Verses 41–48

The sixth octet proceeds under the letter “vav”—“hook.”

A hook is driven into a riverbank and boats are tied to it. Having securely tied his boat, the owner sits peacefully at home, confident that the water will not carry it away. An anchor is also a hook. When the anchor is reliable—and it is purposely made so—the ship lying at anchor has no fear of the waves, however strong they may be. For the apostle, an anchor is an image of hope—“an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Heb. 6:19). So understood this word the prophet also, and gave it such a spiritual meaning. That is why he gathered under this letter verses that all speak of hope. In the first four verses (Ps. 118:41–44) the foundations of hope are set forth primarily: the unfailing word of God’s promises (Ps. 118:41–42), and God’s judgments manifested in deed upon the righteous and the wicked (Ps. 118:43–44); in the last four are depicted the actions in which the hope that has taken up dwelling in the heart is revealed, namely: the breadth of walking—that is, freedom of action (Ps. 118:45); fearless proclamation of the truth even before the mighty of the earth (Ps. 118:46); the pursuit of the one thing needful with freedom from care for all else (Ps. 118:47); and patient, unwavering perseverance in the good, regardless of any obstacles (Ps. 118:48). Here is almost a complete treatise on hope. After the preceding verse it was very natural to pursue this conversation. There the prophet paused at surrender to the will of God, which constitutes the soul of hope; but having begun to speak of it, he did not wish to leave off and carried it through the whole of the present octet.

Ps. 118:41. Let Your mercy also come upon me, O Lord, even Your salvation according to Your word.

“This verse,” notes Blessed Augustine, “is visibly connected to the preceding one, for it does not say simply ‘let it come’ but ‘and let it come,’ showing thereby that what is expressed here is a consequence of the preceding.” What does he ask? — Mercy; but mercy not merely as goodwill, but as the actual supplying of what is lacking. Therefore he adds: “let Your salvation come”—let Your saving mercy come, that is, or Your merciful salvation. Mercy, proceeding from God and resting upon a man, brings about his salvation. “If you ask what this mercy is,” Blessed Augustine further says, “hear what immediately follows: ‘Your salvation.’ ‘He first,’ writes Saint Hilary, ‘prays for mercy, and then for salvation, for our salvation comes from God’s mercy: it is the work of God’s goodness toward us.’ ‘When,’ explains Zigabenus, ‘Your mercy comes, then Your salvation also comes, for the end of mercy is salvation.’”

But the prophet’s purpose with these words is to explain not so much what he was asking for as the ground on which he confidently hopes for the fulfillment of his prayer, for he says: “and let it come” or “let it then come.” If God Himself were to ask him: why do you importune Me so? — he would answer: “according to Your word.” As a man boldly goes to another who has given his word and says to him: you gave your word, so now act according to your word—so the prophet now approaches God and says as if to say: You Yourself have said in Your word that You will not forsake those who flee to You; behold, I flee to You according to this word—deal with me in mercy and save me!

“Lest anyone should think,” says St. Hilary, “that he prays in uncertain and unstable hope, the Prophet, having mentioned mercy and salvation, immediately adds: ‘according to Your word,’ to show that his hope in prayer springs from faith in the immutability of God’s promises.” — “According to Your word, that is, according to Your promise; and promises come from Him Who ‘calls those things which are not as though they were’ (Rom. 4:17),” observes Blessed Augustine.

But why promises at all? Is not a simple assurance of God’s goodness, ever ready to show every mercy, sufficient? The Lord, knowing our weakness, found that insufficient; and so throughout the whole breadth of His Word He has scattered promises. The thought that God is good may arise even in the philosophizing mind; but that thought yields only the possibility and probability of mercy, keeping the soul in an unstable, wavering, fluctuating state of conjecture. A firm conviction, an unshakeable assurance of mercy ever-ready, is produced only by the word that goes forth from the mouth of God. When that word is heard and received, all wavering ceases—as the holy Apostle assures us: for all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen (2 Cor. 1:20).

