Title - To the Chief Musician - He who had the leadership of the Temple services was charged with the use of this song in public worship. What is everybody's business is never done. It was well to have one person specially to attend to the service of song in the house of the Lord. Of David the servant of the Lord. This would seem to indicate that the Psalm peculiarly befits one who esteems it an honour to be called Jehovah's servant. It is the song of happy service; such a one as all may join in who bear the easy yoke of Jesus. The wicked are contrasted with the righteous, and the great Lord of devout men is heartily extolled; thus obedience to so good a Master is indirectly insisted on, and rebellion against him is plainly condemned.

Divisions - From Psalm 36:1David describes the rebellious: in Psalm 36:5 he extols the various attributes of the Lord; in Psalm 36:10 and Psalm 36:11he addresses the Lord in prayer, and in the last verse his faith sees in vision the overthrow of all the workers of iniquity.

Hints to Preachers

Psalm 36:1 - What is the fear of God? How does it operate? What is the effect of its absence? What should we learn from seeing such evil results?

Or the atheism underlying transgression.

Psalm 36:2 - The arts, motives, assistances, results, and punishments of self-flattery, and the discovery which concludes it.

Psalm 36:2 - Self-flatteries - Jonathan Edward's Sermon.

Psalm 36:2 - On the deceitfulness of the heart, with regard to the commission of sin - Two Sermons, in Jamieson's "Sermons on the Heart."

Psalm 36:3 (second clause) - The relation between true wisdom and practical goodness.

Psalm 36:4 - Diligence in doing evil, a mark of deep depravity - W. S. Plumer.

Psalm 36:4 - The abuse of retirement to wicked purposes, a sure characteristic of an habitual sinner - N. Marshall.

Psalm 36:4 - The sinner on his bed, in his conduct: in his heart; add to this, in his death, and in his doom.

Psalm 36:4 (second clause) - Ways which are not good.

Psalm 36:4 (last clause) - Neutrality condemned.

Psalm 36:5, Psalm 36:6 - Four glorious similes of the mercy, faithfulness, and providence of God. The preacher has here a wealth of poetic imagery never surpassed.

Psalm 36:6 - God's word and works mysterious - C. Simeon.

Psalm 36:6 (second clause) - God's judgments are

I. Often unfathomable - we cannot discover the foundation or cause, and spring of them.

II. They are safe sailing. Ships never strike on rocks out in the great deeps.

III. They conceal great treasure.

IV. They work much good - the great deep, though ignorance thinks it to be all waste, a salt and barren wilderness, is one of the greatest blessings to this round world.

V. They become a highway of communion with God. The sea is today the great highway of the world.

Psalm 36:6 (last clause) - Kindness of God to the lower animals, as well as man.

Psalm 36:7, Psalm 36:8 - Admiration! Confidence! Expectation! Realisation!

Psalm 36:7 - The object, reasons, nature, and experience of faith.

Psalm 36:8 (first clause) - The provisions of the Lord's house. What they are, their excellence and abundance, and for whom provided.

Psalm 36:8 (second clause) - The heavenly Hiddekel - Its source, its flood, the happy drinkers, how they came to drink.

Psalm 36:9 (first clause) - Life, natural, mental, spiritual, proceeds from God, is sustained, restored, purified, and perfected by him. In him it dwells with permanency, from him it flows freely, with freshness, abundance, and purity; to him it should be consecrated.

Psalm 36:9 (second clause) - Light, what it is to see it. Divine light, what it is; how it is the medium by which we see other light. The experience here described, and the duty here hinted at.

Psalm 36:10 - I. The character of the righteous - he knows God, and is upright in heart. II, His privilege - lovingkindness and righteousness. III. His prayer, continue, etc.

Psalm 36:10 - The need of daily supplies of grace.

Psalm 36:12 - A view of the overthrow of evil powers, principles, and men.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Title

"To the Chief Musician," has given rise to many conjectures. In the Septuagint the Hebrew word is translated, εἰς τὸ τέλος, to the end; a meaning so utterly vague as to defy all reasonable conjecture.... The meaning of the term appears to be this: the Psalms in which it occurs were given in charge by their inspired authors to the Chief Musician overseeing some specific band of music, whether harps, psalteries, or wind instruments. - John Jebb, A. M., in "A Liberal Translation of the Book of Psalms," 1846.

