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O Lord my God - אלהי יהוה Yehovah Elohai, words expressive of the strongest confidence the soul can have in the Supreme Being. Thou self-existent, incomprehensible, almighty, and eternal Being, who neither needest nor hatest any thing that thou hast made; thou art my God: God in covenant with thy creature man; and my God and portion particularly. Therefore, in thee do I put thy trust - I repose all my confidence in thee, and expect all my good from thee.
Save me - Shield me from my persecutors; abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices!
Deliver me - From the counsels which they have devised, and from the snares and gins they have laid in my path.
O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust - The psalm opens with an expression of strong confidence in God. The psalmist addresses Yahweh as his God, and says that in him he trusts or confides. The word rendered trust - חסה châsâh - means “to flee;” to flee to a place; to take shelter; and is applied to taking shelter under the shadow or protection of one Judges 9:15; Isaiah 30:2; Psalm 57:1; Psalm 61:4. The idea here is, that in his troubles he fled to God as a refuge, and felt safe under his protection.
Save me from all them that persecute me - That is, protect my life; rescue me from their power. The word “persecute” here refers to those who sought his life, who endeavored to deprive him of his rights. The language would apply to many occasions in the life of David - to the persecutions which he endured by Saul, by Absalom, etc. In this case the language was suggested by the opposition of Cush the Benjamite; and it was this that David had particularly in view. It is probable, however, that, whoever Cush was, he was not alone, but that others were associated with him in his opposition to David; and it was natural also that, in circumstances like these, David should remember his other persecutors, and pray that he might be delivered from them all. The prayer, therefore, has a general form, and the desire expressed is that which we all naturally have, that we may be delivered from all that troubles us.
And deliver me - Rescue me. It would seem from this expression, and from the following verse, that there was more to be apprehended in the case than mere reproachful words, and that his life was actually in danger.
“Unworthy, unworthy of the least of Thy favors, O my God,” is my cry. My only hope is in a crucified and risen Saviour. I claim the merits of the blood of Christ. Jesus will save to the uttermost all who put their trust in Him.—The Review and Herald, November 1, 1881. 3SM 148.2
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