Psalms 37:5

Psa 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass.

Ver. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord] Heb. Roll thy way, &c. That is, depend wholly upon him for direction and success in all thine undertakings and affairs; easing thy mind to him by prayer, and casting thyself by faith upon his care and conduct: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord," saith David elsewhere, Volve, i.e. omnem necessitatem in eum exoneres (Kimchi).

Trust also in him] Things are therefore repeated in this psalm, that they may take the better impression, and beget encouragement.

And he shall bring it to pass] It, that is, whatsoever thou committest to him.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_37:5

Commit thy way unto the Lord.

Commit thy way

What more appropriate motto can we select for a new year? Counsel such as this is in itself a kind of revelation. It reveals us to ourselves! Is our way such that we can commit it to the Lord? Now, such committing of our way to God means--

I. Meditation before prayer. Meditation, says St. Ambrose, is the eye wherewith we see God, and prayer is the wing wherewith we flee to Him. Prayer is not an accidental expression that comes suddenly to the mind; it is the souls recognition of its need. And to pray aright we must have been alone with ourselves before we are alone with God. Bunyan said, In prayer it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart.

II. Consciousness of ignorance. We say to God, Thou and Thou only knowest the true path of life. Our ignorance is at times very humbling to us. We want to know all, and in reality we know so little. How terrible it would be if we could not commit our way unto God. How glad, then, should we be that God invites us at all times to come to Him. As Quarles says, Heavens never deaf but when mans heart is dark.

III. Conscious obedience and cheerful acquiescence in his will. Dependence must end in obedience. Owen says, He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays. Can there be a more miserable man on earth than he who knows the hypocrisy of his prayers, who is inwardly conscious of his wrong state, who knows that he is living without God, and yet feels tremulous and sad about it all? He has not really returned to God. He has not realized again the value of the Saviours friendship; he cannot forsake the indulgence of some secret sin; he cannot quite quit fellowships that are risking his immortal weal. The reverences of religion still touch him with awe, the piety of the early child-home is still a memory in his manhood; he despises men who have no religion. But his will is not obedient: it cannot be said of him that he is a follower of the Lamb. Let us not slight this aspect of the subject--committing our way means conscious obedience unto God. And not merely endurance, nor passive submission, but cheerful acquiescence. This lights the smile on the sufferers face; this gives sunlight to the gloomy Catacombs. When the soul comes away from communion with God in this spirit, the ravens of anxiety and care forsake the heart. The world may know how to provoke mirth; it may amuse with sallies of wit; it may excite with sensuous joys; but all through the ages cheerfulness has been the child of faith, and has seldom forsaken the sufferer even in lifes last hours.

IV. Committing the end to God. When and where belong to Him. Life has been quite other than most of us thought it, and so probably will death be. It would be a mean thing to wish to commit the end to God and not all that leads to it,-to rely on some mere death-bed repentance. So to live as to feel sure that when the evening comes we shall have nothing to do but to die, this is the Christians heritage. And then let the curtains be rent suddenly, or taken down gently; let the light go out in a sharp gust, or burn down in the socket slowly; this surely is what we all wish to be able to say, Father, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. (W. M. Statham.)

Confidence in God

I. The case supposed. This psalm represents the case, to wit, the flourishing condition of the wicked to the great prejudice and hazard of Gods people. He persuades us, in such instances, to confidence in God and patience in well-doing; and discovers the estate of pious and ungodly men to be as different, not only in the world to come, but through Gods just judgment many times even in this life, as their principles and practices have been.

II. The direction, or counsel.

1. Committing our way unto the Lord, though it may be taken to signify the same as casting our burden upon Him (Psa_55:22), and casting our care upon Him (1Pe_5:7), yet, as way doth in Scripture use denote the course of life, the method and order of our conversation, I take it to comprehend these three things.

(1) An entire obedience to the Word of God, as the rule of our actions.

(2) A meek submission to the will of God, which governs human affairs.

(3) A regular walking in the duties of our particular calling; leaving the rest, as things which we are not immediately concerned in, to God Almightys disposal.

2. Trusting in God imports--

(1) A fiducial reliance upon His wisdom and goodness in the care and conduct of our persons, and of all our concerns.

