Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Does God help in times of need?Multiple psalms and prophetic texts have Yahweh actively hiding his face, refusing to hear prayers, and abandoning those who cry out (Ps 10:1; 22:1; 88:14; Isa…
Should we fear God?The Torah, prophets, and Wisdom literature relentlessly command fear of YHWH — Deuteronomy 6:13, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Proverbs 9:10, Matthew 10:28, and Hebrews…
Jeremiah 29:12-13(v18)You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me…
Psalms 34:18(v18)Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
Psalms 37:4(v19)Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Deuteronomy 4:7(v18)For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him?
John 4:24(v18)God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
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Ephesians 3:16-20(v19)that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner…
Isaiah 58:9(v18)Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke,…
John 15:7(v19)If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
John 14:23(v18)Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
James 4:8(v18)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.
1 John 3:20-22(v18)because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have…
Matthew 5:6(v19)Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Psalms 46:5(v18)God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn.
1 John 5:15(v19)And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.
Exodus 20:6(v20)and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Psalms 46:1(v18)God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Matthew 6:5-8(v18)“When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets,…
Psalms 119:2(v18)Blessed are those who keep his statutes, who seek him with their whole heart.
John 10:27-29(v20)My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch…
Psalms 91:15(v19)He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him.
Romans 8:28-30(v20)We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he…
Psalms 17:1(v18)Hear, Yahweh, my righteous plea; Give ear to my prayer, that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips.
John 16:24(v19)Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.
John 15:16(v19)You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that…
Psalms 20:4(v19)May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your counsel.
Psalms 34:17(v19)The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
Hosea 7:14(v18)They haven’t cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away…
Psalms 34:9(v19)Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him.
Psalms 37:19(v19)They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil. In the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
Psalms 119:151(v18)You are near, Yahweh. All your commandments are truth.
Proverbs 15:8(v18)The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Proverbs 15:29(v19)Yahweh is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
1 Kings 18:27-28(v18)At noon, Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is deep in thought, or he has gone somewhere, or he is on a…
Psalms 36:7-8(v19)How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings. They shall be abundantly…
Psalms 37:39-40(v19)But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. Yahweh helps them and rescues them. He…
Psalms 97:10(v20)You who love Yahweh, hate evil! He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
Isaiah 1:15-16(v18)When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of…
Luke 1:53(v19)He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty.
Psalms 31:23(v20)Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.
Psalms 71:8(v21)My mouth shall be filled with your praise, with your honor all day long.
Matthew 23:13(v18)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will…
Psalms 1:6(v20)For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.
Psalms 9:5(v20)You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
Psalms 9:17(v20)The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.
Psalms 51:15(v21)Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise.
James 2:5(v20)Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he…
Psalms 37:28(v20)For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
Psalms 150:6(v21)Let everything that has breath praise Yah! Praise Yah!
Matthew 25:41(v20)Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his…
1 Peter 1:5-8(v20)who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein you greatly rejoice,…
Psalms 30:12(v21)to the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
Psalms 71:15(v21)My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure.
Psalms 71:23-24(v21)My lips shall shout for joy! My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you! My tongue will also talk about your righteousness all…
Psalms 117:1-2(v21)Praise Yahweh, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! For his loving kindness is great toward us. Yahweh’s faithfulness endures…
Psalms 145:1-2(v21)I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever…
Revelation 5:11-14(v21)I saw, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders. The number of them was…
Psalms 65:2(v21)You who hear prayer, all men will come to you.
Psalms 67:3-4(v21)let the peoples praise you, God. Let all the peoples praise you. Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the…
Psalms 86:9(v21)All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.
Psalms 89:1(v21)I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
Psalms 103:22(v21)Praise Yahweh, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise Yahweh, my soul!
Psalms 145:5(v21)I will meditate on the glorious majesty of your honor, on your wondrous works.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv18–2018. Jehovah is near to all that call upon…
18. Jehovah is near to all that call upon him. This truth is principally applicable to believers, whom God in the way of singular privilege invites to draw near him, promising that he will be favorable to their prayers. Faith, there is no doubt, lies idle and even dead without prayer, in which the spirit of adoption shows and exercises itself, and by which we evidence that all his promises are considered by us as stable and sure. The inestimable grace of God, in short, towards believers, appears in this, that he exhibits himself to them as a Father. As many doubts steal upon us when we pray to God, and we either approach him with trembling, or fail by becoming discouraged and lifeless, David declares it to be true without exception, that God hears all who call upon him. At the same time, as most men pervert and profane the method of calling upon God through inventions of their own, the right manner of praying is laid down in the next part of the verse, which is, that we should pray in truth. Although men resort to God in a cold manner, or even in their prayers expostulate with him, while their hearts are swelling with pride or with anger, they yet complain that they are not heard; just as if there were no difference between praying and quarreling, or the exercise of faith and hypocrisy. The greater part of men, involved in infidelity, scarcely believe that there is a God in heaven at all; others would banish him from it if they could; others would tie him down to their views and, wishes, while some seek slight and insufficient ways of reconciling him, so that the common way of praying is but an idle and empty ceremony. “Les autres voudroyent qu’il fust sujet a eux: les autres comme par maniere d’acquit cerchent cluelque moyen de l’appaiser,” etc. — Fr.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv18, 19, 21Which only appertaineth to the faithful: and this virtue…
Which only appertaineth to the faithful: and this virtue is contrary to infidelity, doubting, impatience and murmuring.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv18–21Psa 145:18 The LORD [is] nigh unto all them…
Psa 145:18 The LORD [is] nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
Ver. 18. The Lord is nigh unto all those, &c.] He is ever at hand, to hear and help his faithful suitors and suppliants; these have the royalty of his ear, free access, sure success.
