I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
David cries out from the depths of terror, having endured one danger after another, and makes his whole case rest upon trust in the Lord alone. He brings before God nothing but faith, for he understands that hope placed in God cannot possibly be disappointed, and on that confidence alone he builds his prayer for deliverance.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 31:1-24
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. All David's youthful prowess was now gone from remembrance; he had been the saviour of his country, but his services were buried in oblivion. Men soon forget the deepest obligations; popularity is evanescent to the last degree: he who is in every one's mouth today may be forgotten by all tomorrow.
David appeals to God's mercy because he is broken with misery, his soul spent in sorrow, his eyes failing, his bones consumed. He was a man of strength and cheer by nature, yet see what he is brought to: he has almost wept out his eyes and sighed away his breath. Such trouble teaches us that God can make the most cheerful soul melancholy if we will not learn to be serious. In all his affliction he owns his own iniquity as the procuring cause, and confesses what God has justly laid upon him.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 31:9-18