17. Deal bountifully with thy servant. He takes pleasure in owning his duty to God, and counts it the joy of his heart to be in the service of his God. Out of his condition he makes a plea: let my wage be according to thy goodness, and not according to my merit. Reward me according to the largeness of thy liberality, and not according to the scantiness of my service. The hired servants of our Father have all of them bread enough and to spare, and he will not leave one of his household to perish with hunger. If the Lord will only treat us as he treats the least of his servants we may be well content, for all his true servants are sons, princes of the blood, heirs of life eternal.
That I may live. Without abundant mercy he could not live. It takes great grace to keep a saint alive. Only the Lord can keep us in being, and it is mighty grace which preserves to us the life which we have forfeited by our sin. It is right to desire to live, it is meet to pray to live, it is just to ascribe long life to the favor of God. Spiritual life, without which this natural life is mere existence, is also to be sought of the Lord’s bounty, for it is the noblest work of divine grace, and in it the bounty of God is gloriously displayed. The Lord’s servants cannot serve him in their own strength, for they cannot even live unless his grace abounds towards them.
And keep thy word. This should be the rule, the object, and the joy of our life. We may not wish to live and sin; but we may pray to live and keep God’s Word. Being is a poor thing if it be not well-being. Life is only worth keeping while we can keep God’s Word; indeed, there is no life in the highest sense apart from holiness.
The prayer of this verse shows that it is only through divine bounty or grace that we can live as faithful servants of God, and manifest obedience to his commands. If we give God service it must be because he gives us grace. We work for him because he works in us. Thus we may make a chain out of the opening verses of the three first octaves of this psalm: verse 1 blesses the holy man, verse 9 asks how we can attain to such holiness, and verse 17 traces such holiness to its secret source, and shows us how to seek the blessing. The more we prize holiness and earnestly strive after it, the more will we be driven towards God for help therein, for we will plainly perceive that our own strength is insufficient.
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