his word, without departing from the usual
course of his grace, as we see it mapped out in the Scriptures. It is well to
know what to pray for — David seeks quickening: one would have
thought that he would have asked for comfort or upraising; but he knew
that these would come out of increased life, and therefore he sought that
blessing which is the root of the rest. When a person is depressed in spirit,
weak, and bent towards the ground, the main thing is to increase his
stamina and put more life into him; then his spirit revives, and his body
becomes erect. In reviving the life, the whole man is renewed. Shaking off
the dust is a little thing by itself; but when it follows upon quickening, it is
a blessing of the greatest value, just as good spirits, which flow from
established health, are among the choicest of our mercies. The phrase,
“according to thy word,” means — according to thy revealed way of
quickening thy saints. The word of God shows us that he who first made us
must keep us alive; and it tells us of the Spirit of God who through the
ordinances pours fresh life into our souls: we beg the Lord to act towards
us in this his own regular method of grace. Perhaps David remembered the
word of the Lord in Deuteronomy 32:39, where Jehovah claims both to kill
and to make alive, and he beseeches the Lord to exercise that life-giving
power upon his almost expiring servant. Certainly, the man of God had not
so many rich promises to rest upon as we have; but even a single word was
enough for him, and he right earnestly urges “according to thy word.” It
is a grand thing to see a believer in the dust and yet pleading the promise, a
man at the grave’s mouth crying, “quicken me,” and hoping that it shall
be done.
Note how this first verse of the 4th octonary tallies with the first of the
third (17), — “That I may live”.... “Quicken me.” While in a happy
state he begs for bountiful dealing, and when in a forlorn condition he
prays for quickening. Life is in both cases the object of pursuit: that he
may’ have life, and have it more abundantly. Truly this is wisdom. Fools
hunger for mere, and yet lose life; but the wise man knows that the life is
more than meat. To pine for riches and neglect the soul is the common sin
of unbelievers, and to seek true riches in an increase of life is the prudent
course of the believer. Life, eternal life, this is true treasure. Our Lord has
come not only that we may have life, but that we may have it more
abundantly. Lord, evermore pour thy life-floods into us, that we may be
quickened to the fullness of our manhood, and filled with all the fullness of
God.
26. “I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me; teach me thy
statutes.”
“I have declared my ways.” Open confession is good for the soul.
Nothing brings more ease and more life to a man than a frank
acknowledgment of the evil which has caused the sorrow and the lethargy.
Such a declaration proves that the man knows his own condition, and is no
longer blinded by pride. Our confessions are not meant to make God
know our sins, but to make us know them. “And thou heardest me.” His
confession had been accepted; it was not lost labor; God had drawn near to
him in it. We ought never to go from a duty till we have been accepted in
it. Pardon follows upon penitent confession, and David felt that he had
obtained it. It is God’s way to forgive our sinful way when we from our
hearts confess the wrong.
“Teach me thy statutes.” Being truly sorry for his fault, and having
obtained Full forgiveness, he is anxious to avoid offending again, and hence
he begs to be taught obedience. He was not willing to sin through
ignorance, he wished to know all the mind of God by being, taught it by
the best of teachers. He pined after holiness. Justified men always long to
be sanctified. When God forgives our sins we are all the more fearful of
sinning again. Mercy, which pardons transgression, sets us longing for
grace which prevents transgression. We may boldly ask for more when
God has given us much; he who has washed out the past stain will not
refuse that which will preserve us from present and future defilement. This
cry for teaching is frequent in the Psalm; in verse 12 it followed a sight of
God, here it follows from a sight of self. Every experience should lead us
thus to plead with God.
27. “Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy
wondrous works.”
“Make me to understand the way of thy precepts.” Give me a deep
insight into the practical meaning of thy word; let me get: a clear idea of
the tone and tenor of thy law. Blind obedience has but small beauty; God
would have us follow him with our eyes open. To obey the letter of the