(2) A declaration of that our dependence upon Him in earnest and frequent prayer.

(3) And withal honest endeavours of our own for our preservation, in the use of all lawful means; holding ourselves still in that station wherein God hath placed us, and leaving the event to Him. (A. Littleton, D. D.)

The believers present and future

I. The believers present state. It is one of--

1. Acceptance in the Beloved (Psa_89:33). He may distress, but He will not disown.

2. Imperfection. He is, indeed, under the Holy Spirits transforming hand. While justification is complete, sanctification is progressive, and therefore at every stage but the last, imperfect.

3. Sorrow (Rom_7:21; Gal_5:17). The time for unmingled joy is not yet. Besides this, the refinement of the feelings which the Gospel produces frequently prepares the heart to feel, more acutely than many others, the usual crosses, losses, trials or bereavements which are the common lot of all.

4. Obscurity. The same unbelief which rejected the Saviour, with all the evidence He produced of His divine mission, serves the disciples as it served their Lord. Besides, the Christian is a mixture of opposites, and therefore we wonder not that he should appear in a doubtful light even to himself and his fellow-believers.

5. Eager expectancy (Heb_9:28; 2Pe_3:12; Luk_21:28; Php_4:5; 2Co_5:2-4; Rom_8:28).

II. The expectation of the church of Christ. We live between the two advents of our Lord, and the Bible teaches us to look back to the first to know how salvation was wrought, and forward to the second to know what salvation is. The first gives the title to it, the second will give possession of it. Faith looks back to the one, hope looks forward to the other. The Church of Christ will appear in its--

1. Unity.

2. Holiness.

3. Resurrection glory. (R. J. Rowton, M. A.)

Quiet trust

After the fearful defeat of Jena in 1806, when Prussia went down before the cruel and reckless ambition of Napoleon, on no one did the throe of a nations fall come with a more agonizing sense of ruin than on the young and beautiful Queen Louise. When she heard the news of the battle of Jena, and that she must leave her beloved home, she burst into uncontrollable weeping. How did she calm her anguish? It was the pious custom in Germany, when a pupil left school, to accompany the boy singing the thirty-seventh Psalm, of which the fifth verse is, Fret not thyself because of evil-doers. Commit thy way unto the Lord, and He will bring it to pass. The young queen sat down to her piano and softly sang the psalm. When she rose her eye was clear, her spirit was tranquil. That same verse was also the comfort of David Livingstone during all his perils and fevers and lastings in scorching Africa and its desert wastes. (Dean Farrar.)

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

Psa 37:5-6. Commit thy way unto the Lord — All thy cares and business, thy desires and necessities. Commend them to God by fervent prayer, referring them to his good-will, and expecting a happy issue of all from him. And he shall bring it to pass — Hebrew, he shall do, or work, namely, for thee, or what is fit to be done; or what thou desirest, in the sense explained on Psa 37:4. He shall bring forth thy righteousness — Namely, to the view of the world, from which it hath hitherto appeared to be hid, or eclipsed, by reproaches, and by grievous calamities, which most men are apt to mistake for tokens and punishments of great wickedness; as the light — It shall be as visible to men as the light of the sun at noon-day.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. (Psa 37:5) Roll upon Jehovah thy way, and trust upon him, and he will do (it). This last expression shews that the way is something to be done, and accorldingly we find in Pro 16:3, the explanatory variation, roll to (or on) the Lord thy works, i. e. what thou hast to do but canst not do it, metaphorically represented as a burden too heavy for the person bearing it, and therefore rolled upon the shoulders of another. See above, on Psa 22:9 (8), and below, on Psa 55:23 (22), and compare 1Pe 5:7.—Trust upon him, a phrase more suggestive of dependence than trust in him. See above, on Psa 37:4.—He will do what thou canst not do, or whatever must be done. See above, on Ps. 22.

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

Be not led by thine own wisdom, but obey God, and he will finish his work in thee.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Commit thy way-- (Pro 16:3). Works--what you have to do and cannot set forth as a burden.

trust . . . in him--literally, "on Him." He will do what you cannot (compare Psa 22:8; Psa 31:6). He will not suffer your character to remain under suspicion.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord] גול על יהוה gol al Yehovah, ROLL thy way upon the Lord: probably, a metaphor taken from the camel, who lies down till his load be rolled upon him.

