Spurgeon PS131

OCCASION.–The Psalm cannot be referred to any especial event or period in David’s history. All attempts to find it a birthplace are but guesses. It was, doubtless, more than once the language of that much tried man of God, and is intended to express the feelings of the people of God in those ever-returning trials which beset them. If the reader has never yet found occasion to use the language of this brief ode, he will do so ere long, if he be a man after the Lord’s own heart. We have been wont to call this the “How Long Psalm.” We had almost said the Howling Psalm, from the incessant repetition of the cry “how long?”

DIVISION.–This Psalm is very readily to be divided into three parts:–the question of anxiety, #1,2|; the cry of prayer, #3,4|; the song of faith, #5,6|.

EXPOSITION.

“_How long_?”–This question is repeated no less than four times. It betokens very intense desire for deliverance, and great anguish of heart. And what if there be some impatience mingled therewith; is not this the more true a portrait of our own experience? It is not easy to prevent desire from degenerating into impatience. O for grace that, while we wait on God, we may be kept from indulging a murmuring spirit! “_How long_?” Does not the oft-repeated cry become a very HOWLING? And what if grief should find no other means of utterance? Even then, God is not far from the voice of our roaring; for he does not regard the music of our prayers, but his own Spirit’s work in them in exciting desire and inflaming the affections.

“_How long_?” Ah! how long do our days appear when our soul is cast down within us! “How wearily the moments seem to glide O’er sadness! How the time Delights to linger in its flight!” Time flies with full-fledged wing in our summer days, but

in our winters he flutters painfully. A week within prison-walls is longer than a month at liberty. Long sorrow seems to argue abounding corruption; for the gold which is long in the fire must have had much dross to be consumed, hence the question “how long?” may suggest deep searching of heart. “_How long wilt thou forget me_?” Ah, David! how like a fool thou talkest! Can God _forget_? Can Omniscience fail in memory? Above all, can Jehovah’s heart forget his own beloved child? Ah! brethren, let us drive away the thought, and hear the voice of our covenant God by the mouth of the prophet, “But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” “_For ever_?” Oh, dark thought! It was surely bad enough to suspect a temporary forgetfulness, but shall we ask the ungracious question, and imagine that the Lord will for ever cast away his people? No, his anger may endure for a night, but his love shall abide eternally. “_How long wilt thou hide thy face from me_?” This is a far more rational question, for God may hide his face, and yet he may remember still. A hidden face is no sign of a forgetful heart. It is in love that his face is turned away; yet to a real child of God, this hiding of his Father’s face is terrible, and he will never be at ease until once more he hath his Father’s smile. “_How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily_?” There is in the original the idea of “laying up” counsels in his heart, as if his devices had become innumerable but unavailing. Herein we have often been like David, for we have considered and reconsidered day after day, but have not discovered the happy device by which to escape from our trouble. Such store is a sad sore. Ruminating upon trouble is bitter work. Children fill their mouths with bitterness when they rebelliously chew the pill which they ought obediently to have taken at once. “_How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me_?” This is like wormwood in the gall, to see the wicked enemy exulting while our soul is bowed down within us. The laughter of a foe grates horribly upon the ears of grief. For the devil to make mirth of our misery is the last ounce of our complaint, and quite breaks down our patience; therefore let us make it one chief argument in our plea with mercy.

Thus the careful reader will remark that the question “how long?” is put in four shapes. The writer’s grief is viewed, as it seems to be, as it is, as it affects himself within, and his foes without. We are all prone to play most on the worst string. We set up monumental stones over the graves of our joys, but who thinks of erecting monuments of praise for mercies received? We write four books of Lamentations and only one of Canticles, and are far more at home in wailing out a _Miserere_ than in chanting a _Te Deum_.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Verse 1.–“_How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord_?” etc. The departures of God from true believers are never final; they may be tedious, but they are temporary. As the evil spirit is said to depart from Christ for a season (#Lu 4:13|; though he quitted that temptation, he did not quit his design, so as to tempt no more), so the good Spirit withdraws from those that are Christ’s for a season only, ’tis with a purpose of coming again. When he hath most evidently forsaken, ’tis as unquestionable that sooner or later he will return; and the happiness of his return will richly recompense for the sadness of his desertion; #Isa 54:7|, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee;” here is not only a gathering after a forsaking, but “_great mercies_” to make amends for “_a small moment_.” He who hath engaged to be our God for ever, cannot depart for ever.–^Timothy Cruso, 1696.