Our weakness in this regard is so great that God, in order to restore our hope, did not limit Himself to a single word of promise but added an oath to it as well, to confirm the immutability of His counsel, that by two immutable things… we might have strong consolation (Heb. 6:17–18). As though even after the Lord had expressed a promise, some wavering might still remain: what if He has changed His mind? And so the Lord assures us by an oath that what He has spoken is immutable: the Lord has sworn and will not relent (Ps. 109:4). It is for this purpose that God’s promises are set forth in the Word of God in detail, with their objects, conditions, and every attendant circumstance described, so that every person might clearly understand: as long as he is doing all that God’s Word directs, wavering in his hope should have no place in him; he must be firmly assured that he will receive what he seeks and asks for.

From this it follows that if anyone needs to rekindle a faltering hope, the surest means of doing so is to restore to memory, mind, and feeling all the words of God by which He assures of His mercy those who flee to Him—with the condition, of course, that one immediately resolve to fulfill all that God thereby also lays upon one’s own head. Re-read the words of God, and with your whole heart submit yourself to all that they oblige you to do; and your hope will revive, and you will begin again to walk, trusting as a lion. We have many weaknesses within us, many hostilities without; we walk as on a bog, ever ready to sink into it. But the word of God will show you the right hand of God, always stretched out toward you and upholding you. Leaning upon it, you will walk boldly even upon the water before the face of the Lord—only do not release from your soul the firmness of hope, lest the just reproach said once to Peter be said also to you: O you of little faith, why did you doubt? (Matt. 14:31).

Ps. 118:42. And I shall have an answer for those who reproach me, for I have hoped in Your word.

In these words there are two thoughts. The first: when men reproach me—asking why I hold so strictly to Your law despite all deprivations—I will answer them: because I have “hoped,” I have placed my hope “in Your words.” In that case, this verse says the same thing as the preceding one: it points to the foundation of hope in the words or promises of God, adding only a specific occasion for displaying that hope, namely, the reproaches of those who scorn virtue and piety. Zigabenus writes: “To those who will reproach me, asking why I suffer for virtue and the keeping of the commandments, I will give this answer: that I hope in the words of my God. God has promised to grant great blessings to those who keep His commandments. Though I suffer and am afflicted, I do not cease to keep the commandments, for I cherish such good hopes.” Blessed Theodoret expresses the heart of the matter concisely: “Your promise, O Lord, sustains me; with this hope I walk my path.”

By what were the holy martyrs inspired as they entered upon their martyrdom, if not by assurance in the immutability of God’s words? The mercy of God covered them and sent swift aid in easing their sufferings; but this was not so for all, and even in those with whom it was, it did not always appear at the very outset of the torments. By what did they sustain themselves in that contest? — By the word of the Lord, which they not infrequently repeated aloud while their bodies were being torn and their hearing assailed by words contemptuous of their confession.

The holy ascetics, both ancient and contemporary, in what have they found and do they find their support and firmness in the manner of life they have embraced—a life whose essence consists in all-encompassing voluntary deprivations, supplemented today especially by words of contempt directed against them? — In nothing other than the promises of God. This is well expressed in the saying of one of the elders: “My Master said to me: serve Me, and be anxious about nothing else—that is My concern.”

Truly virtuous and truly pious people never lack occasions to rekindle their hope or to bear witness to it before those who revile them. As it is written in the Word of God that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12), so it is always. It is written that one who comes to serve the Lord should prepare his soul for temptations: these always await them—and not only from the ungodly and sinful, but often even from those who are not strangers to a God-pleasing way of life, through various misunderstandings whose source cannot be found. Things come from all directions, yet one must endure—endure everything. By what then to be strengthened? — By the word of the Lord: Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven (Matt. 5:11–12). Be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened! (Ps. 30:25). The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart (Ps. 33:19). In His right hand is a covering for you; in His left, arrows for your enemies. His eyes watch over you, and His ears are open to your prayer (Ps. 33:16). He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the God of heaven (Ps. 90:1).

The second thought in the present text is this: when You, O Lord, show mercy to me and save me in the sight of all, then I will have what to say to those who reproach me, in vindication of my hope in You. Manifest help will stop the mouths of those who revile the one who hopes in God’s promises. In that case, a hint is being made here at a new foundation of hope—the receiving or sensing of actual help from God, which likewise comes through His word. The word from the mouth of God deeply roots hope; but it is still something anticipated, contemplated, theoretical. When deliverance is actually received, however, the power of God is felt by one’s whole being, and hope enters into life. The awareness that such a person is a man of God merges with his very sense of existence and becomes an inseparable quality of all the manifestations of his spiritual life. This gives him the boldness to look his revilers in the eye and return to them their own reproach. I hope, because I have been delivered—are you blind? “He trusted in Me,” said the Lord, “and I will deliver him; I will protect him, for he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will hear him; I am with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him; with long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation” (Ps. 90:14–16).