He shall bring it to pass.] יעשה yaaseh, "He will work." Trust God, and he will work for thee.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Roll thy ways upon Jehovah. Here David illustrates and confirms the doctrine contained in the preceding verse. In order that God may accomplish our desires, it behoves us to cast all our cares upon him in the exercise of hope and patience. Accordingly, we are taught from this passage how to preserve our minds in tranquillity amidst anxieties, dangers, and floods of trouble. There can be no doubt, that by the term ways we are here to understand all affairs or businesses. The man, therefore, who, leaving the issue of all his affairs to the will of God, and who, patiently waiting to receive from his hand whatever he may be pleased to send, whether prosperity or adversity, casts all his cares, and every other burden which he bears, into his bosom; or, in other words, commits to him all his affairs, — such a person rolls his ways upon Jehovah Hence, David again inculcates the duty of hope and confidence in God: And trust in him By this he intimates, that we render to him the honor to which he is entitled only when we intrust to him the government and direction of our lives; and thus he provides a remedy for a disease with which almost all men are infected. Whence is it that the children of God are envious of the wicked, and are often in trouble and perplexity, and yield to excess of sorrow, and sometimes even murmur and repine, but because, by involving themselves immoderately in endless cares, and cherishing too eagerly a desire to provide for themselves irrespective of God, they plunge, as it were, into an abyss, or at least accumulate to themselves such a vast load of cares, that they are forced at last to sink under them? Desirous to provide a remedy for this evil, David warns us, that in presuming to take upon us the government of our own life, and to provide for all our affairs as if we were able to bear so great a burden, we are greatly deceived, and that, therefore, our only remedy is to fix our eyes upon the providence of God, and to draw from it consolation in all our sorrows. Those who obey this counsel shall escape that horrible labyrinth in which all men labor in vain; for when God shall once have taken the management of our affairs into his own hand, there is no reason to fear that prosperity shall ever fail us. Whence is it that he forsakes us and disappoints our expectations, if it is not because we provoke him, by pretending to greater wisdom and understanding than we possess? If, therefore, we would only permit him, he will perform his part, and will not disappoint our expectations, which he sometimes does as a just punishment for our unbelief.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) Commit . . .—See margin, and Psa_22:8. (Comp. Pro_16:3.) In Psa_55:22 the word is different.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Commit &c.] Lit. Roll thy way upon Jehovah: shake off and devolve upon Him all the burden of anxiety for life’s course. Cp. Pro_16:3; 1Pe_5:7.

and he shall bring it to pass] With forcible brevity in the Heb. simply, and HE (emphatic) will do (ipse faciet, Vulg.) all that is needful. Cp. Psa_52:9; Psa_119:126 : 1Th_5:24. This verse combines Psa_37:8; Psa_37:31 of Psalms 22.

5, 6. Stanza of Gimel. The reward of faith.

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.

And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,.... That is, the good man having committed his cause to him that judgeth righteously, he will, in his own time, clearly make it appear that it is a righteous one, both to himself and others, in whatsoever obscurity it may have lain;

and thy judgment as the noonday; the same as before, unless rather the righteousness of Christ, which is the believer's by imputation, and is a justifying one in the judgment of God, should be meant; see Mic 7:9; and the phrases may denote not barely the revelation of it in the Gospel, but the more clear manifestation of it to the believer himself, from faith to faith; or as it will be still more clearly revealed and declared at the day of judgment, when those who are clothed with it shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, and be clear of all those charges and imputations which they have lain under in this life.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Commit thy way unto the - Lord. Margin, as in Hebrew, “Roll thy way upon, the Lord.” Compare the notes at Psa 22:8, where the marg., as the Hebrew, is, “He rolled himself on the Lord.” See also 1Pe 5:7. The idea is that of rolling a heavy burden from ourselves on another, or laying it upon him, so that he may bear it. The burden which we have not got strength to bear we may lay on God. The term “way” means properly the act of treading or going; then, a way or path; then, a course of life, or the manner in which one lives; and the reference here is to the whole course of life, or all that can affect life; all our plans or conduct; all the issues or results of those plans. It is equivalent here to “lot” or “destiny.” Everything, in regard to the manner in which we live, and all its results, are to be committed to the Lord.

