Everyone knows today
that man's greatest enemy is fear. If you really get rid of fear concerning any
danger, it has no power to hurt you. It is no mere platitude to say, ‘There is
nothing to fear but fear.’
This wonderful Psalm is
a most powerful prayer or treatment against fear. If you are afraid about
something read this Psalm—or part of it—carefully and thoughtfully, realizing
the spiritual meaning of each verse, and very soon your fear will begin to
lessen, and will finally disappear.
The advantage of a
written prayer or treatment like this is that it makes you think certain
powerful healing thoughts, and, as you know, it is the right thought that
demonstrates. It is not, of course, the Psalm itself, but the change that it
brings about in your thinking that does the work.
King James Version
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Emmet Fox commentary
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1 I will love thee,
O Lord, my strength.
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It opens, in the first three verses, with the
affirmation of faith in God. Always begin every
prayer by thinking of God, if only for a moment, and by affirming your faith
and trust in Him.
Verse one says, I will love thee, 0 Lord, my
strength. In reading this, you are affirming that you are going to love God.
Fear always means that one has an insufficient faith and love for God—or why
should one fear?
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2 The Lord is
my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I
will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
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Then you go on to say that God is your rock, and
your fortress, and your deliverer, that God is your strength and your
buckler, and that you are going to trust in Him. Then you think of Him as the
horn of your salvation and your high tower. In the Bible, the horn is a
symbol of power[1], and, of course, a
high tower is a safe place and signifies a high consciousness that fear—‘a
groundling’—cannot reach, and you affirm that you will be saved from the
dangers that you have been fearing.
Sometimes your fear will evaporate at this point
or after a short prayer of any kind, but this is not always the case. If
there is a good deal of fear, it will probably take some time to overcome it.
But if you hold to your faith in God, it is only a question of time before
you will be free and therefore safe.
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3 I will call upon
the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be
saved from mine enemies.
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At this point the Psalmist, thinking of one of his
own experiences, says that the sorrows of hell compassed him about and the
snares of death (great fear) prevented him, and that he ‘cried unto God’—he
went on praying—and that God came to his rescue.
He goes on to describe how everything changed for
the better as a result of his prayer, how the action of God transformed the
situation from danger into perfect safety. This description is a most
beautiful poem in itself It consists of a number of graphic figures, and
symbols in the familiar Bible style.
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7 Then the earth
shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken,
because he was wroth[9].
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He says that the earth shook and trembled and that
the very hills moved because God was wroth. Of course, the ‘earth’ means your
environment, your body, and all the outer conditions that constitute your
life experience at the present time. Thus, the shaking and moving of these
things means that all your conditions are changed, naturally for the better.
The ‘wroth’ of God in the Bible always means the activity of God. It does not
mean anger.
Verse 16 sums up the
experience with beautiful simplicity.
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8 There went up a
smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were
kindled by it.
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9 He bowed the
heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
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10 And he rode upon a
cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
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11 He made darkness
his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick
clouds of the skies.
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12 At the brightness
that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
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13 The Lord also
thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hailstones and
coals of fire.
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14 Yea, he sent out
his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited
them.
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15 Then the channels
of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy
rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of
the breath of thy nostrils.
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16 He sent from
above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
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17 He delivered me
from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong
for me.
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Of course, the enemies, and those who hated him
were his own fears and doubts, and, of course, that is true for us all.
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18 They prevented me
in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was
my stay.
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19 He brought me
forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
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Is it not a wonderful thought that God brings us
forth into a large place? Does it not express dramatically the sense of being
delivered from a dungeon into the open air and freedom?
God always delights in his children, and this
verse really means that being delivered from the dungeon of fear, the
Psalmist was beginning to experience the delight that peace of mind naturally
brings.
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20 The Lord rewarded
me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath
he recompensed me.
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Righteousness—This word, in the Bible, always
means right thinking.
And now comes a very significant statement,
according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. This refers to
right conduct or right living. The hand always stands for activity for it
represents the executive power of man. To have clean hands means that one has
been trying to live the Christ life. We must never forget that our prayers
have but little power if we are not honestly trying to live up to the best
that we know. If we are not trying to live the life, it is proof that we do
not believe in our prayers, even if we think we do, for we always do what we believe. It is
self-deception of the deadliest kind to think ‘I believe such a thing
although I know that I do not always do it.’ If you believe it, you will do
it.
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21 For I have kept
the ways of the Lord, and have not
wickedly departed from my God.
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22 For all his judgements
were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
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23 I was also upright
before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
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24 Therefore hath the Lord recompensed
me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in
his eyesight.
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25 With the merciful
thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself
upright;
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Next, we come to one of the most profound
statements of spiritual law to be found even in the Bible.
This is a concise and powerful statement of the
law I hat we shall literally reap what we sow. If we are merciful to others, we shall
receive mercy from the universe, and if we are sincere and honest, the world
will be sincere and honest to us. The pure minded (and in the Bible the word
‘pure’ means not only physical purity but loyalty to God in every phase of
one's life) will be rewarded with peace and harmony that nothing can disturb.
On the other hand, the froward (this word, now obsolete, means
unscrupulousness of every kind) will surely bring suffering and disaster.
Naturally, the only place that you can be
merciful, or upright, or pure, or froward is in your own heart, or
consciousness; because that is where you rise or fall, and your words and
deeds are merely the external expression of what is in your heart.
