8 FEBRUARY
In my distress I called upon the
LORD, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry
came before Him, even into His ears. Psalm 18:6
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1
Peter 3:8-12
When David nearly plunged into
the gulf of death, He raised His heart to heaven in prayer. Such an example of
true faith is set before our eyes so that no calamities, however great and
oppressive, may hinder us from praying. Prayer brought David the wonderful
effects of which he later speaks, when his deliverance was effected by the
power of God.
In saying that he cried to the Lord, David stresses the
ardor and earnestness of his affection for God in prayer. By calling God my God, David separates himself from
gross despisers of God, or hypocrites, who call upon the Divine Majesty in a
confused manner in a time of tumultuous necessity, but who do not come to God
familiarly and with a pure heart since they know nothing of His fatherly favor
and goodness.
So then, as we approach God in
prayer, faith must go before to illumine the way and to fully persuade us that
He is our Father. Then the gate opens, and we may converse freely with Him, and
He with us. By calling God his God and putting Him on his side, David also
intimates that God is opposed to David’s enemies. This also shows us that the
psalmist was motivated by true piety and the fear of God.
The word temple that David uses here does not mean the earthly sanctuary of
God; it means heaven, for the description that immediately follows cannot be
applied to an earthly sanctuary. In using this term, David says that when he
was forsaken and abandoned in the world, and all men shut their ears to his cry
for help, God stretched forth His hand from heaven to save him.
John Calvin
FOR MEDITATION: It is hard to
trust ears we cannot see. But, as Calvin points out, faith illumines the way
and persuades us that God hears our cries. David had that kind of faith; in
revealing how he cried out to God when he was in grave danger, the psalmist
assures us that we, too, will find God’s ears open to our prayers.
365 Days With Calvin
Selected and Edited by Joel R.
Beeke
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