Title

"The servant of the Lord." David only uses this title here and in Psalm eighteen. In both he describes the dealings of God both with the righteous and the wicked, and it is most fit that at the very outset he should take his place with the servants of the Lord. - C. H. S.

Whole Psalm

First part. - A character of a wicked man (Psalm 36:1). 1. He calls evil good (Psalm 36:2). 2. He continues in it. 3. He is an hypocrite (Psalm 36:3). 4. He is obstinate. 5. He is studious in wickedness (Psalm 36:4). Second part. - God's patience and mercy (Psalm 36:5, Psalm 36:6). 1. To all, even all creatures. 2. But particularly to his people, which he admires. Upon which the faithful (1) trust, (2) are satisfied (Psalm 36:7, Psalm 36:8). The Third part. - He prays that this effect may light, 1. On God's people (Psalm 36:10). 2. On himself (Psalm 36:11). 3. His acclamation upon it (Psalm 36:12). - William Nicholson (Bishop), 1662.

Psalm 36:1

In this Psalm we have a description of sin, especially as it appears in those who have openly broken God's bands. The introduction is very striking; "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes." How could the "transgression of the wicked" speak within the heart of him who in the inscription of the Psalm declares himself to be the servant of Jehovah? These words are generally understood as signifying that the outward conduct of the sinner, as often as he thought of it, naturally suggested this conclusion to his mind, that he was destitute of all fear of God. But they may perhaps admit of another meaning, equally agreeable to the literal reading; wickedness, saith of the wicked, within my heart, etc. According to this view, the Psalmist meant that notwithstanding the external pretences of the wicked, and all their attempts to cover their iniquity, he was certain that they had no real sense of the presence of God, that they secretly renounced his authority. How was he assured of this? By a comparison of their conduct with the dictates of the heart. He could not indeed look into their hearts, but he could look into his own, and there he found corruption, so strong, that were it not for the fear of God that was implanted within him, he would be as bad as they. - John Jamieson.

Psalm 36:1

It is not the imperfection or shortcoming in the fear of God, but the being destitute of it altogether, that proveth a wicked man: "There is no fear of God before his eyes." - David Dickson.

Psalm 36:1 (last clause)

"Not having the fear of God before his eyes," has become inwoven into proceedings in criminal courts. When a man has no fear of God, he is prepared for any crime.

Total depravity is not too strong a term to describe human wickedness. The sinner has "no fear of God." Where that is wanting, how can there be any piety? And if there is no piety, there must be total want of right affections, and that is the very essence of depravity. - William S. Plumer.

Psalm 36:1

Durst any mock God with flourishes and formalities in religion, if they feared him? Durst any provoke God to his face by real and open wickednesses, if they feared him? Durst any sin with the judgments of God fresh bleeding before their eyes, if they feared the Lord and his wrath? Durst they sin with heaps of precious mercy before their eyes, if they feared the Lord and his goodness? Durst any flatter either others or themselves with hopes of impunity in their sin, if they feared the Lord and his truth? Durst any slight their own promises, professions, protestations, oaths, or design the entangling of others by them, rather than the binding of themselves, did they fear the Lord and his faithfulness, even the Lord who keepeth covenant and promise for ever? All these and many more transgressions of the wicked (all these ways of transgression are found among the wicked, it were well if none of them were found among those who have a name of godliness; I say, all these transgressions of the wicked) say, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." - Joseph Caryl.

Psalm 36:1

The wicked man has no regard to the oracles of God' he has one in his own heart, which dictates nothing but rebellion. - Zachary Mudge.

Psalm 36:2

"For he flattereth himself in his own eyes." The matter which this self-flattery especially concerns is sin, as appears from the following clause. He deceives himself as to its nature and consequences, its evil and aggravations, and he continues to do so "until his iniquity be found to be hateful;" till it be fully discovered, and appear in its magnitude and atrocious circumstances both to himself and others, by some awful divine judgment, such as that mentioned in the last verse of the Psalm: "There are the workers of iniquity fallen; they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise." He adduces this self-deceit and continuance in it, as illustrating the truth of that judgment he had formed of the state of such a person: "There is no fear of God before his eyes' for he flattereth himself in his own eyes." And surely the proof is incontrovertible. For a man under the bondage of sin would never flatter himself in his own eyes, were it not that God is not before them. The reason why he thinks so well of himself is, that God is not in all his thoughts. He hath cast off all fear about himself because he hath no fear of God. - John Jamieson.