Of course, these verses do not mean literally that
God sends these things. They are the automatic result of natural law. God, in
His infinite wisdom, has made the laws of the universe and left them to work themselves
out. He is not constantly interfering in every individual transaction as
simple-minded people think. If this were the case, there would be no law and
God would not be Principle.
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26 With the pure thou
wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
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27 For thou wilt save
the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
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To these thoughts, the author adds a rider
reminding us that spiritual pride leads to a fall, but that true humility and
repentance always bring forgiveness.
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28 For thou wilt
light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
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Many similes have been offered by religious
teachers to illustrate the relationship between God and man. One of the best
known and most helpful is to think of man as a spark from a great fire, which
is God. The spark is not the whole of the fire but it is part of it, and
therefore of the same nature, and possesses, potentially, all the
characteristics of the parent fire. It can ignite many things upon which it
falls, thus producing another fire essentially of the same nature as the
original fire, and this fire grows and grows, especially if it is stimulated
by a breeze. This illustrates the growth of your soul, and the breeze that
builds it rapidly is, of course, prayer.
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29 For by thee I have
run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
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This spiritual growth will give you great power to
overcome difficulties and to advance on the path. And the Psalmist, thinking
of some of the times in the past when this happened to him, says, For by thee
I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. He means
that he was like a single man who was able to charge through a whole troop of
soldiers and they could not hold him. He also says that this help enabled him
to leap over a wall. It would be a high wall, of course, or it would not be
worth recording. Everyone has found himself at some time confronted with a
difficulty that seemed like a high and insurmountable wall, but faith in God
enables one to clear the obstacle notwithstanding.
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30 As for God, his
way is perfect: the word of the Lord is
tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
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Next, he reminds us that the way of God is
perfect. Prayer never brings any difficulties upon us or anyone else. It can
do nothing but good. It can only improve any situation, and there is no God
but the one God. When we trust to our own efforts, or, in fact, look to
anything but God, ‘the rock,’ we are wasting our time. The Psalmist goes on
to say once more that God will give you strength and make your way perfect.
This means that your various faults and failings cannot keep you back as long
as you are honestly trying to get rid of them.
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31 For who is God
save the Lord? Or who is a rock
save our God?
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32 It is God that
girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
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33 He maketh my feet
like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
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It says, in the picturesque Bible way, that He
will make your feet like hinds' feet. This implies great fleetness of loot,
or quick answers to prayer.
It then says that He will put you upon your high
place. In other words, He will raise your consciousness so that you will
automatically demonstrate. He will teach you to pray in a still better way
than you have been doing previously (teach your hands to war). He will shield
you from all evil, and His right hand will hold you up. When we pray, God
always acts in a gentle and kindly way and for the benefit of all
concerned—thy gentleness hath made me great.
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34 He teacheth my
hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
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35 Thou hast also
given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up,
and thy gentleness hath made me great.
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36 Thou hast enlarged
my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
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37 I have pursued
mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were
consumed.
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The next section, in the usual Bible idiom,
graphically illustrates the demonstrations or over-comings that your prayers
have brought about. Again they talk about enemies being defeated and
destroyed, and, as always, these enemies are your own fears, doubts, faults,
etc.
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38 I have wounded
them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
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39 For thou hast
girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those
that rose up against me.
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40 Thou hast also
given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
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41 They cried, but
there was none to save them: even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.
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42 Then did I beat
them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in
the streets.
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43 Thou hast
delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head
of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
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44 As soon as they
hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto
me.
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The following section deals with the dominion,
which you will acquire over your own mentality. The ‘strangers’ are our most
important faults and weaknesses because, familiar as they are to us in most
cases, they are strangers to our real selves, and they will surely fade away.
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45 The strangers
shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
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46 The Lord liveth;
and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
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47 It is God that
avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.
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48 He delivereth me
from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against
me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
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49 Therefore will I
give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the
heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.
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Then the author praises God and thanks Him for His
goodness. You probably know that thanksgiving is one of the most powerful
forms of prayer.
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50 Great deliverance
giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to
his seed for evermore.
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Finally, he says that God gives great deliverance
to his king; and that He sheweth mercy to His anointed, to David and to his
seed for evermore. You are His king. God intends us all to be kings through
the exercise of spiritual power. David, in the Bible, stands for Divine Love,
and the more love we have in our hearts, the more power do we have in prayer.
The seed of David is our demonstrations and they are to go on increasing
through all eternity.
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[1] Metaphysical
meaning of horns: Adverse conditions. The blowing of the ram's horn represents
the denial of adverse conditions and the affirmation of the power of Spirit.
[2] = encompass, surround.
[3]
Literally worthlessness.
[4] This
is a good description of the perception of an ‘evil’, ‘broken’, or otherwise ‘sinful’
world, containing people who are correspondingly ‘evil’, ‘broken’ or otherwise
sinful. It is will to remember that this perception starts from within us and
extends out, latching onto the error of other and twisting it into a threat.
[5]
Also traps.
[6] Translated
by others—more meaningfully—as confronted.
[7]
This is your God: you have a personal relationship with Him.
[8]
God can hear you directly.
[9] In
the Hebrew, the verb means to be lit it up or kindled. It is easy to see from
this why Emmet Fox sees this as a metaphor for being active: God becomes active
in your life because of a prayer, which lights Him up and allows Him to devour all
wrong thinking in your mind, life fire.
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