There is nothing like the trials of life to constrain to prayer; and no prayers are so full of deep meaning as those forced out by such trials. There is no reason for doubting the Davidic authorship of this psalm. It well accords with some known episodes in his experience, and is just such an appeal to the great Judge of all the earth as he might be expected to make when unjustly accused; specially when accused of evil in the very direction in which he had most strikingly restrained himself therefrom. But what a mercy that the true believer has such a God to whom he can flee, and that he can feel assured that, however unjust man may be, there is ever one tribunal high above all the people, at which absolute justice will be done I life believer can possibly find out all that God is to him till he has thus to flee to his throne for refuge from the storm. Let wronged and slandered Christians study the method and words of an Old Testament psalmist under circumstances to which their own are somewhat analogous.

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THIS PSALM WAS WRITTEN ARE CLEARLY INDICATED. Four features mark them.

1. A fierce enemy is raging against the writer. One fierce as the wild beasts against which, as a shepherd, he had had to defend his flock (ver. 2).

2. Charges of evil-doing are made against him. The tone of the third verse indicates this, although we have no means of knowing who the "Cush" might be that brought forward these charges. It is no uncommon thing for good men to find themselves the victims of false accusations. Such accusations, however false, will do injury, since

(1) some one or other will be sure to believe them, even in the absence of proof; and

(2) no man can prove a negative, i.e. he cannot show what he has not done. This rule, that no one is expected to prove a negative, holds good in logic, and it ought to be regarded in other departments also; but, unfortunately, people are not as careful as they should be about screening another's reputation. Unspeakable distress may thereby be occasioned to innocent men.

3. The psalmist knows these charges are false; and therefore, though appeal to man is vain, he can and does appeal to God (vers. 3, 4).

4. Notwithstanding this, his enemy's rage is actually threatening his life. (See ver. 2.) It is bad to plot against life; it is equally bad to poison a man's reputation; yea, worse. Let those who are slandered read such psalms as this over and over again, that they may see how the saints of old were tried in like manner, and what was the course they pursued.

II. UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES, THE RELIEVER MAKES GOD HIS REFUGE. (See ver. 1, Revised Version margin, "In thee do I take refuge.") While the storm is raging without, the believer is hiding in his God. "Thou wilt hide me in thy presence from the pride of man; thou wilt keep me secretly in thy pavilion from the strife of tonsures." The attributes of God, which are a terror to the wicked, are the shelter of the righteous.

1. God's righteousness. (Ver. 11.)

2. His searching the reins and hearts. (Ver. 9.)

3. His commanding judgment, either in the way of precept, by laws which may not be slighted, or in the way of administration, by chastisements which cannot be evaded. Even so these features of the Divine character and administration are the joy of injured innocence (ver. 10, "My shield is with God," Revised Version). And in a case like this, the saint can say, in faith, hope, and love, "O Lord my God?' To know this - that God is ours - and that sooner or later he will set us right, is of incalculable value in such sore distresses.

III. IT IS WELL IF IN SUCH CASES THE PLEADING ONE CAN ASSERT BEFORE GOD HIS OWN INTEGRITY. The third, fourth, and fifth verses ought not to be regarded either as assertion of perfect righteousness, nor yet as the utterances of conceit; nor should we be warranted in regarding even the eighth verse as an indication of self-righteousness. Not by any means. Let us take the psalm for what it manifestly is, and all is clear. It is the appeal of a slandered man to God; it is the appeal of one who knows that, so far as the charges of his enemy are concerned, he is innocent (cf. 1 Samuel 24., 26.), and that therefore he may with confidence refer his case to the tribunal which is infinitely above those of earth (Psalm 18:18-24). Note: There is a very wide difference between the self-righteousness which regards itself as blameless before God, and the conscious integrity which can look any man in the face without flinching. Of the former the psalmist had none (cf. Psalm 25:7, 11; Psalm 143:2). It would be wicked to pretend innocence before God; but, in a case like the psalmist's, it would be unmanly not to assert it before men. Cromwell said, "I know that God is above all ill reports, and that he will in his own time vindicate me."

IV. UNDER SUCH PRESSURE FROM WITHOUT THE PRAYER IS DIRECT, POINTED, AND CLEAR. The psalmist does not deem it needful to cover the whole ground of possible prayer on each occasion. He lays the burden of the moment before God, and leaves it there. His petitions are fivefold.

1. Arise, O Lord! (Ver. 6.)

2. Save me! (Ver. 1.)

3. Vindicate me! (Ver. 8.)

4. Bring wickedness to an end! (Ver. 9.)

5. Establish the just! (Ver. 9.)

Note: When the heart is overweighted with sorrow and anxiety, let us always tell our God exactly the state of the case. We need not go over all points of religion or theology in every prayer; let us just tell God the matter of immediate pressure (cf. Psalm 142:2; Psalm 34:4, 6; Philippians 4:6, 7). Such petitions as are forced out by sorrow may be sent up in all loving confidence to our Father in heaven. He will excuse all their mistakes, and answer them in the fulness of love.

V. THERE IS INDICATED A FULL ASSURANCE OF GOD'S APPEARING FOR JUDGMENT. We do not now refer to "the last judgment," but to those judgments which are often manifest in the providence of God (cf. Isaiah 26:9, latter part). And he who studies history, and observes the times with a view to watching the movements of God in the world, will find abundant illustration of the two features of a perpetual judgment which has long been, still is, and yet will be, going forward in the world; and that in two directions.

