I. AS A MAN TO BE PITIED. The sufferings described are many and great. They threatened to be overwhelming. Without, there was no escape; within, there was no peace. Crying for help brought no rescue, and waiting upon God brought no deliverance. Hope deferred made the heart sick. Disappointment only called forth more bitter scorn from enemies, and made the ills that multiplied more and more hard to bear. Besides, there was the distressful feeling that the evils that had come were in large part unmerited, and that the hate of enemies was as unjust as it was unprovoked. When we find a man in such a case, we cannot but sympathize with him. He may be too magnanimous to crave our pity, but all the more our heart goes out to him in compassion, and our prayers are joined with his for deliverance (Job 6:14; Job 19:21; 1 Peter 3:8). It is one of the advantages of suffering that, while it may be a salutary discipline to the sufferer, it becomes a means of calling forth brotherly kindness and manly help from beholders.
II. AS A SINNER TO BE CONDEMNED. There are some who resent any condemnation of the psalmist. They say he was inspired, that he was one of the "holy men who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." This is true, but all the same, he speaks of himself as a sinner, and we are more likely to deal truly with him by taking him on his own judgment than by setting him up as if he were perfect, and as if his confessions of sin and folly were made in some non-natural sense. Besides, there are evident proofs here of the working of sin, of the flesh lusting against the spirit, of the struggle which all good men have to make against the rise of unholy passions in time of temptation. If we are to take the language (in vers. 22-28) just as we find it, and if we are to understand it as used by a man of undoubted but of imperfect piety, we cannot but regard it as highly culpable. There is more here than just indignation. The life of the psalmist had been made bitter by the rancour and hate of his enemies, and he seems to give way to wrath, and to hurl back upon his foes the curses which they had so cruelly heaped upon himself. But be this as it may, it is plain that we should guard against indulgence in such language. It is not for us to judge others; it is not for us to return evil for evil. Christ has taught us that they greatly erred who said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour, but hate thine enemy" (Matthew 5:43 45). Rather we are to love our enemies. And what our Lord taught us by word he illustrated in his life. Even of those whose hands were red with his blood, he said, "Father, forgive them;" and his return for all the hate and malice and cruelty of the wicked Jews was to send them first of all the gospel of peace (Luke 23:24; Luke 24:47). If we indulge in resentment, we not only hurt ourselves, but we wrong our brother, for, however badly a man may use us, he is still our brother, and we should not put a greater barrier between him and us by wrath, but rather try to bring him to a better mind by love and mercy (Romans 12:19-21).
III. AS A SAINT TO BE IMITATED. The very fact that we cannot and dare not follow the psalmist in all that we find here, is evidence of his imperfection. We are bound to use our reason - to examine things by the standard of God's Law and the Spirit of Christ. We should only imitate what is good, and what commends itself to our consciences and hearts as good (1 Corinthians 11:1; Ephesians 5:1, 2). But if we consider, we shall find much here to admire, and therefore to imitate. It would be well for us, like the psalmist, to call upon God in the day of trouble. We may be in straits, but he can help. We may be repulsed on all sides, and lonely, but he will not cast us off. We should also learn from the psalmist not to plead our own merits, but to cast ourselves on God's mercy. God knows what is best. Above all, we should do what the psalmist could only do imperfectly, in the dim light of the days before the gospel - we should look to Christ, and learn of him how to behave ourselves in times of suffering. - W.F.
Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink.
Many rivers, and especially the Nile, have on their banks deep deposits of black mud, and it is most perilous for any who have the misfortune to fall into it. The more they struggle to get out the deeper they sink. Travellers tell of such incidents. Had David really witnessed such a scene, that speaking of his spiritual sorrows, he said, "I sink in deep mire where there is no standing"? Now, the prayer of our text suggests —
I. THAT THE TRUE BELIEVER MAY BE. IN THE MIRE AND VERY NEAR SINKING.
1. In the mire of unbelief. Even the firmest in faith lose their foothold at times. All manner of doubts crowd into the mind. They are compelled to pray this prayer.
