Notes by Rev John Brown Haddington
A Psalm of David.
In singing this psalm, let me observe, (1.) What serious work prayer is; what lifting up of soul, what directing of eyes to God, and fixing them on him, must be in it! ver. 1-15. (2.) What mercies ought to be prayed for Pardon of sin, ver. 6, 7-18; direction in duty, ver. 4-5; familiar intimacy with God, ver. 10; deliverance from trouble, ver. 17-18; preservation from adversaries, ver. 20-21; and, in fine, safety and deliverance to the church, ver. 22. (3.)What pleas are proper to be used in prayer; as, the trust we have reposed in God, ver. 2-3, 5-21; our own divinely affected sincerity in the Lord's way, ver. 21; our distress, and the malice of our enemies, ver. 2, 16-19; but chiefly, the mercy that is in God, and the glory which redounds to his name from his bestowing of new-covenant favours, ver. 6-11. (4.) Strong encouragements to prayer taken from the perfections of God's nature; from his promises of instruction and direction; from the fulness and grace of his covenant; and from his delight in allowing men familiar intimacy and fellowship with himself, ver. 8-14. Let these things, my soul, be the object of thy strictest care and attention, in all thy addresses to God.
1 To thee I lift my soul:
2 O Lord, I trust in thee
My God, let me not be asham'd,
nor foes triumph o'er me.
3 Let none that wait on thee
be put to shame at all;
But those that without cause transgress,
let shame upon them fall.
4 Shew me thy ways, O Lord;
thy paths, O teach thou me:
5 And do thou lead me in thy truth,
therein my teacher be:
For thou art God that dost
to me salvation send,
And I upon thee all the day
expecting do attend.
6 Thy tender mercies, Lord,
I pray thee to remember,
And lovingkindnesses;
for they have been of old for ever.
7 My sins and faults of youth
do thou, O Lord, forget:
After thy mercy think on me,
and for thy goodness great.
8 God good and upright is:
the way he'll sinners show.
9 The meek in judgment he will guide,
and make his path to know.
10 The whole paths of the Lord
are truth and mercy sure,
To those that do his cov'nant keep
and testimonies pure.
