Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
David depressed
I. David was at this time in a state of great trouble. This is the children’s path; it is the path most of God’s family walk in. It is not an uncommon path. The Master trod the path before them, and told His people to expect tribulation. In this Psalm we see affliction in every variety. David traces his afflictions up to his sins (Psalms 25:18). All sin is the cause of suffering. If no sin, no suffering. If no body there would be no shadow. There may have been some searching out of peculiar sins. Times of affliction are usually times of deep searching of heart.
II. David was at this time depressed. The very expression “lift up” implies a previous casting down. Verse 16, he says, “I am desolate and afflicted.” The believer, compared with the unbeliever, is a strong man; he must needs be strong. But the strongest is not always strong. All borrowed strength is of necessity strength that fluctuates. Creature strength is dependent strength, and therefore it is but comparative weakness. Faith’s wing does not always soar aloft; love does not always burn brightly. Unbelief always weakens. David looked to his troubles and was depressed. In our afflictions there are two especial dangers--that of despising them, as if they came fortuitously; and the danger of being encumbered and weighed down by them, looking at the circumstances, and not at the God of the circumstances.
III. David betakes himself to his remedy. The believer has but one remedy. The world talks of its many remedies, but all are ineffective. A general view of God, in the power of faith and by the power of the Holy Ghost, lifts up the soul. Nothing so lifts us up against soul trouble as when we are enabled to say, “O my God, I trust in Thee.” Is there anything above God’s promises? Yes, God Himself is above His promises, and the very substance of them. Our trust is in Him. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
The nature of true prayer
This opening sentence is as if David had said, “Let others lift up their souls to vanity, I will dare to be singular, I will lift up my soul to Thee.” Holy resolution, blessed determination.
I. The realisation and recognition of the presence of God.
II. The abstraction from the influences of the world. “I will lift up my soul.”
III. The consecration and concentration of all the energies of the man. The consecration willing and loving. If the soul be lifted up all the powers are so.
IV. The results of such lifting up of the soul. We shall be--
1. Transported with the Divine nearness.
2. Transformed into the Divine likeness.
3. Translated into the Divine presence now and hereafter. (F. W. Brown.)
Uplifting the soul
It is not easy to do this. “My soul cleaveth unto the dust.” We may lift up hands and eyes and voices, but it is another thing to uplift the soul. Yet without this there is no real devotion. And the Christian will be no more satisfied than God. This marks the spiritual worshipper. He may have failed in words, but his soul has been lifted up to God. And the spirituality of religion is its enjoyment. It is good to draw near to God. Then we attend on the Lord without distraction. And when such a worshipper comes forth he will recommend Christ to others, and that not without effect. For his profiting will appear unto all men. His face shines. His heart speaks. His life speaks. His character speaks. He cannot but do good, even without design and without effort. (W. Jay.)
The uplift of the soul in prayer
Gotthold, in his Emblems, says, “Doves have been trained to fly from place to place, carrying letters in a basket fastened to their necks or feet. They are swift of flight; but our prayers and sighs are swifter, for they take but a moment to pass from earth to heaven, and bear the troubles of our heart to the heart of God. These messengers no hostile force can detain; they penetrate the clouds, never linger on the way, and never desist until the Most High attends. A tyrant may shut up a godly man in the deepest dungeon, immure him between massive walls, and forbid him all intercourse with his fellow men, but these messengers he cannot restrain; in defiance of all obstacles they report to the Omniscient the affliction of the victim, and bring back to him the Divine consolation.”
The lifting up of the soul to God
The names which he gives God are Jehovah and Elohim--the first taken from His nature, the other from His power; and he applieth them to himself, my strong Gods, including the persons of the Trinity. He leadeth us to God in our prayers, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? He that cometh to God must believe that God is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
1. First, He must love thee, and then He will defend thee. Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. Those are foolish who seek His protection, not first having assurance of His love. If He be to thee Jehovah, then shall He also be to thee Elohim. His prayer is signified by his circumscription, “I lift up my soul to Thee”; and his faith, “I trust in Thee.” What is prayer but a lifting up of the heart to God, for the heart must first be affected, and then it will frame all the members of the body, and draw them up with it. Whereby it appeareth that there is no prayer or spiritual service acceptable to God but that which comes and is derived from the heart, “My son, give Me thy heart” Ye are praying, but your heart is as the eye of the fool everywhere. Sometimes ye are thinking of the earth, sometimes of your pleasure, sometimes sleeping, sometimes ye know not what ye are thinking. And sometimes your voice is repeating some idle and deaf sounds, your heart no whir being moved, but as a parrot, uttering uncertain sounds, or a bell, sounding it knows not what; so are ye with your mouth praising God, your heart being absented from Him.
2. Next, his faith is not carried about hither and thither, but only fixeth itself upon God.
3. Thirdly, the lifting up of the heart presupposeth a former dejection of his soul. (A. Symson.)
Phases of a pious soul
I. A pious soul rising to God. An indication of the true elevation of man; what is it?
1. The elevation of the soul, that is, the rational and spiritual nature, that which was the divinity within him.
2. It is the elevation of the soul to God. The soul going up in devout thought, in holy gratitude, in sublime adoration, in moral assimilation to the Infinite Jehovah.
3. It is the elevation of the soul to God by personal exertion. No man can lift up my soul for me.
II. A pious soul trusting in God. “O my God, I trust in Thee.” What does trust in the Lord imply?
1. A sense of dependency in the truster.
2. A belief in the sufficiency of the trusted.
III. A pious soul waiting upon God. “On Thee do I wait all the day.”
1. To wait means patience.
2. To wait means hope.
3. To wait means service.
IV. A pious soul praying to God. “Let none that wait on Thee be ashamed.” The prayer, from Psalms 25:3-7, falls into two divisions.
1. Prayer for self.
(1) Prayer respecting Divine deliverance.
(2) Prayer respecting Divine guidance.
(3) Prayer respecting Divine remembrance.
2. Prayer for others.
(1) For success to the good.
(2) For defeat to the wicked. (Homilist.)