Psalms 42:8

Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me.

The changes of life and their comforts in God

Psalms 43:1, have so close a connection that they must be regarded as one. From external and internal evidence, they belong to David, and to that part of his life when he was fleeing from the face of Absalom his son. It was the Gethsemane of David, and in and up through his heart was throbbing the spiritual life of the Lord Jesus. It is wonderful when we open these ancient books to find the identity of human life. We feel the beatings of the same heart and see the tears which are common to us all.

I. There must be changes in every true life. There is day and there is night, the most opposed conditions. See this especially in the life of our Lord. And these changes are according to a fixed law.

II. To suit these changes in life there are divine provisions. In the day God commands His lovingkindness--His manifold kind providences and grace, and in the night “His song”--the deep, inward realization of His love.

III. There is a constant duty on our part amid all--to pray--“My prayer unto the God of my life. (John Key, D. D.)

God’s carriage unto David, and David’s carriage again unto God

I. The carriage of God to David.

1. The nature of it.

(1) Lovingkindness. There is a common end ordinary kindness which God shows to all sorts of men, upon whom He causes His sun to shine and His rain to fall: but He is peculiar in His favours towards His people, and bears special lovingkindness to them of all others besides (Psalms 25:10). Now, this peculiar lovingkindness is that which David here speaks of (Ephesians 1:4). This is the kindness and love of God our Saviour, which does in time appear unto us, as it is (Titus 3:4). And all other kindnesses besides flow from this first kindness to us, whether spiritual or temporal; this is the common and general spring and fountain and source of all the rest. David in his present condition of distress was now in the depths; “deep calleth unto deep,” etc. But yet he does promise to himself an experience of God’s favour: “Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness,” etc.; that is, He will do somewhat which may help me in this my affliction, as a fruit of His lovingkindness towards me. We should be careful to have good thoughts of God in the worst conditions that can happen unto us, and be well persuaded of His favour towards us, as well as we can; not to say, when any evil befalls us, it will always be thus, it will never be otherwise. No, but there will a change come, when God sees fitting and most expedient for us. God hath a spring of lovingkindness in Him, and this it will stream itself forth in answerable expressions from:Him, and that suitable to our occasions, and the conditions in which we are. If we be such as belong to Him, we may assure ourselves of so much from Him, and He will not be wanting to us in it; He never fails those that wait upon Him.

(2) By “His song” we may understand those comfortable expressions of God’s lovingkindness to David’s soul which caused him even to sing for joy (Psalms 32:7; Acts 16:25). It is a thing which cannot be expressed, the great comfort which the people of God find and feel oftentimes from Him at such times as the world looks upon them as in a miserable condition, while He does secretly whisper to their souls many sweet and gracious intimations.

(a) His acceptance of their persons, and of that favour in which they are with Him (Daniel 9:23).

(b) His observations of their condition and the affliction under which they are; He does hint, also, that unto them (Exodus 3:7).

(c) Hope of freedom and deliverance.

2. The conveyance of it.

(1) While it is said here that God will command:His lovingkindness, there are divers things which are implied in this expression; but that which seems principally to be intended is, the efficacy of it; He will command it, therefore it shall take effect.

(2) The second is, “Shall be with me”; which does denote the promptness and readiness of it at hand: When trouble is near to afflict, comfort shall then be near to support, and to uphold against trouble (Psalms 46:1). Because God Himself is with us, therefore His songs shall be with us also, as coming from Him.

3. The time and season. “In the daytime, and in the night.” These two divide our whole time, day and night, and they do both of them still tender us somewhat of God’s goodness; His lovingkindness in the daytime; His song in the night; the one as the time for the performance, the other as the time for considering and meditating upon it.

(1) The businesses of the day are commonly of two sorts, our employments and our refreshments, and in either of these do we partake of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

(a) First, in our employments, by way of assistance, as He does enable us to the performance of them; and by way of success, as He does give a blessing and efficacy to them.

(b) So likewise as to our refreshments, it is He which puts a comfort into them, without which they could not be so refreshing and comfortable unto us.

(2) The night is a time of horror and dreadfulness and fear; yea, but then have the servants of God His songs with them; and He refreshes them with gracious intimations when they lie awake in the night. Look, as that is the time wherein conscience is most stirring, so then, also, are there sweetest impartments and communications of the comforts of God to those also who have communion with Him.

II. The carriage of David to God. “My prayer unto the God of my life.”

1. A duty. David knows that God will do thus and thus for him, that “He will command His lovingkindness,” etc., but yet he will not neglect prayer notwithstanding, but makes use of that as a means which God hath sanctified for the obtaining of favour from Him. God (says he) will do this and this for me, but I will pray to Him for the accomplishment of it.

