Psalms 119:25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust:
«It sticks to it as though it were glued to it; my soul cannot be lifted up, at least by myself, out of its sadness, and its earthiness.» The psalmist was not one who could boast of perfection. He had to lament that the earth, which was in him by nature, made even his soul cleave to mother earth. He did not like it; he was not content that it should be so, and therefore he breathed this prayer:
Psalms 119:25. Quicken thou me according to thy word.
«Lord, there is nothing but life that can bring me up out of the dust, for death lurks in the dust, and the duel tends to death. Put life into me, Lord, thy life, the divine life. Thou hast promised to do this, therefore, do it, Lord, ‘according to thy word.'» That is a prayer which is always sure to succeed, for it is based upon the promise of God. Hath the Lord promised anything? Then he will surely perform it; and you cannot use a better argument in prayer than to say to him, «Do as thou hast said;» or, as the psalmist puts it, «Quicken thou me according to thy Lord.»
Psalms 119:26. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me:
«I have made a full confession to thee, my God. I have owned my fault wherein I was wrong, and I have thanked thee for thy grace given to me in anything wherein I was right.»
Psalms 119:26. Teach me thy statutes.
«O Lord, let me not have such a sorry tale to tell again. If my copy of thy handwriting has been badly written, set it for me afresh, I pray thee: ‘Teach me thy statutes.'»
Psalms 119:27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts:
«Let me know, O Lord, what the way of thy precept is; get me into that way; and then, oh help me to keep in it all my life!»
Psalms 119:27. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
A man never talks rightly of God's works till he knows God's ways, and it is idle to talk of them if there is no doing at the back of the talking; so the psalmist prays, «Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.» To preach, and not practice, is very bad preaching; but first to understand the way of the Lord, then to run in it, and then to speak of it, this is well.
Psalms 119:28. My soul melteth for heaviness:
The Hebrew word is «droppeth.» The psalmist's soul was like water dripping from the eaves of a house in time of rain. There are two sorts of sorrow, the sorrow that rushes like a mighty torrent, and the sorrow, which is perhaps the worse of the two, which goes drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, like the constant dripping which wears away stones, and which makes even the boldest heart to feel the attrition: «My soul melteth, dissolveth, droppeth, drippeth for heaviness:»
Psalms 119:28. Strengthen thou me
The psalmist does not ask to have the trouble removed; but he prays, «Help me to bear it.» Whenever there is a thing that is hard, the right way to get through it is to get something that is still harder. If God will give us an adequate supply of his grace, hard times will not wear us away. So the psalmist prays, «Strengthen thou me»
Psalms 119:28. According unto thy word.
See how he clings to that expression, «according unto thy word.» He knows the power of that argument, and therefore he uses it again and again.
Psalms 119:29. Remove from me the way of lying:
«Do not let me fall into any untrue habits. Do not let me profess to have had an experience which I have never felt, or talk about holy things of which I know nothing experimentally. Keep me from everything that has any trace of falsehood in it.»
Psalms 119:29. And grant me thy law graciously.
«For thy law is truth, and when thy grace brings thy law home to my heart, all that is false will be banished from me.»
Psalms 119:30. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
«I have laid them before me as a man puts his model in front of him that he may work to it.» It is well for us to have God's way and God's judgments always before our eyes, that we may be duly impressed and rightly guided by them.
Psalms 119:31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies:
Just now, the psalmist said that his soul stuck to the earth; yet, at the same time, he was sticking to God's testimonies, for every good man is two men. There is a new-birth-man who sticks to God's testimonies, and there is that old carnal nature in us which cleaves to the dust.
Psalms 119:31-32. O Lord, put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
That is, «When thou shalt give me liberty of heart, then I will run in the way of thy commandments. When the impediments are removed, when the sin, which doth so easily entangle me, is taken away, then will I run with delight in the way of thy commandments.