Charles Spurgeon

Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

“Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. The same request as in the last verse. The little child having begun to walk, asks to be still led onward by its parent's helping hand, and to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth.”

Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and loving devotion, for they are from age to age.

“Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses. We are usually tempted in seasons of affliction to fear that our God has forgotten us, or forgotten his usual kindness towards us; hence the soul doth as it were put the Lord in remembrance, and…”

Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O LORD.

“Remember not the sins of my youth. Sin is the stumbling block. This is the thing to be removed. Lord, pass an act of oblivion for all my sins, and especially for the hot blooded wanton follies of my younger years.”

Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way.

“Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. Here the goodness and rectitude of the divine character are beheld in friendly union; he who would see them thus united in bonds of perfect amity must stand at the foot…”

He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

“The meek will he guide in judgment. Meek spirits are in high favour with the Father of the meek and lowly Jesus, for he sees in them the image of his only begotten Son.”

Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the path chosen for him.

“What man is he that feareth the Lord? Let the question provoke self examination. Gospel privileges are not for every pretender. Art thou of the seed royal or no? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.”

His soul will dwell in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

“He who fears God has nothing else to fear. His soul shall dwell at ease. He shall lodge in the chamber of content.”

The LORD confides in those who fear Him, and reveals His covenant to them.

“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. Some read it "the friendship:" it signifies familiar intercourse, confidential intimacy, and select fellowship. This is a great secret.”

My eyes are always on the LORD, for He will free my feet from the mesh.

“Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord. The writer claims to be fixed in his trust, and constant in his expectation; he looks in confidence, and waits in hope.”

Turn to me and be gracious, for I am lonely and afflicted.

“His own eyes were fixed upon God, but he feared that the Lord had averted his face from him in anger. Oftentimes unbelief suggests that God has turned his back upon us.”

The troubles of my heart increase; free me from my distress.

“The troubles of my heart are enlarged. When trouble penetrates the heart it is trouble indeed. In the case before us, the heart was swollen with grief like a lake surcharged with water by enormous floods; this is used as an argument for deliverance, and…”

Consider my affliction and trouble, and take away all my sins.

“Look upon mine affliction and my pain. Note the many trials of the saints; here we have no less than six words all descriptive of woe. "Desolate, and afflicted, troubles enlarged, distresses, affliction, and pain.”

Consider my affliction and trouble, and take away all my sins.

“IF this Psalm were, indeed, written by David at the time when his son Absalom had raised the rebellion against him, we can readily understand the distinction which he draws between his "affliction," and his "pain."”

Consider my enemies, for they are many, and they hate me with vicious hatred.

“Consider mine enemies. Watch them, weigh them, check them, defeat them. For they are many. They need the eyes of Argus to watch them, and the arms of Hercules to match them, but the Lord is more than sufficient to defeat them.”

Guard my soul and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in You.

“O keep my soul out of evil, and deliver me when I fall into it. This is another version of the prayer, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. " Let me not be ashamed.”

May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.

“Let integrity and uprightness preserve me. What better practical safeguards can a man require? If we do not prosper with these as our guides, it is better for us to suffer adversity. Even the ungodly world admits that "honesty is the best policy.”

Redeem Israel, O God, from all its distress.

“Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. This is a very comprehensive prayer, including all the faithful and all their trials.”

Vindicate me, O LORD! For I have walked with integrity; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

“Judge me, O Jehovah. A solemn appeal to the just tribunal of the heart searching God, warranted by the circumstances of the writer, so far as regarded the particular offences with which he was wrongly charged.”

Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and mind.

“There are three modes of trial here challenged, which are said in the original to refer to trial by touch, trial by smell, and trial by fire.”

For Your loving devotion is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.

“For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes. An object of memory and a ground of hope. A sense of mercy received sets a fair prospect before the faithful mind in its gloomiest condition, for it yields visions of mercies yet to come, visions not visionary…”

I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites.

“I have not sat with vain persons. True citizens have no dealings with traitors. David had no seat in the parliament of triflers. They were not his boon companions at feasts, nor his advisers in council, nor his associates in conversation.”

I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites. I hate the mob of evildoers, and refuse to sit with the wicked.

“So far from being himself an open offender against the laws of God, the psalmist had not even associated with the lovers of evil. He had kept aloof from the men of Belial.”

I hate the mob of evildoers, and refuse to sit with the wicked.

“I have hated the congregation of evil doers. A severe sentence, but not too severe. A man who does not hate evil terribly, does not love good heartily.”

I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,

“I will wash mine hands in innocency. He would publicly avow himself to be altogether clear of the accusations laid against him, and if any fault in other matters could be truthfully alleged against him, he would for the future abstain from it.”

to raise my voice in thanksgiving and declare all Your wonderful works.

“That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving. David was so far instructed that he does not mention the typical offering, but discerns the spiritual offering which was intended thereby, not the groans of bullocks, but songs of gratitude the spiritual worshipper presents.”