The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 2: Psalms XXXIX.-LXXXIX.Maclaren, Alexander
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 2: Psalms XXXIX.-LXXXIX.
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. Psalms -- Commentaries
The psalmist's contemplation of his forlorn lair among men worse
than beasts of prey drives him back to realise again his refuge in
God. He, as it were, wrenches his mind round to look at God rather
than at the enemies. Clear perception of peril and weakness does its
best work, when it drives to as clear recognition of God's help, and
wings faithful prayer. The psalmist, in his noble refrain, has passed
beyond the purely personal aspect of the desired deliverance, and
wishes not only that he may be shielded from his foes, but that God
would, in that deliverance, manifest Himself in His elevation above
and power over all created things. To conceive of his experience as
thus contributing to God's world-wide glory seems presumptuous; but
even apart from the consideration that the psalmist was conscious of
a world-wide mission, the lowliest suppliant has a right to feel that
his deliverance will enhance the lustre of that Glory; and the lowlier
he feels himself, the more wonderful is its manifestations in his
well-being. But if there is a strange note in the apparent audacity
of this identification, there is a deep one of self-suppression in the
fading from the psalmist's prayer of all mention of himself, and the
exclusive contemplation of the effects on the manifestation of God's
character, which may follow his deliverance. It is a rare and lofty
attainment to regard one's own well-being mainly in its connection
with God's "glory," and to desire the latter more consciously and
deeply than the former.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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