hope, our consolation, our security? Then, not otherwise, will the soul be carried through all its
difficulties and conflicts.
Chapter 12
The psalmist begs help of God, because there were none among men whom he durst trust.
—This psalm furnishes good thoughts for bad times; a man may comfort himself with such
meditations and prayers. Let us see what makes the times bad, and when they may be said to be
so. Ask the children of this world, What makes the times bad? they will tell you, Scarcity of money,
decay of trade, and the desolations of war, make the times bad: but the Scripture lays the badness
of the times on causes of another nature, 2Ti 3:1, &c.: perilous times shall come, for sin shall
abound; and of this David complains. When piety decays times really are bad. He who made man's
mouth will call him to an account for his proud, profane, dissembling, or even useless words. When
the poor and needy are oppressed, then the times are very bad. God himself takes notice of the
oppression of the poor, and the sighing of the needy. When wickedness abounds, and is countenanced
by those in authority, then the times are very bad. See with what good things we are here furnished
for such bad times; and we cannot tell what times we may be reserved for. 1. We have a God to go
to, from whom we may ask and expect the redress of all our grievances. 2. God will certainly punish
and restrain false and proud men. 3. God will work deliverance for his oppressed people. His help
is given in the fittest time. Though men are false, God is faithful; though they are not to be trusted,
God is. The preciousness of God's word is compared to silver refined to the highest degree. How
many proofs have been given of its power and truth! God will secure his chosen remnant, however
bad the times are. As long as the world stands, there will be a generation of proud and wicked men.
But all God's people are put into the hands of Christ our Saviour; there they are in safety, for none
can pluck them thence; being built on Him, the Rock, they are safe, notwithstanding temptation or
persecution come with ever so much force upon them.
Chapter 13
The psalmist complains that God had long withdrawn. He earnestly prays for comfort.
He assures himself of an answer of peace.
—God sometimes hides his face, and leaves his own children in the dark concerning their
interest in him: and this they lay to heart more than any outward trouble whatever. But anxious
cares are heavy burdens with which believers often load themselves more than they need. The bread
of sorrows is sometimes the saint's daily bread; our Master himself was a man of sorrows. It is a
common temptation, when trouble lasts long, to think that it will last always. Those who have long
been without joy, begin to be without hope. We should never allow ourselves to make any complaints
but what drive us to our knees. Nothing is more killing to a soul than the want of God's favour;
nothing more reviving than the return of it. The sudden, delightful changes in the book of Psalms,