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To all that call upon him in truth] That draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and their bodies washed with pure water, Heb 10:22.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv18–20Is nigh unto all them, to answer their prayers…
Is nigh unto all them, to answer their prayers for relief,
that call upon him in truth; sincerely, or with an upright heart, trusting to him, and waiting upon him in his way.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv18–21The Lord is nigh unto all them that call…
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him,.... He is not only nigh unto them in relation, being their near kinsman, brother, father, husband, and head, but with respect to place and presence; not in a general way, as he is the omnipresent God, and so nigh to all, and from whose presence there is no fleeing; but in a special way, he is so nigh to them as he is not unto others, Deu 4:7. He is in their hearts, and dwells there by faith, and they dwell in him; his blood is sprinkled in their consciences, and his righteousness is unto them and upon them; his salvation is brought near to them, to their very hearts, and they are nearer that than when they first believed; he is nigh to them that call upon him, for Christ is equally called upon as the Father; see Co1 1:2; so as to give them what they ask of him, and to help them in all their times of need;
to all that call upon him in truth; in faith and with fervency, constantly and importunely, and in the sincerity and uprightness of their hearts; with true hearts, cordially and affectionately; their hearts and mouths agreeing together, as Kimchi observes.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v18Nigh - To answer their prayers. In truth -…
Nigh - To answer their prayers. In truth - With an upright heart.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv18, 20, 21Verse 18. The Lord is nigh] Whoever calls upon…
Verse 18. The Lord is nigh] Whoever calls upon God in truth, with a sincere and upright heart, one that truly desires his salvation, to that person God is nigh. The following verse shows he is not only near to praying people, but
1. He will hear their cry.
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2. Fulfil their desires.
3. Save them.
Reader, lift up thy soul in prayer to this merciful God.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv18, 20Psa 145:18-19. The Lord is nigh unto all that…
Psa 145:18-19. The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him — To answer their prayers, supposing they call upon him; in truth — Or, with an upright heart, asking those things only which are according to his will, sincerely desiring what they ask, trusting in him that he will give it, and waiting upon him in the way he hath appointed for that purpose. Observe, reader, our King “is not like earthly princes, difficult of access, but one of whom the meanest subject may at any time obtain an audience, and be certain of having his request granted, if it be made in truth, without wavering and without hypocrisy, with humble confidence and unwearied constancy,” he being found walking in the way of duty and obedience. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him — So far as their desire is agreeable to his will, and it would be for their good to have it fulfilled.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv18–21The Lord is nigh unto all them that call…
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him - There is a sense in which he is “nigh” to all, for he is everywhere present; but there is a special sense in which he seems to be near to us; in which he manifests himself to us; in which he gives us evidence of his presence. It is in prayer, in praise, in his ordinances - in his gracious interpositions in our behalf - in the peace and joy which we have in communion with him. Compare the notes at Psa 34:18 : “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.”
To all that call upon him in truth - In sincerity; not hypocritically; worshipping him as the true God, and with a sincere desire to obtain his favor. Compare the notes at Joh 4:24. We can have no hope that God will hear us unless we are sincere in our worship. He sees the heart, and he will act toward us as we are, and not as we profess to be.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv18, 20, 21(Compare Psa 34:7, Psa 34:10).
(Compare Psa 34:7, Psa 34:10).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv18, 2118. The Lord is nigh—It is here shown that…
18. The Lord is nigh—It is here shown that while God sends his rain and sunshine and harvest upon all his creatures, he gives special hearing and special mercy to the true hearted, to them that fear him.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv18–2118. nigh unto all them that call upon him]…
18. nigh unto all them that call upon him] To answer and help. Cp. Deu_4:7; Psa_34:18; Psa_119:151.
in truth] The hypocrite finds no favour with Him. Cp. Isa_10:20; Joh_4:23-24.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv18, 20, 21(18) The Lord is nigh . . .
(18) The Lord is nigh . . .
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”
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TENNYSON: Higher Pantheism.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv18–21The Lord is nigh unto all them that call…
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him. (comp. Deu_4:7 Psa_34:18 Psa_46:1 Psa_119:151, etc.) God draws near to those who draw near to him; i.e. he makes his presence (which is always everywhere) felt by them. To all that call upon him in truth. A limiting clause. Mere formal prayer is useless, does not lessen the distance between God and man, rather augments it. If we really desire to enjoy the consciousness of his presence, we must call upon him "in truth," i.e. sincerely, with earnest desire and strong confidence.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv18–21Ver. 18. The LORD is nigh unto all them…
Ver. 18. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him. Not only near by his omnipresence, but to sympathize and favour. He does not leave praying men, and men who confess his name, to battle with the world alone, but he is ever at their side. This favour is not for a few of those who invoke him; but for each one of the pious company. "All" who place themselves beneath the shield of his glorious name by calling themselves by it, and by calling upon it in supplication, shall find him to be a very present help in trouble. "To all that call upon him in truth": for there are many whose formal prayers and false professions will never bring them into communion with the Lord. To pray in truth, we must have a true heart, and the truth in our heart; and then we must be humble, for pride is a falsehood; and be earnest, or else prayer is a lie. A God of truth cannot be nigh to the spirit of hypocrisy; this he knows and hates; neither can he be far removed from a sincere spirit, since it is his work, and he forsakes not the work of his own hands.
Ver. 18. The Lord is nigh. The nearness or remoteness of a friend is very material and considerable in our troubles, distresses, wants, dangers etc. I have such a friend and he would help me, but he lives so far off; and I have another friend that has a great love for me, that is able to counsel me, and to speak a word in season to me, and that in my distress would stand close to me, but he is so remote. I have a special friend, that did he know how things stand with me would make my burdens his, and my wants his, and my sorrows his; but he is in a far country, he is at the Indies, and I may be undone before I can hear from him. But it is not thus with you, O Christians! who have a God so nigh unto you, who have the signal presence of God in the midst of you, yea, who have a God always standing by you, "The Lord stood by me", etc. 2Ti 4:17. Thomas Brooks.
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Ver. 18. Them that call upon him. To call upon the name of the Lord implies right faith, to call upon him as he is; right trust in him, leaning upon him, right devotion, calling upon him as he has appointed; right life, ourselves who call upon him being, or becoming by his grace, what he wills. They "call" not "upon the Lord", but upon some idol of their own imagining, who call upon him as other than he has revealed himself, or remaining themselves other than those whom he has declared that he will hear. For such deny the very primary attribute of God, his truth. Their God is not a God of truth. Edward Bouverie Pusey, 1800-1882.
