When I was in trouble - This is generally the time when good resolutions are formed, and vows made; but how often are these forgotten when affliction and calamity are removed!
Which my lips have uttered - Margin, “opened.” The Hebrew word, however - פצה pâtsâh - means properly to tear apart; to rend; and then, to open wide, as the mouth, for example - or the throat, - as wild beasts do, Psalm 22:13. Then it means to open the mouth in scorn Lamentations 2:16; Lamentations 3:46; and then, to utter hasty words, Job 35:16. The idea would be expressed by us by the phrases to bolt or blurt out; to utter hastily; or, to utter from a heart full and overflowing to utter with very little care as to the language employed. It is the fullness of the heart which would be suggested by the word, and not a nice choice of expressions. The idea is, that the heart was full; and that the vows were made under the influence of deep emotion, when the heart was so full that it could not but speak, and when there was very little attention to the language. It was not a calm and studied selection of words. Such vows are not less acceptable to God than those which are made in the best-selected language. Not a little of the most popular sacred poetry in all tongues is of this nature; and when refined down to the nicest rules of art it ceases to be popular, or to meet the needs of the soul, and is laid aside. The psalmist here means to say, that though these vows were the result of deep feeling - of warm, gushing emotion - rather than of calm and thoughtful reflection, yet there was no disposition to disown or repudiate them now. They were made in the depth of feeling - in real sincerity - and there was a purpose fairly to carry them out.
When I was in trouble - When the people were in captivity, languishing in a foreign land. Vows made in trouble - in sickness, in bereavement, in times of public calamity - should be faithfully performed when health and prosperity visit us again; but, alas, how often are they forgotten!
“And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.” Numbers 30:1, 2. “Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?” Ecclesiastes 5:6. “I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.” Psalm 66:13, 14. “It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make inquiry.” Proverbs 20:25. “When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.” Deuteronomy 23:21-23. 4T 471.1
“Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God: let all that be round about Him bring presents unto Him that ought to be feared.” Psalm 76:11. “But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and My name is dreadful among the heathen.” Malachi 1:12-14. 4T 471.2
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