Verse 1.–“_How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord_?” Whatever be the pressing need of Christ’s followers in troubles, and their constant cleaving to duty for all that; and whatever be Christ’s purpose of love towards them, yet he seeth it fit ofttimes not to come to them at first, but will let the trial go on till it come to a height, and be a trial indeed, and put them seriously to it; for before he came he lets them row “about five and twenty or thirty furlongs” (the last of which make near four miles, eight furlongs going to a mile); and (#Mr 6:48|) he came not till the fourth watch of the night, which is the morning watch. We are indeed very sparing of ourselves in trouble, and do soon begin to think that we are low and tried enough, and therefore would be delivered; but our wise Lord seeth that we need more.–^George Hutcheson, 1657.

Verse 1.–“_How long_,” etc. Enquire into the cause of God’s anger. He is never angry but when there is very great reason, when we force him to be so. What is that accursed thing in our hearts, or in our lives, for which God hides his face, and frowns upon us? What particular disobedience to his commands is it for which he has taken up the rod? #Job 10:2|; “I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me;” as if he should say, Lord, my troubles and my sorrows are very well known. … We must not cease to be solicitous to know what are the particular sins that have made him to tear us up by the roots, to throw us down as with a whirlwind; what is it that has made him so long angry with us, and so long to delay his help, that if any evil be undiscovered in our souls, we may lament it with a seasonable grief, and get a pardon for it. It is not the common course of God’s providence to cover his servants with so thick a darkness as this is, which our troubled souls labour under in the day, or rather in the night of his displeasure; and, therefore, we may with humility desire to know why he proceeds with us in a way that is so singular; for it is some way delightful to the understanding to pierce into the reasons and causes of things.–^Timothy Rogers.

Verse 1.–“_How long wilt thou forget me_,” etc. For God _to forget_ David, not to mind him, or look after him, is much! If his eye be never so little once off us, the spiritual adversary is ready presently to seize on us, as the kite on the chick if the hen look not carefully after it. … As a father will sometimes cross his son to try the child’s disposition, to see how he will take it, whether he will mutter and grumble at it, and grow humorous and wayward, neglect his duty to his father because his father seemeth to neglect him, or make offer to run away and withdraw himself from his father’s obedience because he seemeth to carry himself harshly and roughly towards him, and to provoke him thereunto; so doth God likewise ofttimes cross his children and seemeth to neglect them, so to try their disposition, what metal they are made of, how they stand affected towards him: whether they will neglect God because God seemeth to neglect them, forbear to serve him because he seemeth to forget them, cease to depend upon him because he seemeth not to look after them, to provide for them, or to protect them. Like Joram’s prophane pursuivant, “This evil,” saith he, “is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?” Or whether they will still constantly cleave to him, though he seem not to regard them, nor to have any care of them; and say with Isaiah, “Yet will I wait upon God, though he have hid his face from us, and I will look for him though he look not on us;” for, “They are blessed that wait on him; and he will not fail in due time to show mercy unto all them that do so constantly wait on him.” #Isa 8:17|; 30:18|. As Samuel dealt with Saul; he kept away till the last hour, to see what Saul would do when Samuel seemed not to keep touch with him. So doth God with his saints, and with those that be in league with him; he withdraweth himself oft, and keeps aloof oft for a long time together to try what they will do, and what courses they will take when God seemeth to break with them and to leave them in the suds, as we say; amidst many difficulties much perplexed, as it was with David at this time.–^Thomas Gataker, 1637.

Verse 1.–1. For desertions. I think them like lying fallow of lean and weak land for some years, while it gathers sap for a better crop. It is possible to gather gold, where it may be had, with moonlight. Oh, if I could but creep one foot, or half a foot, nearer in to Jesus, in such a dismal night as that when he is away, I should think it a happy absence! 2. If I knew that the Beloved were only gone away for trial, and further humiliation, and not smoked out of the house with new provocations, I would forgive desertions and hold my peace at his absence. But Christ’s bought absence (that I bought with my sin), is two running boils at once, one upon each side; and what side then can I lie on? 3. I know that, as night and shadows are good for flowers, and moonlight and dews are better than a continual sun, so is Christ’s absence of special use, and that it hath some nourishing virtue in it, and giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and furnisheth a fair field to faith to put forth itself, and to exercise its fingers in gripping it seeth not what.–^Samuel Rutherford, 1600-1661.

Verses 1,2–That which the French proverb hath of sickness is true of all evils, that they come on horseback and go away on foot; we have often seen that a sudden fall, or one meal’s surfeit, has stuck by many to their graves; whereas pleasures come like oxen, slow and heavily, and go away like post-horses, upon the spur. Sorrows, because they are lingering guests, I will entertain but moderately, knowing that the more they are made of the longer they will continue: and for pleasures, because they stay not, and do but call to drink at my door, I will use them as passengers with slight respect. He is his own best friend that makes the least of both of them.–^Joseph Hall.

Verses 1,2.–“_How LONG wilt thou forget me? _How LONG wilt thou hide thy face from me? How LONG shall I take counsel in my soul_?” The intenseness of the affliction renders it trying to our fortitude; but it is by the continuance of it that patience is put to the test. It is not under the sharpest, but the longest trials, that we are most in danger of fainting. In the first case, the soul collects all its strength, and feels in earnest to call in help from above; but, in the last, the mind relaxes, and sinks into despondency. When Job was accosted with evil tidings, in quick succession, he bore it with becoming fortitude; but when he could see no end to his troubles, he sunk under them.–^Andrew Fuller.

Verses 1-4.–Everything is strangely changed; all its comeliness, and beauty, and glory, vanishes when the _life_ is gone: life is the pleasant thing; ’tis sweet and comfortable; but death with its pale attendants, raises a horror and aversion to it everywhere. The saints of God dread the removal of his favour, and the hiding of his face; and when it is hid, a faintness and a cold amazement and fear seizes upon every part, and they feel strange bitterness, and anguish, and tribulation, which makes their joints to tremble, and is to them as the very pangs of death.–^Timothy Rogers.

Verses 1,5,6.–Prayer helps towards the increase and growth of grace, by drawing the habits of grace into exercise. Now, as exercise brings benefit to the body, so does prayer to the soul. Exercise doth help to digest or breathe forth those humours that clog the spirits. One that stirs little we see grow pursy, and is soon choked up with phlegm, which exercise clears the body of. Prayer is the saint’s exercise-field, where his graces are breathed; it is as the wind to the air, it brightens the soul; as bellows to the fire, which clears the coal of those ashes that smother them. The Christian, while in this world, lives in an unwholesome climate; one while, the delights of it deaden and dull his love of Christ; another while, the trouble he meets in it damps his faith on the promise. How now should the Christian get out of these distempers, had he not a throne of grace to resort to, where if once his soul be in a melting frame, he (like one laid in a kindly sweat), soon breathes out the malignity of his disease, and comes into his right temper again? How often do we find the holy prophet, when he first kneels down to pray, full of fears and doubts, who, before he and the duty part, grows into a sweet familiarity with God, and repose in his own spirit! (#Ps 13:1|) He begins his prayer as if he thought God would never give him a kind look more: “_How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?_” But by that time he had exercised himself a little in duty, his distemper wears off, the mists scatter, and his faith breaks out as the sun in its strength, verses #5,6|: “_I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord_.” Thus his faith lays the cloth, expecting a feast ere long to be set on: he that now questioned whether he should ever hear good news from heaven, is so strong in faith as to make himself merry with the hopes of that mercy which he is assured will come at last. Abraham began with fifty, but his faith got ground on God every step till he brought down the price of their lives to ten.–^William Gurnall.

Verses 1,6.–Whatever discouragements thou meetest with in thine attendance on God in ordinances, be like the English jet, fired by water, and not like our ordinary fires, quenched by it; let them add to, not diminish, thy resolution and courage; let not one repulse beat thee off; be violent, give a second storm to the kingdom of heaven. Parents sometimes hide themselves to make their children continue seeking. He that would not at first open his mouth, nor vouchsafe the woman of Canaan a word, doth, upon her continued and fervent petitions, at last open his hand and give her whatsoever she asks: “O woman, be it unto thee as thou wilt.” Continued importunity is undeniable oratory. And truly, if after all thy pains thou findest Jesus Christ, will it not make amends for thy long patience? Men that venture often at a lottery, though they take blanks twenty times, if afterwards they get a golden bason and ewer, it will make them abundant satisfaction. Suppose thou shouldst continue knocking twenty, nay, forty years, yet if at last, though but one hour before thou diest thy heart be opened to Christ, and he be received into thy soul, and when thou diest heaven be opened to thee, and thy soul received into it, will it not infinitely requite thee for all thy labour? Oh, think of it, and resolve never to be dumb while God is deaf, never to leave off prayer till God return a gracious answer. And for thy comfort, know that he who began his Psalm with, “_How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me_?” comes to conclude it with, “_I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me_.”–^George Swinnock.