Ver. 18. To all that call upon him in truth. Because there is a counterfeit and false sort of worshipping, and calling upon God, which is debarred from the benefit of this promise, to wit, when the party suppliant is not reconciled, nor seeking reconciliation through Christ the Mediator, or is seeking something not promised, or something for a carnal end, that he may bestow it on his lusts; therefore he who hath right unto this promise must be a worshipper of God in faith, and sincere intention; and to such the Lord will show himself "nigh". David Dickson.
Ver. 18. To call upon God in truth is, first, to repose an implicit confidence in the faithfulness of his promise, and to look for unlimited answers to prayer from the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus. But it is also, in the next place, to feel our own urgent need of the things for which we supplicate, and to realize an earnest and unfeigned concern to obtain them. "What things ye desire when ye pray", said the Lord, "believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them"; and hence we gather, that the hearty desire, arising out of the consciousness of need, is an integral and inseparable part of genuine and effectual prayer. Thomas Dale, 1853.
Ver. 18-19. God's people are a praying people, a generation of seekers, and such commonly are speeders. God never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain. They seek his face, righteousness and strength, and he is found of them...The saints alone betake themselves to God and his help, run to him as their sanctuary; others fly from God's presence, run to the rocks, and the tops of the ragged rocks, call to the hills and the mountains; but a child of God goes only and tells his Father, and before him lays open his cause; as good Hezekiah did, when Rabshakeh came out against him; "O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me"; or the Church (Isa 33:2), "Be thou our arm every morning, and our salvation in time of trouble." They only sensibly need, and so alone crave and implore divine succour; and God will not suffer his people to lose the precious treasure of their prayers. "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him; he will fulfil their desire, he will hear their cry", etc. That God who prepares his people's heart to pray, prepares also his own ear to hear; and he that promises to hear before we call, will never deny to hearken when we cry unto him. As Calvin saith: "Oppressions and afflictions make man cry, and cries and supplications make God hear." F. E., in "The Saint's Ebenezer", 1667.
Ver. 18-20. Gather from these verses the character of God's people.
1. They call upon God.
2. They fear God.
3. They have desires towards God.
4. They have answers from God.
5. They love God.
Ver. 18. (last clause.) True prayer, in what it differs essentially from mere formalism.
Ver. 18. At the palace gates.
1. Directions to callers.
a) "Call upon him"; let the repetition suggest pertinacity.
b) Call "in truth"; sincerely, with promises, in appointed way.
2. Encouragement for callers. Jehovah is nigh, with his ready ear, sympathizing heart, and helpful hand. W. B. H.
Ver. 18-19. The blessedness of prayer.
1. Definition of prayer: "calling upon God."
2. Variety in prayer: "call, desire, cry."
3. Essential characteristic of prayer: "truth."
4. God's nearness in prayer.
5. Assured success of prayer. "He will fulfil, hear, save." C. A. D.
Psalms 145:19*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv18, 20The Lord is nigh unto all them that call…
Psa_145:18-21
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him.
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God and His people
I. The persons who are favoured with the Divine presence.
1. They call upon God.
2. They call upon Him in truth.
3. They desire Him.
4. They fear Him.
5. They cry unto Him.
6. They love Him.
7. They praise Him.
II. The favours which the Lord manifests to His people.
1. He is near them.
2. He will grant their desires.
3. He will save them.
4. He will preserve them.
5. They shall be with Him for ever.
III. The destruction of the wicked. He will destroy--
1. Their expectation (Pro_10:28-29).
2. Their souls and bodies in hell (Mat_10:28).
IV. Improvement.
1. See what great encouragement there is for prayer.
2. What incitements to filial confidence in God.
3. What reasons for gratitude and praise.
4. And what terror to the unbelieving. (T. B. Baker.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren1905 · Public DomainOn v19Psa 145:16, Psa 145:19.
Psalms
THE SATISFIER OF ALL DESIRES
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Psa 145:16, Psa 145:19.
You observe the recurrence, in these two verses, of the one emphatic word ‘desire.’ Its repetition evidently shows that the Psalmist wishes to run a parallel between God’s dealings in two regions. The same beneficence works in both. Here is the true extension of natural law to the spiritual world. It is the same teaching to which our Lord has given immortal and inimitable utterance, when He says, ‘Your heavenly Father feedeth them.’ And so we are entitled to look on all the wonders of creation, and to find in them buttresses which may support the edifice of our faith, and to believe that wherever there is a mouth God sends food to fill it. ‘Thou openest Thine hand’-that is all-’and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.’ But to fulfil the desires of them who are not only ‘living things,’ but ‘who fear’ Him, is it such a simple task? Sometimes more is wanted than an open hand before that can be accomplished. So, looking not only at the words I have read, but at the whole of their setting, which is influenced by the thought of this parallelism, we see here two sets of pensioners, two kinds of wants, two forms of appeal, two processes of satisfaction.
I. Two kinds of pensioners.
‘Every living thing-’ life makes a claim on God, and whatever desires arise in the living creature by reason of its life, God would be untrue to Himself, a cruel Parent, an unnatural Father, if He did not satisfy them. We do not half enough realise the fact that the condescension of creation lies not only in the act of creating, but in the willing acceptance by the Creator of the bonds under which He thereby lays Himself; obliging Himself to see to the creatures that He has chosen to make. And so, as one of the New Testament writers puts it, in his simple way, with a profound truth, ‘He is a faithful Creator’; and wherever there is a creature that He has made to need anything, He has thereby said, ‘As I live, that creature shall have what it needs.’
Then, take the other class, ‘them that fear Him’; or as they are described in the context-by contrast with ‘the wicked who are destroyed’-’the righteous.’ That is to say, whilst, because we are living things, like the bee and the worm, we have a claim on God precisely parallel with theirs for what we may need by reason of His gift, which we never asked for, His gift of life, we shall have a similar but higher claim on Him if we are ‘they that fear Him’ with that loving reverence which has no torment in it, and that love Him with that reverential affection which has no presumption in it, and whose love and fear coalesce in making them long to be righteous like the Object of their love, to be holy like the Object of their fear. And just as the fact of physical life binds God to care for it, and to give all that is needed for its health, growth, blessedness, so the fact of man’s having in his heart the faintest tremor of reverential dread, the feeblest aspiration of outgoing affection, the most faltering desire after purity of life and conduct, binds God to answer these according to the man’s need. Of all incredibilities in the world, there is nothing more incredible, because there is nothing more contrary to the very depths of the divine nature, than that desires, longings, expectations, which are the direct result of the love and fear of God, and the hunger and thirst after righteousness, should not be answered.
