Psalms 119:88

Quicken me after Thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of Thy mouth.

Grappling irons

I. His intense desire that he might keep the testimony of God’s mouth.

1. This desire was founded in a high esteem of God’s Word. He viewed the Divine revelation as coming directly from Jehovah’s own mouth. Those who have this reverence for God’s Word will long to cling to it; they will be afraid of misinterpreting it; and they will not venture to add any of their own words to it, lest they be called into judgment for such presumption.

2. This prayer of David’s, springing from his great reverence for the revealed will of God, includes within it many points of virtue.

(1) He means, no doubt, that he desired to be steadfast in the doctrine which the mouth of the Lord had spoken. This meaning of the prayer is worthy of solemn note in these evil days.

(2) There is another meaning which will seem to some more practical, though, indeed, it is not so; for there is as much real practice about right thinking as about right acting; and for the understanding to be obedient to God is as vital a thing as for the actions of the life to be conformed to His will. We ought to be anxious to be obedient to God in all His precepts; and our prayer should daily be that we may be preserved in the keeping of the testimony of God’s mouth.

(3) David further desired that he might be preserved in perfect and unwavering confidence in the promises of God. The testimony of God’s mouth is largely made up of exceeding great and precious promises. Oh, what rich and eternal things hath He promised to them that fear Him!

II. His consequent prayer. He did not pray immediately that he might keep the testimony of God’s mouth, but he offered the next prayer to it, the one which leads up to it right surely. As a man that goeth up to his chamber doth not leap up all at once, but climbeth the stairs, so doth David rise to the keeping of the Lord’s word by the prayer, “Quicken me after Thy lovingkindness.”

1. This prayer is wisdom. He that saith, “I shall keep the testimony of God’s mouth, for I am fully resolved to do it,” had better salt that resolution with prayer, or it will rot like all things, which come of the flesh.

2. This prayer was suggested, I do not doubt, by David’s inward state. He says, “Quicken me.” He means that he felt the power of death working in him. Before he is quite numbed he cries, “Quicken me.”

3. It is a prayer which met David’s condition. Carefully read the octave of verses with “Caph” at the head of them, and see how well it fits in at the end of each. Whatever your difficulty, whatever your doubt, whatever your sorrow, whatever your temptation, here is a prayer that meets every case: “Quicken me after Thy loving-kindness.”

4. It is a prayer especially which answered to David’s aim in presenting it. He prayed this prayer that he might be enabled to keep God’s testimony.

5. He presented this prayer on the right ground. He pleads the mercy and love of God.

6. This is a prayer which has a promise attached to it. When I have a lock I am always glad to find a key which fits it. Here is the lock--“Lord, I feel as if I were dead”; and here is the key--“He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” That answers the supplication as a glove fits the hand.

III. His holy example.

1. Offer the prayer of life when you feel that you are dead. Such a prayer will prove an antidote to the poison of death.

2. Living truth can only be held firmly by living men. Let Jesus reign in your soul, and then He will make you a priest and king unto Himself by His own divine power.

3. Regard God’s lovingkindness as a source of life. Unhappily, too many have viewed it as an excuse for death. “Oh, yes,” they say, “I am one of God’s chosen; I need not trouble myself about holiness or activity. I shall be saved by sovereign grace.” The man who dares to pervert truth is already a lost man; but he that knows the lovingkindness of the Lord says, “Quicken thou me, Lord. Such love as this I must translate into life: grant that to me to live may be love.” Those words “love” and “live” are very near akin in their conformation; they are joined together in spiritual things, let no man put them asunder.

4. Let Divine aid, whenever we seek it or obtain it, lead us to the practical use of it in obedience. “Quicken me,” and “so shall I keep.” I put those words together in that fashion, for they are together. (C. H. Spurgeon.)