Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Verse 153. Consider my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget Your Law. As much as if he said, "Lord, I do not forget You—do not forget me." Your Grace has kept my memory—let your Grace keep me altogether.

154-56. Plead my cause and deliver me: quicken me according to Your word. Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not Your statutes. Great are Your tender mercies, O LORD, quicken me according to Your judgments. Oh, how the saints need quickening. They know they do! They feel that they get dull, and they cannot endure it—they are not happy unless they possess vivid Grace and true light!

157-58 Many are my persecutors and my enemies: yet do I not decline from Your testimonies. Ibeheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not Your Word. The very sight of them gave me sorrow. Even though they tried to be mirthful, I was not amused by them, and beheld them and was grieved, "Because they kept not Your Word."

159. Consider how I love Your precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to Your loving kindness. My heart is right, I do love You, but I feel dull and heavy. Lord, come and quicken me, not according to my love to You, but according to Your loving kindness, come and quicken me. "Your Word is true from the beginning"—from the first page of the Book of Genesis to the very last—true about everything, true from the first moment it began with me! Every promise has been kept. There has not been a falsehood all the way through.

160. Your Word is true from the beginning: and everyone of your righteous judgments endures forever. "Princes have persecuted me without a cause." David was a prince—and a man expects to be fairly dealt with by his peers—but it was not so in his case.

161. Princes have persecutedme without a cause: but my heart stands in awe ofYour Word. When we are in awe of God's Word, we shall not be in awe of princes. The fear of God is the best cure for the fear of men.

162. I rejoice at Your Word, as one that finds great spoil He had more joy in reading the Scriptures than in winning a great battle, or in being surprised at the finding of a great treasure!

163. I hate and abhor lying: but Your Law do I love. Now the Orientals did not hate lying—they generally tried to be proficient at it. The only fault about lying with them is to be discovered—then they think they must have been very unskillful. David, therefore, was far ahead of his time—far ahead of his fellow countrymen.

164. Seven times a day do I praise You because of Your righteous judgments. He could not have enough of praise! He did it often, he did it perfectly—seven times a day—and if he praised God seven times a day because of His righteous judgments, how much more ought we to do it because of His abounding Grace! Ah, there is a special cause for thanks.

165-66. Great peace have they which love Your Law: and nothing shall offend them. LORD, I have hoped for Your salvation, and done Your commandments.Two good things to put together—hope in God's mercy and obedience to God's will.

168-174. My soul has kept Your testimonies; and I love them exceedingly. I have kept Your precepts and Your testimonies: for all my ways are before You. Let my cry come near before You, O LORD: give me understanding according to Your Word. Let my supplication come before You: deliver me according to Your Word. My lips shall utter praise when You have taught me Your statutes. My tongue shall speak of Your word: for all Your commandments are righteousness. Let Your hand help me, for I have chosen Your precepts. I have longed for Your salvation, O LORD, and Your Law is my delight. Cannot we say that, dear Friends, this evening? I hope we can—with all our failings and wandering, yet the Law of God is our delight—and if we could have our wish, we would never again go beyond its restraints, nor fall short of its demands!