Now that is a very wide principle, and I do not believe that it is trusted enough by many. It comes to this-wherever you find in people a confidence which grows with their love of God, be sure that there is, somewhere or other in the universe of things, that which answers it.
Take a case. If there was not a word in the New Testament about Jesus Christ’s resurrection, the fact that just in proportion as men grow in devotion, in love of God, in fear of Him, in longing to be good and to appear like Him, in that same proportion does their conviction that there must be a life beyond the grave become firm and certain-that fact would be enough to make any one who believed in God sure that the hope thus rooted in love to Him, and fed by everything that draws us nearer to Him, could not be a delusion, nor be destined to be left unfulfilled.
And we might go round the whole circle of dim religious aspirations and desires, and find in all of them illustrations of the principle so profoundly and so simply put in our psalm, that the same Love which, in the realm of the physical world, binds itself to satisfy the life which it imparts, is at work in the higher regions, and will ‘fulfil the desires of them that fear Him.’
II. Again, there are two sets of needs.
The first of them is very easily disposed of. ‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat.’ That is all. Feed the beast, and give it the other things necessary for its physical existence, and there is no more to be done. But there is more wanted for the desires of the men that love and fear God. These are glanced at in the context, ‘He also will hear their cry, and will save them’; ‘the Lord preserveth all them that love Him.’ That is to say, there are deeper needs in our hearts and lives than any that are known amongst the lower creatures. Evils, dangers inward and outward, sorrows, disappointments, losses of all sorts shadow our lives, in a fashion which the happy, careless life of field and forest knows nothing about. Give them their meat, and they curl themselves up and lie down to sleep, satisfied. Man longs for something more and needs something more.
‘He will save them.’ Now, I do not suppose that ‘save’ here is employed in its full New Testament sense, but it approximates to that sense. And, further, there are other aspects of our needs set forth in the context, on which I briefly touch. Do not let us vulgarise such a saying as this of my text, ‘He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him,’ as if it only meant that if a man fears God he may set his longing upon any outward thing, and be sure to get it. There is nothing so poor, so unworthy as that promised in Scripture. For one thing, it is not true; for another, it would not be good if it were. The way to spoil children is not the way to perfect saints; and to give them what they want because they want it, is the sure way to spoil children of all ages. We may be quite certain that our heavenly Father is not going to do that. The promise here means something far nobler and loftier. The fact of creation binds God to supply all the wants which spring from life. The fact of our loving and fearing Him binds Him to supply all the wants which spring from our love and fear. And it is these desires which the Psalmist is thinking of.
What is the object of desire to a man who loves God? God. What is the object of desire to a man who fears Him? God. What is the object of desire to a righteous man? Righteousness. And these are the desires which God is sure to fulfil to us. Therefore, there is only one region in which it is safe and wise to cherish longings, and it is the region of the spiritual life where God imparts Himself. Everywhere else there will be disappointments-thank Him for them. Nowhere else is it absolutely true that He will ‘fulfil the desires of them that fear Him.’ But in this region it is. Whatever any of us desire to have of God, we are sure to get. We open our mouths and He fills them. In the Christian life desire is the measure of possession, and to long is to have. And there is nowhere else where it is absolutely, unconditionally, and universally true that to wish is to possess, and to ask is to have.
Oh! then, is it not a foolish thing for us to worry and torture and sweat, in order to win for ourselves for a little while the uncertain possession of incomplete bliss? Would it not be wiser, instead of letting the current of our desires dribble itself away through a thousand channels in the sand and get lost, to gather it all into one great stream which is sure to find its way to the broad ocean? ‘Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart,’ for these will then be after Himself, and Himself only.
III. Further, there are here two forms of appeal.
‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee.’ That is beautiful! The dumb look of the unconscious creature, like that of a dog looking up in its master’s face for a crust, makes appeal to God, and He answers that. But a dumb, unconscious look is not for us. ‘He also will hear their cry.’ Put your wish into words if you want it answered; not for His information, but for your strengthening. ‘Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things before ye ask Him.’ What then? Why should I ask Him? Because the asking will clear your thoughts about your desires. It will be a very good test of them. There are many things that we all wish, which I am afraid we should not much like to put into our prayers, not because of any foolish notion that they are too small to find a place there, but because of an uncomfortable suspicion that perhaps they are not the kind of things that we ought to wish. And if we cannot make the desire into a cry, the sooner we make it dead as well as dumb the better for ourselves. The cry will serve, too, as a stimulus to the wishes which are put into words. Silent prayer is well, but there is a wonderful power on ourselves-it may be due to our weakness, but still it exists-in the articulate and audible utterance of our petitions to God. I would fain that all of us were more in the habit of putting into distinct words that we ourselves can hear, the wishes that we cherish. I am sure our prayers would be more sincere, less wandering, more earnest and real, if they were spoken, as well as felt, prayers.
Let us remember, dear brethren! that the condition of our getting the higher gifts is not only that we should love and fear, and in the silence of our own hearts should wish for, but that we should definitely ask for, them. Not only desire, but ‘their cry,’ brings the answer.
IV. And now one last word. Note the two processes of satisfying.
‘Thou openest Thine hand.’ That is enough. But God cannot satisfy our deepest desires by any such short and easy method. There is a great deal more to be done by Him before the aspirations of love and fear and longing for righteousness can be fulfilled. He has to breathe Himself into us. Lower creatures have enough when they have the meat that drops from His hand. They know and care nothing for the hand that feeds. But God’s best gifts cannot be separated from Himself. They are Himself, and in order to ‘satisfy the desires of them that fear Him’ there is no way possible, even to Him, but the impartation of Himself to the waiting heart.
That is a mystery deep and blessed. Oh, that we may all know, by our own living experience, what it is to have not only the gifts which drop from His hands, but the gifts which cannot be parted from Him, the Giver! He has to discipline us for His highest gifts, in order that we may receive them. And sometimes He has to do that, as I have no doubt He has done it with many of us, by withholding or withdrawing the satisfaction of some of our lower desires, and so emptying our hearts and turning the current of our wishes from earth to heaven. If you are going to pour precious wine into a chalice, you begin by emptying out the less valuable liquid that may be in it. So God often empties us, in order that He may fill us, and takes away the creatures in order that we may long for the Creator.
