Psalms 119:25

Submitting ourselves in depression to God, He will revive us by His promises, and lead us to declare His mercy to others.

Here, it seems to me, we have the Psalmist in trouble bewailing the bondage to earthly things in which he finds his mind to be held. His soul cleaves to the dust, melts for heaviness, and cries for enlargement from its spiritual prison. In these verses we shall see the influence of the divine word upon a heart which laments its downward tendencies, and is filled with mourning because of its deadening surroundings.

Here, it seems to me, we have the Psalmist in trouble bewailing the bondage to earthly things in which he finds his mind to be held. His soul cleaves to the dust, melts for heaviness, and cries for enlargement from its spiritual prison. In these verses we shall see the influence of the divine word upon a heart which laments its downward tendencies, and is filled with mourning because of its deadening surroundings. The word of the Lord evidently arouses prayer (Psa 119:25-29), confirms choice (Psa 119:30), and inspires renewed resolve (Psa 119:32): it is in all tribulation whether of body or mind the surest source of help. This portion has 'D' for its alphabetical letter: it sings of Depression, in the spirit of Devotion, Determination, and Dependence. "My soul cleaveth unto the dust." He means in part that he was full of sorrow; for mourners in the east cast dust on their heads, and sat in ashes, and the Psalmist felt as if these ensigns of woe were glued to him, and his very soul was made to cleave to them because of his powerlessness to rise above his grief. Does he not also mean that he felt ready to die? Did he not feel his life absorbed and fast held by the grave's mould, half choked by the death dust? It may not be straining the language if we conceive that he also felt and bemoaned his earthly mindedness and spiritual deadness. There was a tendency in his soul to cling to earth which he greatly bewailed. Whatever was the cause of his complaint, it was no surface evil, but an affair of his inmost spirit; his soul cleaved to the dust; and it was not a casual and accidental falling into the dust, but a continuous and powerful tendency, or cleaving to the earth. But what a mercy that the good man could feel and deplore whatever there was of evil in the cleaving!

You will frequently find David uttering this petition. It is a favorite prayer of his, "Quicken me, O Lord!" And, as David was like the rest of us—indeed, his experience is the mirror of the experience of all Believers—you may depend upon it, we all have a great need to pray as he did, "Quicken me, O Lord!" If he felt a coldness and deadness frequently stealing over him, so do we. Did he find it hard to endure such a wretched state? So ought we, also, to loathe and abhor it.

You will frequently find David uttering this petition. It is a favorite prayer of his, "Quicken me, O Lord!" And, as David was like the rest of us—indeed, his experience is the mirror of the experience of all Believers—you may depend upon it, we all have a great need to pray as he did, "Quicken me, O Lord!" If he felt a coldness and deadness frequently stealing over him, so do we. Did he find it hard to endure such a wretched state? So ought we, also, to loathe and abhor it. And as he cried to the Strong for strength and knew that quickening must come from God, we ought to know—I trust we know—the same resource under the same necessity. Therefore, let it be our prayer now and let the prayer be repeated often—"Quicken me, O Lord, according to Your Word." How are we to understand this quickening? It means, of course, making alive, keeping alive, and giving more life— in a word, enlivening. He was alive—he was a spiritual man, or else he would not have asked for life. Dead men never pray, "Quicken me." It is a sign that there is life, already, when a man is able to say, "Give me life, O Lord!" This is not the prayer of the unconverted! It is the prayer of a man who is already regenerate and has the love of God in his soul— "Quicken me, O Lord, according to Your Word." Quickening, of course, comes to us, first, by regeneration. It is then that we receive spiritual life. And as there is no natural life in the world except that of which God is the Author, so assuredly in the new world there is no spiritual life except that which God has created. The first quickening is that which comes upon us when we begin to feel our need of a Savior, when we begin to perceive the preciousness of that Savior and when, with a feeble finger, we touch the hem of the Savior's garment. Then are we quickened into newness of life! But that spiritual life needs to be kept alive.

My soul cleaveth unto the dust - It would be best to translate נפשי naphshi, my life; and then cleaving to the dust may imply an apprehension of approaching death; and this agrees best with the petition. Quicken thou me - חיני chaiyeni, “make me alive.” Keep me from going down into the dust.

My soul cleaveth unto the dust - This commences a new division of the psalm, in which each verse begins with the “fourth” letter of the Hebrew alphabet - Daleth (ד d), equivalent to the English “d.” There is nothing in the sense to separate it from the other parts of the psalm. The word rendered “cleaveth” means to be glued to; to stick fast. It has the sense of adhering firmly to anything, so that it cannot easily be separated from it. Compare the notes at Psa 63:8. The word “dust” here may mean either the earth, and earthly things, considered as low, base, unworthy, worldly; or it may mean the grave, as if he were near to that, and in danger of dying. DeWette understands it in the latter sense. Compare Psa 44:25; Psa 22:29. Yet the word cleave would hardly suggest this idea; and the force of that word would be better represented by the idea that his soul, as it were, adhered to the things of earth; that it seemed to be so fastened to them - so glued to them - that it could not be detached from them; that his affections were low, earthly, grovelling, so as to give him deep distress, and to lead him to cry to God for life and strength that he might break away from them. This expresses what is often felt by good people, and thus presents one of the forms of religious experience. Compare Rom 7:14-15. Quicken thou me - Cause me to live; give me vigor and strength to break away from this which binds me fast, and to rise above these low propensities. According to thy word - That is, either according to thy promises made to thy people to aid them when they are in distress; or, according to the principles of thy word, that I may live as thy word requires. […]