How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
How long shall I take (literally, put) counsel in my soul? - when thou, the Counsellor (Isaiah 9:6), couldest suggest one to ensure immediate deliverance. Hopeless perplexity is described, wherein the believer now thinks of one plan, now of another, and finally gives up all as being all alike of no avail. Such was David's state when, hunted "like a partridge upon the mountains," he sought refuge at one time in the caves and hills, at another among the Moabites, at another among the Philistines; and at last, brought to his wits' ends, he despondingly said, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul" (1 Samuel 27:1). Nor was the outward affliction his chief trouble: the most bitter drop in his cup was the seeming indifference of God to his pain-the "hiding" of his heavenly Father's "face" from him (Psalms 13:1).