A certain martyr, utterly torn and barely able to stand, when a judge blasphemously reviled his faith in the Crucified One, prayed inwardly to the Lord, and, in the sight of all, his wounds vanished, the blood was cleansed away, his strength was restored, and he stood as though he had not suffered. “This is what the Crucified Lord means—He in Whom you so despise my hope!” said the holy martyr.

St. Athanasius paraphrases the thought of this verse as follows: if I receive Your mercy, and that mercy comes to me in Your salvation, then I shall have boldness against those who reproach me and rise up against me. I shall say that he who holds such doctrines as are mocked by ignorant unbelievers does not deserve reproach; I shall prove that these doctrines are full of reason and wisdom. Blessed Theodoret says the same: “Grant, O Lord, the salvation that You have promised in Your holy words, that I may speak boldly to those who mock me; for he who is in affliction listens in silence to the reproaches made against him, but he who is gladdened by deliverance himself rebukes those who maliciously accuse him.” St. Hilary and Blessed Augustine explain it in the same way. The former writes: “This verse corresponds to the flow of thought. If Your mercy and salvation come upon me, according to Your word, then I will have what to say to those who reproach me for foolishness and vain hope in Your words. What can the unbeliever say against such an experience confirming the truth of God’s promises?” The latter says: To those who reproach me with the word about Christ, I answer with the word about Christ, for they reproach us with Him for Whom Christ Crucified is ‘a stumbling block and foolishness’ (1 Cor. 1:23). They do not know that ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14)—the Word that ‘was in the beginning, was with God, was God’ (John 1:1). If they had known, ‘they would not have crucified the Lord of glory’ (1 Cor. 2:8). But whoever receives mercy and the salvation that covers him will answer those who reproach the word of truth. It is not enough to have Christ in the heart and refuse to confess Him out of fear of reproach—one must answer those who revile the word. The martyrs answered the word, according to the promise: ‘it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you’ (Matt. 10:20).’

Experiences of God’s mercy in response to hope elevate that hope, imparting to it a fearless boldness in confessing hope itself. No one is deprived of such experiences. Anyone who attentively follows the course of life cannot fail to see the finger of God, which has drawn him out of actual extremity or warded off a calamity that was approaching and ready to overtake him; therefore no one can complain of a lack of occasions that kindle hope. There may be only those who are inattentive to the ways of God’s Providence, or those who are presumptuous—who, even when they see something remarkable, attribute it either to a chance convergence of circumstances (which the truly faithful person does not acknowledge), or, which is no better, to their own prudence and ability to take advantage of circumstances that present themselves for maintaining and advancing their own well-being.

Ps. 118:43. And take not the word of truth utterly from my mouth, for I have hoped in Your judgments.

The first words are somewhat obscure, because one does not immediately understand when and how God takes away the word of truth, and moreover—“utterly”; which implies that its removal “not utterly” might still be bearable. For this reason the commentators understand these words differently.

In light of the content of this eighth stanza, they should be understood in a way that does not depart from the principal subject here—hope. The preceding verse said: if You show Your mercy to me, O Lord, then I will have what to say to those who reproach me. Here the same thought continues: but if You do not show it, then I will have nothing to say to them; the word will die upon my lips. The Prophet prays that God would not place him in such a position, but would always show His covering over him, so that he might triumphantly defend his hope in God’s judgments through such experiences of mercy. Why, however, is this thought repeated? — It seems, in order to express a certain limitation of the breadth of his petition, as the word “utterly” suggests. He had prayed: show mercy, and I will have what to say to my revilers; now he adds: but if it already please Your righteousness to remove such a defensive word by curtailing the manifestation of Your mercy to me, then—let it not be “utterly”; do not leave me forever in shame before my enemies, but, having left me for a time by an instructive withdrawal, show again before all Your covering over me, so that I may again find in my mouth the word of truth, that not in vain do I hope in Your judgments. “I pray,” interprets Bellarmine, “that the word of truth not be taken from me, whereby I could answer those who reproach me. Do not deprive me of Your mercy; do not bring it about that I dare not say a word in vindication of my hope; do not in this way close the mouths of those who confess You and proclaim hope in Your promises. But if it must be taken away, then take it away only enough to test me, and not ‘utterly,’ not wholly, not to the very end.”

