173. Let thy hand help me: for I have chosen thy precepts. 174. I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord; and thy law is my delight.
Here, 1. David prays that divine grace would work for him; Let thine hand help me. He finds his own hands are not sufficient for him, nor can any creature lend him a helping hand to any purpose; therefore he looks up to God in hopes that the hand that had made him would help him; for if the Lord do not help us, whence can any creature help us? All our help must be expected from God's hand, from his power and his bounty.
2. He pleads what divine grace had already wrought in him, as a pledge of further mercy, being a qualification for it. Three things he pleads;
(1.) That he had made religion his serious and deliberate choice; "I have chosen thy precepts. I took them for my rule, not because I knew no other, but because, upon trial, I knew no better." Those are good, and do good indeed, who are good and do good, not by chance, but by choice; and those who have thus chosen God's precepts, may depend upon God's helping hand in all their services, and under all their sufferings.
(2.) That his heart was upon heaven; I have longed for thy salvation. David, when he was got to the throne, met with enough in the world to court his stay, and to make him say, "It is good to be here;" but, still he was looking further, and longing for something better in another world. There is an eternal salvation which all the saints are longing for, and therefore pray that God's hand would help them forward in their way to it.
(3.) That he took pleasure in doing his duty; "Thy law is my delight. Not only I delight in it, but it is my delight, the greatest delight I have in this world." Those that are cheerful in their obedience may in faith beg help of God to carry them on in their obedience: and those that expect God's salvation must take delight in his law, and their hopes must increase their delight.
175. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.
David's heart is still upon praising God; and therefore, 1. He prays that God would give him time to praise him; "Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; let my life be prolonged, that I may live to thy glory." The reason why a good man desires to live, is, that he may praise God in the land of the living, and do something to his honour. Not, "Let me live and serve my country, live and provide for my family;" but, "Let me live, that, in doing this, I may praise God here in this world of conflict and opposition." When we die, we hope to go to a better world to praise him; and that is more agreeable for us, but here there is more need of us. And therefore one would not desire to live any longer than we may do God some service here. Let my soul live; let me be sanctified and comforted; these are the life of the soul, and then it shall praise thee. Our souls must be employed in praising God, and therefore we must pray for grace and peace, that we may be fitted to praise God.
2. He prays that God would give him strength to praise him; "Let thy judgments help me; let all ordinances and all providences" (both are God's judgments) "further me in glorifying God; let them be the matter of my praise, and let them help to fit me for that work."
176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep: seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.
Here is, 1. A penitent confession; I have gone astray, or wander up and down like a lost sheep. As unconverted sinners are like lost sheep, (Luke xv. 4.) so weak unsteady saints are like lost sheep, Matth. xviii. 12, 13. We are apt to wander like the sheep, and very unapt, when we have gone astray, to find the way again. By going astray we lose the comfort of the green pastures, and expose ourselves to a thousand mischiefs.
2. A believing petition; Seek thy servant, as the good shepherd seeks a wandering sheep to bring it back again, Ezek. xxxiv. 12. "Lord, seek me, as I used to seek my sheep when they went astray;" for David had been himself a tender shepherd. "Lord, own me for one of thine; for though I am a stray sheep, I have thy mark; concern thyself for me, send after me by the word, and conscience, and providences; bring me back by thy grace." Seek me, that is, Find me; for God never seeks in vain. Turn me, and I shall be turned.
3. An obedient plea; "Though I have gone astray, yet I have not wickedly departed, I do not forget thy commandments." Thus he concludes the psalm with a penitent sense of his own sin, and a believing dependence on God's grace. With these a devout Christian will conclude his duties, will conclude his life; he will live and die, repenting and praying. Observe here, (1.) It is the character of good people, that they do not forget God's commandments, being well-pleased with their convictions, and well-settled in their resolutions. (2.) Even those who, through grace, are mindful of their duty, cannot but own that they have in many instances wandered from it. (3.) Those that have wandered from their duty, if they continue mindful of it, may with a humble confidence, commit themselves to the care of God's grace.
PSALM CXX.
This psalm is the first of those fifteen which are here put together under the title of songs of degrees. It is well that it is not material what the meaning of that title should be, for nothing is offered toward the explication of it, no, not by the Jewish writers themselves, but what is conjectural. These psalms do not seem to be composed all by the same hand, much less all at the same time. Four of them are expressly ascribed to David, and one said to be designed for Solomon, and perhaps penned by him; yet Ps. cxxvi. and cxxix. seem to be of a much later date; some of them are calculated for the closet, (as cxx, cxxx.) some for the family, (as cxxvii, cxxviii.) some for the public assembly, (as cxxii, cxxxiv.) and some occasional, as cxxiv. cxxxii: So that, it should seem, they had not this title from the author, but from the publisher. Some conjecture that they are so called from their singular excellency; as the song of songs, so the song of degrees, is a most excellent song, in the highest degree. Others, from the tune they were set to, or the musical instruments they were sung to, or the raising of the voice in singing them. Some think they were sung on the fifteen steps or stairs, by which they went up from the outward court of the temple to the inner; others, at so many stages of the people's journey, when they returned out of captivity. I shall only observe, 1. That they are all short psalms, (all but one very short, three of them have but three verses a piece,) and that they are placed next to Ps. cxix. which is by much the longest of all. Now as that was one psalm divided into many parts, so these were many psalms, which, being short, were sometimes sung altogether, and made, as it were, one psalm, observing only a pause between each; as many steps make one pair of stairs. 2. That, in the composition of them, we frequently meet with the figure they call climax or an ascent: the preceding word repeated, and then rising to something further, as cxx. With him that hated peace, I peace. cxxi. From whence cometh my help, my help cometh. He that keepeth thee, shall not slumber, he that keepeth Israel. cxxii. Within thy gates, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem is builded. cxxiii. Until he that have mercy upon us, Have mercy upon us. And the like in most of them, if not all. Perhaps for one of these reasons they are called songs of degrees.
This psalm is supposed to have been penned by David upon
