Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 07 Exposition of Psalm 119:49-56
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Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 07 Exposition of Psalm 119:49-56
TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 07 Exposition of Psalm 119:49-56
Other Subjects in this Topic:
Exposition of Psa_119:49-56
by Charles Spurgeon
49. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast
caused me to hope.
50. This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath
quickened me.
51. That proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not
declined from thy law.
52. I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and gave
comforted myself.
53. Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that
forsake thy law.
54. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my
pilgrimage.
55. I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and
have kept thy law.
56. This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
This octrain deals with the comfort of the word. It begins by seeking the
main consolation, namely, the Lord’s fulfillment of his promise, and then it
shows how the word sustains us under affliction, and makes us so
impervious to ridicule that we are moved by the harsh conduct of the
wicked rather to horror of their sin than to any submission to their
temptations. We are then shown how the Scripture furnishes songs for
pilgrims, and memories for night-watchers; and the portion concludes by
the general statement that the whole of this happiness and comfort arises
out of keeping the statutes of the Lord.
49. “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused
me to hope.”
“Remember the word unto thy servant.” He asks for no new promise, but
to have the old word fulfilled He is grateful that he has received so good a
word he embraces it with all his heart, and now entreats the Lord to deal
with him according to it. He does not say, “remember my service to
thee,” but “thy word to me.” The words of masters to servants are not
always such that servants wish their lords to remember them; for they
usually observe the faults and failings of the work done, so far as it does
not tally with the word of command. But we who serve the best of masters
are not anxious to have one of his words fall to the ground, since the Lord
will so kindly remember his word of command as to give us grace
wherewith we may obey, and he will couple with it a remembrance of his
word of promise, so that our hearts shall be comforted. If God’s word to
us as his servants is so precious, what shall we say of his word to us as his
sons?
The Psalmist does not fear a failure in the Lord’s memory, but he makes
use of the promise as a plea, and this is the form in which he speaks, after
the manner of men when they plead with one another. When the Lord
remembers the sins of his servant, and brings them before his conscience,
the penitent cries, Lord, remember thy word of pardon, and therefore
remember my sins and iniquities no more. There is a world of meaning in
that word “remember,” as it is addressed to God; it is used in Scripture in
the tenderest sense, and suits the sorrowing and the depressed. The
Psalmist cried, “Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions” Job also
prayed that the Lord would appoint him a set time, and remember him. In
the present instance the prayer is as personal as the “Remember me” of
the thief, for its essence lies in the words — “unto thy servant.” It would
be all in vain for us if the promise were remembered to all others if it did
not come true to ourselves; but there is no fear of failure; for the Lord has
never forgotten a single promise to a. single believer.
“Upon which thou hast caused me to hope.” The argument is that God,
having given grace to hope in the promise, will never disappoint that hope.
He cannot have caused us to hope without reason. If we hope upon his
word we have a sure basis to build upon: our gracious Lord will never
mock us by exciting false hopes. Hope, deferred maketh the heart sick;
hence the petition for immediate remembrance of the cheering word.
Moreover, it is the hope of a servant, and it is not possible that a great and
good master would disappoint his dependent. If such a master’s word
were not kept, it could only be through an oversight; hence the anxious
cry, “Remember.” Our great Master will not forget his own servants, nor
disappoint the expectation which he himself has raised: because we are the
lord’s, and endeavor to remember his word by obeying it, we may be sure
that he will think upon his own servants, and remember his own promise by
making it good.
This verse is the prayer of love fearing to be forgotten, of humility
conscious of insignificance and anxious not to be overlooked, of penitence
trembling lest the evil of its sin should overshadow the promise, of eager
desire longing for the blessing, and of holy confidence which feels that all
that is wanted is comprehended in the word. Let but the Lord remember
his promise, and the promised act is as good as done.
50. “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened
me.” He means — Thy word is my comfort, or the fact that thy word has
brought quickening to me is my comfort. Or he means that the hope which
God had given him was his comfort, for God had quickened him thereby.
Whatever may be the exact sense, it is clear that the Psalmist had affliction
— affliction peculiar to himself, which he calls “my affliction”; that he
had comfort in it — comfort specially his own, for he styles it “my
comfort”; and that he knew what the comfort was, and where it came
from, for he exclaims — “This is my comfort.” The worldling clutches
his money-bag, and says, “This is my comfort”; the spendthrift points to
his gaiety, and shouts, “This is my comfort”; the drunkard lifts his glass,
and sings, “This is my comfort;” but the man whose hope comes from
God feels the life-giving power of the word of the Lord, and he testifies,
“This is my comfort.” Paul said, “I know whom I have believed.”
Comfort is desirable at all times; but comfort in affliction is like a lamp in a
dark place. Some are unable to find comfort in tribulation; but it is not so
with believers, for their Savior has said to them, “I will not leave you
comfortless.” Some have comfort and no affliction, others have affliction
and no comfort; but the saints have comfort in their affliction.
The word frequently comfort us by increasing the force of our inner life:
“This is my comfort; thy word hath quickened me.” To quicken the heart
is to cheer the whole man. Often the near way to consolation is by
sanctification and invigoration. If we cannot clear away the fog, it may be
better to rise to a higher level, and so to get above it. Troubles which
weigh us down while we are half dead become mere trifles when we are
full of life. Thus have we often been raised in spirit by quickening grace;
and the same thing will happen again, for the Comforter is still with us, the
Consolation of Israel ever liveth, and the very God of peace is evermore
our Father. On looking back upon our past life there is one ground of
comfort as to our state — the word of God has made us alive, and kept us
so. We were dead, but we are dead no longer. From this we gladly infer
that if the Lord had meant to destroy he would not have quickened us. If
we were only hypocrites worthy of derision, as the proud ones say, he
would not have revived us by his grace. An experience of quickening by
the word of God is a fountain of good cheer.
See how the experience of this verse is turned into a prayer in verse 107:
“Quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word.” Experience teaches us
how to pray, and furnishes arguments in prayer.
51. “The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined
from thy law.”
“The proud have had me greatly in devision.” Proud men never love
gracious men, and as they fear them, they veil their fear under a pretended
contempt. In this case their hatred revealed itself in ridicule, and that
ridicule was loud and long. When they wanted sport they made sport of
David because he was God’s servant. Men must have strange eyes to be