Blessed Augustine directs his attention to the situation of the martyrs, and to how bravely they held fast to their confession with their lips, regardless of the unendurable nature of the torments. But there were also those whom fear overcame, and they renounced the truth: the word of truth was as though snatched from their mouths and taken away. Of these, some remained in their apostasy forever, while others again returned to the confession of truth; in the former, the word of truth was taken away to the end, “utterly,” while in the latter—not to the end, not “utterly.” “Many,” he says, “pressed down by the weight of persecution, could not endure the reproach and renounced Christ, but afterward returned again. As though having them in mind, the Prophet prays: ‘take not the word of truth from my mouth utterly,’ that is, not to the end, as happened even with them; for, having for a time renounced the faith, they afterward returned in repentance, and by confession of the truth again seized the palm of martyrdom. So it was with Peter, who in the hour of fear denied his Lord, but then restored himself through weeping, and in the end was crowned with the martyr’s crown as well. In him and those like him, the word of truth was not taken away ‘utterly,’ to the very end. ‘Take not away’—means, do not permit the word of truth to fall from my mouth. And the Lord Himself says to Peter: I have prayed for you that your faith fail not (Luke 22:32)—which is the same as saying: let not the word of truth be taken from you ‘utterly.’”

Blessed Anthimus places the cause of the removal of the word of truth, or its disappearance from the lips, in sin. As long as there is no manifest sin, truth is proclaimed with boldness; but when one falls into sin, one becomes ashamed to proclaim the truth with the lips, while not vindicating it by deeds and life. God does not take away the word by direct action, but permits falls on account of pride, by which the tongue is bound. “Whoever falls into any sin,” he says, “has the word of truth taken from him not only from his mouth, but from his heart. For God said to the sinner: Why do you recite My statutes, or take My covenant in your mouth? (Ps. 49:16).”

If this verse is taken in isolation, apart from its context, one may well pause over these latter opinions; but the direct meaning is the first one. The second half of the verse compels us to it: “for I have hoped in Your judgments,” by which the Prophet expresses the second foundation of his hope in God. And this is the chief aim of his discourse. Earlier he said that he hopes in God, believing in His word, by which He has promised not to forsake those who flee to Him and do His will; and now he says that he hopes, being disposed and moved to do so by God’s judgments. God’s judgments here signify those divine decrees which He not only pronounced, but also carried out in deed, punishing sinners and exalting and defending the righteous. The Prophet asks for protection because he hopes, and he hopes because God’s judgments were such—both over whole peoples and over individuals—and because if God deals with him in accordance with those same judgments, then he must certainly receive mercy and salvation from God.

The judgments which the Prophet had in view were all those that had occurred before his time: how Noah with his family was saved from the flood, how Abraham and the patriarchs were blessed, how Egypt was punished while the people of God were saved, how that people was led to the promised land amid mercies and chastisements, how they were settled in the promised land, and how afterward they were sometimes given over into slavery to powerful neighbors for forgetting God, and then again delivered when, having repented, they turned back to God. Whoever contemplates these judgments cannot fail to harbor a deep conviction that God always has mercy ready even for a great sinner, provided only he does not persist and go stubbornly against God. Contemplating these judgments was the Prophet’s constant occupation, and he could say: for all His judgments were before me (Ps. 17:23). From them he drew his assurance that God is the Lord who executes judgment (Ps. 9:17) and that His judgments are true and altogether righteous (Ps. 18:10). Therefore, wholly surrendering himself to God, he confesses: from before Your face let my judgment come forth (Ps. 16:2).

