1To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock: Do not be silent to me,
Lest, if You are silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
2Hear the voice of my supplications
When I cry to You,
When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
3Do not take me away with the wicked
And with the workers of iniquity,
Who speak peace to their neighbors,
But evil is in their hearts.
4Give them according to their deeds,
And according to the wickedness of their endeavors;
Give them according to the work of their hands;
Render to them what they deserve.
5Because they do not regard the works of the Lord,
Nor the operation of His
hands,
He shall destroy them
And not build them up.
6Blessed be the Lord,
Because He has heard the voice
of my supplications!
7The Lord is my strength and
my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I
am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly
rejoices,
And with my song I will praise
Him.
8The Lord is their strength,
And He is the saving refuge of
His anointed.
9Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever.
Commentary
Vs.
1-2
1To You I will cry,
O Lord my Rock: Do not be silent
to me,
Lest, if You are silent to me,
I become like those who go
down to the pit.
2Hear the voice of my supplications
When I cry to You,
When I lift up my hands toward
Your holy sanctuary.
This psalm is a plea for help, and it begins by crying out to the Lord and confessing Him as our Lord and Rock upon whom we stand firm and look to stand strong against the waves and floods of ungodliness and wickedness yes, but also our own formidable troubles and fears. Therefore, the cry goes out to God to hear us, to not be silent to us, lest we be like those who go down to the pit; a reference to all the wicked who never knew God or wanted to know Him. Instead, here there is a heartfelt plea for God to hear our cries, to judge our case and cause, to not be silent to us, to not give us over to Judgment, because our prayers and supplications are being done in seeking and reverent faith, symbolized here by the lifting of our hands towards His Holy Sanctuary, which is in heaven.
Vs. 3 “Do not take me away with the wicked
And with the workers of
iniquity,
Who speak peace to their
neighbors,
But evil is in their hearts.”
Do not then take me away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity, people who feign friendship with a cunning smile, who speak peace to their neighbors, while evil (evil plots) are in their hearts against us.
Vs. 4 “Give them according to their deeds,
And according to the wickedness
of their endeavors;
Give them according to the
work of their hands;
Render to them what they
deserve.”
Therefore, Lord give them all that they deserve, repay all of their deeds, repay them all according to the wickedness of their endeavors, give them according to the work of their hands, render to them what they deserve. For there is neither fear of God, nor any faith in God in them, therefore they do whatever they want without any regard for You.
Vs.
5
“Because they do not regard the works of the Lord,
Nor the operation of His
hands,
He shall destroy them
And not build them up.”
In making our prayers and supplications to God, in confessing our faith and trust in Him, we now have a strong sense that God’s Person, His Eternal Truth and Justice always prevails, for the Lord will always do justly, He never fails, He will deal with them all, and because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor do they consider the operation of His hands. Therefore, He shall destroy them and not build them up. Their end shall then be fully accomplished and completed by Him (Psalm 11:5-7).
Vs. 6-7 6Blessed be the Lord,
Because He has heard the voice
of my supplications!
7The Lord is my strength and
my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I
am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
And with my song I will praise Him.
From the lows of despair, but now rising to the heights of jubilation, such then is one’s turn-around and confidence when we commit all of our fears and troubles to the Lord. For it is then that He will do His work! And that is what you are seeing here a man whose hope and trust is in the Lord, who knowing the Lord’s goodness towards all who trust in Him cannot now contain his joy in Him! For again the Lord is our strength and shield, He is the One who enables and protects us to do whatever we are called to do each day, thus as we experience that we should always acknowledge His good works in our lives, for as we trust Him (not test Him) we are helped by Him.
And with my song I will praise Him.”
And He is the saving refuge of
His anointed.
9Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever.
Now this is what is so beautiful about the Psalms, though they are always brought to us through one man, they are never exclusively about him, (and here I’m not including prophecies about Christ), for the Words and Works of God declared in the Psalms are given for us all who believe in Him. And that is why he now says that the Lord is their strength, that He is the saving refuge of His anointed (vs. 8), for the Lord’s provisions and protections are not just for David as king, rather all of us who believe in Him and belong to Him, who then have His Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us, thus making us the anointed of God as well, have access to all of God’s Promises with himself. Therefore, as every true and Godly leader does his prayer and concern is not just for himself, but rather here he is first and foremost concerned about all of God’s people, that the Lord save us and that He bless us, for we are His inheritance given to Him by God the Father. Therefore, David’s prayer is that He Shepherd us, for Jesus Christ alone is our Lord and Savior and here our Shepherd who alone can and will bear us up forever (John 10:1-16)!
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.
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