Not only has He to give us Himself, and to discipline us in order to receive Him, but He has to put all His gifts which meet our deepest desires into a great storehouse. He does not open His hand and give us peace and righteousness, and growing knowledge of Himself, and closer union, and the other blessings of the Christian life, but He gives us Jesus Christ. We are to find all these blessings in Him, and it depends upon us whether we find them or not, and how much of them we find. You will always find as much in Christ as you want, but you may not find nearly as much in Him as you could; and you will never find as much in Him as there is. God sends His Son, and in that one gift, like a box ‘wherein sweets compacted lie,’ are all the gifts that even His hand can bestow, or our desires require. So be sure that you have what you have, and that you suck out of the Rose of Sharon all the honey that lies deep in its calyx. Expand your desires to the width of Christ’s great mercies; for the measure of our wishes is the limit of our possession. He has laid up the supply of all our need in the storehouse, which is Christ; and He has given us the key. Let us see to it that we enter in. ‘Ye have not because ye ask not.’ ‘To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.’
END OF VOL. II.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v19(See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
fear
(See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v20My mouth will speak
My mouth will speak
Here the words "My mouth" represent the one speaking. AT: "I will speak" (See: Synecdoche)
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will speak out the praise of Yahweh
"tell everyone how good Yahweh is"
let all mankind bless his holy name
The word "name" is a metonym for Yahweh himself. See how "may his glorious name be blessed" is translated in Psalms 72:19. AT: "let all people bless him" or "let all people do what makes him happy" (See: Metonymy)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v20145:20 The Lord cares for those who love him…
145:20 The Lord cares for those who love him and fear him. God-fearers love the Lord and find refuge in him (5:11); they seek him as their only true Savior (40:16; 70:4). They will experience a grand future (69:36), as well as God’s peace (119:165).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv18–20 18. Jehovah is near to all that call upon…
18. Jehovah is near to all that call upon him. This truth is principally applicable to believers, whom God in the way of singular privilege invites to draw near him, promising that he will be favorable to their prayers. Faith, there is no doubt, lies idle and even dead without prayer, in which the spirit of adoption shows and exercises itself, and by which we evidence that all his promises are considered by us as stable and sure. The inestimable grace of God, in short, towards believers, appears in this, that he exhibits himself to them as a Father. As many doubts steal upon us when we pray to God, and we either approach him with trembling, or fail by becoming discouraged and lifeless, David declares it to be true without exception, that God hears all who call upon him. At the same time, as most men pervert and profane the method of calling upon God through inventions of their own, the right manner of praying is laid down in the next part of the verse, which is, that we should pray in truth. Although men resort to God in a cold manner, or even in their prayers expostulate with him, while their hearts are swelling with pride or with anger, they yet complain that they are not heard; just as if there were no difference between praying and quarreling, or the exercise of faith and hypocrisy. The greater part of men, involved in infidelity, scarcely believe that there is a God in heaven at all; others would banish him from it if they could; others would tie him down to their views and, wishes, while some seek slight and insufficient ways of reconciling him, so that the common way of praying is but an idle and empty ceremony. “Les autres voudroyent qu’il fust sujet a eux: les autres comme par maniere d’acquit cerchent cluelque moyen de l’appaiser,” etc. — Fr.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 21 Which only appertaineth to the faithful: and this virtue…
Which only appertaineth to the faithful: and this virtue is contrary to infidelity, doubting, impatience and murmuring.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv18–21 Psa 145:18 The LORD [is] nigh unto all them…
Psa 145:18 The LORD [is] nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
Ver. 18. The Lord is nigh unto all those, &c.] He is ever at hand, to hear and help his faithful suitors and suppliants; these have the royalty of his ear, free access, sure success.
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To all that call upon him in truth] That draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and their bodies washed with pure water, Heb 10:22.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv18–20 Is nigh unto all them, to answer their prayers…
Is nigh unto all them, to answer their prayers for relief,
that call upon him in truth; sincerely, or with an upright heart, trusting to him, and waiting upon him in his way.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv18–21 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call…
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him,.... He is not only nigh unto them in relation, being their near kinsman, brother, father, husband, and head, but with respect to place and presence; not in a general way, as he is the omnipresent God, and so nigh to all, and from whose presence there is no fleeing; but in a special way, he is so nigh to them as he is not unto others, Deu 4:7. He is in their hearts, and dwells there by faith, and they dwell in him; his blood is sprinkled in their consciences, and his righteousness is unto them and upon them; his salvation is brought near to them, to their very hearts, and they are nearer that than when they first believed; he is nigh to them that call upon him, for Christ is equally called upon as the Father; see Co1 1:2; so as to give them what they ask of him, and to help them in all their times of need;
to all that call upon him in truth; in faith and with fervency, constantly and importunely, and in the sincerity and uprightness of their hearts; with true hearts, cordially and affectionately; their hearts and mouths agreeing together, as Kimchi observes.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v18 Nigh - To answer their prayers. In truth -…
Nigh - To answer their prayers. In truth - With an upright heart.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 21 Verse 18. The Lord is nigh] Whoever calls upon…
Verse 18. The Lord is nigh] Whoever calls upon God in truth, with a sincere and upright heart, one that truly desires his salvation, to that person God is nigh. The following verse shows he is not only near to praying people, but
1. He will hear their cry.
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2. Fulfil their desires.
3. Save them.
Reader, lift up thy soul in prayer to this merciful God.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv18, 20 Psa 145:18-19. The Lord is nigh unto all that…
Psa 145:18-19. The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him — To answer their prayers, supposing they call upon him; in truth — Or, with an upright heart, asking those things only which are according to his will, sincerely desiring what they ask, trusting in him that he will give it, and waiting upon him in the way he hath appointed for that purpose. Observe, reader, our King “is not like earthly princes, difficult of access, but one of whom the meanest subject may at any time obtain an audience, and be certain of having his request granted, if it be made in truth, without wavering and without hypocrisy, with humble confidence and unwearied constancy,” he being found walking in the way of duty and obedience. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him — So far as their desire is agreeable to his will, and it would be for their good to have it fulfilled.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv18–21 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call…
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him - There is a sense in which he is “nigh” to all, for he is everywhere present; but there is a special sense in which he seems to be near to us; in which he manifests himself to us; in which he gives us evidence of his presence. It is in prayer, in praise, in his ordinances - in his gracious interpositions in our behalf - in the peace and joy which we have in communion with him. Compare the notes at Psa 34:18 : “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.”