If we were to render the Prophet’s speech in our own terms, it would emerge that hoping in God’s judgments is the same as hoping in God’s providential care over us, kindled by the recollection of the experiences which the Lord has manifested around us and in us, sheltering the good and instructing the wayward. Regarding outsiders, one cannot know them well enough to rightly assess how and why such-and-such judgments of God fall upon them; but can one fail to know oneself? If a person had the patience to trace all the changes in his lot over the course of his whole life, with regard chiefly to his own inner state and to God, he would without doubt discover that as in scales two pans are always in perfect correspondence, so our outward fates, determined by God’s judgments, are in perfect correspondence with everything that goes on within us—and especially with what we are in relation to God. There are people who become so accustomed to contemplating this order of God that they evaluate every so-called accident from this point of view; they therefore carry the conviction that there is properly no such thing as accident. Philosophers write that there is no chance, yet in life all they see is accidents. But piety, without any philosophy, carries in the heart the truth that all things are from God. In God, as in the ordering of the great world, so in the ordering of the fate of every small person, all is wisely determined by measure, weight, and number. How this is so—our mind cannot comprehend. God’s judgments are a great deep (Ps. 35:7). What consolation and what strength hope receives in one who has arrived at such a conviction! Blessed Augustine, by the judgments that kindle hope, understands here specifically the judgments upon each individual person. “I have hoped in Your judgments, that is, Your judgments, by which You chasten and correct me, not only do not take hope from me, but exalt it; for whom the Lord loves He chastens; and He scourges every son whom He receives (Heb. 12:6).”

Ps. 118:44. And I will keep Your law continually, for ever and ever.

This is a conclusion from the preceding and a supplement to it. Here is expressed the human condition for the formation of hope. On God’s side, it is formed by faith in the immutability of God’s word or promises and by reflection on God’s judgments manifested over whole peoples or over individuals—and most of all over the very person who seeks to kindle hope in himself; on the human side, it is formed by the resolve to walk in God’s will, and especially by the actual keeping of God’s law. This last condition is so important that without it the first two are powerless to accomplish anything in the formation of hope. The Prophet knew this necessity and therefore expressed his resolution in the present verse. Just before, he had been contemplating God’s judgments, and he could not but see that all of them bear one inscription: every mercy is for the God-fearing who zealously fulfill the law, and every chastisement for the ungodly who do not fear God and neglect His law. And so he establishes for himself within himself, and declares before God, the following rule: “Since it is so, I will keep Your law always and in all things—both in this life and in eternity.”

This law of hope is not spoken by the Prophet here alone, but throughout the entire breadth of the Psalms, in diverse forms of expression. Open the book of Psalms, and on every page you will find more than one testimony to this. Indeed, it is such a truth that it needs no proof: it holds itself in the awareness of one who looks to God with piety. How can anything be expected from God when one himself has no desire to know God, and in self-will is continually provoking His anger by the fearless transgression of His will? And yet, if we examine ourselves as we ought, we will find that we are not entirely blameless in this regard. We all pray, but what meaning can prayer have without hope? We pray because, having need of something, we hope to receive it from a merciful God, and we know that a merciful God is always ready to grant us what we need. Why then does our prayer, even when it is not without hope, not draw God’s mercy? — Because our relationship with God is not right. We want God to give us everything, yet we ourselves want to do nothing for Him; and if we do something that seems to be in accordance with God’s will, it is only what happens to come to hand without any particular intention or choice; and moreover, while doing a few things, we leave in ourselves much that is displeasing to God, deliberately concealing it with forgetfulness, as though we were guilty of nothing. How, with such insincerity and negligence in observing the proper relationship with God, can one hope that God will assuredly do for us what we ask of Him? Correct this fault, and then you will see how all mercies will flow to you from God: He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and save them (Ps. 144:19).

You will say: but who is without sin? And if sin extinguishes hope, and without hope prayer is not prayer, then why pray at all? — But when the Prophet says “I will keep Your law,” he expresses not the actual keeping of it, but the resolve always to be faithful to the law. This resolve always lives in the pious spirit, though it is also true that even the righteous man falls seven times a day. He falls seven times, but does not remain even once in his fall—he falls and rises, falls and rises. This is like running along a slippery or stony road: one who has resolved to reach the end of the path, however many times he falls, will never lie wallowing in the road, but having fallen, will leap up and run again. Such is the path of pleasing God. Always strive to be clean in conscience before God, before men, and before yourself; and whenever you fall into any impurity, cleanse yourself at once; but never deliberately and knowingly allow anything impure or offensive to God to remain in you. Striving thus, you will be in the same position in which the Prophet stood when he said: “I will keep Your law”—and you will have boldness in prayer, which will be confirmed by the unshakeable hope of receiving what you seek and ask.

