Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
David uttered this prayer while fleeing Saul, when he could place no trust in Saul and rested instead in God, crying out from the cave. It is the cry of one brought very low in a land of desolation, deeply afflicted by evil and by persecutors stronger than himself. To ask God to attend is to call for Him to come very near and to show quick deliverance, appealing to Him as strength and portion and stay and refuge. The deliverance sought is the destroying of the persecutors' band and the breaking loose from it.
The cry itself is not loud noise but melting moans of the heart, though sore pinching distress may also draw out vocal cries that please God. Ardent affection in such crying prayer prevails with God and pierces heaven, so that plentiful tears bring bountiful mercies. Crying gives faith courage, and tears water faith until it grows into confidence that God will deal bountifully and the righteous will surround the sufferer as a conqueror. Thus a crying crier becomes a triumphant praiser.
David's years of trial in this affliction were part of the path through which God prepared him to be king.
David uttered this prayer while fleeing Saul, when he could place no trust in Saul and rested instead in God, crying out from the cave. It is the cry of one brought very low in a land of desolation, deeply afflicted by evil and by persecutors stronger than himself. To ask God to attend is to call for Him to come very near and to show quick deliverance, appealing to Him as strength and portion and stay and refuge. The deliverance sought is the destroying of the persecutors' band and the breaking loose from it.
The cry itself is not loud noise but melting moans of the heart, though sore pinching distress may also draw out vocal cries that please God. Ardent affection in such crying prayer prevails with God and pierces heaven, so that plentiful tears bring bountiful mercies. Crying gives faith courage, and tears water faith until it grows into confidence that God will deal bountifully and the righteous will surround the sufferer as a conqueror. Thus a crying crier becomes a triumphant praiser.
David's years of trial in this affliction were part of the path through which God prepared him to be king.