2. A privilege. David speaks of it here triumphantly, as he did of all the rest, and mentions it as a great relief to him in his present distress. There are two ways in respect whereof prayer is very comfortable, and a very great advantage to God’s servants, which make conscience of it: first, in the act and performance; and, secondly, in the issue and effect. (Thomas Herren, D. D.)

Blessings by day, songs in the night

I. Large anticipations.

1. Night and day should exhibit nothing but seasons for songs. In the best condition there is something over which we may murmur; in the worst something over which we may be thankful. Religion always ministers to hope.

2. Amid outward trials the Christian may calculate on inward peace.

(1) Because of the “lovingkindness” of God. God commands this to rest on the faithful. There is no authority to countermand His decree.

(2) Because He is the “God of our life.”

(3) Because God has promised to bless.

(4) Because personal experience proves that in the past there have been marvellous interventions of God. The remembrance of God’s mercies strengthens faith. “I will remember thee from the land of Jordan.”

II. Determined dedication.

1. To the duty of praise. This is great part of the employ-meet of heaven. It should begin here.

2. To renewed prayer. If we are to have true happiness it must be from God, our God, who shall “command” it. (Homiletic Magazine.)

The song and the prayer

Here this great pleader is in deep distress, both in body and soul. He feels overwhelmed and broken down; and he pathetically explains, in jerky sentences, as though he really were in trouble, he explains to God what is the matter. And then all at once there comes a gleam of hope, and he begins instantly, just as if by the invisible touch of another hand and another power outside himself. As that gleam of hope comes, he begins to blend prayer and praise together, and says, “I will sing, sing in the night, in the quiet and silent darkness I will sing.” Some time ago, during a monsoon, when we were steaming down the Indian Ocean on our way to Australia, the clouds and atmosphere were thick. Sometimes it rained in torrents, and sometimes there was a kind of indescribable mist that wetted the ship and everything and everybody there. And then all at once, as by the strange magic of nature, there would come an aperture in the cloud; and just on one spot, and not so long as the area of this chapel, it seemed to me, just on one spot the sun would shine on the troubled and turbid waters. And everybody rushed on deck the moment that the sun thus glistened, and they got to the spot where they could see it best. And we all of us, with a kind of strange joy, hailed that gleam, that flash of sunlight on the sea. And it seemed to have taken us at once into a new world. And here in this psalm, amid all the storm, did you hear it pelt, as I read it? Here is David talking to God, and David’s soul is disquieted. And then all at once there is a gleam, yea, despite it all, and in the teeth of it all, “And the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”

I. And, first of all, let me say that every soul has its own prayer--“My prayer unto the God of my life.” Whoever we are, whatever we may be; it must be, specially, exclusively, intensely my own prayer. No man can ever take the place of my soul, and feel its sins, and its sorrows, and its wants. And so he can never breathe my prayer. It must be “My prayer unto the God of my life.” And if we think a minute, we see that it must be so. For prayer springs from different causes; it is uttered in different circumstances and conditions; it is expressed in different words--and must be! The learned and refined man will express his prayer to God in refined and beautiful language. But the unlearned, as Paul calls them, and the unrefined men will express their prayers in quite another way. But we have one common centre; we are every one of us on the main road that leads unto Him who is, and will be for ever, the Light, the Truth, the Way. All along the line that is it: the sinner must pray for himself. Every soul has its own prayer.

II. And now, the next thing that I think there is in the text is this: every true prayer is to “the God of my life.” Brethren, I am deeply thankful for that beautiful definition of God, “The God of my life.” When I went to Mr. Spurgeon’s College, the first theological book put in my hand was Hodge’s Outlines of Theology. There are very many definitions of God there also, but I have forgotten them all. I have not, however, forgotten this, in any change in my life and circumstances: “God of my life.” Yes, every step of the way, all along the dark roads, and all along the sunny days, “the God of my life.” He is the God of all the mysteries, as well as of all the things that are palpable. The things that you and I cannot explain, for which we find no reason, lie is still “the God of my life.” Why that father, who is the bread-winner for a wife and several children, at the most critical time in the family’s life, why should he be smitten down to death? Why is all this? He is “the God of my life” and of yours also. And I am sure, in the face of every enigma, He is “the God of my life.” When Jacob was dying, he wanted to bless the two boys of Joseph. And in doing so he said a most beautiful thing, which is a beautiful description of God. Did you ever dwell on it? “The God which fed me.” Now, I like that. “The God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel that redeemed me, bless the lads.” The poetry of that is to me exquisite. But the description of God comes home to my very heart. “The God who has fed me all my life long unto this day,” you show you have a God of Providence as well as a God of grace. Do let me say to you, it is to that God, “the God of my life,” that the prayer is directed every morning, and at noonday, and at night. He is the God of my life, the God of my joys, the God of my sorrows, the God of my hopes, the God of all my burdens and forgivenesses, the God of the lovingkindness that crystallizes and shines and glitters round the cross. He is the God of an infinite love, of an infinite salvation. (W. Buff.)