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I. THE PSALMIST'S COMPLAINT. "My soul cleaveth unto the dust." This is the complaint of one:

1. Conscious of the spirit of worldliness. Worldliness is a false relation to human creatures and to worldly things.

(1) An unnatural thing — that the immortal should be loaded with thick clay.

(2) A dishonourable thing — to subordinate the spirit to things and relations which it ought to use and rule.

(3) A destructive thing. Being too much with the world, coveting it, finding our pleasure in it, forgetting its higher uses, we lose our spiritual insights, sensibilities, strivings, delights, and become of the earth earthy. To be carnally minded is death to all the nobler senses.

2. Conscious of the bondage of sorrow. Cleaving to the dust suggests sitting in dust and ashes, as Job did when he was overwhelmed with grief. If we loved the world less, many woes would cease to consume and exhaust us. If we thought more of the honour that cometh from God, we should be less troubled by the reproach of men; if we thought more of the treasures of the soul, we should be less afflicted by the moth and rust which dissolve material treasures; if we lived more in the higher world of thought and feeling, we should be less affected by the ebb and flow of an ever-changing world of shadows and echoes.

II. THE PSALMIST'S APPEAL. "Quicken Thou me according to Thy Word." This appeal is to the right source.

1. God quickens us by granting new insight into the highest truth. The perception of a great truth invigorates our whole nature (Psalm 36:9).

2. God quickens us by kindling in us a new affection to Himself and to whatever reflects Him. When the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, the power and tyranny of terrestrial life abate.

3. God quickens us by inspiring us with a new hope.

(W. L. Watkinson.)

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KJV: DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

WEB: My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word!