Verse 169. "Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word."

"Let my cry come near thee, O LORD." He uses a figure of speech and personifies his prayer. We may picture his prayer as Esther, venturing into the royal presence, entreating an audience, and begging to find favour in the sight of the blessed and only Potentate. It is a very sweet thing to a suppliant when he knows of a surety that his prayer has obtained audience, when it has trodden the sea of glass before the throne, and has come even to the footstool of the glorious seat around which heaven and earth adore. It is to Jehovah that this prayer is expressed with trembling earnestness - our translators, filled with holy reverence, translate the word, "O LORD." We crave audience of none else, for we have confidence in none beside. "Give me understanding according to thy word." This is the prayer about which the Psalmist is so exceedingly anxious. With all his gettings he would get understanding, and whatever he misses he is resolved not to miss this priceless boon. He desires spiritual light and understanding, as it is promised in God's word, as it proceeds from God's word, and as it produces obedience to God's word. He pleads as though he had no understanding whatever of his own, and asks to have one given to him. "Give me understanding." To understand spiritual things is the gift of God. To have a judgment enlightened by heavenly light and conformed to divine truth is a privilege which only grace can give. Many a man who is accounted wise after the manner of this world is a fool according to the word of the Lord. May we be among those happy children who shall all be taught of the Lord!

Verse 170. "Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word."

"Let my supplication come before thee." It is the same entreaty with a slight change of words. He humbly calls his cry a supplication, a sort of beggar's petition; and again he asks for audience and for answer. There might be hindrances in the way to an audience, and he begs for their removal.

Verse 171. "My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes."

He will not always be pleading for himself, he will rise above all selfishness, and render thanks for the benefit received. He promises to praise God when he has obtained practical instruction in the life of godliness: this is something to praise for, no blessing is more precious. David would not be silent in his gratitude, but he would express it in appropriate terms: his lips would utter what his life had practised. Eminent disciples were wont to speak well of the master who instructed them; and this holy man, when taught the statutes of the Lord, promises to give all the glory to him to whom it is due.

Verse 172. "My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteous."

"My tongue shall speak of thy word." When he had done singing he began preaching. God's tender mercies are such that they may be either said or sung. When the tongue speaks of God's word it has a most fruitful subject; such speaking will be as a tree of life, whose leaves shall be for the healing of the people. Men shall gather together to listen to such talk, and they will treasure it up in their hearts. The worst of us is, that for the most part we are full of our own words, and speak but little of God's word. Oh, that we could come to the same resolve as this godly man, and say henceforth, "My tongue shall speak of thy word"! Then should we break through our sinful silence; we should be true witnesses for Jesus. It is not only of God's works that we are to speak, but of his word. We may extol its truth, its wisdom, its preciousness, its grace, its power; and then we may tell of all it has revealed, all it has promised, all it has commanded, and all it has effected. The subject gives us plenty sea-room; we may speak on for ever: the tale is for ever telling, yet untold. "For all thy commandments are righteousness." He has said aforetime (verse138), "Thy testimonies are righteous," but here he declares that they are righteousness itself. The law of God is not only the standard of right, but it is the essence of righteousness. This the Psalmist affirms of each and every one of the precepts without exception. He felt like Paul - "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good."

Verse 173. "Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts."

"Let thine hand help me." Give me practical succour. Do not entrust me to my friends or to thy friends, but put thine own hand to the work. Thy hand has both skill and power, readiness and force: display all these qualities on my behalf. The prayer reminds us of Peter walking on the sea and beginning to sink; he, too, cried, "Lord, save me," and the hand of his Master was stretched out for his rescue. "For I have chosen thy precepts." A good argument. A man may fitly ask help from God's hand when he has dedicated his own hand entirely to the obedience of the faith.

Verse 174. "I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight."

Verse 175. "Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me."

"And it shall praise thee." It shall praise thee for life, for new life, for eternal life, for thou art the Lord and Giver of life. The more it shall live, the more it shall praise, and when it shall live in perfection it shall praise thee in perfection. Spiritual life is prayer and praise.

Verse 176. "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments."

This is the finale, the conclusion of the whole matter: "I have gone astray like a lost sheep" - often, wilfully, wantonly, and even hopelessly but for thine interposing grace. In times gone by, before I was afflicted, and before thou hadst fully taught me thy statutes, I went astray. "I went astray" from the practical precepts, from the instructive doctrines, and from the heavenly experiences which thou hadst set before me. I lost my road, and I lost myself. Even now I am apt to wander, and, in fact, have roamed already; therefore, Lord, restore me. "Seek thy servant." He was not like a dog, that somehow or other can find its way back; but he was like a lost sheep, which goes further and further away from home; yet still he was a sheep, and the Lord's sheep, his property, and precious in his sight, and therefore he hoped to be sought in order to be restored. However far he might have wandered he was still not only a sheep, but God's "servant", and therefore he desired to be in his Master's house again, and once more honoured with commissions for his Lord. Had he been only a lost sheep he would not have prayed to be sought; but being also a "servant", he had the power to pray. He cries, "Seek thy servant", and he hopes not only to be sought, but forgiven, accepted, and taken into work again by his gracious Master. Notice this confession; many times in the psalm David has defended his own innocence against foul-mouthed accusers; but when he comes into the presence of the Lord his God, he is ready enough to confess his transgressions. His argument is a forcible one, - "for I do not forget thy commandments. " That man cannot be utterly lost whose heart is still with God. If he be gone astray in many respects, yet still, if he be true in his soul's inmost desires, he will be found again, and fully restored. Yet let the reader remember the first verse of the psalm while he reads the last: the major blessedness lies not in being restored from wandering, but in being upheld in a blameless way even to the end. Be it ours to keep the crown of the causeway, never leaving the King's highway for By-path Meadow, or any other flowery path of sin. May the Lord uphold us even to the end. Yet even then we shall not be able to boast with the Pharisee, but shall still pray with the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner"; and with the Psalmist, "Seek thy servant."

Let the last prayer of David in this Psalm be ours as we close this book and lift our hearts to the Chief Shepherd of the sheep. Amen.