Verse 2.–“_How long_?” There are many situations of the believer in this life in which the words of this Psalm may be a consolation, and help to revive sinking faith. A certain man lay at the pool of Bethesda, who had an infirmity thirty and eight years. #Joh 5:5|. A woman had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, before she was “loosed.” #Lu 13:11|. Lazarus all his life long laboured under disease and poverty, till he was released by death and transferred to Abraham’s bosom. #Lu 16:20-22|. Let every one, then, who may be tempted to use the complaints of this Psalm, assure his heart that God does not forget his people, help will come at last, and, in the meantime, all things shall work together for good to them that love him.–^W. Wilson, D.D.

Verse 2.–“_How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily_?” There is such a thing as to pore on our guilt and wretchedness, to the overlooking of our highest mercies. Though it be proper to know our own hearts, for the purposes of conviction, yet, if we expect consolation from this quarter, we shall find ourselves sadly disappointed. Such, for a time, appears to have been the case of David. He seems to have been in great distress; and as is common in such cases, his thoughts turned inward, casting in his mind what he should do, and what would be the end of things. While thus exercised, he had _sorrow in his heart daily_: but, betaking himself to God for relief, he succeeded, _trusting in his mercy, his heart rejoiced in his salvation_. There are many persons, who, when in trouble, imitate David in the former part of this experience: I wish we may imitate him in the latter.–^Andrew Fuller.

Verses 2,4.–“_How shall mine enemy be exalted over me_?” ‘Tis a great relief to the miserable and afflicted, to be pitied by others. It is some relief when others, though they cannot help us, yet seem to be truly concerned for the sadness of our case; when by the kindness of their words and of their actions they do a little smooth the wounds they cannot heal; but ’tis an unspeakable addition to the cross, when a man is brought low under the sense of God’s displeasure, to have men to mock at his calamity, or to revile him, or to speak roughly; this does inflame and exasperate the wound that was big enough before; and it is a hard thing when one has a dreadful sound in his ears to have every friend to become a son of thunder. It is a small matter for people that are at ease, to deal severely with such as are afflicted, but they little know how their severe speeches and their angry words pierce them to the very soul. ‘Tis easy to blame others for complaining, but if such had felt but for a little while what it is to be under the fear of God’s anger, they would find that they could not but complain. It cannot but make any person restless and uneasy when he apprehends that God is his enemy. It is no wonder if he makes every one that he sees, and every place that he is in, a witness of his grief; but now it is a comfort in our temptations and in our fears, that we have so compassionate a friend as Christ is to whom we may repair, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” #Heb 4:15|.–^Timothy Rogers.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 1.–The apparent length of sorrow, only apparent. Contrast with days of joy, with eternal misery and eternal joy. Impatience, and other evil passions, cause the seeming length. Means of shortening, by refusing to forestall, or to repine afterwards.

Verse 1 (second clause).–Hiding of the divine face. Why at all? Why from me? Why so long?

Verse 2.–Advice to the dejected, or the soul directed to look out of itself for consolation.–^A. Fuller.

Verse 2 (first clause).–Self-torture, its cause, curse, crime, and cure.

Verse 2.–“_Having sorrow in my heart daily_.” I. The cause of daily sorrow. Great enemy, unbelief, sin, trial, loss of Jesus’ presence, sympathy with others, mourning for human ruin. II. The necessity of daily sorrow. Purge corruptions, excite graces, raise desires heavenward. III. The cure of daily sorrow. Good food from God’s table, old wine of promises, walks with Jesus, exercise in good works, avoidance of everything unhealthy.–^B. Davis.

Verse 2.–(second clause).–Time anticipated when defeat shall be turned into victory.