Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Psalms
Book: Psalms
Chapter: 61
Overview:
David seeks
God upon former experience.
(1-4) He
Vows to serve
God.
(5-8)
1-4 David begins with prayers and tears, but ends with praise.
Thus the soul, being lifted up to
God, returns to the enjoyment
of itself. Wherever we are, we have liberty to draw near to
God,
and may find a way open to the
Throne of
Grace. And that which
separates us from other comforts, should drive us nearer to
God,
the
Fountain of all comfort. Though the
Heart is overwhelmed,
yet it may be lifted up to
God in
Prayer. Nay, I will cry unto
thee, for
By that means it will be supported and relieved.
Weeping must quicken praying, and not deaden it.
God's power and
promise are a
Rock that is higher than we are. This
Rock is
Christ.
On the Divine
Mercy, as
On a
Rock,
David desired to
Rest
his soul; but he was like a ship-wrecked sailor, exposed to the
billows at the bottom of a
Rock too high for him to climb
without help.
David found that he could not be fixed
On the
Rock
of
Salvation, unless the
Lord placed him upon it. As there is
safety in Him, and none in ourselves, let us pray to be led to
and fixed upon
Christ our
Rock. The service of
God shall be his
constant work and business: all must make it
So who expect to
find
God their shelter and strong tower. The
Grace of
God shall
be his constant comfort.
5-8 There is a people in the world that fear
God's name. There
is a heritage
Peculiar to that people; present comforts in the
soul, earnests of future bliss. Those that fear
God have enough
in him, and must not complain. We need desire
No better heritage
than that of those who fear
God. Those abide to good purpose in
this world, who abide before
God, serve him, and walk in his
fear; those who do
So, shall abide before him for ever. And
these words are to be applied to Him of whom the
Angel said, the
Lord shall give unto him the
Throne of his
Father David, and of
his kingdom there shall be
No End, Lu 1:32.
God's promises,
and our
Faith in them, are not to do away, but to encourage
Prayer. We need not desire to be better secured than under the
protection of
God's
Mercy and
Truth. And if we partake of that
Grace and
Truth which came
By Jesus Christ, we may praise him,
whatever be our outward circumstances. But renewed experience of
God's
Mercy and
Truth towards his people in
Christ, is the main
matter of our joy in him, and our praise unto him.