I. This is the cry of the faithful soul overpressed by temptation.
II. It is the sigh of the heart, weary of the strain of spiritual aspiration and effort.
III. It is the cry of a man who is forced to be spectator of a dread conflict.
IV. But man is not only a spectator of the conflict. He is bound to be the servant of the Divine kingdom, and in sympathy with the Lord of the kingdom, to bear all the burden of it on his heart. "Oh that I had wings like a dove!" that I might be loosed from this weary task, and cease to be bound to think and to care for thankless, senseless men.
V. We believe in progress; we believe in the golden pictures of the prophets; we believe in the reign of the Lord Jesus over all hearts, in all worlds. But eyes grow weary with expectation. "Where is the promise of His coming?"
VI. To comfort a man is to make him strong by standing by him. This is our strength to bear, to hope: the Lord is with us.
J. Baldwin Brown, The Higher Life,p. 266.
I. This sigh of David is the sigh of many men. We find it in literature; we find it in our own hearts; it is a part of our life. We get tired of the daily sameness of life. We are tired of the unrelenting past, tired of the dreary present, tired of the uncertain future. We are tired of the weary struggle in our own hearts, the to and fro conflicting witnesses of impulse and repression, broad, rejoicing, sunlit tides of spiritual emotion, leaving behind them the flat, oozing shores of ebbing enthusiasm.
II. This being the fact regarding human life, where is the remedy? The great resource in every perplexity is to look to Christ. He, too, though sinless, was forced to sigh for the sad world of sin and death; but the sigh had scarcely been uttered when once more He was engaged in works of mercy and thoughtful care. For sorrow and disaster, for weariness and discouragement, God has given four great and perfect remedies: (1) action; (2) patience; (3) faith; (4) hope. One day, not far hence, we too shall have the wings of a dove. Though we have lain among earth's sods, yet at death, if we be God's children, we shall all be as the wings of a dove which is covered with silver wings, and whose feathers are like gold.
F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvii., p. 1 (see also Ephphatha,p. 123).
References: Psalms 55:8; Psalms 55:22. Homiletic Magazine,vol. xii., p. 16. Psalms 55:11. A. Fletcher, Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. vii., p. 289. Psalms 55:12; Psalms 55:14. G. Forbes, Voice of God in the Psalms,p. 220.