Obedience brings a blessing on all the provisions which our industry earns for us. That which comes in and goes out at once, like fruit in the basket which is for immediate use, shall be blest; and that which is laid by with us for a longer season shall equally receive a blessing. Perhaps ours is a hand-basket portion. We have a little for breakfast and a scanty bite for dinner in a basket when we go out to do our work in the morning. This is well, for the blessing of God is promised to the basket. If we live from hand to mouth, getting each day's supply in the day, we are as well off as Israel; for when the LORD entertained His favored people He only gave them a day's manna at a time. What more did they need? What more do we need?

But if we have a store, how much we need the LORD to bless it! For there is the care of getting, the care of keeping, the care of managing, the care of using; and, unless the LORD bless it, these cares will eat into our hearts till our goods become our gods and our cares prove cankers.

Often it seemingly appears that God is standing afar off and does not see the plight of victims nor hears the cries of the oppressed. Therefore, the wicked presumptuously begin to think that if there is a God, He must be too feeble to do anything about their wickedness. With brutish haughtiness they fancy themselves to be above the power of God. Their hearts disdain the very NAME of God, and their hearts vigorously reject even the slightest thought of a true living God. They say within themselves they have no adversary equal to them and shall never suffer the judgment of God. They feel they are beyond the reach of God. They deceive themselves in their ignorance, for the Eternal One is forever omniscient and omnipotent!

This psalm reveals the very character of anti-God and anti-Christ. The spirit of Satan in a man of sin is manifested by pride, immorality, homosexuality, blasphemy, arrogance, debauchery, and self-aggrandizing boastings. The spirit of antichrist presumes itself to be immune to the judgment of God; therefore, he persecutes, plunders, murders, and oppresses the poor and the godly. Verse 4: "The wicked through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." He is void of God-ward fear and reverence.

But thanks be unto God, there is a day of reckoning when all the righteous ones will be vindicated and all the wicked will receive the just recompense for their evil deeds. It may not seem like it at times, but the Father is ever near His children and will not hold those guiltless that oppress them. God will glorify His people! Faith will triumph under the kingship of the King of kings and Lord of lord. There is none like unto the great "I AM."

"A spiritual prayer is a humble prayer, the lower the heart descends, the higher the prayer ascends." – Thomas Watson. God causes His ears to hear the prayers of the humble and oppressed. None of their words fall to the ground, but are carried by the Holy Spirit into the ear and the heart of the loving Father.

Verses 16-18 are the grand finale of the psalm; which bring forth the thanksgiving and the praises of the LORD who is King forever and ever. Come what may, the LORD is ever near and hears, and in the fullness of time He will vindicate the righteous. PRAISE HIM!!!

In hardening sinners, God does not put any sinful principle in them; this would make Him the author of sin. The sinful principle is already there; we are children of wrath by nature (Eph. 2:3). But in hardening sinners, God leaves them to act out their own sinful desires, only controlling them so that their sinful desires shall not produce those particular actions that might overthrow the purpose of God. To illustrate: In the death of Christ, His murderers were acting out their own sinful wishes, but they were controlled by God, so that their deeds were the fulfilment of His Prophetic Word and the accomplishment of His eternal purpose. This explains why they parted His garments and cast lots for His vesture and gave Him vinegar mingled with gall to drink. It also explains why His bones were not broken, and why His side was pierced. God was in control of those who put His Son to death so that they did the particular things that the prophets had predicted. Read John 19:33-36; Ps. 22:18; 69:21; Matt. 27:35.

In Acts 14:16 we read that God suffered (permitted) all nations to walk in their own way, which means that He left them to their own depraved wills. Now, the SHOWING OF MERCY is the very opposite of leaving sinners to act out their own sinful natures. It is the putting of something good in them, a holy disposition and a good principle, by which they repent of their sins and believe on Christ. Showing mercy to those who come to Christ and plead His blood is objective mercy; working in us both to will and to do (Phil. 2:13) is subjective mercy. And this is the sense in which it is used in Rom. 9:13.

In Eph. 2:3-5 we are told that "we were by nature children of wrath.., but God, who is rich in mercy, .. quickened us together with Christ." And in Titus 3:5 we read that it was "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." It was in mercy that Christ died for us, and it was also in mercy that the Spirit enlightened our sin darkened understanding.