| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| 1 A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart. |
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| 2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped; |
Well nigh slipped – In former ignorance and foolishness, until he held us up by the right hand (verse 23), and did not suffer us to fall. R1562:5
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| 3 For I was envious at the arrogant, seeing the prosperity of the wicked. |
I was envious – If justice be delayed it is only for the development of some greater good than could be accomplished by a speedy adjustment. R2025:5
Prosperity – The effect of Satan's reign on sinners. R492:3
Of the wicked – Who, in the present life, flourish more often than do the righteous. R1383:5
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| 4 For they have no pangs in their death, and their body is well nourished; |
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| 5 They have not the hardships of mankind, neither are they plagued like other men: |
They – The wicked class, the worldly. R1652:3
Not in trouble – All suffering is not the direct penal result of some personal sin. R1773:3
It is very seldom, indeed, that God visits punishment upon the world in the present time. R569:5
As other men – The saints. R1652:3
But we see the justified ones suffer and die just like other men. R1561:1
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| 6 Therefore pride encompasseth them as a neck-chain, violence covereth them as a garment; |
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| 7 Their eyes stand out from fatness, they exceed the imaginations of their heart: |
With fatness – Under the reign of the prince of darkness, evildoers often have great success. R5778:2; CR493:4
They seem to go unheeded in their wrong course. R4856:4
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| 8 They mock and speak wickedly of oppression, they speak loftily: |
Wickedly concerning – In the wickedness of oppression. R1562:2
Loftily – From the chief places of power and control. R1562:2
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| 9 They set their mouth in the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. |
Their tongue walketh – Their influence has free course. R1562:2
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| 10 Therefore his people turn hither, and waters in fulness are wrung out to them. |
Therefore his people – God's people. R1562:3
Return hither --Turn into the wilderness condition of separation from the world. R1562:3
And a full cup – Of affliction and persecution. R1562:3
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| 11 And they say, How can *God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High? |
And they say – The ungodly say. R1562:3
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| 12 Behold, these are the wicked, and they prosper in the world: they heap up riches. |
Prosper in the world – Occupying the chief places of control--political, financial and religious. R1562:4
Because, during this age, Satan is permitted to be the prince of this world--to rule as he will. R569:2, R5778:2
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| 13 Truly have I purified my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency: |
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| 14 For all the day have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. |
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| 15 If I said, I will speak thus, behold, I should be faithless to the generation of thy children. |
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| 16 When I thought to be able to know this, it was a grievous task in mine eyes; |
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| 17 Until I went into the sanctuaries of *God; then understood I their end. |
Into the sanctuary – The holy place of entire consecration to God, typified in the Holy of the Tabernacle. R1562:4
Their end – In the day of judgment they will get their lessons and have much more difficulty than those who learn the lessons now. R4856:4
"The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." (2 Pet. 2:9) R569:5
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| 18 Truly thou settest them in slippery places, thou castest them down in ruins. |
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| 19 How are they suddenly made desolate! they pass away, consumed with terrors. |
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| 20 As a dream, when one awaketh, wilt thou, Lord, on arising despise their image. |
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| 21 When my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins, |
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| 22 Then I was brutish and knew nothing; I was as a beast with thee. |
So foolish was I – In being envious of the prosperous wicked. R1562:5
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| 23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden my right hand; |
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| 24 Thou wilt guide me by thy counsel, and after the glory, thou wilt receive me. |
Thou shalt guide me – Nothing indicates that God is pleased to guide his people by impressing his thoughts upon them in any other way than through his Word. R2240:6
If the heart desires guidance, divine light will be shed through the Word, under the illuminating power of the holy Spirit. R590:5*
One of life's most important lessons is our own insufficiency, our own lack of wisdom. R2240:2
He will not drive his sheep, but goeth before them to lead, that they may follow. R2672:3
We should not expect to be able always to comprehend the divine wisdom which is so much beyond our own, yet we can often see it afterward. R1562:2
With thy counsel – As contained in the Scriptures. R2240:5
Those who can be guided only by continual scourgings are not of the overcoming class. E234
Not only respecting the life to come, but also respecting the things of this present life. R2240:2
We believe in divine providences, but these do not supplant God's written Word. R2240:5
Even the best of earthly counsel is of value only as it has been directed by the divine counsel. R2240:3
As a natural man, Jesus had no need of the Father's special counsel, being perfect and able to guide his own way, but as a spirit-begotten individual he, like the members of his Body, needed the Father's counsel. R4246:6*
Afterward – If we give heed to the counsel. R2240:3
The present life, being preparatory, is a time for the schooling and discipline of the sons of God. R1561:2
"Afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness." (Heb. 12:11) R1562:2
Receive me to glory – The overcomers of the Gospel age to celestial glory and the overcomers of the Millennial age to terrestrial glory. R2242:5
Only those who seek diligently to know the most minute features of the Lord's counsel will afterward be received into glory. R4247:2*
Those of the Jewish age into the glory of the earthly phase of the Kingdom; those of the Gospel age into the glory of the heavenly phase. R1562:2
It was not the man Christ Jesus that was received into glory. R4247:1*
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| 25 Whom have I in the heavens? and there is none upon earth I desire beside thee. |
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| 26 My flesh and my heart faileth: God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever.
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My heart faileth – The flesh is too weak and the heart is too faint to pursue the course marked out for the righteous in this evil time, except as strengthened and upheld by power from on high. R1562:5
Jesus realized that, as a human being, though perfect, his heart and flesh would fail unless reinforced by divine grace. R1807:2
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| 27 For behold, they that are far from thee shall perish; thou destroyest every one that goeth a whoring from thee. |
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| 28 But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord Jehovah, that I may declare all thy works. |
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