To all that call upon him in truth - In sincerity; not hypocritically; worshipping him as the true God, and with a sincere desire to obtain his favor. Compare the notes at Joh 4:24. We can have no hope that God will hear us unless we are sincere in our worship. He sees the heart, and he will act toward us as we are, and not as we profess to be.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 21 (Compare Psa 34:7, Psa 34:10).
(Compare Psa 34:7, Psa 34:10).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv18, 21 18. The Lord is nigh—It is here shown that…
18. The Lord is nigh—It is here shown that while God sends his rain and sunshine and harvest upon all his creatures, he gives special hearing and special mercy to the true hearted, to them that fear him.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–21 18. nigh unto all them that call upon him]…
18. nigh unto all them that call upon him] To answer and help. Cp. Deu_4:7; Psa_34:18; Psa_119:151.
in truth] The hypocrite finds no favour with Him. Cp. Isa_10:20; Joh_4:23-24.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 21 (18) The Lord is nigh . . .
(18) The Lord is nigh . . .
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”
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TENNYSON: Higher Pantheism.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv18–21 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call…
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him. (comp. Deu_4:7 Psa_34:18 Psa_46:1 Psa_119:151, etc.) God draws near to those who draw near to him; i.e. he makes his presence (which is always everywhere) felt by them. To all that call upon him in truth. A limiting clause. Mere formal prayer is useless, does not lessen the distance between God and man, rather augments it. If we really desire to enjoy the consciousness of his presence, we must call upon him "in truth," i.e. sincerely, with earnest desire and strong confidence.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv18–21 Ver. 18. The LORD is nigh unto all them…
Ver. 18. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him. Not only near by his omnipresence, but to sympathize and favour. He does not leave praying men, and men who confess his name, to battle with the world alone, but he is ever at their side. This favour is not for a few of those who invoke him; but for each one of the pious company. "All" who place themselves beneath the shield of his glorious name by calling themselves by it, and by calling upon it in supplication, shall find him to be a very present help in trouble. "To all that call upon him in truth": for there are many whose formal prayers and false professions will never bring them into communion with the Lord. To pray in truth, we must have a true heart, and the truth in our heart; and then we must be humble, for pride is a falsehood; and be earnest, or else prayer is a lie. A God of truth cannot be nigh to the spirit of hypocrisy; this he knows and hates; neither can he be far removed from a sincere spirit, since it is his work, and he forsakes not the work of his own hands.
Ver. 18. The Lord is nigh. The nearness or remoteness of a friend is very material and considerable in our troubles, distresses, wants, dangers etc. I have such a friend and he would help me, but he lives so far off; and I have another friend that has a great love for me, that is able to counsel me, and to speak a word in season to me, and that in my distress would stand close to me, but he is so remote. I have a special friend, that did he know how things stand with me would make my burdens his, and my wants his, and my sorrows his; but he is in a far country, he is at the Indies, and I may be undone before I can hear from him. But it is not thus with you, O Christians! who have a God so nigh unto you, who have the signal presence of God in the midst of you, yea, who have a God always standing by you, "The Lord stood by me", etc. 2Ti 4:17. Thomas Brooks.
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Ver. 18. Them that call upon him. To call upon the name of the Lord implies right faith, to call upon him as he is; right trust in him, leaning upon him, right devotion, calling upon him as he has appointed; right life, ourselves who call upon him being, or becoming by his grace, what he wills. They "call" not "upon the Lord", but upon some idol of their own imagining, who call upon him as other than he has revealed himself, or remaining themselves other than those whom he has declared that he will hear. For such deny the very primary attribute of God, his truth. Their God is not a God of truth. Edward Bouverie Pusey, 1800-1882.
Ver. 18. To all that call upon him in truth. Because there is a counterfeit and false sort of worshipping, and calling upon God, which is debarred from the benefit of this promise, to wit, when the party suppliant is not reconciled, nor seeking reconciliation through Christ the Mediator, or is seeking something not promised, or something for a carnal end, that he may bestow it on his lusts; therefore he who hath right unto this promise must be a worshipper of God in faith, and sincere intention; and to such the Lord will show himself "nigh". David Dickson.
Ver. 18. To call upon God in truth is, first, to repose an implicit confidence in the faithfulness of his promise, and to look for unlimited answers to prayer from the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus. But it is also, in the next place, to feel our own urgent need of the things for which we supplicate, and to realize an earnest and unfeigned concern to obtain them. "What things ye desire when ye pray", said the Lord, "believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them"; and hence we gather, that the hearty desire, arising out of the consciousness of need, is an integral and inseparable part of genuine and effectual prayer. Thomas Dale, 1853.
Ver. 18-19. God's people are a praying people, a generation of seekers, and such commonly are speeders. God never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain. They seek his face, righteousness and strength, and he is found of them...The saints alone betake themselves to God and his help, run to him as their sanctuary; others fly from God's presence, run to the rocks, and the tops of the ragged rocks, call to the hills and the mountains; but a child of God goes only and tells his Father, and before him lays open his cause; as good Hezekiah did, when Rabshakeh came out against him; "O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me"; or the Church (Isa 33:2), "Be thou our arm every morning, and our salvation in time of trouble." They only sensibly need, and so alone crave and implore divine succour; and God will not suffer his people to lose the precious treasure of their prayers. "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him; he will fulfil their desire, he will hear their cry", etc. That God who prepares his people's heart to pray, prepares also his own ear to hear; and he that promises to hear before we call, will never deny to hearken when we cry unto him. As Calvin saith: "Oppressions and afflictions make man cry, and cries and supplications make God hear." F. E., in "The Saint's Ebenezer", 1667.
Ver. 18-20. Gather from these verses the character of God's people.
1. They call upon God.
2. They fear God.
3. They have desires towards God.
4. They have answers from God.
5. They love God.
Ver. 18. (last clause.) True prayer, in what it differs essentially from mere formalism.