Trust also in him - See Psa 37:3.

And he shall bring it to pass - Hebrew, “He shall do it.” That is, He will bring it to a proper issue; He will secure a happy result. He will take care of your interests, and will not permit you to suffer, or to be ultimately wronged. The thing particularly referred to here, as appears from the next verse, is reputation or character.

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

Thy way, i.e. all thy cares and business, thy desires and necessities. Commend them to God by fervent prayer, referring them to his good will, and expecting a happy issue of all from him.

He shall bring it to pass, Heb. he shall do, or work, to wit, for thee, or what is fit to be done, or what thou desirest in the sense given on Psa 37:4.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Roll the whole burden of life upon the Lord. Leave with Jehovah not thy present fretfulness merely, but all thy cares; in fact, submit the whole tenor of thy way to him. Cast away anxiety, resign thy will, submit thy judgment, leave all with the God of all. What a medicine is this for expelling envy! What a high attainment does this fourth precept indicate! How blessed must he be who lives every day in obedience to it! Trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Our destiny shall be joyfully accomplished if we confidently entrust all to our Lord. We may serenely sing

"Thy way, not mine, O Lord,

However dark it be;

O lead me by thine own right hand,

Choose out the path for me."

"Smooth let it be or rough,

It will be still the best;

Winding or straight, it matters not,

It leads me to thy rest."

"I dare not choose my lot,

I would not if I might;

But choose Thou for me, O my God,

So shall I walk aright."

"Take thou my cup, and it

With joy or sorrow fill;

As ever best to thee may seem,

Choose thou my good and ill."

The ploughman sows and harrows, and then leaves the harvest to God. What can he do else? He cannot cover the heavens with clouds, or command the rain, or bring forth the sun or create the dew. He does well to leave the whole matter with God; and so to all of us it is truest wisdom, having obediently trusted in God, to leave results in his hands, and expect a blessed issue.

Ver. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord, etc. When we bear the burden of our own affairs ourselves, and are chastised with anxiety and want of success, and with envying the ungodly who prosper better than we do, the best remedy is first to do our duty, as we are enabled in the use of the means, then cast the care of the success over on God, as the ploughman doth when he hath harrowed his land; and let the burden of it rest on God, and let us not take it off him again, but put our mind to rest, resolved to take the harvest in good part, as he shall send it. David Dickson.

Ver. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord, is rendered by the Vulgate, Revela viam Domino, reveal thy way; and by St. Ambrose, understood of revealing our sins to God. Indeed, since it is impossible to cover, why should we not discover our sins? Conceal not that which God knoweth already, and would have thee to make known. It is a very ill office to be the devil's secretary. Oh, break thy league with Satan be revealing his secrets, thy sins, to God. Nathaniel Hardy.

Ver. 5. Commit thy way unto. Margin and Hebrew, Roll thy way upon as one who lays upon the shoulder of one stronger than himself a burden which he is not able to bear. William De Burgh, D.D., in "A Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Dublin:" 1860.

Ver. 5. Note the double again, Commit and trust. C. H. S.

Ver. 5. He shall bring it to pass. When a hard piece of work is put into the hand of an apprentice for the first assay of his skill, the beholders are justly afraid of a miscarriage in his young and inexperienced hand; but when the worker is an old master of craft, none are afraid but his cunning hand can act again what so oft it hath wrought to the contentment of all the beholders. Were our God a novice in the great art of governing the world, and of the church in the bosom thereof; had he to this day never given any proof of his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, in turning about the most terrible accidents to the welfare and joy of his saints; we might indeed be amazed whenever we feel ourselves sinking in the dangers wherein the practices of our enemies oft do plunge us over head and ears; but the Lord having given in times past so many documents of his uncontroverted skill and most certain will to bring about all human affairs, as to his own glory, so to the real good of all that love him, it would be in us an impious and unexcusable uncharitableness to suspect the end of any work which he hath begun. Robert Baylie's Sermon before the House of Commons, 1643.

