Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCharles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 10 Exposition of Psalm 119:73-80
TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 10 Exposition of Psalm 119:73-80
Other Subjects in this Topic:
Exposition of Psa_119:73-80
by Charles Spurgeon
73. Thy hand have made me and fashioned me: give me
understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
74. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I
have hoped in thy word.
75. I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou
in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
76. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort,
according to thy word unto thy servant.
77. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy
law is my delight.
78. Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me
without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.
79. Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have
known thy testimonies.
80. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.
We have now come to the tenth portion, which in each stanza begins with
Jod; but it certainly does not treat of jots and tittles and other trifles. Its
subject would seem to be personal experience and its attractive influence
upon others. The prophet is in deep sorrow, but looks to be delivered and
made a blessing. Endeavoring to teach, the Psalmist first seeks to be taught
(verse 73), persuades himself that he will be well received (74), and then
repeats the testimony which he intends to bear (75). He prays for more
experience (76, 77), for the baffling of the proud (78), for the gathering
together of the godly to him (79), and for himself again, that he may be
fully equipped for his witness-bearing, and may be sustained in it (80). This
is the anxious yet hopeful cry of one who is heavily afflicted by cruel
adversaries, and therefore makes his appeal to God as his only friend.
73. “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding
that I may learn thy command-merits”
“Thy hands have made me and fashioned me.” It is profitable to
remember our creation, it is pleasant to see that the divine hand has had
much to do with us; for it never moves apart from the divine thought. It
excites reverence, gratitude, and affection towards God when we view him
as our Maker, putting forth the careful skill and power of his hands in our
forming and fashioning. He took a personal interest in us, making us with
his own hands; he was doubly thoughtful, for he is represented both as
making and molding us. In both giving existence and arranging existence
the Lord manifested love and wisdom; and therefore we find reasons for
praise, confidence, and expectation in our being and well-being.
“Give me understanding, that I may team thy commandments.” As thou
hast made me, teach me. Here is the vessel which thou hast fashioned;
Lord, fill it! Thou hast given me both soul and body; grant me now thy
grace that my soul may know thy will, and my body may join in the
performance of it. The plea is very forcible; it is an enlargement of the cry,
“Forsake not the, work of thine own hands.” Without understanding the
divine law and rendering obedience to it, we are imperfect and useless; but
we may reasonably hope that the great Potter will complete his work, and
give the finishing touch to it, by imparting to us sacred knowledge and holy
character. If God had roughly made us, and had not also elaborately
fashioned us, this argument would lose much of its force; but surely from
the delicate art and marvelous skill which the Lord has shown in the
formation of the human body, we may infer that he is prepared to take
equal pains with the soul, till it shall perfectly bear his image.
A man without a mind is an idiot, the mere mockery of a man; and a mind
without grace is wicked, the sad perversion of a mind. We pray that we
may not be left without spiritual judgment or understanding: this the
Psalmist sought in verse 66, and he here pleads for it again: there is no true
knowing and keeping of the commandments without it. Fools can sin; but
only those who are taught of God can be holy. We often speak of gifted
men; but he has the best gifts to whom God has given a sanctified
understanding wherewith to know and prize the ways of the Lord. Note
well that David’s prayer for understanding is not for the sake of speculative
knowledge, and the gratification of his curiosity: he desires an enlightened
judgment, that he may learn God’s commandments, and so become
obedient and holy. This is the best of learning. A man may abide in the
College: where this science is taught all his days, and yet cry out for ability
to learn more. The commandment of God is exceeding broad, and so it
affords scope for the most vigorous and instructed mind: in fact, no man
has by nature an understanding capable of compassing so wide a field, and
hence the prayer, “Give me understanding”; — as much as to say — I can
learn other things with the mind I have, but thy law is so pure, so perfect,
spiritual and sublime, that I need to have my mind enlarged before I can
become proficient in it. He appeals to his Maker to do this, as if he felt that
no power short of that which made him could make him wise unto
holiness. We need a new creation, and who can grant us this but the
Creator himself? He who made us to live must make us to learn; he who
gave us power to stand must give us grace to understand. Let us each one
breathe to heaven the prayer of this verse ere we advance a step further;
for we shall be lost even in these petitions unless we pray our way through
them, and cry to God for understanding.
74. “They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have
hoped in thy word.” When a man of God obtains grace for himself he
becomes a blessing to others, especially if that grace has made him a man
of sound understanding and holy knowledge.
God-fearing men are encouraged when they meet with experienced
believers. A hopeful man is a God-send when things are declining or in
danger. When the hopes of one believer are fulfilled, his companions are
cheered and established, and led to hope also. It is good for the eyes to see
a man whose witness is that the Lord is true; it is one of the joys of saints
to hold converse with their more advanced brethren. The fear of God is not
a left-handed grace, as some have called it; it is quite consistent with
gladness; for if even the sight of a comrade gladdens the God-fearing, how
glad must they be in the presence of the Lord himself! We do not only meet
to share each other’s burdens, but to :partake in each other’s joys,
gracious men contribute largely to the stock of mutual gladness. Hopeful
men bring gladness with them. Despondent spirits spread the infection of
depression, and hence few are glad to see them; while those whose hopes
are grounded upon God’s word carry sunshine in their faces, and are
welcomed by their fellows. When professors by their freezing words chill
all hearts; the godly avoid their company. May this never be our character!
75 “I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in
faithfulness hast afflicted me.”
“I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right.” He who would learn
more must be thankful for what he already knows, and be willing to
confess it to the glory of God. The Psalmist had been sorely tried, but he
had continued to hope in God under his trial, and now he avows his
conviction that he had been justly and wisely chastened. This he not only
thought but knew, so that he. was positive about it, and spoke without a
moment’s hesitation. Saints are sure about the rightness of their troubles,
even when they cannot see the intent of them. It :made the godly glad to
hear David say this, “And that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.”
Because love required severity, therefore the Lord exercised it was not
because God was unfaithful that the believer found himself in a sore strait,
but for just the opposite reason: it was the faithfulness of God to his
covenant which brought the chosen one under the rod. It might not be
needful that other’s should be tried just then; but it was necessary to the
Psalmist, and therefore the Lord did not withhold the blessing. Our
heavenly Father is no Eli: he will not suffer his children to sin without
rebuke, his love is too intense for that. The man who makes the confession
of this verse is already progressing in the school of grace, and is learning