Charles Spurgeon

On the day I called, You answered me; You emboldened me and strengthened my soul.

“In the day when I cried thou answerest me. No proof is so convincing as that of experience. No man doubts the power of prayer after he has received an answer of peace to his supplication.”

All the kings of the earth will give You thanks, O LORD, when they hear the words of Your mouth.

“All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth.”

They will sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.

“Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord. Here is a double wonder—kings in God's ways, and kings singing there.”

Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.

“Though the Lord be high. In greatness, dignity, and power, Jehovah is higher than the highest. His nature is high above the comprehension of his creatures, and his glory even exceeds the loftiest soarings of imagination. Yet hath he respect unto the lowly.”

If I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve me from the anger of my foes; You extend Your hand, and Your right hand saves me.

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. If I am walking there now, or shall be doing so in years to come, I have no cause for fear; for God is with me, and will give me new life.”

The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. O LORD, Your loving devotion endures forever— do not abandon the works of Your hands.

“The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. All my interests are safe in Jehovah's hands. God is concerned in all that concerns his servants.”

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. He invokes in adoration Jehovah the all knowing God, and he proceeds to adore him by proclaiming one of his peculiar attributes.”

You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.

“Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising. Me thou knowest, and all that comes of me. I am observed when I quietly sit down, and marked when I resolutely rise up.”

You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.

“Thou compassest my path and my lying down. My path and my pallet, my running and my resting, are alike within the circle of thine observation. Thou dost surround me even as the air continually surrounds all creatures that live.”

Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD.

“For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. The unformed word, which lies within the tongue like a seed in the soil, is certainly and completely known to the Great Searcher of hearts.”

You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.

“Thou hast beset me behind and before. As though we were caught in an ambush, or besieged by an army which has wholly beleaguered the city walls, we are surrounded by the Lord.”

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. I cannot grasp it. I can hardly endure to think of it. The theme overwhelms me. I am amazed and astounded at it. Such knowledge not only surpasses my comprehension, but even my imagination.”

Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?

“Here omnipresence is the theme, —a truth to which omniscience naturally leads up. Whither shall I go from thy spirit?”

If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

“If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. Filling the loftiest region with his yet loftier presence, Jehovah is in the heavenly place, at home, upon his throne.”

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea,

“If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. If I could fly with all swiftness, and find a habitation where the mariner has not yet ploughed the deep, yet I could not reach the boundaries of…”

even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.

“Even there shall thy hand lead me. We could only fly from God by his own power. The Lord would be leading, covering, preserving, sustaining us even when we were fugitives from him. And thy right hand shall hold me.”

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—

“If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me. Dense darkness may oppress me, but it cannot shut me out from thee, or thee from me.”

even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

“Yea, of a surety, beyond all denial. The darkness hideth not from thee; it veils nothing, it is not the medium of concealment in any degree what ever. It hides from men, but not from God.”

For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

“For thou hast possessed my reins. Thou art the owner of my inmost parts and passions: not the indweller and observer only, but the acknowledged lord and possessor of my most secret self.”

I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.

“I will praise thee: a good resolve, and one which he was even now carrying out. Those who are praising God are the very men who will praise him. Those who wish to praise have subjects for adoration ready to hand.”

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

“My substance was not hid from thee. The substantial part of my being was before thine all seeing eye; the bones which make my frame were put together by thine hand.”

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.

“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect. While as yet the vessel was upon the wheel the Potter saw it all. The Lord knows not only our shape, but our substance: this is substantial knowledge indeed.”

How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! He is not alarmed at the fact that God knows all about him; on the contrary, he is comforted, and even feels himself to be enriched, as with a casket of precious jewels.”

How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!

“[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon verses 17 and 18 is #2609, Volume 45—OUR THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD'S THOUGHTS.]”

If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

“If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. This figure shows the thoughts of God to be altogether innumerable; for nothing can surpass in number the grains of sand which belt the main ocean and all the minor seas.”