Ver. 5,7.:

To God thy way commending,

Trust him whose arm of might,

The heavenly circles bending,

Guides every star aright:

The winds, and clouds, and lightning,

By his sure hand are led;

And he will dark shades brightening.

Show thee what path to tread.

Although to make God falter,

The powers of hell combine,

One jot they cannot alter

Of his all wise design:

All projects and volition

Of his eternal mind,

Despite all opposition,

Their due fulfilment find.

No more, then, droop and languish,

Thou sorrow stricken soul;

Even from the depths of anguish,

Whose billows over thee roll,

Thy Father's hand shall draw thee:

In hope and patience stay,

And joy will soon shed over thee

An ever brightening ray.

All faithless murmurs leaving,

Bid them a last good night,

No more thy vexed soul grieving,

Because things seem not right;

Wisely his sceptre wielding,

God sits in regal state,

No power to mortals yielding,

Events to regulate.

Trust with a faith untiring

In thine Omniscient King,

And thou shalt see admiring

What he to light will bring.

Of all thy griefs, the reason

Shall at the last appear:

Why now denied a season,

Will shine in letters clear.

Then raise thine eyes to heaven,

Thou who canst trust his frown;

Thence shall thy meed be given,

The chaplet and the crown:

Thy God the palm victorious

In thy right hand shall plant,

Whilst thou, in accents glorious,

Melodious hymns shall chant.

Paul Gerhard (1606-1676), translated by Frances Elizabeth Cox, in "Hymns from the German, "1864.

Ver. 5-6. The higher life.

1. Based on hearty resignation.

2. Sustained by faith.

3. Constantly unfolded by the Lord.

4. Consummated in meridian splendour.

Psalms 37:6*

Ver. 5-6. The higher life.

1. Based on hearty resignation.

2. Sustained by faith.

3. Constantly unfolded by the Lord.

4. Consummated in meridian splendour.

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

5. Commit—Roll, devolve, “thy way upon the Lord.” See on 1Pe_5:7. Psa_37:3-7 are a warm exhortation to trust alone in God, and to wait patiently his time. The words trust, delight, commit, rest, wait, are very emphatic.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Commit thy way unto the Lord. (comp. Pro_16:3 Psa_22:8) The meaning is, "Cast thyself and thy life unreservedly upon God yield thyself wholly to him look to him for support and guidance." Trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. "He will accomplish all that thy faith has laid upon him" (Kay).

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

Commit - All thy cares and business, and necessities, commend to God by fervent prayer.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The lxx erroneously renders גּול (= גּל, Psa 22:9) by ἀποκάλυψον instead of ἐπίῤῥιψον, Pe1 5:7 : roll the burden of cares of thy life's way upon Jahve, leave the guidance of thy life entirely to Him, and to Him alone, without doing anything in it thyself: He will gloriously accomplish (all that concerns thee): עשׂה, as in Ps 22:32; 52:11; cf. Pro 16:3, and Paul Gerhardt's Befiehl du deine Wege, "Commit thou all thy ways," etc. The perfect in Psa 37:6 is a continuation of the promissory יעשׂה. הוציא, as in Jer 51:10, signifies to set forth: He will bring to light thy misjudged righteousness like the light (the sun, Job 31:26; Job 37:21, and more especially the morning sun, Pro 4:18), which breaks through the darkness; and thy down-trodden right (משׁפּטך is the pausal form of the singular beside Mugrash) like the bright light of the noon-day: cf. Isa 58:10, as on Psa 37:4, Isa 58:14.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Give your ways to Yahweh

Here "give your ways" is an idiom that means to ask Yahweh to control your life. AT: "Ask Yahweh to guide your actions in life" (See: Idiom)

act on your behalf

This is to represent another in legal issues. Here, when one trusts in Yahweh, he will defend that person and grant justice to that person. (See: Idiom)

like the daylight ... like the day at noon

Both of these phrases mean about the same thing. (See: Parallelism)

like the daylight

This means "in full view of everyone." AT: "as clear to see as the light of day" (See: Simile)

like the day at noon

This means "as visible as the noon sun." AT: "as visible as the light at the brightest time of day" (See: Simile)

translationWords

just

innocent

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Commit your way to the Lord Commit all your needs to Him.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.