2. Through lack of full assurance of his own interest in Christ.
3. The mire of temporal trouble.
4. Of inward corruption.
5. Of Satanic temptations.
6. Various are the causes of this sad condition. Sometimes it is through our own sin. It is a chastisement upon us. Sometimes to try our faith; or that we may the better glorify God, or to show the natural weakness of the creature, that no flesh may glory in man; or to make heaven sweeter when we enter its pearly gates. But all the while, these sinking ones are really God's people, for if they were not, they would have no such trouble. The sinner whose element is sin laughs at the weight by which the believer is borne down. The best of God's saints have known such trouble. Luther did, and John Knox, and many more.
II. BUT WHEN IN SUCH A STATE THEY KNOW THAT THEIR ONLY HELP IS IN GOD. The Bible cannot help, for unbelief bars you off from all its precious promises. Other believers cannot aid you. God alone can.
III. PRAYER IS THE CHRISTIAN'S NEVER-FAILING RESORT. When you cannot use your sword, you may take the weapon of "all-prayer." That is never forbidden. And it is never futile, it ever has true power. Oh, never let us cease to pray. In asthma you say, "I cannot breathe"; but you must breathe if you would live. And so in the condition told of here you must, though you think you cannot, pray. But let us walk carefully, lest we fall into the mire.
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People
David,
PsalmistPlaces
JerusalemTopics
Covered, Distress, Face, Haste, Hide, Quickly, Servant, Speedily, TroubleOutline
1. David complains of his affliction13. He prays for deliverance22. He devotes his enemies to destruction30. He praises God with thanksgivingDictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 69:17 1255 face of God
5195 veil
Psalm 69:6-21
5951 slander
Psalm 69:16-17
1030 God, compassion
Library
Messiah Unpitied, and Without a Comforter
Reproach [Rebuke] hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. T he greatness of suffering cannot be certainly estimated by the single consideration of the immediate, apparent cause; the impression it actually makes upon the mind of the sufferer, must likewise be taken into the account. That which is a heavy trial to one person, may be much lighter to another, and, perhaps, no trial at all. And a state …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1Out of the Deep of Suffering and Sorrow.
Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul: I am come into deep waters; so that the floods run over me.--Ps. lxix. 1, 2. I am brought into so great trouble and misery: that I go mourning all the day long.--Ps. xxxviii. 6. The sorrows of my heart are enlarged: Oh! bring Thou me out of my distress.--Ps. xxv. 17. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping: the Lord will receive my prayer.--Ps. vi. 8. In the multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep
Religious Zeal.
Dedication Festival Ps. lxix., 9. "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up." INTRODUCTION.--David spoke the truth. The one great desire of his heart was the glorification of God by the erection of a temple befitting His worship at Jerusalem. Although he had plenty of cares to distract him, yet he never had this out of his heart. "I will not come within the tabernacle of mine house; nor climb up into my bed; I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep, nor mine eyelids to slumber; neither the temples …
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent
Letter xxxix (A. D. 1137) to the Same.
To the Same. He expresses his regret at his very long absence from his beloved Clairvaux, and his desire to return to his dear sons. He tells them of the consolations that he feels nevertheless in his great labours for the Church. 1. My soul is sorrowful until I return, and it refuses to be comforted till it see you. For what is my consolation in the hour of evil, and in the place of my pilgrimage? Are not you in the Lord? Wherever I go, the sweet memory of you never leaves me; but the sweeter the …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux
Music for Forty Hours' Adoration Musical Programme
Musical Programme AT THE EXPOSITION 1. MASS, after which the Blessed Sacrament is incensed. 2 .* PROCESSION during which the "Pange Lingua" is sung; after the procession the 3. "TANTUM ERGO" is sung, and the Blessed Sacrament is incensed. The "Panem de coelo, etc.," is omitted 4. THE LITANY OF THE SAINTS is chanted. 224 5. PSALM LXIX, "Deus in adjutorium etc.," is intoned, then sung alternately by the clergy or choir, after which the celebrant, still kneeling, sings the versicles "Salvos fac, etc." …
Various—The St. Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book
The Golden Calf
'And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3. And all the people brake off the golden …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
An Eye-Witness's Account of the Crucifixion
'And He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI
The Shortest of the Seven Cries
