Be not a terror unto me: Thou art my hope in the day of evil.
Divine wrath an object of fear
I. The petition.
1. God’s majesty is in itself an object of fear and dread (Hebrews 12:21; Isaiah 6:5; Habakkuk 3:16; Hosea 3:5).
2. Divine chastisements are to be feared (Jeremiah 10:24; Psalms 6:1; Job 9:34).
3. God’s wrath is still more dreadful.
4. The prophet prays for support and comfort in the time of trial.
II. The expression of confidence.
1. The grace exercised is hope.
(1) God is the object of His people’s hope (Psalms 71:5; Psalms 78:5).
(2) God is the end of their hope. They need no more (Psalms 16:11; Psalms 17:15).
2. The time when this grace is exercised. “Day of evil.”
(1) Sin and sorrow make every day an evil day; stiff let us hope (Psalms 62:8; Psalms 71:14).
(2) Yet there are peculiar days of evil. National calamity; reverses in business; disappointments; affliction; old age (Psalms 73:26; 2 Timothy 1:12).
Learn--
1. That hopes and fears are blended together in the experience of the godly (Psalms 147:11).
2. If God is sometimes a terror to His own people, how much more to the wicked? (B. Beddome, M. A.)