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TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 19 Exposition of Psalm 119:145-152
Other Subjects in this Topic:
Exposition of Psa_119:145-152
by Charles Spurgeon
145. I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord: I will keep thy
statutes.
146. I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies.
147. I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped
in thy word.
148. Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate
in thy word.
149. Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: O
LORD, quicken, me according to thy judgment.
150. They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from
thy law.
151. Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth.
152. Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou
hast founded them for ever.
This section is given up to memories of prayer. The Psalmist describes the
time and the manner of his supplication, and pleads with God for
deliverance from his troubles. He who has been with God in the closet will
find God with him in the furnace. If we have cried we shall be answered.
Delayed answers may drive us to importunity; but we need not fear the
ultimate result, since God’s promises are not uncertain, but are “founded
for ever.” The whole passage shows us: How he prayed (verse 145). What
he prayed for (146). When he prayed (147). How long he prayed (148).
What he pleaded (149). What happened (151). How he was rescued (150).
What was his witness as to the whole matter (152). May the Lord bless our
meditations on this instructive passage!
145. “I cried with my where heart; hear me, O Lord: I will keep thy
statutes.”
“I cried with my whole heart.” His prayer was a sincere, plaintive,
painful, natural utterance, as of a creature in pain. We cannot tell whether
at all times he used his voice when he thus cried; but we are informed of
something which is of much greater consequence — he cried with his
heart. Heart-cries are the essence of prayer. He mentions the unity of his
heart in this holy engagement. His whole soul pleaded with God: his entire
affections, his united desires, all went out towards the living God. It is well
when a man can say as much as this of his prayers: it is to be feared that
:many never cried to God with their whole heart in all their lives. There
may be no beauty of elocution about such prayers, no length of expression,
no depth of doctrine nor accuracy of diction; but if the whole heart be in
them they will find their way to the heart of Gold.
“Hear me, O LORD.” He desires of Jehovah that his cries may not die
upon the air, but that God may have respect to them. True supplicants are
not satisfied with the exercise itself, they have an end and object in praying,
and they look out for it. If God does not hear prayer we pray in vain. The
term “hear” is often used in Scripture to express attention and
consideration. In one sense God hears every sound that is made on earth,
and every desire of every heart; but David meant much more: he desired a
kindly, sympathetic hearing, such as a physician gives to his patient when
he tells him his pitiful story. He asked that the Lord would draw near, and
listen with friendly ear to the voice of his complaint, with the view of
pitying him and helping him. Observe, that his whole-hearted prayer goes
to the Lord alone; he has no second hope or help. “Hear me, O Lord,” is
the full range of his petition and expectation.
“I will keep thy statutes.” He could not expect the Lord to hear him if he
did not hear the Lord, neither would it be true that he prayed with his
whole heart unless it was manifest that he labored with all his might to be
obedient to the divine will. His object in seeking deliverance was that he
might be free to fulfil his religion, free to carry out every ordinance of the
law, free to serve the Lord.
Note well that a holy resolution goes well with an importunate
supplication: David is determined to be holy, his whole heart goes with that
resolve as well as with his prayers. He will keep God’s statutes in his
memory, in his affections, and in his actions. He will not willfully neglect
nor willingly violate any one of the divine laws.
146. “I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies.”
“I cried unto thee.” Again he mentions that his prayer was unto God
alone. The sentence imports that he prayed vehemently, and very often; and
that it had become one of the greatest facts of his life that he cried unto
God.
“Save me.” This was his prayer; very short, but very full. He needed
saving; none but the Lord could save him; to the Lord he cried. “Save
me,” from the dangers which surround me, from the enemies that pursue
me, from the temptations which beset me, from the sins which accuse me.
He did not multiply words, but only cried “Save me.” Men are never
wordy when they are in downright earnest He did not multiply objects, but
asked only for salvation. Men are seldom discursive when they are intent
upon the one thing needful.
“And I shall keep thy testimonies.” This was his great object in desiring
salvation, that he might be able to continue in a blameless life of obedience
to God, that he might be able to believe the witness of God, and also to
become himself a witness for God. It is a great thing when men seek
salvation for so high an end. He did not ask to be delivered that he might
sin with impunity; his cry was to be delivered from sin itself. He had vowed
to keep the statutes or laws of God; here he resolves to keep the
testimonies or doctrines of God, and so to be sound of head as well as
clean of hand. Salvation brings all these good things in its train. David had
no idea of a salvation which would allow him to live in sin, or abide in
error: he knew right well that there is no saving a man while he abides in
disobedience and ignorance.
147. “I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy
word.”
“I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried.” He was up before
the sun, and began his pleadings before the dew began to leave the grass.
Whatever is worth doing is worth doing speedily. This is the third time
that he mentions that he cried. He cried, and cried, and cried again. His
supplications had become so frequent, fervent, and intense, that he might
hardly be said to be doing anything else from morning to night but crying
unto his God. So strong was his desire after salvation that he could not rest
in his bed; so eagerly did he seek it that at the first possible moment he was
on his knees.
“I hoped in thy word.” Hope is a very powerful means of strengthening
us in prayer. Who would pray if he had no hope that God would hear him?
Who would not pray when he has a good hope of a blessed issue to his
entreaties? His hope was fixed upon God’s word; and this is a sure
anchorage, because God is true, and in no case has he ever run back from
his promise, or altered the thing that has gone forth from his mouth. He
who is diligent in prayer will never be destitute of hope. Observe that as
the early bird gets the worm, so the early prayer is soon refreshed with
hope.
148. “Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy
word.”
“Mine eyes prevent the night watches.” Or rather, the watches. Before
the watchman cried the hour, he was crying to God. He did not need to be
informed as to how the hours were flying, for every hour his heart was
flying towards heaven. He began the day with prayer, and he continued in
prayer through the watches of the day, and the watches of the night. The
soldiers changed guard, but David did not change his holy occupation.
Specially, however, at night did he keep his eyes open, and drive away
sleep, that he might maintain communion with his God. He worshipped on
from watch to watch as travelers journey from stage to stage.
“That I might meditate in thy word.” This had become meat and drink: