Bible Commentaries

GOD THE HOPE OF THE DESPAIRING

‘Haste Thee, O God, to deliver me.’

Psalms 70:1 (Prayer Book Version)

I. This short psalm is a rushing sob of anxious solicitude.—There is little of restfulness in it. Enemies are engaged in cruel persecution and mockery. It seems as though the Psalmist felt that the strain was becoming too much for him, and in fear lest he should be overcome he cries aloud for God to hasten to his deliverance. The faith of the singer is evident, in that he cries to God, and evidently has no room in his heart for question as to God’s ability to keep him. The only question is as to whether help will arrive in time. It is not the highest type of faith which is revealed, but we are profoundly thankful to find such a song in this great book of religious poetry.

II. Rightly or wrongly we often come to just such places of doubt.—No doubt exists either as to God’s ability or as to His interest in and love for us, but is He not trying us beyond the power of our endurance? He is not; but for moments of terrible tension it seems as though He were. Then here is a psalm for such days or hours. Let us take it and use it, knowing that He would far rather have in our song an expression of an honest faith than any affectation of a confidence not possessed. Moreover, He would rather have from us such a song than silence.

Illustration

‘Are you poor and needy? Nothing could be better. To be thus, constitutes our strongest argument with God. It is the helpless and ailing child that gets most certainly its mother’s care. If there were a fire at night, breaking out in the homestead, the mother’s first thought and effort would be in the direction of her cripple or imbecile child. And if you are poor and needy, you are sure to have God as your Help and Deliverer. And notice, those that seek Him always have reason to rejoice and be glad in Him; and those who love His salvation have cause to magnify Him. Yes, the sweets of Christian living are not reserved for the mature saints alone, but for the sucklings and babes—for those who are nothing in themselves, but find their all in God—whose only desire is that God should be magnified in their body, whether by life or death.’