Psalm 36:2

"He flattereth himself." 1. Some flatter themselves with a secret hope, that there is no such thing as another world. 2. Some flatter themselves that death is a great way off, and that they shall hereafter have much opportunity to seek salvation. 3. Some flatter themselves that they lead moral and orderly lives and therefore think that they shall not be damned. 4. Some make the advantages under which they live an occasion of self-flattery. They flatter themselves that they live in a place where the gospel is powerfully preached, and among a religious people, where many have been converted; and they think it will be much easier for them to be saved on that account. 5. Some flatter themselves with their own intentions. They intend to give themselves liberty for a while longer, and then to reform. 6. There are some who flatter themselves that they do, and have done, a great deal for their salvation, and therefore hope they shall obtain it; when indeed they neither do what they ought to do, nor what they might do even in their present state of unregeneracy; nor are they in any likely way to be converted. 7. Some hope by their strivings to obtain salvation of themselves. They have a secret imagination that they shall, by degrees, work in themselves sorrow and repentance of sin, and love towards God and Jesus Christ. Their striving is not so much an earnest seeking to God, as a striving to do themselves that which is the work of God. 8. Some sinners flatter themselves that they are already converted. They sit down and rest in a false hope, persuading themselves that all their sins are pardoned; that God loves them; that they shall go to heaven when they die; and that they need trouble themselves no more. "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Revelation 3:17. - Condensed from Jonathan Edwards.

Psalm 36:2

"In his own eyes." He had not God before his eyes in holy awe, therefore he puts himself there in unholy admiration. He who makes little of God makes much of himself. They who forget adoration fall into adulation. The eyes must see something, and if they admire not God they will flatter self. - C. H. S.

Psalm 36:2

"Until his iniquity be found to be hateful;" that is, until he finds by experience that it is a more dreadful thing to sin against God, and break his holy commands, than he imagined. - Jonathan Edwards.

Psalm 36:2

"Hateful." Odious to himself, to others, and to God. - Gilbert Genebrard, 1537-1597.

Psalm 36:3

"He hath left off." That little light he once had, he hath lost, and cast off such good practices as once in hypocrisy he performed; neither will he learn to do better. - John Trapp.

Psalm 36:3 (last clause)

Apostacy from God is really an undoing of all the good which we have done. 'Tis a wicked repentance quite contrary to the grace of repentance; as that is a repentance from dead works, so this is a repentance from works of a better sort: "He hath left off to be wise, and to do good." 'Tis a perversion to evil after a seeming conversion from it. - Timothy Cruso.

Psalm 36:3, Psalm 36:4

Yet did he spare his sleep, and hear the clock

Number the midnight watches, on his bed

Devising mischief more; and early rose.

And made most hellish meals of good men's names.

From door to door you might have seen him speed,

Or placed amid a group of gaping fools.

Peace fled the neighbourhood in which he made

His haunts; and, like a moral pestilence,

Before his breath the healthy shoots and blooms

Of social joy and happiness decayed.

Fools only in his company were seen,

And those forsaken of God, and to themselves

Given up. The prudent shunned him and his house

As one who had a deadly moral plague.

Robert Pollock, 1799-1827.

Psalm 36:4

"He deviseth mischief upon his bed." As the man that feareth God communeth with his heart upon his bed, that he may not sin, no, not in his heart; so the man that feareth not God, deviseth how he may plot and perform sin willingly. - David Dickson.

Psalm 36:4

"Upon his bed." Most diligently does Ayguan follow up the scriptural expressions concerning a bed and tell us that there are six different beds of wickedness - that of luxury, that of avarice, of ambition, of greediness, of torpor, and of cruelty, and he illustrates them all by examples from Scripture. - J. M. Neale.

Psalm 36:4

"He setteth himself in a way that is not good." To wait to sin is to sin deliberately, yea, to wait to sin resolvedly. That sin is exceedingly sinfully committed which we set and prepare ourselves to commit. David, describing a wicked man, saith, "He setteth himself in a way that is not good;" that is, in an evil way: he doth not only fall into sin (that may be the case of a good man), but he takes or chooseth an evil way, and then sets or settles himself in it, resolving not to leave it, no, nor to be beaten out of it. Sin may be said to wait for a godly man, that is, Satan waits and watches his season to tempt him unto sin; but a godly man doth not wait nor watch to sin. It is bad enough to be overtaken with sin, or with a fault (as the apostle speaks, Galatians 6:1); but to be taken with sin, and so to wait for a season to take our fill of it, is as bad as bad can be. - Joseph Caryl.

