Psalm 28:1-7 To you will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if you be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.… I. HE PRAYS THAT GOD WOULD GRACIOUSLY HEAR AND ANSWER HIM NOW THAT, IN HIS DISTRESS, HE CALLED UPON HIM (vers. 1, 2). Observe — 1. His faith in prayer. "O Lord, my rock." 2. His fervency in prayer. "Unto Thee will I cry" — as one in earnest, being ready to sink unless Thou come in with seasonable succour. 3. How solicitous he is to obtain an answer. "Be not silent to me." 4. His plea. (1) The sad despair he should be in if God slighted him. "If Thou be silent to me," etc. If God be not my friend, appear not to me, and appear not for me, my hope and my help is perished. (2) The good hopes he had that God would favour him. "I lift up my hands," etc. The most holy place, within the veil, is here called "the oracle." That was a type of Christ; and it is to Him that we must lift up our eyes and hands, for through Him all good comes from God to us. It was also a figure of heaven (Hebrews 9:24); and from God, as our Father in heaven, we are taught to expect answers to prayer. II. HE DEPRECATES THE DOOM OF WICKED PEOPLE (ver. 3). 1. Save me from being entangled in the snares they have laid for me. 2. Save me from being infected with their sins, and from doing as they do. 3. Save me from being involved in their doom. III. HE DEPRECATES THE JUST JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY (ver. 4). This is not the language of passion or revenge; nor is it inconsistent with the duty of praying for our enemies. But — 1. Thus he would show how far he was from complying with the workers of iniquity. 2. Thus he would express his zeal for the honour of God's justice in governing the world. 3. This prayer is a prophecy that God will, sooner or later, render to all impenitent sinners according to their deserts. Observe, he foretells that God will reward them, not only according to their deeds, but "according to the wickedness of their endeavours"; for sinners shall be reckoned with, not only for the mischief they have done, but for the mischief they would have done, which they designed, and did what they could to effect. And if God go by this rule in dealing with the wicked, sure He will do so in dealing with the righteous, and will reward them, not only for the good they have done, but for the good they endeavoured to do, though they could not compass it. IV. HE FORETELLS THEIR DESTRUCTION FOR THEIR CONTEMPT OF GOD AND HIS HAND (ver. 5). Why do men question the Being or attributes of God but because they do not duly regard His handi-works which declare His glory, and in which the invisible things of Him are clearly seen? Why do men forget God, and live without Him — nay, affront God, and live in rebellion against Him, but because they consider not the instances of that wrath of His which is "revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and Unrighteousness of men"? Why do the enemies of God's people hats and persecute them, and devise mischief against them, but because they "regard not the works" God has wrought for His Church, by which He has made it appear how dear it is to Him? (Isaiah 5:12). ( M. Henry, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: {A Psalm of David.} Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. |
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