Psalm 120:1 NKJV
In my distress I cried to the Lord,
And He heard me.
He Heard Me
My Notes
Scripture: “In my distress I cried to the Lord, And He heard me.” —Psalm 120:1 (NKJV)
This verse opens the first of the Songs of Ascents with a cry from the valley. The psalmist is not yet ascending—he is aching. He is distressed, slandered, and far from peace. Yet in that place of pain, he does the most powerful thing a believer can do: he cries to the Lord.
Distress adds wings to our prayers. Like Jesus in Gethsemane, who prayed more earnestly in agony (Luke 22:44), the psalmist’s suffering drives him to deeper communion. Slander, especially, wounds the soul. It is a grievous torment—“the foulest whelp of sin”—and often leaves us helpless before men. But silence to man and prayer to God is the cure. When cries to people would be weakness, cries to God become strength.
The psalmist doesn’t rehearse his pain to others—he brings it to God. And God hears. Not with indifference or delay, but with attentive mercy. “He heard me.” This is the joy of the righteous: that God knows our hearts, even when others misjudge us. He hears our prayer against the lie, even when He refuses to hear the lie itself.
This verse is not just a memory—it is a testimony. The psalmist recalls God’s past faithfulness to strengthen his present hope. Devout hearts reason: “He has helped me before; He will help me again.” God’s mercy does not run dry. What He has done once, He will do again.
Prayer is not futile. It is not a last resort. It is the lifeline of the soul. The psalmist’s cry was not eloquent—it was earnest. And that was enough. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). When we cry in distress, we are not ignored. We are heard.
Things to meditate on:
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What distress are you carrying today?
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Have you cried to the Lord about it?
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What lies or slander have wounded you?
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How can you remember God’s past faithfulness in your present need?
Prayer
Abba, in my distress, I cry to You. Not to man, not to my own strength, but to You. Hear me, as You have heard me before. When slander wounds and silence surrounds me, be my refuge. Let Your mercy speak louder than the lies. Remind me that You are near, attentive, and faithful. I trust You to hear, to help, and to heal. I ask for these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Cross References for Further Study (NKJV)
God Hears and Delivers
Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.
Psalm 66:20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!
Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the righteous.
Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
Jonah 2:2 And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice.”
Psalm 91:15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
Christ’s Agony and Submission
Luke 22:44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Hebrews 5:7 Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.
Matthew 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
Protection and Vindication
Psalm 31:18 Let the lying lips be put to silence, Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.
1 Peter 2:23 Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.
Prayer, Refinement, and Intercession
James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Zechariah 13:9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Proverb for Today
The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, Searching all the inner depths of his heart. Proverbs 20:27 NKJV
NOTE: There are fifteen psalms, Ps. 120–134, to each of which is prefixed the title “A Song of Degrees.” Four of these psalms are recognized as written by David, one of them to Solomon, and the rest are by unknown authors.
………Bill
Summary of Commentaries:
The commentaries below reflect on the deep anguish caused by slander, describing it as a grievous and venomous wound that leaves the soul defenseless and perplexed. Unlike physical attacks, slander cannot be traced or contained, and appeals to justice often worsen the harm. Yet in such distress, the psalmist wisely turns to God in prayer. Human help is futile, but divine help is sure. Spurgeon emphasizes that falsehood, though vile, can drive us to our knees—and there, God hears. The Lord listens attentively, unmoved by lies but moved by prayer. He knows His children’s hearts and answers their cries with mercy and strength.
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“In my distress.” Slander occasions distress of the most grievous kind. Those who have felt the edge of a cruel tongue know assuredly that it is sharper than the sword. Calumny rouses our indignation by a sense of injustice, and yet we find ourselves helpless to fight with the evil or to act in our own defense. We could ward off the strokes of a cutlass, but we have no shield against a liar’s tongue. We do not know who was the father of the falsehood, nor where it was born, nor where it has gone, nor how to follow it, nor how to stay its withering influence. We are perplexed and know not which way to turn. Like the plague of flies in Egypt, it baffles opposition, and few can stand before it. Detraction touches us in the most tender point, cuts to the quick, and leaves a venom behind which it is difficult to extract. In all ways, it is a sore distress to come under the power of “slander, the foulest whelp of sin.” Even in such distress, we need not hesitate to cry unto the Lord. Silence to man and prayer to God are the best cures for the evil of slander.
“I cried unto the LORD“ (or Jehovah). The wisest course that he could follow. It is of little use to appeal to our fellows on the matter of slander, for the more we stir in it the more it spreads; it is of no avail to appeal to the honor of the slanderers, for they have none, and the most piteous demands for justice will only increase their malignity and encourage them to fresh insult. As well plead with panthers and wolves as with black hearted traducers. However, when cries to man would be our weakness, cries to God will be our strength. To whom should children cry but to their father? Does not some good come even out of that vile thing, falsehood, when it drives us to our knees and to our God?
