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My life is spent with grief - My life is a life of suffering and distress, and by grief my days are shortened. Grief disturbs the functions of life, prevents the due concoction of food, injures the digestive organs, destroys appetite, impairs the nervous system, relaxes the muscles, induces morbid action in the animal economy, and hastens death. These effects are well expressed in the verse itself.

My years with sighing - אנחה anachah . This is a mere natural expression of grief; the very sounds which proceed from a distressed mind; an-ach-ah! common, with little variation, to all nations, and nearly the same in all languages. The och-och-on of the Irish is precisely the same sound, and the same sense. Thousands of beauties or this kind are to be found in the sacred language.

For my life is spent with grief - The word here rendered “spent” does not mean merely “passed,” as it is commonly now used, as when we say we “spent” our time at such a place, or in such a manner, but in the more proper meaning of the word, as denoting “consumed, wasted away,” or “destroyed.” See the word כלה kâlâh as used in Jeremiah 16:4; Lamentations 2:11; Psalm 84:2 (Psalm 143:7; Psalm 69:3 Job 11:20.

And my years with sighing - That is, my years are wasted or consumed with sighing. Instead of being devoted to active toil and to useful effort, they are exhausted or wasted away with a grief which wholly occupies and preys upon me.

My strength faileth because of mine iniquity - Because of the trouble that has come upon me for my sin. He regarded all this trouble - from whatever quarter it came, whether directly from the hand of God, or from man - as the fruit of “sin.” Whether he refers to any particular sin as the cause of this trouble, or to the sin of his nature as the source of all evil, it is impossible now to determine. Since, however, no particular sin is specified, it seems most probable that the reference is to the sin of his heart - to his corrupt nature. It is common, and it is not improper, when we are afflicted, to regard all our trials as fruits of sin; as coming upon us as the result of the fall, and as an evidence that we are depraved. It is certain that there is no suffering in heaven, and that there never would be any in a perfectly holy world. It is equally certain that all the woes of earth are the consequence of man‘s apostasy; and it is proper, therefore, when we are afflicted, even though we cannot trace the affliction to any “particular” offence, to trace it all to the existence of evil, and to regard it as among the proofs of the divine displeasure against sin.

And my bones are consumed - That is, are decayed, worn out, or wasted away. Even the solid framework of my body gives way under excessive grief, and all my strength is gone. See Psalm 32:3; Psalm 102:3.

David's troubles made him a man of sorrows. Herein he was a type of Christ, who was acquainted with grief. David acknowledged that his afflictions were merited by his own sins, but Christ suffered for ours. David's friends durst not give him any assistance. Let us not think it strange if thus deserted, but make sure of a Friend in heaven who will not fail. God will be sure to order and dispose all for the best, to all those who commit their spirits also into his hand. The time of life is in God's hands, to lengthen or shorten, make bitter or sweet, according to the counsel of his will. The way of man is not in himself, nor in our friend's hands, nor in our enemies' hands, but in God's. In this faith and confidence he prays that the Lord would save him for his mercies's sake, and not for any merit of his own. He prophesies the silencing of those that reproach and speak evil of the people of God. There is a day coming, when the Lord will execute judgment upon them. In the mean time, we should engage ourselves by well-doing, if possible, to silence the ignorance of foolish men.