Ver. 18. At the palace gates.
1. Directions to callers.
a) "Call upon him"; let the repetition suggest pertinacity.
b) Call "in truth"; sincerely, with promises, in appointed way.
2. Encouragement for callers. Jehovah is nigh, with his ready ear, sympathizing heart, and helpful hand. W. B. H.
Ver. 18-19. The blessedness of prayer.
1. Definition of prayer: "calling upon God."
2. Variety in prayer: "call, desire, cry."
3. Essential characteristic of prayer: "truth."
4. God's nearness in prayer.
5. Assured success of prayer. "He will fulfil, hear, save." C. A. D.
Psalms 145:19*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv18, 20 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call…
Psa_145:18-21
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him.
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God and His people
I. The persons who are favoured with the Divine presence.
1. They call upon God.
2. They call upon Him in truth.
3. They desire Him.
4. They fear Him.
5. They cry unto Him.
6. They love Him.
7. They praise Him.
II. The favours which the Lord manifests to His people.
1. He is near them.
2. He will grant their desires.
3. He will save them.
4. He will preserve them.
5. They shall be with Him for ever.
III. The destruction of the wicked. He will destroy--
1. Their expectation (Pro_10:28-29).
2. Their souls and bodies in hell (Mat_10:28).
IV. Improvement.
1. See what great encouragement there is for prayer.
2. What incitements to filial confidence in God.
3. What reasons for gratitude and praise.
4. And what terror to the unbelieving. (T. B. Baker.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v19 Psa 145:16, Psa 145:19.
Psalms
THE SATISFIER OF ALL DESIRES
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Psa 145:16, Psa 145:19.
You observe the recurrence, in these two verses, of the one emphatic word ‘desire.’ Its repetition evidently shows that the Psalmist wishes to run a parallel between God’s dealings in two regions. The same beneficence works in both. Here is the true extension of natural law to the spiritual world. It is the same teaching to which our Lord has given immortal and inimitable utterance, when He says, ‘Your heavenly Father feedeth them.’ And so we are entitled to look on all the wonders of creation, and to find in them buttresses which may support the edifice of our faith, and to believe that wherever there is a mouth God sends food to fill it. ‘Thou openest Thine hand’-that is all-’and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.’ But to fulfil the desires of them who are not only ‘living things,’ but ‘who fear’ Him, is it such a simple task? Sometimes more is wanted than an open hand before that can be accomplished. So, looking not only at the words I have read, but at the whole of their setting, which is influenced by the thought of this parallelism, we see here two sets of pensioners, two kinds of wants, two forms of appeal, two processes of satisfaction.
I. Two kinds of pensioners.
‘Every living thing-’ life makes a claim on God, and whatever desires arise in the living creature by reason of its life, God would be untrue to Himself, a cruel Parent, an unnatural Father, if He did not satisfy them. We do not half enough realise the fact that the condescension of creation lies not only in the act of creating, but in the willing acceptance by the Creator of the bonds under which He thereby lays Himself; obliging Himself to see to the creatures that He has chosen to make. And so, as one of the New Testament writers puts it, in his simple way, with a profound truth, ‘He is a faithful Creator’; and wherever there is a creature that He has made to need anything, He has thereby said, ‘As I live, that creature shall have what it needs.’
Then, take the other class, ‘them that fear Him’; or as they are described in the context-by contrast with ‘the wicked who are destroyed’-’the righteous.’ That is to say, whilst, because we are living things, like the bee and the worm, we have a claim on God precisely parallel with theirs for what we may need by reason of His gift, which we never asked for, His gift of life, we shall have a similar but higher claim on Him if we are ‘they that fear Him’ with that loving reverence which has no torment in it, and that love Him with that reverential affection which has no presumption in it, and whose love and fear coalesce in making them long to be righteous like the Object of their love, to be holy like the Object of their fear. And just as the fact of physical life binds God to care for it, and to give all that is needed for its health, growth, blessedness, so the fact of man’s having in his heart the faintest tremor of reverential dread, the feeblest aspiration of outgoing affection, the most faltering desire after purity of life and conduct, binds God to answer these according to the man’s need. Of all incredibilities in the world, there is nothing more incredible, because there is nothing more contrary to the very depths of the divine nature, than that desires, longings, expectations, which are the direct result of the love and fear of God, and the hunger and thirst after righteousness, should not be answered.
Now that is a very wide principle, and I do not believe that it is trusted enough by many. It comes to this-wherever you find in people a confidence which grows with their love of God, be sure that there is, somewhere or other in the universe of things, that which answers it.
Take a case. If there was not a word in the New Testament about Jesus Christ’s resurrection, the fact that just in proportion as men grow in devotion, in love of God, in fear of Him, in longing to be good and to appear like Him, in that same proportion does their conviction that there must be a life beyond the grave become firm and certain-that fact would be enough to make any one who believed in God sure that the hope thus rooted in love to Him, and fed by everything that draws us nearer to Him, could not be a delusion, nor be destined to be left unfulfilled.
And we might go round the whole circle of dim religious aspirations and desires, and find in all of them illustrations of the principle so profoundly and so simply put in our psalm, that the same Love which, in the realm of the physical world, binds itself to satisfy the life which it imparts, is at work in the higher regions, and will ‘fulfil the desires of them that fear Him.’
II. Again, there are two sets of needs.
The first of them is very easily disposed of. ‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat.’ That is all. Feed the beast, and give it the other things necessary for its physical existence, and there is no more to be done. But there is more wanted for the desires of the men that love and fear God. These are glanced at in the context, ‘He also will hear their cry, and will save them’; ‘the Lord preserveth all them that love Him.’ That is to say, there are deeper needs in our hearts and lives than any that are known amongst the lower creatures. Evils, dangers inward and outward, sorrows, disappointments, losses of all sorts shadow our lives, in a fashion which the happy, careless life of field and forest knows nothing about. Give them their meat, and they curl themselves up and lie down to sleep, satisfied. Man longs for something more and needs something more.
