THE COMFORT OF THE RIGHTEOUS

This is one of the eight psalms assigned by inspiration to the time of the persecution of David by Saul, and to the fugitive days of David when in the cave of Adullam. The first four verses are a Cry in Danger. Twice the word “cried” is used, vv. 1, 5. The nature of David’s cry is found in the word “supplication”, which here means a prayer for grace or mercy. He gives two reasons for his calling upon God.

The first of these is his distress—his spirit was overwhelmed within him. For him it is an hour of great dejection. In the second half of the psalm, he will say, “refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul … I am brought very low”, vv. 4-6. Such dejection has been the experience of many Christians; take courage, there is deliverance. The second reason is his trust in the divine omniscience—“thou knewest my path”, v. 3. Nothing of this is hidden from God’s loving eye.

The second half of the psalm is a Cry for Deliverance, vv. 5-7. This man will triumph. Already he has set over against his despondency the fact that the Lord knows his path. He has claimed that no man cared for his soul, so he calls on God for his refuge. Brought low, he says to God, “deliver me”. In these dark days, we should set over against our problems and perplexities the sure and certain facts about our God.

So the song ends in triumph, and he finds himself surrounded by the righteous. The opposite picture is found in Habakkuk 1. 4. There, where justice is not executed, where corruption is prevalent, and strife and violence abound, “the wicked doth compass about the righteous”. The existing low moral and spiritual state of Habakkuk’s nation would bring the “bitter and hasty nation”, the Chaldeans, into their land to take them into captivity. A similarly hostile use of the word is found in Psalm 22. 12. There the Sufferer looks out on His enemies by whom He is surrounded. “Many bulls have compassed me”, He says. Their hatred shown to Him was vividly described: “They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion”, v. 13. Here, however, in Psalm 142 the psalmist is compassed by the righteous who sympathize with his cause. An excellent N.T. illustration is found in 1 Corinthians 12. 26.