As these seven sayings were so faithfully recorded, we do not wonder that they have frequently been the subject of devout meditation. Fathers and confessors, preachers and divines have delighted to dwell upon every syllable of these matchless cries. These solemn sentences have shone like the seven golden candlesticks or the seven stars of the Apocalypse, and have lighted multitudes of men to him who spake them. Thoughtful men have drawn a wealth of meaning from them, and in so doing have arranged …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 24: 1878
The Mystery
Of the Woman dwelling in the Wilderness. The woman delivered of a child, when the dragon was overcome, from thenceforth dwelt in the wilderness, by which is figured the state of the Church, liberated from Pagan tyranny, to the time of the seventh trumpet, and the second Advent of Christ, by the type, not of a latent, invisible, but, as it were, an intermediate condition, like that of the lsraelitish Church journeying in the wilderness, from its departure from Egypt, to its entrance into the land …
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse
Letter L to Geoffrey, of Lisieux
To Geoffrey, of Lisieux [80] He grieves at his having abandoned his purpose to enter the religious life and returned to the world. He exhorts him to be wise again. I. I am grieved for you, my son Geoffrey, I am grieved for you. And not without reason. For who would not grieve that the flower of your youth, which, amid the joy of angels, you offered unimpaired to God for the odour of a sweet smell (Phil. iv. 18), should now be trampled under the feet of devils, stained by the filthiness of vice and …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux
Fate of the Enemies of Jesus.
According to the calculation we adopt, the death of Jesus happened in the year 33 of our era.[1] It could not, at all events, be either before the year 29, the preaching of John and Jesus having commenced in the year 28,[2] or after the year 35, since in the year 36, and probably before the passover, Pilate and Kaiapha both lost their offices.[3] The death of Jesus appears, moreover, to have had no connection whatever with these two removals.[4] In his retirement, Pilate probably never dreamt for …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus
Christ's Resurrection Song.
WHEN the blessed Lord appeared in the midst of His disciples and they beheld the risen One in His glorified body of flesh and bones and He ate before them, He told them that all things which were written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning Him, had to be fulfilled (Luke xxiv:44). While on the way to Emmaus He said to the two sorrowing and perplexed disciples "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory
Aron, Brother of Moses, 486, 487.
Abba, same as Father, [3]381; St. Paul uses both words, [4]532. Abel, [5]31, [6]252, [7]268, [8]450. Abimelech, [9]72, [10]197. Abraham, seed of, faithful Christians also, [11]148, [12]149, [13]627; servant's hand under his thigh, [14]149, [15]334; poor in midst of riches, [16]410. Absalom, David's son, [17]4, [18]5; type of Judas the traitor, [19]4, [20]20. Absolution granted by the Church, [21]500. Abyss, or deep, of God's judgments, [22]88; of man's heart, [23]136. Accuser, the devil the great, …
St. Augustine—Exposition on the Book of Psalms
Epistle xviii. To John, Bishop.
To John, Bishop. Gregory to John, Bishop of Constantinople [1586] . At the time when your Fraternity was advanced to Sacerdotal dignity, you remember what peace and concord of the churches you found. But, with what daring or with what swelling of pride I know not, you have attempted to seize upon a new name, whereby the hearts of all your brethren might have come to take offence. I wonder exceedingly at this, since I remember how thou wouldest fain have fled from the episcopal office rather than …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great
The Purpose in the Coming of Jesus.
God Spelling Himself out in Jesus: change in the original language--bother in spelling Jesus out--sticklers for the old forms--Jesus' new spelling of old words. Jesus is God following us up: God heart-broken--man's native air--bad choice affected man's will--the wrong lane--God following us up. The Early Eden Picture, Genesis 1:26-31. 2:7-25: unfallen man--like God--the breath of God in man--a spirit, infinite, eternal--love--holy--wise--sovereign over creation, Psalm 8:5-8--in his own will--summary--God's …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus
The Johannine Writings
BY the Johannine writings are meant the Apocalypse and the fourth gospel, as well as the three catholic epistles to which the name of John is traditionally attached. It is not possible to enter here into a review of the critical questions connected with them, and especially into the question of their authorship. The most recent criticism, while it seems to bring the traditional authorship into greater uncertainty, approaches more nearly than was once common to the position of tradition in another …
James Denney—The Death of Christ
Of the Lord's Supper, and the Benefits Conferred by It.
