Charles Spurgeon

They gape at me and say, “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!”

“"Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me." As if they would swallow him. Uttering great lies which needed wide mouths. They set no bounds to their infamous charges, but poured out wholesale abuse, trusting that if all did not stick, some of it would.”

O LORD, You have seen it; be not silent. O Lord, be not far from me.

“"This thou hast seen, O Lord." Here is comfort. Our heavenly Father knows all our sorrow. Omniscience is the saint's candle which never goes out. A father will not long endure to see his child abused. Shall not God avenge his own elect?”

Awake and rise to my defense, to my cause, my God and my Lord!

“"Stir up thyself." Be upon thy mettle. Prove that thou art no indifferent witness to all this infamy. "Awake to rail judgment." Take the sceptre and summon the great assize; vindicate justice, avenge oppression. Do not tarry as men do who sleep.”

Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God, and do not let them gloat over me.

“The appeal is here repeated; the plaintiff feels that the joy of his accusers will be short-lived as soon as impartial justice rules.”

Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up!”

“"Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up." Disappoint them of their prey when their mouths are ready to swallow it.”

May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach.

“Here is the eternal result of all the laborious and crafty devices of the Lord's enemies. God will make little of them, though they "magnified themselves;" he will shame them for shaming his people, bring them to confusion for making confusion, pull off their fine…”

May those who favor my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “Exalted be the LORD who delights in His servant’s well-being.”

“"Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause." Even those who could not render him active aid, but in their hearts favoured him, David would have the Lord reward most abundantly.”

Then my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness and Your praises all day long.

“Unceasing praise is here vowed to the just and gracious God. From morning till evening the grateful tongue would talk and sing, and glorify the Lord. O for such a resolve carried out by us all!”

An oracle is in my heart regarding the transgression of the wicked man: There is no fear of God before his eyes.

“The transgression of the wicked. His daring and wanton sin; his breaking the bounds of law and justice. Saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. Men's sins have a voice to godly ears.”

For his eyes are too full of conceit to detect or hate his own sin.

“For. Here is the argument to prove the proposition laid down in the former verse. David here runs over the process of reasoning by which he had become convinced that wicked men have no proper idea of God or respect for him.”

The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.

“The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. This pair of hell dogs generally hunt together, and what one does not catch the other will; if iniquity cannot win by oppression, deceit will gain by chicanery.”

Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil.

“He deviseth mischief upon his bed. His place of rest becomes the place for plotting. His bed is a hot bed for poisonous weeds.”

Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds.

“Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. Like the ethereal blue, it encompasses the whole earth, smiling upon universal nature, acting as a canopy for all the creatures of earth, surmounting the loftiest peaks of human provocations, and rising high above the mists of…”

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.

“CONSIDER the word, "judgment," in whatever light you please, this sentence is true. There is much of mystery connected with the terrible calamities which afflict the earth, devastate nations, destroy cities and sweep away the relics of the past.”

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.

“Thy righteousness is like the great mountains. Firm and unmoved, lofty and sublime. As winds and hurricanes shake not an Alp, so the righteousness of God is never in any degree affected by circumstances; he is always just.”

How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings!

“How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God. Here we enter into the Holy of Holies. Benevolence, and mercy, and justice, are everywhere, but the excellence of that mercy only those have known whose faith has lifted the veil and passed into the brighter presence of…”

They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights.

“They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Those who learn to put their trust in God shall be received into his house, and shall share in the provision laid up therein.”

For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.

“For with thee is the fountain of life. This verse is made of simple words, but like the first chapter of John's Gospel, it is very deep.”

Extend Your loving devotion to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.

“O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee. We ask no more than a continuance of the past mercy.”

Let not the foot of the proud come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

“Let not the foot of pride come against me. The general prayer is here turned into a particular and personal one for himself. Pride is the devil's sin.”

There the evildoers lie fallen, thrown down and unable to rise.

“There are the workers of iniquity fallen. Faith sees them scattered on the plain. There! before our very eyes sin, death, and hell, lie prostrate. Behold the vanquished foes! They are cast down. Providence and grace have dashed them from their vantage ground.”

Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.

“The Psalm opens with the first precept. It is alas! too common for believers in their hours of adversity to think themselves harshly dealt with when they see persons utterly destitute of religion and honesty, rejoicing in abundant prosperity.”

For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.

“For they shall soon be cut down like the grass. The scythe of death is sharpening. Green grows the grass, but quick comes the scythe. The destruction of the ungodly will be speedy, sudden, sure, overwhelming, irretrievable. The grass cannot resist or escape the mower.”

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

“Trust in the Lord. Here is the second precept, and one appropriate to the occasion. Faith cures fretting. Sight is cross-eyed, and views things only as they seem, hence her envy: faith has clearer optics to behold things as they really are, hence her peace.”

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

“There is an ascent in this third precept. He who was first bidden not to fret, was then commanded actively to trust, and now is told with holy desire to delight in God. Delight thyself also in the Lord.”