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Psalms 40:11-17

The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 40:11-17

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Discipline lifelong.

Though the sufferer has been delivered from one great distress, he is still encompassed by great sufferings and dangers, from which he prays to be rescued. Suggests—

I. THAT THE WORK OF OUR DISCIPLINE AND SALVATION IS A LIFELONG WORK. No one act of deliverance is sufficient; no one deliverance can cover the whole of our experience.

1. Fresh sin brings a renewed consciousness of suffering. (.) The psalmist suffered so in this respect that his eyes became dim from exhaustion; he felt his sins to be more than the hairs of his head, so that his heart failed in strength. Sense and soul both gave way.

2. Men in high station are in constant danger from enemies. (, .) However righteous in conduct and blameless in character. Bad men have selfish ends to attain, and they try to get good men out of their way by slander and persecution.

3. As life advances, the sense of our poverty and need deepens. (.) If we are growing wiser and better, we get a deeper insight into what we ought to be and might become, and so nourish a Divine discontent with our poverty and weakness.

II. LIFELONG NEED WILL BEGET LIFELONG PRAYER.

1. Gratitude for the past will inspire us to prayer. This was the case with the psalmist ().

2. We are encouraged to pray by the thought of the goodness of God. (.) He appeals to "the tender mercies," "the loving-kindness," and "the truth," or the faithfulness, of God to those who trust in him.. He knows that "God thinketh upon him."

3. He appeals also to the retributive justice of God. (, .) He is sure that God will deal righteously with his enemies.

4. He is emboldened to seek for speedy deliverance. (.) In the first verse he says he waited patiently for the Lord; here he becomes impatient for the Divine interference. The patience means persevering prayer; the impatience means urgent prayer; and both are right and acceptable and necessary to the believer in earnest about salvation.—S

Psalms 39

Psalms

Psalms 41

Psalms 40 - psalms-40 - worlddic.com

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commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 40:1-17EXPOSITION THE occasion of this psalm is some great deliverance which has been vouchsafed to the author of it, for which he desires to praise and thank God. Of this deliverance he speaks in Psalms 40:1-3, which form a s…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 40:1-17Grace and gratitude. "Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged." So said the prophet (Isaiah 51:1),…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryMatthew Henry on Psalms 40:11-17The best saints see themselves undone, unless continually preserved by the grace of God. But see the frightful view the psalmist had of sin. This made the discovery of a Redeemer so welcome. In all his reflections upon…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 40:11Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. The supplicatory portion of the psalm here commences. David beseeches God, whose loving-kindness is so great (Psalms 40:10), not to withhold from him those "tender m…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 40:11-17Poor and needy: a prayer and a plea. There are many psalms which begin in a sigh and end with a song, showing us that even in the act of waiting before God, and of waiting on God, the darkness often passes away. We find…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 40:12For innumerable evils have compassed me about; literally, for evils have gathered upon me until there is no number (comp. Psalms 40:1, Psalms 40:2). The exact nature of the "evils" is not mentioned; but the worst of the…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 40:13Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver us. Though one deliverance is just effected (Psalms 40:2), it is not enough; something more is required. The psalmist's life is still threatened by enemies (Psalms 40:14); he is still scof…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 40:14Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil. The remainder of the psalm from this point is detached later on in the…Joseph S. Exell and contributors