---

I. AS EXPRESSING A DEEP CONCERN ABOUT SALVATION AND AN EARNEST DESIRE TO OBTAIN IT. He not only cherishes a lively aversion to all that stings him with remorse, or that fills him with alarm; he mourns also the loss of those positive blessings of which his apostasy has deprived him, and thirsts for their recovery.

II. The true penitent being thus awakened to a sense of his need of salvation, and to unfeigned and anxious concern about obtaining it, HE APPLIES FOR IT TO ALMIGHTY GOD. "Save me, O Lord." The nature and exigency of his situation compel him to have recourse to God as alone able to deliver him. The Divine mercy exhibited in the Gospel encourages him to put his confidence in God, as perfectly willing to bestow the deliverance he is so anxious to attain. Every new proof that he discovers of God's kindness gives him a more forcible impression of the heinousness of his guilt and of the folly of his conduct, and shows him still more clearly how much he must lose by remaining in a state of alienation and impenitence, and thus adds a fresh and double impulse to the anxiety that he feels, and the desire that he cherishes, for pardon and reconciliation.

III. THE TRUE PENITENT APPLIES TO GOD FOR SALVATION THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF PRAYER. "Save me, O Lord." The moment that the sinner feels the real burden of his transgressions, and is made fully sensible of his need of Divine mercy, that moment he as naturally, and as necessarily, cries to God, for the requisite communications, as the hungry child craves bread from its bountiful parent, or as the condemned criminal supplicates pardon from his compassionate sovereign. And the penitent transgressor not only feels his heart naturally lifted up to God in prayer, when convinced that it is He from whom cometh his aid, he also applies in that way, in conformity to the Divine institution. He knows that prayer is the appointed method of seeking for and of obtaining the blessings of salvation.

IV. THE CONFIDENCE WHICH THE TRUE PENITENT FEELS, THAT IF THE SALVATION WHICH HE ASKS BE GRANTED, IT WILL BE ALTOGETHER SUCH AS HIS CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRE, AND SUCH AS WILL MORE THAN GRATIFY HIS UTMOST WISHES. It is as if the penitent said to God whom he is addressing, "Were any other being to undertake my salvation, I should not be saved. There would be some imperfection in the achievement. It would be an attempt, but not attended with success. But if Thou Thyself save me, I shall be saved indeed. There will be no feebleness in the purpose; no inadequacy in the power; no deficiency in the means; no failure in the result. The perfection of Thy nature must reign in all Thy works; and that provides a security that nothing can occur to frustrate or to impair the work of my salvation."

(A. Thomson, D. D.)

---

---

KJV: Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

WEB: Heal me, O Yahweh, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise.