Here is, 1. A complaint of the daring impiety of the wicked. David,
having in himself a holy indignation at it, humbly represents it to
God: "Lord, there are those that have made void thy law, have set thee
and thy government at defiance, and have done what in them lay to
cancel and vacate the obligation of thy commands." Those that sin
through infirmity transgress the law, but presumptuous sinners do in
effect make void the law, saying, Who is the Lord? What is the
Almighty, that we should fear him? It is possible a godly man may sin
against the commandment, but a wicked man would sin away the
commandment, would repeal God's laws and enact his own lusts. This is
the sinfulness of sin and the malignity of the carnal mind. 2. A desire
that God would appear, for the vindication of his own honour: "It is
time for thee, Lord, to work, to do something for the effectual
confutation of atheists and infidels, and the silencing of those that
set their mouth against the heavens." God's time to work is when vice
has become most daring and the measure of iniquity is full. Now will I
arise, saith the Lord. Some read it, and the original will bear it, It
is time to work for thee, O Lord! it is time for every one in his place
to appear on the Lord's side--against the threatening growth of
profaneness and immorality. We must do what we can for the support of
the sinking interests of religion, and, after all, we must beg of God
to take the work into his own hands.