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How many are the days of thy servants - Dost thou not know that I have few to live, and they are full of trouble?

When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? - Shall not the pride of the Chaldeans be brought down, the arm of their strength broken, and thy people delivered? In this verse there is none of the ten words used in reference to God's law.

How many are the days of thy servant? - I cannot hope to live long. I am sinking under my burdens. If I am, therefore, to see the accomplishment of my desires - my deliverance from my enemies and my troubles - it must be soon. This is not a desire to be told how long he was to live, as if it were an object of desire to know this, but it is a method of saying that he could not live long under these circumstances, and therefore he offered this earnest prayer that God would interpose and save him soon.

When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? - How long shall this be delayed? I look for this; I expect it; I rely on thy promise that it shall be done; but if done so that I shall see it, it must soon be done, for I shall soon sink into the grave. It is a prayer that God would come and do quickly what he felt assured he would do, in delivering him from his foes.

The psalmist sought deliverance from his sins, his foes, and his fears. Hope deferred made him faint; his eyes failed by looking out for this expected salvation. But when the eyes fail, yet faith must not. His affliction was great. He was become like a leathern bottle, which, if hung up in the smoke, is dried and shrivelled up. We must ever be mindful of God's statutes. The days of the believer's mourning shall be ended; they are but for a moment, compared with eternal happiness. His enemies used craft as well as power for his ruin, in contempt of the law of God. The commandments of God are true and faithful guides in the path of peace and safety. We may best expect help from God when, like our Master, we do well and suffer for it. Wicked men may almost consume the believer upon earth, but he would sooner forsake all than forsake the word of the Lord. We should depend upon the grace of God for strength to do every good work. The surest token of God's good-will toward us, is his good work in us.