The psalmist prays for deliverance from his affliction. He addresses God boldly and asks him to look on his troubles. A person is more sympathetic when he sees what is wrong with a person. The psalmist is not suggesting that God has ignored him. Maybe he likens God to a physician able to deal with what he sees. He knows that God will be faithful to those who are faithful to him (v. 153).
In verse 154, he asks to be redeemed. This could be a request for God to use his power and release his servant from the kind of confinement he was enduring from his opponents. The greatest act of redemption that he would have known about was the Exodus. When referring to redemption and deliverance, he uses the greatest example as an argument for receiving a lesser rescue. His request for life was a plea for him to be given freedom to continue in God’s service.
Sometimes we learn about truth from its opposite. In verse 155, the psalmist says that salvation is far from the wicked, which means that it is near to the righteous. A wicked person does not follow God’s requirements, but a righteous person does. Since God is near to him, he can expect mercy from the Lord (v. 156). God will always follow his own revealed will, which means that the psalmist can expect divine deliverance from him.
His opponents are many, but their number does not affect him in the slightest as far as adherence to God’s ways is concerned (v. 157). He keeps on in a straight line. His avoidance is not merely external. The psalmist hates the way of the wicked, those with no faith, and their godless living disgusts him. He regards their disobedience and rejection of God’s commands as something that is rotten to the core (v. 158).
In verse 159, he asks the Lord to look at his obedient heart which is marked by love to God’s commandments. This is slightly different from what he asked in verse 153 when he asked the Lord to look at his affliction. When the Lord considered the psalmist’s good heart, he would give more life to him as a loving gift. Love responds to love.
The Lord loves truth, which is what his word is about, and which remains the case for ever (v. 160). As Spurgeon observed, ‘There is not one single mistake either in the word of God or in the providential dealings of God.’ We should note that all his commandments continue in force, which was what Jesus said when he stated that not a jot or a tittle would pass away until all had been fulfilled. We should love the least as well as the greatest of his commandments and promises.
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