‘He will save them.’ Now, I do not suppose that ‘save’ here is employed in its full New Testament sense, but it approximates to that sense. And, further, there are other aspects of our needs set forth in the context, on which I briefly touch. Do not let us vulgarise such a saying as this of my text, ‘He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him,’ as if it only meant that if a man fears God he may set his longing upon any outward thing, and be sure to get it. There is nothing so poor, so unworthy as that promised in Scripture. For one thing, it is not true; for another, it would not be good if it were. The way to spoil children is not the way to perfect saints; and to give them what they want because they want it, is the sure way to spoil children of all ages. We may be quite certain that our heavenly Father is not going to do that. The promise here means something far nobler and loftier. The fact of creation binds God to supply all the wants which spring from life. The fact of our loving and fearing Him binds Him to supply all the wants which spring from our love and fear. And it is these desires which the Psalmist is thinking of.
What is the object of desire to a man who loves God? God. What is the object of desire to a man who fears Him? God. What is the object of desire to a righteous man? Righteousness. And these are the desires which God is sure to fulfil to us. Therefore, there is only one region in which it is safe and wise to cherish longings, and it is the region of the spiritual life where God imparts Himself. Everywhere else there will be disappointments-thank Him for them. Nowhere else is it absolutely true that He will ‘fulfil the desires of them that fear Him.’ But in this region it is. Whatever any of us desire to have of God, we are sure to get. We open our mouths and He fills them. In the Christian life desire is the measure of possession, and to long is to have. And there is nowhere else where it is absolutely, unconditionally, and universally true that to wish is to possess, and to ask is to have.
Oh! then, is it not a foolish thing for us to worry and torture and sweat, in order to win for ourselves for a little while the uncertain possession of incomplete bliss? Would it not be wiser, instead of letting the current of our desires dribble itself away through a thousand channels in the sand and get lost, to gather it all into one great stream which is sure to find its way to the broad ocean? ‘Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart,’ for these will then be after Himself, and Himself only.
III. Further, there are here two forms of appeal.
‘The eyes of all wait upon Thee.’ That is beautiful! The dumb look of the unconscious creature, like that of a dog looking up in its master’s face for a crust, makes appeal to God, and He answers that. But a dumb, unconscious look is not for us. ‘He also will hear their cry.’ Put your wish into words if you want it answered; not for His information, but for your strengthening. ‘Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things before ye ask Him.’ What then? Why should I ask Him? Because the asking will clear your thoughts about your desires. It will be a very good test of them. There are many things that we all wish, which I am afraid we should not much like to put into our prayers, not because of any foolish notion that they are too small to find a place there, but because of an uncomfortable suspicion that perhaps they are not the kind of things that we ought to wish. And if we cannot make the desire into a cry, the sooner we make it dead as well as dumb the better for ourselves. The cry will serve, too, as a stimulus to the wishes which are put into words. Silent prayer is well, but there is a wonderful power on ourselves-it may be due to our weakness, but still it exists-in the articulate and audible utterance of our petitions to God. I would fain that all of us were more in the habit of putting into distinct words that we ourselves can hear, the wishes that we cherish. I am sure our prayers would be more sincere, less wandering, more earnest and real, if they were spoken, as well as felt, prayers.
Let us remember, dear brethren! that the condition of our getting the higher gifts is not only that we should love and fear, and in the silence of our own hearts should wish for, but that we should definitely ask for, them. Not only desire, but ‘their cry,’ brings the answer.
IV. And now one last word. Note the two processes of satisfying.
‘Thou openest Thine hand.’ That is enough. But God cannot satisfy our deepest desires by any such short and easy method. There is a great deal more to be done by Him before the aspirations of love and fear and longing for righteousness can be fulfilled. He has to breathe Himself into us. Lower creatures have enough when they have the meat that drops from His hand. They know and care nothing for the hand that feeds. But God’s best gifts cannot be separated from Himself. They are Himself, and in order to ‘satisfy the desires of them that fear Him’ there is no way possible, even to Him, but the impartation of Himself to the waiting heart.
That is a mystery deep and blessed. Oh, that we may all know, by our own living experience, what it is to have not only the gifts which drop from His hands, but the gifts which cannot be parted from Him, the Giver! He has to discipline us for His highest gifts, in order that we may receive them. And sometimes He has to do that, as I have no doubt He has done it with many of us, by withholding or withdrawing the satisfaction of some of our lower desires, and so emptying our hearts and turning the current of our wishes from earth to heaven. If you are going to pour precious wine into a chalice, you begin by emptying out the less valuable liquid that may be in it. So God often empties us, in order that He may fill us, and takes away the creatures in order that we may long for the Creator.
Not only has He to give us Himself, and to discipline us in order to receive Him, but He has to put all His gifts which meet our deepest desires into a great storehouse. He does not open His hand and give us peace and righteousness, and growing knowledge of Himself, and closer union, and the other blessings of the Christian life, but He gives us Jesus Christ. We are to find all these blessings in Him, and it depends upon us whether we find them or not, and how much of them we find. You will always find as much in Christ as you want, but you may not find nearly as much in Him as you could; and you will never find as much in Him as there is. God sends His Son, and in that one gift, like a box ‘wherein sweets compacted lie,’ are all the gifts that even His hand can bestow, or our desires require. So be sure that you have what you have, and that you suck out of the Rose of Sharon all the honey that lies deep in its calyx. Expand your desires to the width of Christ’s great mercies; for the measure of our wishes is the limit of our possession. He has laid up the supply of all our need in the storehouse, which is Christ; and He has given us the key. Let us see to it that we enter in. ‘Ye have not because ye ask not.’ ‘To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.’
END OF VOL. II.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v19 (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
fear
(See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v20 My mouth will speak
My mouth will speak
Here the words "My mouth" represent the one speaking. AT: "I will speak" (See: Synecdoche)
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will speak out the praise of Yahweh
"tell everyone how good Yahweh is"
let all mankind bless his holy name
The word "name" is a metonym for Yahweh himself. See how "may his glorious name be blessed" is translated in Psalms 72:19. AT: "let all people bless him" or "let all people do what makes him happy" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
watch
love
evil
holy
name
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v20 145:20 The Lord cares for those who love him…
145:20 The Lord cares for those who love him and fear him. God-fearers love the Lord and find refuge in him (5:11); they seek him as their only true Savior (40:16; 70:4). They will experience a grand future (69:36), as well as God’s peace (119:165).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.