Charles Spurgeon

In my integrity You uphold me and set me in Your presence forever.

“And as for me, despite them all and in the sight of them all, thou upholdest me in mine integrity; thy power enables me to rise above the reach of slander by living in purity and righteousness.”

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

“The Psalm ends with a doxology. Blessed be the Lord, i.e., let him be glorified. The blessing at the beginning from the mouth of God is returned from the mouth of his servant.”

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.

“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after the, O God. As after a long drought the poor fainting hind longs for the streams, or rather as the hunted hart instinctively seeks after the river to lave its smoking flanks…”

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.

“THERE is something to be lamented in this state of mind, for if the Psalmist had maintained unbroken communion with his God, he would not have been so much panting after Him as enjoying Him.”

My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

“My soul. All my nature, my inmost self. Thirsteth. Which is more than hungering; hunger you can palliate, but thirst is awful, insatiable, clamorous, deadly. O to have the most intense craving after the highest good! this is no questionable mark of grace. For God.”

My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”

“My tears have been my meat day and night. Salt meats, but healthful to the soul. When a man comes to tears, constant tears, plenteous tears, tears that fill his cup and trencher, he is in earnest indeed.”

These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and…

“When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. When he harped upon his woes his heart melted into water and was poured out upon itself. God hidden, and foes raging, a pair of evils enough to bring down the stoutest heart!”

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? As though he were two men, the psalmist talks to himself. His faith reasons with his fears, his hope argues with his sorrows. These present troubles, are they to last forever?”

O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon— even from Mount Mizar.

“O my God, my soul is cast down within me. Here the song begins again upon the bass. So sweet an ending deserves that for the sake of a second hopeful close the Psalm should even begin again.”

Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.

“IN the grandeur of Nature there are awful harmonies. When the storm agitates the ocean below, the heavens above hear the tumult and answer to the clamor.”

The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life.

“Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime. Come what may there shall be "a certain secret something" to sweeten all. Lovingkindness is a noble life belt in a rough sea.”

I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”

“I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Faith is allowed to enquire of her God the causes of his displeasure, and she is even permitted to expostulate with him and put him in mind of his promises, and ask why…”

Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

“As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me. Cruel mockeries cut deeper than the flesh, they reach the soul as though a rapier were introduced between the ribs to prick the heart.”

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

“ANOTHER verse in this Psalm so attracts me that, though it is not my text, I cannot pass it by without a moment's notice.”

Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

“Judge me, O God. Others are unable to understand my motives, and unwilling to give me a just verdict.”

For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?

“For. Here is argument, which is the very sinew of prayer. If we reasoned more with the Lord we should have more victories in supplication. Thou art the God of my strength.”

Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, and to the place where You dwell.

“O send out thy light and thy truth. The joy of thy presence and the faithfulness of thy heart; let both of these be manifest to me. Reveal my true character by thy light, and reward me according to thy truthful promise.”

Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

“Then will I go unto the altar of God. If David might but be favoured with such a deliverance as would permit his return, it would not be his own house or heritage which would be his first resort, but to the altar of God…”

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? If God be thine, why this dejection? If he uplifts thee, why art thou so near the ground? The dew of love is falling, O withering heart, revive. And why art thou disquieted within me?”

With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.

“How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand. The destruction of the Canaanites from the promised land is the work here brought to remembrance.”

Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.

“Through thee will we push down our enemies. The fight was very close, bows were of no avail, and swords failed to be of service, it came to daggers drawing, and hand to hand wrestling, pushing and tugging.”

In God we have boasted all day long, and Your name we will praise forever. Selah

“In God we boast all the day long. We have abundant reason for doing so while we recount his mighty acts. What blessed boasting is this! it is the only sort of boasting that is bearable.”

But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies.

“But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame. Here the patriot bard begins to contrast the past glories of the nation's history with its present sadness and distress; which he does not ascribe to the death of some human champion, or to the…”

You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.

“Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat. As sheep are slaughtered for food, so were the people slain in flocks, with ease, and frequency. Not with dignity of sacrifice, but with the cruelty of the shambles, were they put to death.”

You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

“Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. The lamentation is here repeated. They had sunk so low that none did them reverence, but universally and publicly they were treated as infamous and despicable.”