Verse 7. “Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.” The Lord is a God who “delights in mercy”, and freely gives it to every person who comes to Him for it. According to Matthew Henry, the behaviour of the father who went out to meet the returning prodigal son is but a picture of God’s behaviour towards the sinner who repents and returns to Him. “His father saw him”, he says, “there were eyes of mercy; he ran to meet him, there were legs of mercy; he put his arms around his neck, there were embraces of mercy; he kissed him, there were kisses of mercy; he said to him, there were words of mercy; bring hither the best robe, there were deeds of mercy; and put it on, there were wonders of mercy – all mercy. Oh, what a God of mercy He is.”
Verse 8. “I will hear what God the Lord will speak ….” The true attitude for a sinner to take in the presence of divine revelation, is that of a listener. To enter the place of a doer before you have occupied that of a listener, is to reverse God’s order, and throw everything into confusion. Adam tried this plan and found it a failure. He tried “works”. He “sewed fig leaves together”, but it was no use. He could not even satisfy his own conscience or remove his guilty fear. He had to listen to the voice of God – to hearken to divine revelation.
Verse 8, “I will hear ….” The eye as a mere organ of sense must give place to the ear. Therefore, it is wittily observed, that our Saviour in commanding the amputation of the offending hand, foot, and eye in Mark chapter eleven never spoke of the ear. If thy hand, thy foot, or thine eye offend thee deprive thyself of them; but part not with thine ear, for that is an organ to use unto thy soul’s salvation. The Jews had eyes to see Christ’s miracle, but because they had no ears to hear His wisdom, therefore they had no feet to enter His kingdom. The way into the house is by the door, not by the window: the eye is but the window of the heart, the ear is the door. Now Christ stands knocking at the door, not at the window, and He will not come in at the window, but at the door. “He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” He now comes in by His oracles, not by His miracles; the way to open and let Him in is by the door – to hear His voice. Open your ears therefore to this heavenly voice. Bernard describes a good ear like this: - “It willingly hears what is taught, wisely understands what it hears, and obediently practices what it understands. O give me such an ear, and I will hang on it jewels of gold, and ornaments of praise.
Verse 10. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Here is the whole story of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and a blessed reminder that God is “just” and yet “the justifier” of all them that trust in Him. Mercy and truth are strange bedfellows, and they can never ordinarily be reconciled in our favour. If God would be merciful to us, then truth would rise up in arms and condemn us as guilty in its sight. We stand in need a peace with God, but righteousness cannot possibly permit such an unequal yoke as this. Yet, says David, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other”. How is this? Only through the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: on the person of His Son on the Cross, God fulfilled all His perfect truth and satisfied all His perfect righteousness and brought mercy and peace to those who stood in such dire need of it. He showed himself “just” and yet, “the justifier” of all them that believe. The Cross is, indeed, the “trysting place where heaven’s love and heaven’s justice meet.”
Verse 11. “Truth shall spring out of the earth: and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” “Truth shall spring out of the earth.” Promises which lie unfulfilled, like buried seeds, shall spring up and yield harvests of joy; and men renewed by grace shall learn to be true to one another and their God. “Righteousness shall look down from heaven.” As if it threw up the windows, and leaned out to gaze upon a penitent people, whom it could not have looked on before without an indignation which would have been fatal to them.”
Verse 13. “Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.” And here is how Mr Standfast stood fast in the Pilgrim’s Progress: - “I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of, and wherever I have seen the print of His shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot too.”