1. As regards the wicked.

(1) God is angry every day; his holy indignation ever goes forth against sin. There is no feature of human life more striking than the sorrow and misery which follow on sin.

(2) God sends forth his arrows, yea, fiery arrows (ver. 13).

(3) The evil which bad men devise against others often comes back on their own head (vers. 15, 16). Many a Haman hangs on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.

2. As regards the righteous. "Who sayeth them that are upright of heart" (ver. 10). Even so. The whole of the thirty-seventh psalm is an exposition of this fact, and the seventy-third psalm is an illustration of it. Observation and experience will perpetually furnish new proofs of the same. "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even he shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.' - C.

This psalm, like many others, refers to a time of trial. The key-note may, perhaps, be found in ver. 1, "In thee." When trouble comes we naturally look out from ourselves for help. Some lean upon friends; others cry for a favourable change of circumstances; while others again preach patience to themselves, in the hope that somehow deliverance will come. But only by trusting in God can we find real help; he is the Adullam, the true Refuge of the soul. "In thee." Here is -

I. RESCUE FROM SIN. When the paralytic was let down in the midst of the people before our Lord, his first word to him was, "Thy sins are lop, yen thee." He needed healing, but he more sorely needed deliverance from sin. And so it is with us. Troubles may press heavily on the soul, but the first and chief thing is to be made right with God. Let this be done, and then we can bear the ills of life with patience, and face the future without fear (Psalm 143:9).

II. REFUGE FROM SOCIAL OPPRESSIONS. Foes may be many and fierce; their tongues may be as sharp swords, and their malice unrelenting. Much that they speak against us may be false and calumnious; much more may be cruel perversions of the truth; but so long as we are able to rest in God, we are safe. He is just; he is the true Vindicator; he will not only defend us, but deliver us. Like Job, we can say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" (Job 19:25).

III. REST AMIDST THE CONFUSIONS AND MISERIES OF THE WORLD. Evil abounds. We often feel constrained to cry, with the gentle Cowper ?

"My ear is pain'd,
My soul is sick with every day's report
Of wrong and outrage with which earth is fill'd." What then? How little can we do in the way of remedy! We can feel grief; we can express sympathy; we can try, as we have opportunity, to lessen human woe; we can bear our part in the great business of confession, humbling ourselves before the Lord for the sins of others as well as our own. There may be no result. Things may even seem to grow worse; but in the darkest hour we can cry, "Our Father... deliver us from evil;" and take comfort from the thought that not only is God "our Father," but that his are "the kingdom and the power and the glory." "In thee:" here is hope for the sinner, and comfort for the saint. "In thee:" here is defence for the weak, and inspiration for the worker, and a bright future for all who long and labour for the advancement of truth and righteousness (Isaiah 26:20, 21; Revelation 19:6). - W.F.

An earnest appeal to God to save him from the wickedness of men who would requite him with evil for the good he had done in sparing Saul's life. The charge against him probably was that he still sought the life of Saul; and they plotted against his life. In the midst of this wrong and danger, what was his resource?

I. TRUST IN GOD. Not in counter-plotting against his enemies, nor neglecting the use of means for his own safety; but faith in the all-controlling providence of God.

II. A LOFTY CONSCIOUSNESS OF INNOCENCE. (Vers. 3-5.) Nothing can give such confidence in a righteous God as the consciousness of righteousness in ourselves. We cannot pray for Divine help if we regard iniquity in our heart.

III. IN "IS BLAMELESSNESS HE APPEALS TO GOD FOR JUDGMENT BETWEEN HIM AND HIS ENEMIES. (Vers. 6-9.) He calls upon God to "arise," "to lift himself up," "to awake," to exert his mightiest power in doing justice to both sides.

IV. GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS GIVES HIM HOPE THAT THE OVERTHROW OF HIS ENEMIES IS NEAR. (Vers. 10-13.) God's justice is a manifest present fact, not deferred. "He judgeth the righteous, and is angry with the wicked every day." The overthrow may come at any moment.

V. THE OVERTHROW HAS ALREADY BEGUN, AND THIS GIVES HIM CONFIDENCE AND GRATITUDE. "Is fallen into the ditch which he made" Deliverance is come, therefore "I will sing praise to the Name of the Lord most high." But he did not see this so clearly before. Experience opens our eyes. - S.

If I have done this.

I. TRUE INNOCENCE IS MARKED BY HUMILITY. David is bold before men, but humble before God. Why? There is the sense that innocence is limited and imperfect. We may be free from particular sins, and yet be guilty in others. Besides, innocence is but comparative. Measured by the standard of men, we may be without offence, but tried by the holy, spiritual Law of God, we are convicted of innumerable sins, and behind all is a sinful heart.

II. ASSOCIATED WITH MERCY. "Yea, I have delivered him" (ver. 4). So David dealt gently with Saul. His magnanimous sparing of him when he was in his power was no mere impulse, but the free outcome of his loving and generous heart. The merciful, whom our Lord has blessed, are placed between those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" and "the pure in heart," who see God.

III. APPEALS WITH CONFIDENCE TO THE JUDGMENT OF GOD. The sense of right prophesies of the triumph of right. Having faith in the justice of God, we can leave all in his hands; and, loving him and assured of his love toward us, we can patiently await the end, knowing that all things shall work together for our good. - W.F.