Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
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
Misery moves mercy; no more reasoning is needed. David unbosoms his heart, lays bare his wounds, and when soul and body both sink together, tears draw their salt from our very strength. The Lord at the helm knows how to make storms become the triumph of His art.
AI summary
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