Psalm 36:4

"He setteth himself in a way that is not good." Proud sinners have strongest conceit that they go right, at least in the way of their choice. Satan blindeth them so, that they mistake both the end and the way: in their count they are running to heaven, when they are posting to hell: he serveth them kindly with fresh post-horses. Sometimes he mounteth them on drunkenness, and when they have run a stage on that beastliness, he can mount them on lechery. Again, he can refresh them with avarice; and if they be weary of that slow jade, he setteth them on lofty ambition, and to make them more spirity he can horse them on restless contention. Every one seeth not Satan's enquiry: there is no complexion or disposition, but he hath a fit horse for it, and that of itself. Every man's predominant is a beast of Satan's saddling and providing to carry men to hell. The way is one, the post-master is one, he is to be found at every stage, mounting his gallants, their horses are all of one kind though not of one colour. Happy is the man whom God dismounteth in that evil way, and more happy is he who taketh with that stay, and turneth his course to heaven. - William Struther.

Psalm 36:4

"He abhorreth not," i.e., is far enough from rejecting any instrument, however sinful, for attaining his purposes. - J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Psalm 36:5

"Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens." David considering the thoughts and deeds of impious men, and the mercy of God towards them, utters this exclamation. When men sin so impudently, who does not admire the divine long-suffering! - Sebastian Munster, 1489-1552.

Psalm 36:5-7

This Psalm doth fitly set forth unto us the estate and condition of these times, wherein wickedness increaseth and so in the former part of the Psalm is a discovery of wickedness, Psalm 36:3. And what should we do when there is such wickedness in the earth? In the Psalm 36:5, "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." God is gathering up all goodness, mercy, and peace from man to himself; and though there is cruelty, mischief, and wickedness in the world, in the earth, yet there is mercy, truth, and faithfulness in the clouds; and it's good that wisdom, goodness, truth, and righteousness leave the world, and cleave to God, that so we may follow it; and that what goodness, mercy, truth, and faithfulness we formerly enjoyed in man, we may enjoy in God. And when wickedness increaseth, righteousness increaseth likewise: "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains:" when the world tears and breaks itself in pieces, then is the righteousness of God a great mountain. "Thy judgments are a great deep;" when the whole world is become one sea of confusion, then are the judgments of the Lord a great deep, where not only man, but beasts may rest safely. "Thou preservest man and beast." And though this time is a time of growing and spreading wickedness in man, yet it is a time of sweetest admiration and love in God; and when men that sin do cry out, O woful man! they that enjoy God, cry out, O happy man! And though men that live in the earth cry out, O miserable! what times are here? men that live in heaven cry out, "How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!" The Lord makes all things naked and bare, that we only may have him to be our safety. - William Sedgwick (1609-1668), in "The Excellency of the love of God," a sermon in a vol., entitled "Some flashes of Lightnings of the Son of Man," 1648.

Psalm 36:5-9

Thy mercie Lord doth to the heavens extend.

Thy faithfullnes doth to the cloudes assend;

Thy justice stedfast as a mountaine is,

Thy judgements deepe as is the great Abisse;

Thy noble mercies saue all liueinge thinges,

The sonnes of men creepe underneath thy winges:

With thy great plenty they are fedd at will,

And of thy pleasure's streame they drinke their fill;

For euen the well of life remaines with thee,

And in thy glorious light wee light shall see.

Sir John Davies.

1 The transgressions of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

Psalm 36:1

"The transgression of the wicked." His daring and wanton sin; his breaking the bounds of law and justice. "Saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes." Men's sins have a voice to godly ears. They are the outer index of an inner evil. It is clear that men who dare to sin constantly and presumptuously cannot respect the great Judge of all. Despite the professions of unrighteous men, when we see their unhallowed actions our heart is driven to the conclusion that they have no religion whatever. Unholiness is clear evidence of ungodliness. Wickedness is the fruit of an atheistic root. This may be made clear to the candid head by cogent reasoning, but it is clear already and intuitively to the pious heart. If God be everywhere, and I fear him, how can I dare to break his laws in his very presence? He must be a desperate traitor who will rebel in the monarch's own halls. Whatever theoretical opinions bad men may avow, they can only be classed with atheists, since they are such practically. Those eyes which have no fear of God before them now, shall have the terrors of hell before them for ever.

