Psalms 36

Sin whispers to the wicked deep within; he has no fear of God before his eyes. Wesley: No fear—When I consider the manifold transgressions of ungodly men, I conclude within myself, that they have cast off all fear of the Divine majesty.

Read the wicked's career as evidence that fear of God has been cast off. Let the diagnosis sober you; do not flatter yourself that you can keep wisdom while despising his majesty.

Calvin: Transgression saith to the wicked—the malice of the wicked, though seemingly hidden, speaks aloud in my heart; I am a sure witness of what it says. He penetrates the source: though they cloak malice with dissimulation, the servants of God perceive depravity hidden within. No fear of God before his eyes—sense of good and evil destroyed, they shrink from nothing as if there were no Judge in heaven.

Name fearless wickedness without catching its contagion. Hear what ungodliness whispers; keep your own heart under the fear that bridles appetite.

He flatters himself in his own eyes too much to detect and hate his own sin. Wesley: Flattereth—He deceiveth himself with vain persuasions, that God does not mind his sins, or will not punish them. Found—Punish, as the same phrase is used, Numb 32:23.

Refuse self-flattery that God will not mind or punish. Iniquity that cannot be found out is a lie you tell your eyes; ask for honesty before discovery becomes public shame.

Calvin: he flatters himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found hateful—nourishing vices by flatteries; while falsely flattering themselves they proceed until iniquity becomes hateful to all men, yet they are not affected with displeasure against themselves. They abolish distinction between good and evil and lull conscience into insensibility.

Break the polish you put on your worst acts. When others already hate what you excuse, stop applauding yourself; let conscience wake before reprobate dulness sets in.

The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. Wesley: Left off—Once he had some degrees of wisdom, but now he is become an open apostate. Mouth and life agree in ruin.

Trace open apostasy back to ceased wisdom and refused good. Trouble and deceit in the mouth are not cleverness; they mark the exit from acting wisely.

Calvin: not only circumventing others by wiles, but destitute of uprightness; frivolous excuses and vain pretexts reject sound doctrine. They purposely suppress understanding of good and evil because they have no desire to become better. If we turn aside, the remedy is to open understanding; refusing instruction indicates depravity altogether desperate.

Do not starve the light that would lead you back. When the mouth runs trouble and deceit, seek understanding again; refusal to be taught is itself the danger signal.

He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil. Wesley: Deviseth—Freely, from his own inclination, when none are present to provoke him to it. Night invents what day will enact.

Watch the bed where no tempter stands beside you. Plotting alone from your own inclination is freer guilt; train the night toward examination, not toward trouble.

Calvin: wickedness of a secret and determined character—even withdrawn from sight they form schemes of mischief; without temptation or evil example they devise of their own accord. Stubbornness: they set themselves in a crooked way and abhor not evil—wilfully shutting eyes they rush until they yield as slaves of wickedness. Contrast: the godly on their beds exclude evil thoughts and examine their lives.

Fill solitude with a different meditation. When alone, refuse to invent mischief; let abhorrence of evil stay awake on the bed.

Your loving kindness, LORD, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Wesley: Thy mercy—Mine enemies are cruel and perfidious, but thou art infinite in mercy, and faithfulness. Heavens—Is infinite and incomprehensible. Faithfulness—The truth both of thy threatenings against thine enemies, and of thy promises made to good men. Clouds—Far above our reach.

Lift from cruel enemies to infinite steadfast love and faithfulness. Heaven-high mercy and cloud-high truth are not abstractions; they steady the heart when men prove perfidious.

Calvin: after speaking of great depravity, afraid of contagion, David recovers by a different theme—the world is full of God's goodness and righteousness. Mercy unto the heavens; truth unto the clouds—faithfulness in accomplishing promises. Do not limit views to wickedness that confounds all things; elevate thoughts to secret providence associated with perfect righteousness.

When malice floods the mind, quit the subject for God's mercy and truth. Measure the heavens of steadfast love; refuse to catch the wicked's infection while you condemn them.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. LORD, you preserve man and beast you save, O Lord. Wesley: Mountains—Stedfast and unmoveable: eminent and conspicuous to all men. Judgments—The executions of thy counsels. Deep—Unsearchable, as the ocean. Man—The worst of men; yea, the brute-beasts have experience of thy care and kindness.

Confess mountain-steadfast righteousness and ocean-deep judgments. Even man and beast are under his saving care; let that widen trust when human counsel fails.

Calvin: righteousness as mountains of God—excellent, glory shining; judgments a great deep—to whatever side we turn, all disposed by just judgment. Greater is the depth of providence than the flood of wickedness. Thou preservest man and beast—since care extends to the irrational creation, much more does he provide for men; fortify faith by this when doubt arises.

