Hints to Preachers

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm is eucharistic: the contents are:—I. An exhortation to praise God (1, 2, 3). II. The arguments to enforce the duty (4-19). III. The confidence of God’s people in his name, their happiness, and petition. (20-22).—Adam Clarke.

Verse 1.—Rejoicing—the soul of praise; the Lord—a well-spring of joy. Character—indispensable to true enjoyment.

Verse 1 (last clause).—Praise comely. What? Vocal, meditative, habitual praise. Why? It is comely as wings to an angel, we mount with it; as flowers to a tree, it is our fruit; as a robe to a priest, it is our office; as long hair to a woman, it is our beauty; as a crown to a king, it is our highest honour. When? Evermore, but chiefly amid blasphemy, persecution, sickness, poverty, death. Whom? Not from the ungodly, hypocritical, or thoughtless. To be without praise is to miss our comeliest adornment.

Verse 2.—Instrumental music. Is it lawful? Is it expedient? If so, its uses, limits, and laws. A sermon to improve congregational music.

Verse 3 (first clause).—The duty of maintaining the freshness of our devotions.

Freshness, skill, and heartiness, to be combined in our congregational psalmody.

Verse 4.—God’s word and works, their rightness, and agreement, and our view of both.

Verse 4 (first clause).—The word doctrinal, preceptive, historical, prophetic, promissory, and experimental, always right, i.e., free from error or evil.

Verse 4 (second clause).—God’s work of creation, providence, and grace, always in conformity with truth. His hatred of everything like a sham.

Verses 4, 5.—A fourfold argument for praise, from the truth, the faithfulness, the justice, and goodness of God: I. “For the word of the Lord is right.” II. “All his works are done in truth.” III. “He loveth righteousness and judgment.” IV. “The earth is full of his goodness.”—Adam Clarke.

Verse 5.—Justice and goodness equally conspicuous in the divine action.

Verse 5 (last clause).—A matchless theme for an observant eye and an eloquent tongue.

Verse 6.—The power of the Word and the Spirit in the old and new creations.

Verse 7.—God’s control of destructive and re-constructive agencies.

Verse 7.—The storehouses of the Great Husbandman.

Verse 8.—Reasons for universal worship, obstacles to it, future prospects of it, our duty in relation to it.

Verse 8 (last clause).—Awe—the soul of worship.

Verse 9.—The irresistible word of Jehovah in creation, in calling his people, in their comfort and deliverance, in their entrance to glory.

Verse 10.—Educated and philosophical heathen within the reach of missions.

Verses 10, 11.—The opposing counsels.

Verse 11.—The eternity, immutability, efficiency, and wisdom of the divine decrees. God’s purposes, “the thoughts of his heart,” hence their wisdom, and yet more their love.

Verse 12.—Two elections made by a blessed people and a gracious God, and their happy result.

The happiness of the church of God.

God’s delight in his people, and their delight in him.

Verse 13.—Omniscience and its lessons.

Verses 13, 14, 15.—The doctrine of providence.

Verse 15.—God’s acquaintance with men’s hearts, and his estimate of their actions.

The similarity of human nature.

Verse 16, 17, 18.—The fallacy of human trust, and the security of faith in God.

Verse 18.—Hoping in the mercy of God—false and true forms distinguished.

Verses 18.—I. The eyes of God’s knowledge are upon them. II. The eyes of his affection are upon them. III. The eyes of his providence are upon them.—William Jay.

Verse 19.—Life in famine, natural and spiritual, specially a famine of inward hope and legal satisfaction.

Verse 20.—“Waiting for the Lord” includes: I. Conviction—a persuasion that the Lord is the supreme good. II. Desire—it is expressed by hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc. III. Hope. IV. Patience.—God is never slack concerning his promise.—William Jay.

Verse 20 (first clause).—The believer’s hourly position.

Verse 21.—Joy, the outflow of faith.

Verse 22.—A prayer for believers only.

Verse 22.—Measure for measure, or mercy proportioned to faith.