direct the motions of the whole man. But, lest the authority of that should become weak through the flesh, here is a law to bind the will, and bring that into subjection. God's truth is a law, (John xviii. 37.) and God's law is the truth; surely we cannot break such words as these asunder.
143. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me; yet thy commandments are my delights. 144. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.
These two verses are almost a repetition of the two foregoing verses, but with improvements.
1. He again professes his constant adherence to God and his duty, notwithstanding the many difficulties and discouragements he met with. He had said, (v. 141.) I am small and despised, and yet adhere to my duty; here he finds himself not only mean, but miserable, as far as this world could make him so. Trouble and anguish have laid hold on me; trouble without, anguish within; they surprised him, they seized him, they held him. Sorrows are often the lot of saints in this vale of tears; they are in heaviness through manifold temptations. There he had said, Yet do I not forget thy precepts; here he carries his constancy much higher; Yet thy commandments are my delights. All this trouble and anguish did not put his mouth out of taste for the comforts of the word of God, but he could still relish them, and find that peace and pleasure in them, which all the calamities of this present time could not deprive him of. There are delights, variety of delights, in the word of God, which the saints have often the sweetest enjoyment of, when they are in trouble and anguish, 2 Cor. i. 5.
2. He again acknowledges the everlasting righteousness of God's word as before; (v. 142.) The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting, and cannot be altered; and when it is admitted in its power into a soul, it is there an abiding principle, a well of living water, John iv. 14. We ought to meditate much and often upon the equity and the eternity of the word of God. Here he adds, by way of inference, (1.) His prayer for grace; Give me understanding. Those that know much of the word of God, should still covet to know more; for there is more to be known. He does not say, "Give me a further revelation," but, Give me a further understanding; what is revealed, we should desire to understand, and what we know, to know better; and we must go to God for a heart to know. (2.) His hope of glory; "Give me this renewed understanding, and then I shall live; shall live for ever, shall be eternally happy, and shall be comforted, for the present, in the prospect of it." This is life eternal, to know God, John xvii. 3.
19. KOPH.
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.
Here is, 1. David's good prayers, by which he sought to God for mercy; these he mentions here, not as boasting of them, or trusting to any merit in them, but reflecting upon them with comfort, that he had taken the appointed way to comfort. Observe here, (1.) That he was inward with God in prayer, he prayed with his heart; and the prayer is acceptable no further than the heart goes along with it. Lip-labour, if that be all, is lost labour. (2.) He was importunate with God in prayer; he cried, as one in earnest, with fervour of affection, and a holy vehemence and vigour of desire. He cried with his whole heart; all the powers of his soul were not only engaged and employed, but exerted to the utmost, in his prayers. Then we are likely to speed, when we thus strive and wrestle in prayer. (3.) That he directed his prayer to God; I cried unto thee. Whither should the child go but to his father, when any thing ails him? (4.) That the great thing he prayed for was salvation; Save me. A short prayer; for we mistake, if we think we shall be heard for our much speaking; but a comprehensive prayer; "Not only rescue me from ruin, but make me happy." We need desire no more than God's salvation, (l. 23.) and the things that accompany it, Heb. vi. 9. (5.) That he was earnest for an answer; and not only looked up in his prayers, but looked up after them, to see what became of them; (Ps. v. 3.) "Lord, hear me, and let me know that thou hearest me."
2. David's good purposes, by which he bound himself to duty, when he was in the pursuit of mercy. "I will keep thy statutes; I am resolved that by thy grace I will;" for, if we turn away our ear from hearing the law, we cannot expect an answer of peace to our prayers, Prov. xxviii. 9. This purpose is used as a humble plea; (v. 146.) "Save me from my sins, my corruptions, my temptations, all the hindrances that lie in my way; that I may keep thy testimonies." We must cry for salvation, not that we may have the ease and comfort of it, but that we may have an opportunity of serving God the more cheerfully.
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.
David goes on here to relate how he had abounded in the duty of prayer, much to his comfort and advantage: he cried unto God, offered up to him his pious and devout affections with all seriousness. Observe,
1. The handmaids of his devotion. The two great exercises that attended his prayers, and were helpful to them, were, (1.) Hope in God's word, which encouraged him to continue instant in prayer, though the answer did not come immediately; "I cried, and hoped that at last I should speed, because the vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak, and not lie. I hoped in thy word, which I knew would not fail me." (2.) Meditation in God's word. The more intimately we converse with the word of God, and the more we dwell upon it in our thoughts, the better able we shall be to speak to God in his own language, and the better we shall know what to pray for as we ought. Reading the word will not serve, but we must meditate in it.
2. The hours of his devotion; he prevented the dawning of the morning; nay, and the night-watches. See here, (1.) That David was an early riser, which perhaps contributed to his eminency. He was none of those that say, Yet a little sleep. (2.) That he began the day with God; the first thing he did in the morning, before he admitted any business, was, to pray; when his mind was most fresh, and in the best frame. If our first thoughts in the morning be of God, it will help to keep us in his fear all the day long. (3.) That his mind was so full of God, and the cares and delights of his religion, that a little sleep served his turn; even in the night-watches, when he waked from his first sleep, he would rather meditate and pray, than turn him and go to sleep again. He esteemed the words of God's mouth more than his necessary repose, which we can as ill spare as our food, Job xxiii. 12. (4.) That he would redeem time for religious exercises; he was full of
