13
You pushed me violently, that I might fall,
But the Lord helped me.
My Thoughts
These 5 words, “But the Lord helped me” are for us to remember when we are attacked, slandered, when thoughts come to us that make us wonder about what kind of person we are, these words we can rest in because when we are under attack the Lord is ready and willing to come and help us, to fight the battle for us if we only seek him and ask.
Psalm 118:13 emphasizes the idea that despite being aggressively attacked, “But the Lord helped me” stands as a powerful reminder of divine support in times of distress. The insights from various commentators highlight the relentless efforts of adversaries to undermine faith and integrity. The lesson to learn is that God protects believers from falling into despair and sin. Ultimately, the message conveys hope and encouragement, assuring that God’s assistance is always available for those who seek Him in their struggles………Bill
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Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“Thou hast thrust sore at me,” “Thrusting, thou hast thrust at me.” It is a vigorous apostrophe, in which the enemy is described as concentrating all his thrusting power into the thrusts which he gave to the man of God. He thrust again and again with the keenest point, even as bees thrust their stings into their victim. The foe had exhibited intense exasperation, and fearful determination, nor had he been without a measure of success; wounds had been given and received, and these smarted much, and were exceeding sore. Now, this is true of many a tried child of God who has been wounded by Satan, by the world, by temptation, by affliction; the sword has entered into his bones, and left its mark.
“That I might fall.” This was the object of the thrusting: to throw him down, to wound him in such a way that he would no longer be able to keep his place, to make him depart from his integrity, and lose his confidence in God. If our adversaries can do this, they will have succeeded to their heart’s content: if we fall into grievous sin, they will be better pleased than even if they had sent the bullet of the assassin into our heart, for a moral death is worse than a physical one. If they can dishonor us and God in us, their victory will be complete. “Better death than false of faith” is the motto of one of our noble houses, and it may well be ours. It is to compass our fall that they compass us; they fill us with their venom that they may fill us with their sin.
“But the Lord helped me;” a blessed “but.” This is the saving clause. Other helpers were unable to chase away the angry nations, much less to destroy all the noxious swarms; but when the Lord came to the rescue, the hero’s single arm was strong enough to vanquish all his adversaries. How sweetly can many of us repeat in the retrospect of our past tribulations this delightful sentence, “But the Lord helped me.” I was assailed by innumerable doubts and fears, but the Lord helped me; my natural unbelief was terribly inflamed by the insinuations of Satan, but the Lord helped me; multiplied trial were rendered more intense by the cruel assaults of men, and I knew not what to do, but the Lord helped me. Doubtless, when we land on the hither shore of Jordan, this will be one of our songs: “Flesh and heart were failing me, and the adversaries of my soul surrounded me in the swellings of Jordan, but the Lord helped me. Glory be unto his name.”
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John Gill
Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall,…. Or “pushing, thou hast pushed me, that I might fall”: an apostrophe to some particular enemy, as Saul was to David; who thrust sore at him to take away his life, by casting a javelin at him; speaking to his servants to kill him; sending messengers to watch his house and slay him, and by, pursuing him from place to place. And such an one was Judas to Christ, who lifted up his heel against him, and betrayed him into the hands of his enemies; or the devil in him, and by him; and who thrust sore at Christ by others; by Herod in his infancy, who sought to take away his life; and by the Scribes and Pharisees, who attempted it in different ways, and at last got him nailed to the cross; as well as Satan thrust sore at him, by his temptations in the wilderness, and when in his agonies in the garden, and when on the cross: and so the same enemy thrusts sore at the members of Christ, to cause them to fall from him, and the steadfastness of their faith in him to fail; that they may fall into temptation, and by it into sin, and that finally and totally, and into hell itself, could he obtain it;
but the Lord helped me; helped David, so that he perished not by the hand of Saul, he sometimes feared he should; helped Christ, as man and Mediator, in the day of salvation, and raised him from the dead, and gave him glory: and he helps his people against all their enemies; holds them with his right hand; helps them to fight against them; maintains his own work of grace in them, and keeps them from a total and final falling away, by his power unto salvation. The Targum is, “The Word of the Lord helped me.”
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Matthew Henry
By the injuries that men did him (v. 13): Thou (O enemy!) hast thrust sore at me, with many a desperate push, that I might fall into sin and into ruin. Thrusting thou hast thrust at me (so the word is), so that I was ready to fall. Satan is the great enemy that thrusts sorely at us by his temptations, to cast us down from our excellency, that we may fall from our God and from our comfort in him; and, if God had not upheld us by his grace, his thrusts would have been fatal to us.
Such was the fury of David’s enemies; such is the laughter of the fool, like the crackling of thorns under a pot (Eccl. 7:6), and such is the anger of the fool, which therefore is not to be feared, any more than his laughter is to be envied, but both to be pitied. They thrust sorely at him, but the Lord helped him (v. 13), helped him to keep his feet and maintain his ground. Our spiritual enemies would, long before this, have been our ruin if God had not been our helper.
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Adam Clarke
Thou hast thrust sore at me — In pushing thou hast pushed me that I might fall.
But the Lord helped me. — Though he possessed skill, courage, and strength, yet these could not have prevailed had not God been his helper; and to him he gives the glory of the victory.
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John Mason Neale
“Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall.” Thou hast indeed. Thou hast done thy part, O Satan, and it has been well done. Thou hast known all my weakest parts, thou hast seen where my armor was not buckled on tightly, and thou hast attacked me at the right time and in the right way. The great Spanish poet, Calderon, tells of one who wore a heavy suit of armor for a whole year, and laid it by for one hour, and in that hour the enemy came, and the man paid for his negligence with his life. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”
—John Mason Neale.
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Cross-References
Psalm 140:4 (KJV )
4 Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
Preserve me from the violent man;
Who have purposed to overthrow my goings.
Psalm 86:17 (KJV )
17 Shew me a token for good;
That they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed:
Because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.
Isaiah 66:2 (KJV )
2 For all those things hath mine hand made,
And all those things have been, saith the Lord:
But to this man will I look,
Even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And trembleth at my word.
Micah 7:8 (KJV )
8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy:
When I fall, I shall arise;
When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 118:13
3 (e) Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall, but the Lord hathe holpen me.
(e) He notes Saul his chief enemy.
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Closing Thoughts
Lamentations 3:22-26
22
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
25
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
Who – The Lord
What – His mercies
When – every morning
Where – where we wait for Him and seek Him.
How – when we hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
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