Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Psalms
Book: Psalms
Chapter: 11
Overview:
David's struggle with, and triumph over a strong
Temptation to
distrust
God, and betake himself to indirect means for his own
safety, in a time of danger.
- Those that truly fear
God and serve him, are welcome to
Put
their trust in him. The psalmist, before he gives an account of
his
Temptation to distrust
God, records his resolution to trust
in Him, as that
By which he was resolved to live and die. The
believer, though not terrified
By his enemies, may be tempted,
By the fears of his friends, to
Desert his
Post, or neglect his
work. They perceive his danger, but not his security; they give
him counsel that savours of worldly policy, rather than of
heavenly
Wisdom. The principles of religion are the foundations
On which the
Faith and
Hope of the righteous are built. We are
concerned to
Hold these
Fast against all temptations to
unbelief; for believers would be undone, if they had not
God to
go to,
God to trust in, and future bliss to
Hope for. The
prosperity of wicked people in their wicked, evil ways, and the
straits and distresses which the best men are sometimes brought
into, tried
David's
Faith. We need not say, Who shall go up to
Heaven, to fetch us thence a
God to trust in? The
Word is nigh
us, and
God in the
Word; his
Spirit is in his saints, those
living temples, and the
Lord is that
Spirit. This
God governs
the world. We may know what men seem to be, but
God knows what
they are, as the
Refiner knows the value of
Gold when he has
tried it.
God is said to try with his eyes, because he cannot
err, or be imposed upon. If he afflicts good people, it is for
their trial, therefore for their good. However persecutors and
oppressors may prosper awhile, they will for ever perish.
God is
a holy
God, and therefore hates them. He is a righteous
Judge,
and will therefore punish them. In what a horrible tempest are
the wicked hurried away at
Death! Every
Man has the portion of
his
Cup assigned him. Impenitent sinner,
Mark your doom! The
last
Call to
Repentance is about to be addressed to you,
judgement is at
Hand; through the gloomy shade of
Death you pass
into the region of eternal wrath. Hasten then, O sinner, to the
Cross of
Christ. How stands the case between
God and our souls?
Is
Christ our
Hope, our consolation, our security? Then, not
otherwise, will the soul be carried through all its difficulties
and conflicts.