Psalm 94:18 Kommentar

This psalm was penned when the church of God was under hatches, oppressed and persecuted; and it is an appeal to God, as the judge of heaven and earth, and an address to him, to appear for his people against his and their enemies. Two things this psalm speaks: - I. Conviction and terror to the persecutors (Psa 94:1-11), showing them their danger and folly, and arguing with them. II. Comfort and peace to the persecuted (Psa 94:12-23), assuring them, both from God's promise and from the psalmist's own experience, that their troubles would end well, and God would, in due time, appear to their joy and the confusion of those who set themselves against them. In singing this psalm we must look abroad upon the pride of oppressors with a holy indignation, and the tears of the oppressed with a holy compassion; but, at the same time, look upwards to the righteous Judge with an entire satisfaction, and look forward, to the end of all these things, with a pleasing hope.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 94 Some, as Jarchi and others, think this psalm was written by Moses; others, with greater probability, assign it to David; as do the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; and which all but the Syriac version say it was composed to be sung on the fourth day of the week, on which day the Talmudists say it was sung; see the argument of the preceding psalm. This psalm and others, that go before and follow, are without any title in the Hebrew Bible: the title of it in the Syriac version is, "a Psalm of David, concerning the company of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; but spiritually, concerning the persecution against the church;'' not of the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt, as some; nor of the Jews in their present exile, as Kimchi; but rather of the people of God under the tyranny of antichrist; who are represented as complaining of his insults and cruelty, and as comforting themselves in the hopes of deliverance, and in the view of his destruction.

When I said, my foot slippeth,.... There is no ground for me to stand upon; all is over with me; there is no hope nor help for me; I am just falling into ruin and destruction: such will be the desperate case of the church, at the time before referred to: thy mercy, O Lord, held me up; the extremity of his people is the Lord's opportunity; then is his set time to arise, and have mercy on them; then mercy steps in, lays a solid ground and foundation for hope, and holds up in its arms a sinking people, and revives a dying cause.

The one who arranged the contest helps the contestant. God, you see, does not watch you in the ring in the same way as the populace watch a charioteer; they know how to shout, they do not know how to help. God does not watch you battling in the ring in the same way as the president at the games watches an athlete and prepares a crown of leaves for the winner; he does not know how to give strength to the man struggling in the arena, and he cannot do it anyhow; after all he is a man, not God. And perhaps while he is watching, he endures more weariness sitting there than the other does as he wrestles. God, you see, when he watches his champions, helps them when they call on him. I mean, it is the voice of his athlete in the psalm, "If I said, my foot is slipping, your mercy, Lord, came to my help." So, my brothers and sisters, do not let us be slow about it; let us ask, let us seek, let us knock. "For everyone who asks receives, and who seeks will find, and who knocks will have the door opened."

"If I said, My foot has slipt; Your mercy, O Lord, held me up" [Psalm 94:18]. See how God loves confession. Your foot has slipt, and you say not, my foot has slipt; but you say you are firm, when you are slipping. The moment you begin to slip or waver, confess thou that slip, that you may not bewail your total fall; that He may help, so that your soul be not in hell. God loves confession, loves humility. You have slipped, as a man; God helps you, nevertheless: yet say, "My foot has slipt." Why do you slip, and yet sayest, I am firm? "When I said, My foot has slipt, Your mercy, O Lord, has held me up." Just as Peter presumed, but not in strength of his own. The Lord was seen to walk upon the sea, trampling on the heads of all the proud in this life. In walking upon the foaming waves, He figured His own course when He tramples on the heads of the proud. The Church too does trample upon them: for Peter is the Church Herself. Nevertheless, Peter dared not by himself walk upon the waters; but what said he? "Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto You on the water." [Matthew 14:28] He in His own power, Peter by His order; "bid me," he says, "come unto You." He answered, "Come." For the Church also tramples on the heads of the proud; but since it is the Church, and has human weakness, that these words might be fulfilled, "If I said, My foot has slipt," Peter tottered on the sea, and cried out, "Lord, save me!" [Matthew 14:30] and so what is here put, "If I said, My foot has slipt," is put there, "Lord, I perish." And what is here, "Your mercy, O Lord, has held me up," is there put, "And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, saying, O thou of little faith, wherefore did you doubt?" [Matthew 14:31] It is wonderful how God proves men: our very dangers render Him who rescues us sweeter unto us. For see what follows: because he said, "If I said, My foot has slipt, Your mercy, O Lord, has held me up." The Lord has become especially sweet unto him, in rescuing him from danger; and thus speaking of this very sweetness of the Lord, he exclaims and says, "O Lord, in the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, Your comforts have refreshed my soul" [Psalm 94:19]. Many sorrows, but many consolations: bitter wounds, and sweet remedies.

All the same, you must not think that you are in every respect or immediately going to be strong or … going to fail utterly by despairing. After all, that alternation of failure and of strength in the arms of God's servant Moses was, perhaps, your alternation. Sometimes, you see, you fail in your trials and temptations, but do not totally succumb to them. Moses let his arms droop a little but did not collapse altogether. "If I were to say, my foot has slipped, behold, your mercy, Lord, would come to my help." So do not be afraid; the one is present on the journey to help you along, who was not absent in Egypt to set you free. Do not be afraid, step out along the road, be confident and throw care to the winds. Sometimes he lowered his arms, sometimes he lifted them up; anyway, Amalek was defeated. They were able to wage war, they were not able to win.

So, to conclude this sermon where we began it, let us pray and put all our trust in God; let us live as he commands us, and when we stumble and stagger in this life, let us call on him as the disciples called upon him when they said, "Lord, increase our faith." Peter too was full of confidence and staggered; yet he was not ignored and allowed to drown but given a helping hand and set on his feet. Just what, after all, did he place his confidence in? It was not in himself, it was in the Lord. How is that? "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you over the water." The Lord, you remember, was walking over the waters. "If it is you, bid me come to you over the water." I know, you see, that if it is you, you have only to command, and it will happen. And he said, "Come." Peter got down from the boat at his command; he began to tremble at his own weakness. And yet when he grew afraid Peter cried out to him: "Lord, deliver me," he said. Then the Lord took him by the hand and said, "Little faith, why did you doubt?" It was Jesus that invited him, he that delivered him when Peter tottered and staggered. "This fulfilled what was said in the psalm, "If I said, My foot has slipped, your mercy, Lord, would come to my help."

David (Heb 4:7) exhorts men to praise God for His greatness, and warns them, in God's words, against neglecting His service. (Psa 95:1-11) The terms used to express the highest kind of joy. rock--a firm basis, giving certainty of salvation (Psa 62:7).