See how broad and all-encompassing the Prophet’s resolve to keep God’s law is: “continually,” he says, “for ever and ever.” “Continually”—in all things, in all the circumstances of life, great and small—“for ever”—as long as I live in this age—“for ever and ever”—in eternity. St. Ambrose says that the Prophet leaves not a single moment of life in negligence, but is zealous to fill and imbue all of it with the law. “In the tutelage of childhood and youth, under the discipline of adolescence, in the maturity of a man and an elder, he promises not to transgress the bounds appointed for each age. For even the soul has its own ages, through which it ascends to maturity, and having passed through which it can say: ‘I have finished my course’ (2 Tim. 4:7). The full ‘age of the soul,’ the ‘age of old age’ of the soul, is ‘a spotless life’ (Wisd. 4:9). Thus he keeps the law continually who, both in the bodily ages and in the degrees of progress of the soul, does not permit himself to deviate from the law.”

St. Hilary, having expressed a similar thought, then surveys all the realms of being and finds everywhere their own laws. Therefore, if there is a future life—and there certainly is—then there too will be its own law. “The Prophet sees no end to his life. His faith is not limited to this age, and his faithfulness he extends into infinity. Having said ‘continually,’ he left not a single moment of life in which he would permit himself to forget; and when he added ‘for ever and ever,’ he was ascending to the keeping of an eternal law, of which the law here is only a shadow and which will come into full force when eternity in succession takes the place of this age. In the life beyond the grave there is a law for souls who have departed hence, by which they are separated from one another by a great gulf, as the Lord makes clear in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. And after the resurrection there will be a law for the resurrected, by which they, as star differs from star, will differ in glory (1 Cor. 15:41). There are laws for the angels too, by which some ceaselessly glorify God with their voices; others stand before the invisible God in deep silence; and the angels of children always behold the face of the Heavenly Father (Matt. 18:10). Thus, knowing that eternal laws exist, the Prophet promises and predisposes himself to keep them, intending to keep in this age those that are only their shadow.”

Blessed Theodoret and Augustine explain how this will be accomplished in the age to come. The former writes: “By the words ‘for ever and ever,’ the Prophet indicated the future life, in which all will be given pure and perfect keeping of God’s laws.” The latter says: “By ‘law’ here we should understand that of which the Apostle speaks: the fullness of the law is love (Rom. 13:10). This law is kept by the saints not only in this age, but will be kept in the age to come for ever. Not particular commandments, but the very fullness of the law will there be in operation, without any danger of sin, for we will love God more fully, because we shall see Him—and our neighbor as well, because ‘God will be all in all’ (1 Cor. 15:28).”

Ps. 118:45. And I walked in a broad place, for I sought Your commandments.

From this verse to the end of the eighth stanza (verses Ps. 118:45–48), the fruits of hope are depicted—what the Prophet became after he had kindled firm hope in his heart by the means mentioned. Blessed Augustine says: “Before he was seeking, and now (in verses Ps. 118:45–48) he narrates and confesses what God’s mercy has made him—the mercy he had been asking for—showing that he was heard, and consequently: I walked in a broad place…”

Breadth of walk is always the direct consequence of faithfulness to God’s commandments, and this because the commandments put to death the passions that dwell in us and constrict us. That every restriction and binding of our moral freedom depends on the passions—this every person knows from experience. What constricts the hand already ready to give? — Self-interest: it is needed for oneself. What afflicts the soul at the sight of a neighbor’s happiness? — Envy. What chains one to the bed or binds the feet when one should go to church to pray? — Self-indulgence and sloth. So it is in all things. But whoever has sought the commandments, that is, has come to love them and resolved always to be faithful to them—even if he too feels the onsets of such passions, they do not determine him, they do not bind him: he repels them at once; and when he has grown strong in the practice of the commandments, he scarcely feels them at all.

“He is not confined,” says St. Ambrose, “who does not shut his mind within the earthly and fleshly, but directs it toward the heavenly and has his citizenship in heaven; but the sinner is squeezed by the chains of his own passions. Take the rich man: he already possesses many fields, yet all is too narrow for him, he always desires more—the whole earth is not enough for him.” St. Hilary writes: “The Prophet is not confined. The hearts of sinners are narrow, and a defiled soul is not found worthy of a divine visitation. A spacious dwelling is needed to receive the boundless God, and it is prepared by faithfulness to the commandments. The Prophet walks in a broad place because God dwells in him, and God dwells there because he sought His commandments. Let us recall the breadth of understanding into which our mind enters when, engaged in reading the Divine Scriptures, we search the commandments of God, and how broad are the feelings of our humility when they are taken captive in divine longings. But sins contract the breadth of every soul; hemmed in on all sides is he who has not been found worthy to be a dwelling place of the glory of God.” — “What does it mean to walk in a broad place?” asks Blessed Augustine, and answers: “It means to walk in love, which has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. He teaches us to fulfill the commandments in the love of God and neighbor.”

