An Urgent Plea for Help in Trouble
To the Chief Musician upon Shoshannim.
• For the second time we have a psalm entitled “upon the lilies”. In the 41st they were golden lilies dropping sweet-
smelling myrrh and blooming in the fair gardens which skirt the ivory palaces; in this we have the lily among thorns, the lily
of the valley, fair and beautiful, blooming in the garden of Gethsemane. (TOD)
Save me, O God!
• Bodily anguish is not His first complaint; He begins not with the gall which embittered His lips, but with the mighty
griefs which broke into His heart. (TOD)
• This is the fourth psalm which declares at length the passion and resurrection of our LORD (TOD)
• In this psalm the whole Christ speaks; now in His own person, now crying with the voice of His members to God His
Father (TOD)
For the waters have come up to my neck,
I sink in deep mire,
Where there is no standing;
I have come into deep waters,
Where the floods overflow me.
I am weary with my crying;
My throat is dry;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
• I am in the deepest distress (AC)
• In water one might swim, but in mud and mire all struggling is hopeless; the mire sucks down its victim (TOD)
• David’s spirit is wounded (MH)
• Sin is as mire for its filthiness, and the holy soul of the Savior must have loathed even that connection with it which
was necessary for its expiation. His pure and sensitive nature seemed to sink in it, for it was not His element, He was not
like us born and acclimatized to this great dismal swamp (TOD)
• Our Lord was no faint-hearted sentimentalist; His were real woes, and though he bore them heroically, het were
they terrible even to Him (TOD)
• We are more likely to be hoarse with talking frivolities to men than by pleading with God (TOD)
• His pleading this with God is an indication that he is resolved not to give up believing and praying (MH)
Those who hate me without a cause
Are more than the hairs of my head;
They are mighty who would destroy me,
Being my enemies wrongfully;
Though I have stolen nothing,
I still must restore it.
• In suffering, let not the mind be disturbed; for the injustice which is done to the innocent in his sufferings, is not laid
to the charge of the sufferer, but to his who inflicts suffering (TOD)
O God, You know my foolishness;
And my sins are not hidden from You,
Let not those who wait for You, o Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me;
Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.
Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;
Shame has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my brothers,
And an alien to my mother’s children;
Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up,
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting,
That became my reproach.
I also made sackcloth my garment;
I became a byword to them.
Those who sit in the gate speak against me,
And I am the song of the drunkards.
• Having resolved to hate him, everything he did was made a fresh reason for reviling. Nothing is more cruel than
prejudice (TOD)
• Byword – proverb – reflection of disgrace (TOD)
• Although we want to do God’s will, we still make mistakes. But, like David, we should pray that our foolish mistakes
will not cause others to stumble. We too need to ask God to protect others who look up to us from being harmed by our
mistakes and sins. (LB)
But as for me, my prayer is to You,
O LORD, in the acceptable time;
O God, in the multitude of Your mercy,
Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.
Deliver me out of the mire,
And let me not sink;
Let me be delivered from those who hate me,
And out of the deep waters.
Let not the floodwater overflow me,
Nor let the deep swallow me up;
And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.
• He turned to Jehovah in prayer as being the most natural thing for the godly to do in their distress (TOD)
• He turns into prayer the very words of his complaint (TOD)
• He was baptized in agony but not drowned in it (TOD)
• Acceptable time – all times are not alike (TOD)
Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good;
Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.
And do not hide Your face from Your servant,
For I am in trouble;
Hear me speedily.
Draw near to my soul, and redeem it;
Deliver me because of my enemies.
• The near approach of God is all the sufferer needs; one smile of heaven will still the rage of hell (TOD)
You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor;
My adversaries are all before You.
Reproach has broken my heart,
And I am full of heaviness;
I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none;
And for comforters, but I found none.
They also gave me gall for my food,
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Let their table become a snare before them,
And their well-being a trap.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see;
And make their loins shake continually.
Pour out Your indignation upon them.
And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them.
Let their dwelling place be desolate;
Let no one live in their tents.
For they persecute the ones You have struck,
And talk of the grief of those You have wounded.
Add iniquity to their iniquity,
And let them not come into Your righteousness.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,
And not be written with the righteous.
But I am poor and sorrowful;
Let Your salvation, o God, set me up on high.
I will praise the name of God with a song,
And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bull,
Which has horns and hooves.
The humble shall see this and be glad;
And you who seek God, your hearts shall live.
For the LORD hears the poor,
And does not despise His prisoners.
Let heaven and earth praise Him,
The seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion
And build the cities of Judah,
That they may dwell there and possess it.
Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it,
And those who love His name shall dwell in it.