6 For this cause let every saint make his prayer to you at a time when you are near: then the overflowing of the great waters will not overtake him.
Make search for the Lord while he is there, make prayer to him while he is near:
When you go through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not go over you: when you go through the fire, you will not be burned; and the flame will have no power over you.
(For he says, I have given ear to you at a good time, and I have been your helper in a day of salvation: see, now is the good time; now is the day of salvation):
You will be looking for me, and you will not see me: and where I am you may not come.
My soul will say great things of the Lord: the poor in spirit will have knowledge of it and be glad. O give praise to the Lord with me; let us be witnesses together of his great name. I was searching for the Lord, and he gave ear to my voice, and made me free from all my fears. Let your eyes be turned to him and you will have light, and your faces will not be shamed.
See how the Lord has made great his mercy for me; the Lord will give ear to my cry.
Saying, If you, even you, had knowledge today, of the things which give peace! but you are not able to see them. For the time will come when your attackers will put a wall round you, and come all round you and keep you in on every side, And will make you level with the earth, and your children with you; and there will not be one stone resting on another in you, because you did not see that it was your day of mercy.
But for this reason I was given mercy, so that in me, the chief of sinners, Jesus Christ might make clear all his mercy, as an example to those who in the future would have faith in him to eternal life.
Now I am glad, not that you had sorrow, but that your sorrow was the cause of a change of heart; for yours was a holy sorrow so that you might undergo no loss by us in anything. For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of death.
Everyone, then, to whom my words come and who does them, will be like a wise man who made his house on a rock; And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house, but it was not moved; because it was based on the rock. And everyone to whom my words come and who does them not, will be like a foolish man who made his house on sand; And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house; and it came down and great was its fall.
This is the word of the Lord: I have given ear to you at a good time, and I have been your helper in a day of salvation: and I will keep you safe, and will make you a glory for the people, putting the land in order, and giving them the heritages which now are waste;
Put out your hand from on high; make me free, take me safely out of the great waters, and out of the hands of strange men;
We would have been covered by the waters; the streams would have gone over our soul; Yes, the waters of pride would have gone over our soul.
But as for me, let my prayer be made to you, O Lord, at a time when you are pleased; O God, give me an answer in your great mercy, for your salvation is certain. Take me from the grip of the sticky earth, so that I may not go down into it; let me be lifted up from the deep waters. Let me not be covered by the flowing waters; let not the deep waters go over my head, and let me not be shut up in the underworld.
<To the chief music-maker; put to Shoshannim. Of David.> Be my saviour, O God; because the waters have come in, even to my neck. My feet are deep in the soft earth, where there is no support; I have come into deep waters, the waves are flowing over me.
Give me back the joy of your salvation; let a free spirit be my support. Then will I make your ways clear to wrongdoers; and sinners will be turned to you.
And for forty days the waters were over all the earth; and the waters were increased so that the ark was lifted up high over the earth. And the waters overcame everything and were increased greatly on the earth, and the ark was resting on the face of the waters. And the waters overcame everything on the earth; and all the mountains under heaven were covered. The waters went fifteen cubits higher, till all the mountains were covered. And destruction came on every living thing moving on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and everything which went on the earth, and every man. Everything on the dry land, in which was the breath of life, came to its end.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 32
Commentary on Psalms 32 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 32
This psalm, though it speaks not of Christ, as many of the psalms we have hitherto met with have done, has yet a great deal of gospel in it. The apostle tells us that David, in this psalm, describes "the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness without words,' Rom. 4:6. We have here a summary,
The way to obtain these privileges is to make conscience of these duties, which we ought to think of-of the former for our comfort, of the latter for our quickening, when we sing this psalm. Grotius thinks it was designed to be sung on the day of atonement.
A psalm of David, Maschil.
Psa 32:1-6
This psalm is entitled Maschil, which some take to be only the name of the tune to which it was set and was to be sung. But others think it is significant; our margin reads it, A psalm of David giving instruction, and there is nothing in which we have more need of instruction than in the nature of true blessedness, wherein it consists and the way that leads to it-what we must do that we may be happy. There are several things in which these verses instruct us. In general, we are here taught that our happiness consists in the favour of God, and not in the wealth of this world-in spiritual blessings, and not the good things of this world. When David says (Ps. 1:1), Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, and (Ps. 119:1), Blessed are the undefiled in the way, the meaning is, "This is the character of the blessed man; and he that has not this character cannot expect to be happy:' but when it is here said, Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, the meaning is, "This is the ground of his blessedness: this is that fundamental privilege from which all the other ingredients of his blessedness flow.' In particular, we are here instructed,
Psa 32:7-11
David is here improving the experience he had had of the comfort of pardoning mercy.