Zigabenus gives this breadth a different nuance. He paraphrases the passage as follows: “In all my deeds I found room and met with success, because I came to love Your commandments and was always faithful to them. Even when I was in affliction from temptations, I was not burdened by it; for the good testimony of my conscience inwardly assured me of a firm love and unbroken faithfulness to Your commandments, expanding my heart even in affliction. A good conscience always consoles the one who has it.”

But, judging by the context, it is more directly accurate here to understand that breadth in which the one who hopes in God feels himself to be walking, and actually walks. This breadth of hope, as well as its condition—faithfulness to God in the fulfillment of His commandments—is described at length and in various places by St. Isaac the Syrian. Let us cite several of his words.

“There is,” he says, “a certain hidden Providence. You too shall be found worthy of it, if you first compel yourself with faith to cast your care upon God and to replace your own anxious solicitude with His providence. And when God sees in you that with all purity of thought you have trusted in God more than in yourself, and have compelled yourself to hope in God more than in your own soul, then shall that invincible power dwell in you, and you shall perceptibly feel that it is with you beyond all doubt—that power which many have felt in themselves and gone into fire unafraid, and walked even upon the waters without wavering in their thought from fear of sinking; because faith strengthens the soul’s feelings of a man, and he feels within himself that something invisible persuades him not to attend to the sight of terrible things, nor to gaze upon what is unendurable to the senses” (Isaac the Syrian, Discourse 49).

“If once you have entrusted yourself to the Lord, Who is all-sufficient to guard and watch over you, and if you follow after Him, then be anxious no more about anything concerning yourself, but say to your soul: For every need, He is sufficient for me—He to Whom I once surrendered my soul. I am not here; He knows it. Then you shall actually see God’s wonders—you shall see how at every moment God is near to deliver those who fear Him, how His Providence surrounds them, though invisible. But because the Guardian who remains with you is invisible to bodily eyes, you must not doubt concerning Him as if He were not there; for He often manifests Himself even to bodily eyes, that you may take courage… When you are established in such hope, then the frightening and terrifying thoughts shall flee from you, and everything that meets you as difficult and inconvenient shall seem to you easy and light” (ibid.).

“Knowledge (one’s own prudence) is accompanied by fear, faith—by hope. To the degree that a man is guided by the ways of knowledge (that is, arranges his own well-being by the guidance of prudence), to that same degree is he bound by fear and cannot free himself from it. But he who follows faith (that hopes) quickly becomes free and self-determining, and, as a son of God, uses all things with freedom and self-mastery. He who loves faith (that hopes) governs every created nature as God does. But knowledge (one’s own prudence) meets obstacles everywhere. How could it be otherwise? The flowing nature of water does not receive bodily feet upon its back, and he who draws near fire burns himself. But faith (that hopes) powerfully steps beyond these limits, emboldened by the promise: ‘when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the rivers shall not overflow you’ (Is. 43:2). Many have by faith entered into flames, restrained the consuming power of fire, and passed through it unharmed; and have walked across the back of the sea as on dry land” (Isaac the Syrian, Discourse 49).