Psalm 36:2

"For." Here is the argument to prove the proposition laid down in the former verse. David here runs over the process of reasoning by which he had become convinced that wicked men have no proper idea of God or respect for him. God-fearing men see their sins and bewail them, where the reverse is the case we may be sure there is no fear of God. "He flattereth himself in his own eyes." He counts himself a fine fellow, worthy of great respect. He quiets his conscience, and so deceives his own judgment as to reckon himself a pattern of excellence; if not for morality, yet for having sense enough not to be enslaved by rules which are bonds to others. He is the free-thinker, the man of strong mind, the hater of cant, the philosopher; and the servants of God are, in his esteem, mean-spirited and narrow-minded. Of all flatteries this is the most absurd and dangerous. Even the silliest bird will not set traps for itself; the most pettifogging attorney will not cheat himself. To smoothe over one's own conduct to one's conscience (which is the meaning of the Hebrew) is to smooth one's own path to hell. The descent to eternal ruin is easy enough, without making a glissade of it, as self-flatterers do. "Until his iniquity be found to be hateful." At length he is found out and detested, despite his self-conceit. Rottenness smells sooner or later too strong to be concealed. There is a time when the leprosy cannot be hidden. At last the old house can no longer be propped up, and falls about the tenant's ears: so there is a limit to a man's self-gratulation; he is found out amid general scorn, and can no longer keep up the farce which he played so well. If this happen not in this life, the hand of death will let light in upon the covered character, and expose the sinner to shame and contempt.

The self-flattering process plainly proves the atheism of sinners, since the bare reflection that God sees them would render such self-flatteries extremely difficult, if not impossible. Belief in God, like light reveals, and then our sin and evil are perceived; but wicked men are in the dark, for they cannot see what is so clearly within them and around them that it stares them in the face.

Psalm 36:3

"The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit." This pair of hell dogs generally hunt together, and what one does not catch the other will; if iniquity cannot win by oppression, deceit will gain by chicanery. When the heart is so corrupt as to flatter itself, the tongue follows suit. The open sepulchre of the throat reveals the foulness of the inner nature. God-fearing men make a conscience of their words, and if they sin through infirmity they do not invent excuses, or go about to boast of their wickedness: but because wicked men think little of evil and artful speeches, we may be clear that God rules not in their souls. The original by declaring that the words of the wicked are falsehood and deceit is peculiarly strong; as if they were not only false in quality, but actual falseness itself. "He hath left off to be wise, and to do good." From the good way he has altogether gone aside. Men who fear God proceed from strength to strength in the right path, but godless men soon forsake what little good they once knew. How could men apostatise if they had respect unto the supreme Judge? Is it not because they grow more and more forgetful of God, that in due season they relinquish even that hypocritical reverence of him which in former days they maintained in order to flatter their souls?

Psalm 36:4

"He deviseth mischief upon his bed." His place of rest becomes the place for plotting. His bed is a hot-bed for poisonous weeds. God-fearing men meditate upon God and his service; but when men turn all their thoughts and inventive faculties towards evil, their godlessness is proved to a demonstration. He hath the devil for his bed-fellow who lies abed and schemes how to sin. God is far from him. "He setteth himself in a way that is not good." When he gets up he resolutely and persistently pursues the mischief which he planned. The worst of ways he prefers for his walking, for he has taught his heart to love filthiness, having accustomed himself to revel in it in imagination. "He abhorreth not evil." So far from having a contempt and abhorrence for evil, he even rejoices in it, and patronises it. He never hates a wrong thing because it is wrong, but he meditates on it, defends it, and practises it.

What a portrait of a graceless man these few verses afford us! His jauntiness of conscience, his licentiousness of speech, his intentness upon wrong-doing, his deliberate and continued preference of iniquity, and withal his atheistical heart, are all photographed to the life. Lord, save us from being such.

5 Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.

7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

From the baseness of the wicked the Psalmist turns his contemplation to the glory of God. Contrasts are impressive.

