Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvinwhen the minds of the godly are preoccupied with sorrow, they do not immediately pierce to theconsideration of the secret providence of God, which yet has been before the subject of their carefulmeditation, and the truth of which they bear engraven on their hearts. Although the prophet, then,was persuaded that the dead also are under the Divine protection, yet, in the first paroxysm of hisgrief, he spoke less advisedly than he ought to have done; for the light of faith was, as it were,extinguished in him, although, as we shall see, it soon after shone forth. This it will be highly usefulparticularly to observe, that, should we be at any time weakened by temptation, we may, nevertheless,be kept from falling into despondency or despair.Psalm 88:6-96. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps. 7. Thy indignation liethheavy upon me; and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. 8. Thou hast removed myacquaintances from me: thou hast made me to be abhorred by them: I am shut up that I cannot goforth. 9. My eye mourneth because of my affliction; I invoke thee, O Jehovah! daily: I stretch outmy hands to thee.6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit. The Psalmist now acknowledges more distinctly, thatwhatever adversities he endured proceeded from the Divine hand. Nor indeed will any man sincerelybetake himself to God to seek relief without a previous persuasion that it is the Divine hand whichsmites him, and that nothing happens by chance. It is observable that the nearer the prophetapproaches God the more is his grief embittered; for nothing is more dreadful to the saints than thejudgment of God.Some translate the first clause of the 7th verse, Thy indignation hath approached upon me; andthe Hebrew word , samach, is sometimes to be taken in this sense. But from the scope of thepassage, it must necessarily be understood here, as in many other places, in the sense of to surround,or to lie heavy upon; for when the subject spoken of is a man sunk into a threefold grave, it wouldbe too feeble to speak of the wrath of God as merely approaching him. The translation which I haveadopted is peculiarly suitable to the whole drift of the text. It views the prophet as declaring, thathe sustained the whole burden of God’s wrath; seeing he was afflicted with His waves. Farther, asso dreadful a flood did not prevent him from lifting up his heart and prayers to God, we may learnfrom his example to cast the anchor of our faith and prayers direct into heaven in all the perils ofshipwreck to which we may be exposed.8 Thou hast removed my acquaintances from me. He was now destitute of all human aid, andthat also he attributes to the anger of God, in whose power it is either to bend the hearts of men tohumanity, or to harden them, and render them cruel. This is a point well worthy of our attention;for unless we bear in mind that our destitution of human aid in any case is owing to God’swithdrawing his hand, we agitate ourselves without end or measure. We may indeed justly complainof the ingratitude or cruelty of men whenever they defraud us of the just claims of duty which wehave upon them; but still this will avail us nothing, unless we are thoroughly convinced that God,being displeased with us, takes away the means of help which he had destined for us; just as it iseasy for him, whenever he pleases, to incline the hearts of all men to stretch forth their hand to248