Psalm CXLIII
1 Hear my pi’ayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant:
For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to
the ground: He hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
4 Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is
desolate.
5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.
6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a
thirsty land. Selah.
7 Hear me, speedily, O Lord! my spirit faileth:
Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust! Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul
unto thee.
9 Deliver me, 0 Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.
10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God:
Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
11 Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake:
For thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies,
And destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.
The author David is Still the sweet singer here, his harp sounding in the
‘u&vZlm wilderness of Judah, or, as in Psa. xlii., from some still more
remote retreat. Here, however, he alludes to no particular external privation — it is his soul’s sadness that is the burden of his song. Christ could use these utterances, feeling not his bodily absence from heaven so much as the Father’s hidden face. And it suits the believer at times, when he mourns most of all for the absence of any tokens of the Lord’s special presence, in himself or the church around.
From verses 1 to 4 we have the strong appeal of one who feels the darkness in which he is enveloped by the absence of special tokens of God’s love. Our Lord uses the argument of God’s “truth and righteousness,” in seeking an answer; and so we, his members, appeal to these same perfections, in our expostulations with our God, warranted by 1 John i. 9, “He ipi faithful and just to forgive us.” And then the deprecation in verse 2,
“And enter not into judgment with thy servant,’”
is, in our Lord’s lips, equivalent to “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me!” Do not argue the case with me (see Job ix. 82, and xxii. 4, and xxxiv. 23), to shew me that there is cause for all this darkness. I know there is a cause; the cause is the sin which I have undertaken to bear, “For before thee shall no living one he justified” — not one of all descended from Adam. (Compare ‘^Jl’bD here with Gen. iii. 20, when Eve’s posterity got that name after the Fall.) But my appeal is to thy “truth and righteousness” which are engaged to carry me through; and my need of help is great.
“Fur the foe is pursuing (C]’7*^) my soul /” (Yer. 3.)
And then, as if overtaken in the pursuit, he cries, “He has smitten my life to the ground! He has made me stand in deep darkness, like one eternally dead (Hengst); and my spirit is overwhelmed (Psa. cii., title, and cxlii. 4) within me; any heart in the midst of me is desolate.”
At verse 5, there is a gleam of light through the “darkness;” he recalls to mind God’s love manifested to Israel in former days.
At verse 6, there is a renewed appeal to the Lord’s pity, drawn from his state, resembling “a weary land” — (HSIi yMi like Lsa. xxxii. 2) — a land where a traveller’s strength is ex-E e hausted by the rough roads and crooked paths, and the oppressive heat of the sun’s intolerable rays. It was thus our Surety learned by experience to sympathise with us; and thus it was he became the “shadow of a great rock in a weary land,” He here calls the Father to notice his self-emptying and humiliation, while bearing wrath for our sins;
“My soul is to thee (see Hebr.) as a weary land.’’’
At verses 7 and 9 he seeks speedy relief; and the clause, “Make me to know the path I should walk in,” is similar to the “If it be possible” in his prayer in the garden. In the case of one of his members, the words have of course a different application, and yet one resembling his in the circumstance, that it is a petition for guidance under our personal difficulties.
At verse 10 do we not hear, “Not my will, but thine be done,” mingled with the filial accents of confidence, “My God”
But at verses 11, 12, the prospect opens out on future glory. The Spirit, that same “loving,” ov “good Spirit” who instructed Israel (Nehem. ix. 20), that same “eternal Spirit by whom he offered himself without spot to God,” shall lead him forth from those scenes, and place him
“In the land of uprightness.” The land of plainness (l!)!i“‘D), a land where no wickedness of men, and malice of Satan, vex the soul from day to day; a land where no rough paths and crooked turns lengthen out the traveller’s weary journey, (see ver. 5); but where all is like the smooth pasture lands of Keuben (Deut. iii. 10, Josh. xiii. 9), a fit place for flocks to lie down. “Thy Spirit” will do this in his love, when “ony Spirit” (ver. 7), my overwhelmed human soul, seemed ready to fail. Thou wilt be to me what thou wert to David, in “bringing his soul out of all distress” (1 Kings i. 29), and establishing him on his throne. All foes shall be extirpated, (ITD’^r)). Is not this the kingdom come, and its King exalted! And is not this a song alike for the Head and the mem))ers?
A prayer of the Righteous One, when feeling the heat of the weary land.
PSALM CXLIV. — A PRAYERFUL SONG. 4)35