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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadSpurgeon Verse Expositions - Psalms 119:25 - 119:32
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Psa_119:25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust:
“It sticks to it as though it were glued to it; my soul cannot be lifted up, at least by myself, out of its sadness, and its earthiness.” The psalmist was not one who could boast of perfection. He had to lament that the earth, which was in him by nature, made even his soul cleave to mother earth. He did not like it; he was not content that it should be so, and therefore he breathed this prayer: —
Psa_119:25. Quicken thou me according to thy word.
“Lord, there is nothing but life that can bring me up out of the dust, for death lurks in the dust, and the duel tends to death. Put life into me, Lord, thy life, the divine life. Thou hast promised to do this, therefore, do it, Lord, ‘according to thy word.’” That is a prayer which is always sure to succeed, for it is based upon the promise of God. Hath the Lord promised anything? Then he will surely perform it; and you cannot use a better argument in prayer than to say to him, “Do as thou hast said;” or, as the psalmist puts it, “Quicken thou me according to thy Lord.”
Psa_119:26. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me:
“I have made a full confession to thee, my God. I have owned my fault wherein I was wrong, and I have thanked thee for thy grace given to me in anything wherein I was right.”
Psa_119:26. Teach me thy statutes.
“O Lord, let me not have such a sorry tale to tell again. If my copy of thy handwriting has been badly written, set it for me afresh, I pray thee: ‘Teach me thy statutes.’”
Psa_119:27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts:
“Let me know, O Lord, what the way of thy precept is; get me into that way; and then, oh help me to keep in it all my life!”
Psa_119:27. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
A man never talks rightly of God’s works till he knows God’s ways, and it is idle to talk of them if there is no doing at the back of the talking; so the psalmist prays, “Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.” To preach, and not practice, is very bad preaching; but first to understand the way of the Lord, then to run in it, and then to speak of it, this is well.
Psa_119:28. My soul melteth for heaviness:
The Hebrew word is “droppeth.” The psalmist’s soul was like water dripping from the eaves of a house in time of rain. There are two sorts of sorrow, — the sorrow that rushes like a mighty torrent, and the sorrow, which is perhaps the worse of the two, which goes drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, — like the constant dripping which wears away stones, — and which makes even the boldest heart to feel the attrition: “My soul melteth, dissolveth, droppeth, drippeth for heaviness:” —
Psa_119:28. Strengthen thou me —
The psalmist does not ask to have the trouble removed; but he prays, “Help me to bear it.” Whenever there is a thing that is hard, the right way to get through it is to get something that is still harder. If God will give us an adequate supply of his grace, hard times will not wear us away. So the psalmist prays, “Strengthen thou me” —
Psa_119:28. According unto thy word.
See how he clings to that expression, “according unto thy word.” He knows the power of that argument, and therefore he uses it again and again.
Psa_119:29. Remove from me the way of lying:
“Do not let me fall into any untrue habits. Do not let me profess to have had an experience which I have never felt, or talk about holy things of which I know nothing experimentally. Keep me from everything that has any trace of falsehood in it.”
Psa_119:29. And grant me thy law graciously.
“For thy law is truth, and when thy grace brings thy law home to my heart, all that is false will be banished from me.”
Psa_119:30. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
“I have laid them before me as a man puts his model in front of him that he may work to it.” It is well for us to have God’s way and God’s judgments always before our eyes, that we may be duly impressed and rightly guided by them.
Psa_119:31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies:
Just now, the psalmist said that his soul stuck to the earth; yet, at the same time, he was sticking to God’s testimonies, for every good man is two men. There is a new-birth-man who sticks to God’s testimonies, and there is that old carnal nature in us which cleaves to the dust.
Psa_119:31-32. O Lord, put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
That is, “When thou shalt give me liberty of heart, then I will run in the way of thy commandments. When the impediments are removed, — when the sin, which doth so easily entangle me, is taken away, then will I run with delight in the way of thy commandments.
Psa_119:25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
“I feel heavy, unhappy, dull: ‘My soul cleaveth unto the dust.’ Or I feel worldly, lethargic, lifeless: ‘My soul cleaveth unto the dust.’ There is nothing but the power of new life that can separate me from that dust: ‘ Quicken thou me according to thy word.’” Divine life is the great cure for most spiritual evils. When a man has vigorous life in his constitution, he throws off many diseases; and when the soul is full of spiritual life, it masters a great number of evils. “My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.” That is good pleading, — “according to thy promise, for thou hast promised to quicken me. It is the nature of thy Word to be quick and quickening; therefore, Lord, ‘quicken thou me according to thy word.’”
Psa_119:26. if have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
“I have confessed my wrong; now, O Lord, teach me what is right! I have owned my sin; now, O Lord, lead me in the paths of holiness! ‘Teach me thy statutes.’”
Psa_119:27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
He who fully understands the way of God’s precepts must talk of his wondrous works. There is a power about that truth in the heart to unloose the most stammering tongue. We are bound to speak of that which God teaches to us: “Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.”
Psa_119:28. My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
Are any of you, dear friends, in that condition? Do your hearts melt within you? It is a sore trouble, as I know full well. “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity;” but when his very soul melts for heaviness, what is he to do then? Why, even then he may pray; nay, then he must pray; and this may be the burden of his prayer, “Strengthen thou me according unto thy word.” Notice, beloved, how the psalmist keeps harping upon that string,-“ according unto thy word.” If your prayer is according to God’s Word, you may expect a comfortable answer sooner or later. We know that God will not act contrary to his Word. He who is not a man of his word is despised; and if there could be one who was not a God of his Word, what would be said of him? But, my tried friend, he will make his Word true to you to the very letter; therefore still cry to him, “Strengthen thou me according unto thy word.”
Psa_119:29. Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
“Lord, let me not be pestered by liars, and let me never fall into any measure of falsehood myself.” There is a way of thinking better of yourself than you deserve, which is a form of lying. There is a method of supposing that you have experienced what you never have experienced, and that you have attained to what you never have attained to; that also is a way of falsehood. May God remove it from us, and may we have the law of the Lord written on our hearts! “Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.”
Psa_119:30. I have chosen the way of truth:
“I want to be true, I want to know the truth, I want to feel the truth, I want to practice the truth: ‘I have chosen the way of truth.’”
Psa_119:30. Thy judgments have I laid before me.
“Like a map, so that I might follow the way of truth as I see it drawn out in letters of light in thy Word.” The man who spreads out God’s Word before him, like a map of the road, is not likely to make a mistake in his journeying.
Psa_119:31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies : —
I like that word “stuck.” “I have stuck unto thy testimonies.” “I could not be drawn or dragged away from them. They told me of some fine new ideas and modern grand discoveries; but ‘I have stuck unto thy testimonies.’ They came before me with something very artistic and scientific; but ‘I have stuck unto thy testimonies:’ —
Psa_119:31. O LORD, put me not to shame.
You may rest assured that he never will. If a man clings to God, God will cleave to him. If we are not ashamed of God, he will never put us to shame; but we shall go from strength to strength glorying in his truth and grace.
Psa_119:32. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
There is an enlargement of the heart that is very dangerous, but this kind of enlargement of the heart is the most healthy thing that can happen to a man. A great heart, you see, is a running heart. A little heart goes slowly, but an enlarged heart runs in the way of God’s commandments. Oh, for a heart full of love to God; and then to have that heart made larger, so as to hold more of God’s love! Lord, enlarge my heart in that sense! Let me feel at home and at liberty with thee; let the last link of my bondage be snapped. Amen.