Psalm 36:5

"Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens." Like the ethereal blue, it encompasses the whole earth, smiling upon universal nature, acting as a canopy for all the creatures of earth, surmounting the loftiest peaks of human provocations, and rising high above the mists of mortal transgression. Clear sky is evermore above, and mercy calmly smiles above the din and smoke of this poor world. Darkness and clouds are but of earth's lower atmosphere: the heavens are evermore serene, and bright with innumerable stars. Divine mercy abides in its vastness of expanse, and matchless patience, all unaltered by the rebellions of man. When we can measure the heavens, then shall we bound the mercy of the Lord. Towards his own servants especially, in the salvation of the Lord Jesus, he has displayed grace higher than the heaven of heavens, and wider than the universe. O that the atheist could but see this, how earnestly would he long to become a servant of Jehovah! "Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." Far, far above all comprehension is the truth and faithfulness of God. He never fails, nor forgets, nor falters, nor forfeits his word. Afflictions are like clouds, but the divine truthfulness is all around them. While we are under the cloud we are in the region of God's faithfulness; when we mount above it we shall not need such an assurance. To every word of threat, or promise, prophecy or covenant, the Lord has exactly adhered, for he is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.

Psalm 36:6

"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains." Firm and unmoved, lofty and sublime. As winds and hurricanes shake not an Alp, so the righteousness of God is never in any degree affected by circumstances; he is always just. Who can bribe the Judge of all the earth, or who can, by threatening, compel him to pervert judgment? Not even to save his elect would the Lord suffer his righteousness to be set aside. No awe inspired by mountain scenery can equal that which fills the soul when it beholds the Son of God slain as a victim to vindicate the justice of the Inflexible Lawgiver. Right across the path of every unholy man who dreams of heaven stand the towering Andes of divine righteousness, which no unregenerate sinner can ever climb. Among great mountains lie slumbering avalanches, and there the young lightnings try their callow wings until the storm rushes down amain from the awful peaks; so against the great day of the Lord's wrath the Lord has laid up in the mountains of his righteousness dreadful ammunition of war with which to overwhelm his adversaries. "Thy judgments are a great deep." God's dealings with men are not to be fathomed by every boaster who demands to see a why for every wherefore. The Lord is not to be questioned by us as to why this and why that. He has reasons, but he does not choose to submit them to our foolish consideration. Far and wide, terrible and irresistible like the ocean are the providential dispensations of God: at one time they appear as peaceful as the unrippled sea of glass; at another tossed with tempest and whirlwind, but evermore most glorious and full of mystery. Who shall discover the springs of the sea? He who shall do this may hope to comprehend the providence of the Eternal.

"Undiscovered sea!

Into thy dark, unknown, mysterious caves,

And secret haunts unfathomably deep,

Beneath all visible retired, none went

continued...

10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

Psalm 36:10

"O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee." We ask no more than a continuance of the past mercy. Lord, extend this grace of thine to all the days of all who have been taught to know thy faithful love, thy tenderness, thine immutability and omnipotence. As they have been taught of the Lord to know the Lord, so go on to instruct them and perfect them. This prayer is the heart of the believer asking precisely that which the heart of his God is prepared to grant. It Is well when the petition is but the reflection of the promise. "And thy righteousness to the upright in heart." As thou hast never failed the righteous, so abide thou in the same manner their defender and avenger. The worst thing to be feared by the man of God is to be forsaken of heaven, hence this prayer; but the fear is groundless, hence the peace which faith brings to us. Learn from this verse, that although a continuance of mercy is guaranteed in the covenant, we are yet to make it a matter of prayer. For this good thing will the Lord be enquired of.

Psalm 36:11

"Let not the foot of pride come against me." The general prayer is here turned into a particular and personal one for himself. Pride is the devil's sin. Good men may well be afraid of proud men, for the serpent's seed will never cease to bite the heel of the godly. Fain would proud scoffers spurn the saints or trample them under foot: against their malice prayer lifts up her voice. No foot shall come upon us, no hand shall prevail against us, while Jehovah is on our side. "Let not the hand of the wicked remove me." Suffer me not to be driven about as a fugitive, nor torn from my place like an uprooted tree. Violence with both hand and foot, with means fair and means foul, strove to overthrow the Psalmist, but he resorts to his great Patron, and sings a song of triumph in anticipation of the defeat of his foes.

12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.

"There are the workers of iniquity fallen." Faith sees them scattered on the plain. There! before our very eyes sin, death, and hell, lie prostrate. Behold the vanquished foes! "They are cast down." Providence and grace have dashed them from their vantage ground. Jesus has already thrown all the foes of his people upon their faces, and in due time all sinners shall find it so. "And shall not be able to rise." The defeat of the ungodly and of the powers of evil is final, total, irretrievable. Glory be to God, however high the powers of darkness may carry it at this present, the time hastens on when God shall defend the right, and give to evil such a fall as shall for ever crush the hopes of hell; while those who trust in the Lord shall eternally praise him and rejoice in his holy name.