Charles Spurgeon

Behold, these are the wicked— always carefree as they increase their wealth.

“Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world. Look! See! Consider! Here is the standing enigma! The crux of Providence! The stumblingblock of faith! Here are the unjust rewarded and indulged, and that not for a day or an hour, but in perpetuity.”

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands.

“Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain. Poor Asaph! he questions the value of holiness when its wages are paid in the coin of affliction.”

For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning.

“For all the day long have I been plagued. He was smitten from the moment he woke to the time he went to bed. His griefs were not only continued, but renewed with every opening day. And chastened every morning.”

If I had said, “I will speak this way,” then I would have betrayed Your children.

“If I say, I will speak thus. It is not always wise to speak one's thoughts; if they remain within, they will only injure ourselves; but once uttered, their mischief may be great.”

When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight

“When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. The thought of scandalising the family of God he could not bear, and yet his inward thoughts seethed and fermented, and caused an intolerable anguish within.”

until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.

“Until I went into the sanctuary of God. His mind entered the eternity where God dwells as in a holy place, he left the things of sense for the things invisible, his heart gazed within the veil, he stood where the thrice holy God stands.”

Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.

“The Psalmist's sorrow had culminated, not in the fact that the ungodly prospered, but that God had arranged it so: had it happened by mere chance, he would have wondered, but could not have complained; but how the arranger of all things could so dispense…”

How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

“How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! This is an exclamation of godly wonder at the suddenness and completeness of the sinners' overthrow. Headlong is their fall; without warning, without escape, without hope of future restoration!”

When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within,

“The holy poet here reviews his inward struggle and awards himself censure for his folly. His pain had been intense; he says, Thus my heart was grieved. It was a deep seated sorrow, and one which penetrated his inmost being.”

I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.

“So foolish was I. He, though a saint of God, had acted as if he had been one of the fools whom God abhorreth. Had he not even envied them?—and what is that but to aspire to be like them?”

Yet I am always with You; You hold my right hand.

“Nevertheless I am continually with thee. He does not give up his faith, though he confesses his folly. Sin may distress us, and yet we may be in communion with God.”

You guide me with Your counsel, and later receive me in glory.

“Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. I have done with choosing my own way, and trying to pick a path amid the jungle of reason.”

Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You.

“Whom have I in heaven but thee? Thus, then, he turns away from the glitter which fascinated him to the true gold which was his real treasure.”

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

“My flesh and my heart faileth. They had failed him already, and he had almost fallen; they would fail him in the hour of death, and, if he relied upon them, they would fail him at once.”

Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.

“For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish. We must be near God to live; to be far off by wicked works is death. Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.”

Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?

“O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? To cast us off at all were hard, but when thou dost for so long a time desert they people it is an evil beyond all endurance—the very chief of woes and abyss of misery.”

Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance— Mount Zion where You dwell.

“Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old. What a mighty plea is redemption. O God, canst thou see the blood mark on thine own sheep, and yet allow grievous wolves to devour them?”

Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.

“Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations. The ruin made had already long been an eyesore to the suppliant, and there seemed no hope of restoration. Havoc lorded it not only for a day or a year, but with perpetual power.”

Your foes have roared within Your meeting place; they have unfurled their banners as signs,

“Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations. Where thy people sang like angels, these barbarians roar like beasts. When thy saints come together for worship, these cruel men attack them with all the fury of lions.”

like men wielding axes in a thicket of trees

“A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. Once men were renowned for felling the cedars and preparing them for building the temple, but now the axe finds other work, and men are as proud of destroying as…”

and smashing all the carvings with hatchets and picks.

“But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. The invaders were as industrious to destroy as the ancient builders had been to construct.”

They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.

“They have cast fire into thy sanctuary. Axes and hammers were not sufficient for the purpose of the destroyers, they must needs try fire. Malice knows no bounds. Those who hate God are never sparing of the most cruel weapons.”

They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.

“They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together. It was no idle wish, their cruelty was sincere, deep seated, a matter of their inmost heart.”

There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.

“We see not our signs. Alas, poor Israel! No Urim and Thummim blazed on the High Priest's bosom, and no Shechaniah shone from between the cherubim.”

How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?

“O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Though we know not how long yet thou dost. The times and seasons are with thee. When God is reproached, there is hope for us, for it may be he will hearken and avenge his dishonoured name.”