“And he heard me“. Yes, Jehovah hears. He is the living God, and hence prayer to him is reasonable and profitable. The Psalmist remembered and recorded this instance of prayer hearing, for it had evidently much affected him; and now he rehearses it for the glory of God and the good of his brethren. “The righteous cry and the Lord heareth them”. The ear of our God is not deaf, nor even heavy. He listens attentively, he catches the first accent of supplication; he makes each of his children confess, “he heard me“. When we are slandered it is a joy that the Lord knows us, and cannot be made to doubt our uprightness: he will not hear the lie against us, but he will hear our prayer against the lie.
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Enduring Word
In my distress I cried to the LORD: The people of God often find themselves in distress. They have a refuge in their distress; they can do as the psalmist did when he cried to the LORD. They can share the singer’s testimony, and He heard me. (Guzik)
i. In my distress: “Distress addeth wings to our devotions. Our Savior, being in agony, prayed more earnestly, Luke 22:44. So do all his members, and especially when they lie under the lash of a lying tongue, as here.” (Trapp)
ii. And He heard me: The psalmist remembered God’s past faithfulness in his present need. “Devout hearts argue that what Jehovah has done once He will do again. Since His mercy endureth forever, He will not weary of bestowing, nor will former gifts exhaust His stores. Men say, ‘I have given so often that I can give no more’; God says, ‘I have given, therefore I will give.’” (Maclaren)
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Albert Barnes
In my distress – In my suffering, as arising from slander, Psalms 120:2-3. There are few forms of suffering more keen than those caused by slander:
“Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile, whose breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
All corners of the world: kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This viperous slander enters.”
Cymbeline, iii. 4.
It is one of those things which a man cannot guard against; which he cannot repel by force; whose origin he cannot always trace; which will go where a vindication will not follow; whose effects will live long after the slander is refuted; which will adhere to a man, or leave a trait of suspicion, even after the most successful vindication, for the effect will be to make a second slander more easily credited than the first was.
I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me – I had no other resource. I could not meet the slander. I could not refute it. I could not prevent its effects on my reputation, and all that I could do was to commit the case to the Lord. See the notes at Psalms 37:5-6.
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John Gill
In my distress I cried unto the Lord,…. Being at a distance from his own country, or, however, from the house of God; persecuted by men, under the lash of their tongues; reproached, abused, and belied by them: in this his case and circumstances, he betook himself by prayer to the Lord, and importuned help and deliverance of him, knowing that none could help him as he; see Psalm 18:6;
and he heard me; answered him, and delivered him. The petition he put up follows, which shows his case and his particular distress.
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Matthew Henry
In this distress, he had recourse to God by faithful and fervent prayer: I cried unto the Lord. Having no fence against false tongues, he appealed to him who has all men’s hearts in his hand, who has power over the consciences of bad men, and can, when he pleases, bridle their tongues. His prayer was, “Deliver my soul, O Lord! from lying lips, that my enemies may not by these cursed methods work my ruin.” He that had prayed so earnestly to be kept from lying (Ps. 119:29) and hated it so heartily in himself (v. 163) might with the more confidence pray to be kept from being belied by others, and from the ill consequences of it.
He obtained a gracious answer to this prayer. God heard him; so that his enemies, though they carried their designs very far, were baffled at last, and could not prevail to do him the mischief they intended. The God of truth is, and will be, the protector of his people from lying lips, Ps. 37:6.
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Miscellaneous Comments
“In my distress I cried unto the Lord,” etc. See the wondrous advantage of trouble,—that it makes us call upon God; and again see the wondrous readiness of mercy, that when we call he heareth us! Very blessed are they that mourn while they are travelling the long upward journey from the Galilee of the Gentiles of this lower world to the heavenly Jerusalem, the high and holy city of the saints of God.
—J. W. Burgon, in “A Plain Commentary.”
“In my distress.” God’s help is seasonable; it comes when we need it. Christ is a seasonable good… For the soul to be dark, and for Christ to enlighten it; for the soul to be dead, and Christ to enliven it; for the soul to be doubting, and for Christ to resolve it; and for the soul to be distressed, and for Christ to relieve it; is not this in season? For a soul to be hard, and for Christ to soften it; for a soul to be haughty, and for Christ to humble it; for a soul to be tempted, and for Christ to succour it; and for a soul to be wounded, and for Christ to heal it? Is not this in season?
—R. Mayhew, 1679.
“And he heard me.” The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much: Jas 5:16; Zec 13:9. He that prayeth ardently, speeds assuredly (Psalm 91:15); and the delayed return of prayer should be carefully observed and thankfully improved: Psalm 66:20.
—John Trapp.
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