Psalms 108:12

Psa_108:12

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.

Help in trouble

I. A very common experience. Trouble.

1. Bodily.

2. Family.

3. Church.

4. Heath.

II. A very certain resource. Betaking ourselves to God in prayer.

1. The resource itself. God. He knows all our troubles. He is ever graciously disposed to help and comfort His people.

2. How the resource is available. By prayer. It may be very short--a mere fragment. But it must be the prayer of conscious need, and of believing supplication.

III. A very evident truth. For vain is the help of man. Good men may give us wise counsel, and they may sympathize sincerely and tenderly, and they may pray for us, and thus be instrumental of good to our souls; but they can neither sustain us in trouble, nor sanctify our sorrows, nor deliver us out of our afflictions.

1. They cannot control our circumstances. But God can; He alone disposes of the conditions of men--raiseth up, or casteth down--enriches, or impoverishes--sends prosperity, or adversity--joy, or grief.

2. They cannot drive back our enemies. Either those in the world, or our spiritual ones; but God can; He can enable us effectually to resist both, and to triumph over them.

3. They cannot turn our afflictions into a blessing. But God can; He is able out of the eater to bring forth meat, and out of the strong to bring forth sweetness.

4. They cannot deliver us from our troubles. Look at Abraham on the mount with Isaac! Jacob meeting Esau! Israelites on way to Red Seal Daniel in den of lions! Hebrews in the fiery furnace! Peter in prison--Paul in the stocks! In all these cases vain would have been the skill and power of man; but God did deliver each and all of them; and He will deliver those who pub their trust in Him. (J. Burns, D. D.)

Human help is of no avail

About twenty years ago a fisherman on the way to his boat met his little boy, who pleaded with him to be taken on the little voyage across to the neighbouring island. The fisherman looked at the waves; they had begun to pub on their white caps of wrath, and the swell of the sea had commenced, and he hesitated; but at last he allowed his boy to go. All seemed well in the smack, till half way across a sudden squall caught the canvas and flung the father and his assistant into the deep. They caught hold of the rope that attached the little boat behind the smack, and climbed in and were saved. Looking back, they saw the smack on her beam end, filling rapidly, and a pale, white little face, the face of the little boy at the cabin window. He had been sent down below when the squall had come. The father, in desperation, flung himself on the sinking smack. One blow of his strong fist shattered the window, and the little face there still looked out, but he cannot escape: what could the father do? The window is too small. The man was nearly demented; he tried to tear the beams from the sinking vessel, but they were too strong; and the little boy, in his homely Scotch, said, Daddy, save me, help me. Deeper and deeper, the smack turned on her side; and the tears streamed down the little white face, and down the face of the despairing father. At last he cried, God help thee, my laddie, I canna. Down went the smack, with a gurgle and a foaming bubble, and that was all. That father never went to sea again. Twenty years passed, and on his death-bed it was the same cry, God help thee, my laddie, I canna. Dear soul, you are in greater danger than that little fisher-lad. Youre sinking! God help you, you immortal soul, youre sinking; and I cannot help you, your father cant, your mother cant. God help thee (J. Robertson.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. (Psa 108:12) Give us help from the enemy (or from distress); and (the rather because) vain is the salvation of man, meaning that which he affords. See above, on Psa 60:11, which agrees with this exactly.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. from trouble] Or, as R.V., against the adversary. Cp. Psa_108:13.

for vain is the help of man] Lit. salvation. Cp. Psa_108:6. It is a delusion (cp. Psa_33:17) to look to human strength for victory. See Psa_44:6-7; 1Sa_17:47; Jer_17:5; and cp. Jdg_7:4; Jdg_7:7; 1Sa_14:6; 2Ch_14:11; 1Ma_3:16 ff.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Give us help from trouble ... - This is copied from Psa 60:11.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 12. Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. This prayer has often fallen from the lips of men who have been bitterly disappointed by their fellows, and it has also been poured out unto the Lord in the presence of some gigantic labour in which mortal power is evidently of no avail. Edom cannot be entered by any human power, yet from its fastnesses the robber bands come rushing down; therefore, O Lord, do thou interpose and give thy people deliverance. Help divine is expected because help human is of no avail. We ought to pray with all the more confidence in God when our confidence in man is altogether gone. When the help of man is vain, we shall not find it vain to seek the help of God.

Ver. 12. Give us help from trouble, etc. He who would have God's help in any business, must quit confidence in man's help; and the seeing of the vanity of man's help must make the believer to trust the more unto, and expect the more confidently God's help, as here is done. "Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man." David Dickson.

Ver. 12. The failure of human help is often

1. The direct cause of our prayer.

2. The source of urgency in pleading.

3. A powerful argument for the pleader.

4. A distinct reason for hope to light upon.

Psalms 108:13*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Completely identical with Psa_60:11.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.