Title. – This Psalm was published under the title of “A Prayer of David”. Not as though David sang all his prayers, but into some of his songs he inserted prayers: for a psalm will allow the expression of any pious and devout affections. But it is observable how very plain the language of this psalm is and how little there is in it of poetical flights and figures in comparison with some other psalms: for the flourishes of wit are not the proper ornaments of prayer.
Verses 1-2.“Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy …” The aspirations after holiness which are found in this psalm, coupled with its earnest invocation of mercy from God render it especially applicable to those whose daily access is to a throne of needed grace. Christians know that while their standing is the blameless perfection of the Lord their righteousness, they are in many things offenders still. Nor do we ever prove the preciousness of Jesus as our portion, except we are drawn to Him by that Spirit who reveals to us a nakedness and poverty within ourselves, which His blessed fulness alone can redress. There is a consciousness of personal sanctification through faith associated with a sensitive perception of intrinsic worthlessness, such as only finds relief in the remembrance of unaltered grace.
Verse 3. “Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.” Lest any should by the former words – “I am holy” – suspect David of being a merit-monger, he now begs mercy with instancy and constancy of request.
Verse 4. “Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.” If thou hadst corn in thy rooms below, thou wouldest take it up higher, lest it should grow rotten. And wouldest thou remove thy corn, and dost thou suffer thy heart to rot on the earth? Thou wouldest take thy corn up higher: lift up thy heart to heaven! And how can I dost thou say? What ropes are needed? What machines? What ladders? Thy affections are the steps; thy will is the way. Standing on the earth thou art in heaven if thou lovest God, for the heart is not raised as the body is raised. The body to be lifted up changes its place; the heart to be lifted up changes its will.
Verse 5. “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive ….” The mercy of God is a ready mercy, and His pardons are ready for His people. His pardons and mercies don’t have to be sought out by Him, He has them at hand – he is “good and ready to forgive.” Whereas most men, though they will forgive, yet they are not ready to forgive; they are scarcely brought to forgive though they do it in the end. But God is “ready to forgive.” He has, as it were, pardons already drawn (as a man who is ready to transact a business, will have such cheques and writings as concern the passing of it ready;) there is nothing to do but to put in the date and the name – yea, indeed, the date and the name are put in from all eternity. Thus the scriptures speak to show how forward God is to do good. He needs not set His heart to it; His heart is ever set and ready to do it.
Verse 6. “Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.” Here are repetitions, but not vain repetitions. When a child cries, it repeats the same note, but it is equally in earnest every time; and so was it with the suppliant here. Note the expression, “the voice of my supplications,” as if they were not all voice, but were partly made up of inarticulate noise. Yet, amid much that was superfluous there really was a distinct voice, an inner meaning, a living sense which was the heart’s intention. This he would have the Lord sift out from the chaff and hear amid the mangled din.
Verse 7. “In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.” There seems to be a strange potential in the human heart to lay off praying because the days in which we live are evil and full of trouble for the cause of the gospel. How easy we imagine prayer would be in a day of revival – and this may be so. But the more evil the present day, the more pressing our present duty to call on the Lord, lest we end up in ten times more trouble than we now experience. An old fisherman was once chided for mending his boat on the day he had just buried one of his children; “And ought I to let the other five children starve because one of them is drowned?” he asked; “No sire, we maun* work, we maun work, though our heartbeat like this hammer.
*Maun = must