Treasury of David Volume 2 by Charles Spurgeon - scotknight

Psalm 42 15But for that severer anguish,When I hear the Lord defamed."Where is now thy God!" Oh, aid me,Lord of mercy, to reply—"He is HERE—though foes invade me,Know his outstretched arm is nigh."Help me thus to be victorious,While the shield of faith I take;Lord, appear, and make thee glorious:Help me for thy honour's sake.—Henry March.Verse 4. When I remember these things, etc. To a person in misery it is a greatincrease of misery to have been once happy: it was to David an occasion ofnew tears when he remembered his former joys. Time was, says the poor soul,when I thought of God with comfort, and when I thought of him as my ownGod; and to lose a God that I once enjoyed is the loss of all my losses, and ofall my terrors the most terrible. Time was when I could go and pray to him, andease myself in prayer; but now I have no boldness, no hope, no success inprayer. I cannot call him my Father any more. Time was when I could read theBible and treasure up the promises, and survey the land of Canaan as my owninheritance; but now I dare not look into the Word lest I read my owncondemnation there. The Sabbath was formerly to me as one of the days ofheaven, but now it is also, as well as the rest, a sad and mournful day. Iformerly rejoiced in the name of Christ, "I sat under his shadow." So 2:3. I wasin his eyes as one that found favour; but now my soul is like the deserts ofArabia, I am scorched with burning heat. From how great a height have Ifallen! How fair was I once for heaven and for salvation, and now am like tocome short of it! I once was flourishing in the courts of the Lord, and now allmy fruit is blasted and withered away: "his dew lay all night upon my branches,"but now I am like the mountains of Gilboa, no rain falls upon me. Had I neverheard of heaven I could not have been so miserable as I now am: had I neverknown God, the loss of him had not been so terrible as now it is like to be. Job29:2-3. Timothy Rogers.Verse 4. (first clause). The blessedness of even the remembrance of divineworship is so great, that it can save the soul from despair. J. P. Lange'sCommentary.Verse 4. I pour out my soul. The very soul of prayer lies in the pouring out ofthe soul before God. Thomas Brooks.