Ravish the mind with the depth of his judgments. When human affairs confuse, remember providence deeper than the abyss of evil; care for beasts pledges care for you.

How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings. Wesley: Loving-kindness—Though all thine attributes be excellent, yet, above all, thy mercy is most excellent, or precious and amiable. Refuge under wings answers precious love.

Prize steadfast love above every other excellence you name. Take refuge under his wings; precious mercy is for trusting children of mankind, not for spectators only.

Calvin: because mercy is great and clearly manifested, the children of men put trust under its shadow. Though language refers generally to sons of men, what follows applies to the faithful alone—God gathers mortal offspring under his wings as the hen cherishes chickens. The ungodly never taste the sweetness so as to enjoy repose under his wings.

Trust under the shadow because love is precious. Taste fatherly care; do not run to excess while refusing the wings that would shelter you.

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures. Wesley: Satisfied—Who trust in thee. Fatness—With those delightful provisions, which thou hast prepared for them in heaven. The river—Which denotes both their plenty, and their perpetuity.

Expect abundance and river-delights for those who trust. Feast language points beyond thin rations; let hope taste plenty and perpetuity prepared in his house.

Calvin: fatness of God's house—abundance of good things laid up for children who commit themselves to his protection. Under it are comprehended blessings necessary to present happiness and comfort as well as eternal blessedness; earthly use connected with faith. The ungodly glut bodies while souls stay empty; the faithful alone are satisfied because gifts are a pledge of fatherly love. Meat, drink, and river denote complete fullness and overflowing abundance.

Receive house-abundance as pledge, not as license to glut without gratitude. Drink the river of delights with faith that names the Giver.

For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light. Wesley: Life—It is in God as in a fountain, and from him is derived to us—that glorious and blessed and endless life worthy of the name. Light—In the light of thy glorious presence, fully manifested when we see thee face to face; joy, comfort, and happiness—light discovering, then light discovered or enjoyed.

Confess the fountain of life and the light by which we see light. Do not hunt life or light apart from him; derive both from the fountain and the presence.

Calvin: confirms the doctrine—there is not a drop of life without him or which flows not from his grace. Light: men are destitute of light except as the Lord shines; if true of this life, how behold heavenly light unless the Spirit enlighten? The godly alone perceive they derive light from God and without it would continue buried in darkness.

Own every drop of life and every beam of sight as from him. Refuse the fantasy of self-lit life; ask the shining that alone lets us see.

Oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart! Prayer turns from praise to plea: prolong steadfast love and righteousness toward knowers and the upright-hearted.

Ask continued steadfast love for those who know him. Knowledge and uprightness of heart mark the people who plead for prolonging mercy; keep asking, not presuming yesterday's favor needs no tomorrow.

Calvin: Prolong thy mercy to them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart—continue to manifest mercy to the end. Righteousness connected as effect: defending his people, vindicating innocence, avenging wrongs, proving faithful. True believers know God and are upright in heart—godliness springs from knowledge of God; faith disposes to uprightness; we know him aright when we place entire confidence in him.

Pray prolonged mercy for the knowing and upright. Tie righteousness to his defense of his own; depend on favor first, then rest in his faithful vindication.

Let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away. Wesley: The foot—Of my proud and insolent enemies. Come—So as to overthrow me. Personal plea under the general prayer for the godly.

Ask that arrogant feet and wicked hands be restrained. Name the threat of overthrow without matching arrogance; seek his block on the trampling foot.

Calvin: applies the general prayer to himself—asks nothing apart from other godly, yet as one of the upright desires favor. Foot of pride and hand of the wicked: they rush boldly, lifting feet to tread and hands ready to wrong; he entreats restraint and confesses danger unless God comes speedily.

Pray protection among the upright, not as a private exception. Ask God to halt the proud foot and removing hand before they drive you from his care.

There the workers of iniquity are fallen. They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise. Wesley: There—He seems as it were to point at the place, as if it were already done. Faith points at a fall not yet visible to flesh.

Speak of the evildoers' fall as sure. Pointing "there" trains hope; do not wait to praise only after your eyes already see them down.

Calvin: derives confidence from prayer, not doubting he has obtained. By the eye of faith, as from a watchtower, he beholds their destruction and speaks with confidence as if realized. Leave to providence the period when God rises to judgment; they totter in a slippery place even in prosperity; finally utter destruction with no expected rising.

View the fall of workers of iniquity by faith before it arrives. Refuse to hasten God's timing out of impatient desire; hold "there" as watchtower certainty, not as your private schedule for revenge.