Psalm 34:6

EXPOSITION

Verse 6. This poor man cried. Here he returns to his own case. He was poor indeed, and so utterly friendless that his life was in great jeopardy; but he cried in his heart to the protector of his people and found relief. His prayer was a cry, for brevity and bitterness, for earnestness and simplicity, for artlessness and grief; it was a poor man's cry, but it was none the less powerful with heaven, for the Lord heard him, and to be heard of God is to be delivered; and so it is added that the Lord saved him out of all his troubles. At once and altogether David was clean rid of all his woes. The Lord sweeps our griefs away as men destroy a hive of hornets, or as the winds clear away the mists. Prayer can clear us of troubles as easily as the Lord made riddance of the frogs and flies of Egypt when Moses entreated him. This verse is the psalmist's own personal testimony: he being dead yet speaketh. Let the afflicted reader take heart and be of good courage.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 6. This poor man cried. The reasons of crying are

1. Want cannot blush. The pinching necessity of the saints is not tied to the law of modesty. Hunger cannot be ashamed. "I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise," saith David Psalms 55:2 ; and Hezekiah, "Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove" Isaiah 38:14 . "I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation" Job 30:28 .
2. Though God hear prayer only as prayer offered in Christ, not because very fervent; yet fervour is a heavenly ingredient in prayer. An arrow drawn with full strength hath a speedier issue; therefore, the prayers of the saints are expressed by crying in Scripture. "O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not" Psalms 22:2 . "At noon, will I pray, and cry aloud" Psalms 55:17 . "In my distress I cried to the Lord" Psalms 18:6 . "Unto thee have I cried, O Lord" Psalms 88:13 . "Out of the depths have I cried" Psalms 130:1 . "Out of the belly of hell cried I" Jonah 2:2 . "Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock" Psalms 28:1 . Yea, it goeth to somewhat more than crying: "I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard" Job 19:7 . "Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer" Lamentations 3:8 . He who may teach us all to pray, sweet Jesus, "In the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears" Hebrews 5:7 ; he prayed with war shouts.
3. And these prayers are so prevalent, that God answereth them: This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his fears Psalms 34:6 . "My cry came before him, even into his ears" Psalms 18:6 . The cry addeth wings to the prayer, as a speedy post sent to court upon life and death: "Our fathers cried unto thee, and were delivered" Psalms 22:5 . "The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth" Psalms 34:17 . Samuel Rutherford.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 6. --

1. The poor man's heritage, "troubles."
2. The poor man's friend.
3. The poor man's cry.
4. The poor man's salvation.

Verse 6. The poor man's wealth.

The position of prayer in the economy of grace, or the natural history of mercy in the soul.