1. Why the Holy Supper was instituted by Christ. The knowledge of the sacrament, how necessary. The signs used. Why there are no others appointed. 2. The manifold uses and advantages of this sacrament to the pious. 3. The Lord's Supper exhibits the great blessings of redemption, and even Christ himself. This even evident from the words of the institution. The thing specially to be considered in them. Congruity of the signs and the things signified. 4. The chief parts of this sacrament. 5. How Christ, …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion
Jesus Attends the First Passover of his Ministry.
(Jerusalem, April 9, a.d. 27.) Subdivision A. Jesus Cleanses the Temple. ^D John II. 13-25. ^d 13 And the passover of the Jews was at hand [We get our information as to the length of our Lord's ministry from John's Gospel. He groups his narrative around six Jewish festivals: 1, He here mentions the first passover; 2, another feast, which we take to have been also a passover (v. 1); 3, another passover (vi. 4); 4, the feast of tabernacles (vii. 2); 5, dedication (x. 22); 6, passover (xi. 55). This …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel
The Manifestation of the Messiah
(JOHN I. 31.) "Before me, as in darkening glass, Some glorious outlines pass, Of love, and truth, and holiness, and power-- I own them thine, O Christ, And bless Thee in this hour." F. R. HAVERGAL. The Herald's Proclamation--The Meeting of John and Jesus--Christ's Baptism--"It Becometh Us."--"My Beloved Son." John's life, at this period, was an extraordinary one. By day he preached to the teeming crowds, or baptized them; by night he would sleep in some slight booth, or darksome cave. But the …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist
Death of Jesus.
Although the real motive for the death of Jesus was entirely religious, his enemies had succeeded, in the judgment-hall, in representing him as guilty of treason against the state; they could not have obtained from the sceptical Pilate a condemnation simply on the ground of heterodoxy. Consistently with this idea, the priests demanded, through the people, the crucifixion of Jesus. This punishment was not Jewish in its origin; if the condemnation of Jesus had been purely Mosaic, he would have been …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus
Purity and Peace in the Present Lord
PHILIPPIANS iv. 1-9 Euodia and Syntyche--Conditions to unanimity--Great uses of small occasions--Connexion to the paragraphs--The fortress and the sentinel--A golden chain of truths--Joy in the Lord--Yieldingness--Prayer in everything--Activities of a heart at rest Ver. 1. +So, my brethren beloved and longed for+, missed indeed, at this long distance from you, +my joy and crown+ of victory (stephanos), +thus+, as having such certainties and such aims, with such a Saviour, and looking for such …
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies
Concerning Persecution
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10 We are now come to the last beatitude: Blessed are they which are persecuted . . '. Our Lord Christ would have us reckon the cost. Which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have enough to finish it?' (Luke 14:28). Religion will cost us the tears of repentance and the blood of persecution. But we see here a great encouragement that may …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12
The Resemblance Between the Old Testament and the New.
1. Introduction, showing the necessity of proving the similarity of both dispensations in opposition to Servetus and the Anabaptists. 2. This similarity in general. Both covenants truly one, though differently administered. Three things in which they entirely agree. 3. First general similarity, or agreement--viz. that the Old Testament, equally with the New, extended its promises beyond the present life, and held out a sure hope of immortality. Reason for this resemblance. Objection answered. 4. …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion
I Will Pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding Also-
OR, A DISCOURSE TOUCHING PRAYER; WHEREIN IS BRIEFLY DISCOVERED, 1. WHAT PRAYER IS. 2. WHAT IT IS TO PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT. 3. WHAT IT IS TO PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT AND WITH THE UNDERSTANDING ALSO. WRITTEN IN PRISON, 1662. PUBLISHED, 1663. "For we know not what we should pray for as we ought:--the Spirit--helpeth our infirmities" (Rom 8:26). ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. There is no subject of more solemn importance to human happiness than prayer. It is the only medium of intercourse with heaven. "It is …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
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