This is how he explains why such hope is possible only with faithful service to God in the fulfillment of His commandments. “A man who has no care at all for what is fleeting, but wholly, day and night, entrusts himself to the Lord, cares about nothing worldly because of his great diligence for virtue, and spends all his time in divine occupations—and therefore takes no thought for the preparation of food and clothing for himself, for the arrangement of bodily shelter and all the rest—such a man hopes in the Lord beautifully and wisely. And this is indeed true and most wise hope. Rightly does such a one hope in God, for he has become His servant and is diligent in His service. Such a man is worthy that God should manifest His care over him in a special way. But a man whose heart is completely buried in earthly things, who always eats dust with the serpent, who never cares about what is pleasing to God, who has no concern for even a single virtue—such a man cannot have a radiant hope. Being pressed down by poverty or overwhelmed by the fruits of his lawless deeds, he may perhaps say: I will place my hope in God, and He will make me free of sorrow and will give me relief. Foolish one! Until this hour you have not remembered God, but have offended Him with the viciousness of your deeds, and the name of God was blasphemed because of you, as it is written, among the pagans—and now you dare to open your mouth and say: I will place my hope in Him; He will help me and care for me! To the shame of such people, God said well through the prophet: ‘They seek Me day by day and desire to know My ways, as a people that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinances of their God’ (Is. 58:2). Among such people belongs that foolish one who did not even draw near to God in his thought, and yet, as soon as sorrows surrounded him, lifted up his hands to Him in hope, saying: I will place my hope in God; He will deliver me. Do not deceive yourself; labor for God in the doing of His commandments precedes hope in God. Do you believe that God cares for His creatures? Then let fitting conduct accompany your faith, and then God will hear you” (Isaac the Syrian, Discourse 67).

Ps. 118:46. And I spoke of Your testimonies before kings, and was not ashamed.

This is the second sphere of deeds in which strong, mature hope in the heart is manifested—the fearless witness to God’s truth. When word and deed run counter to the wishes and preferences of those who hear and see, it is everywhere accompanied by unpleasantness; and all the more so with the word of truth when it is spoken before the powerful of the earth. One may see in the Prophet’s words here a general statement about bearing witness to truth and righteousness before anyone—a witness that is unashamed, unafraid, regardless of consequences; and his saying “before kings” may be understood as meaning “even”—that is, even before kings, to say nothing of all others.

Bearing witness to truth and righteousness is the direct consequence of faithfulness to the law and of walking in the commandments, which forms in the heart a sincere conscientiousness that cannot permit the tongue to conceal the truth or say something contrary to truth. But this virtue manifests itself quietly and when an occasion arises in the ordinary or civic order of life. There, when it is not touched upon or questioned, it is silent. But the Prophet means a special virtue of courageous witness to the truth—one that does not sit in its place and wait to be called out, but itself goes forth into the public arena and acts among the people without fear. What calls it forth is the flame of love for God and His glory, and a special divine nod, or even a direct commission from God, as was the case with the prophets, apostles, martyrs, and confessors.

What moves and inspires a person who is faithful to God and His commandments to the work of bearing witness to the truth? — The conviction that through it he is performing a work of God, Whose Helper and Protector is God Himself; and therefore he is confident that God will sustain him and not allow him to fall before the onslaught of the opposing and threatening forces. Unpleasantness, losses, torments, and even death itself are not counted among his defeats; a martyr, for instance, who has been put to death is counted a victor, because, despite the many instruments brought to bear to turn him from the truth, he stood in it immovably. What is in the soul of such witnesses in the hour of their witness? They are not on earth at that time, but in heaven, in the contemplation of the promised blessings. This was most evident in the martyrs, who were inspired by the thought that they were about to leave the poor earth and dwell in the bright mansions of God, and who often besought their tormentors not to delay the torments but to speed them through those torments to Christ, that they might be with Him and partakers of His glory.

Our commentators all fix their attention at this verse on the image of the martyrs. St. Athanasius writes: “Such was Paul, such was Peter, such is the company of the apostles and martyrs.” St. Ambrose says: “Such words fitly proceed from the lips of every martyr who, having been called before a tribunal, was not ashamed when princes and judges reviled him for his faith in the Crucified, but on the contrary counted the cross of Christ his glory and by heavenly testimonies proved that in the cross is the salvation of the world.” Blessed Theodoret enumerates the Old Testament witnesses to the truth as well: “With great ease,” says the Prophet, “I walked my path and, living by Your commandments, I feared no royal power, but spoke with great boldness even to kings, because a life in accordance with the law makes a man bold. A witness to this is the great David himself, for before his sin he spoke with great boldness before Saul; but after his sin he fled from his son the parricide, walking with head bowed down and covered. And the great Elijah, firmly relying on righteousness, rebuked the impiety of Ahab (3 Kings 16); and Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar: ‘Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor’ (Dan. 4:24). So also Paul spoke to Agrippa, Festus, and Felix; and so the glorious victorious martyrs counted as nothing the threats of ungodly kings” (Acts 24; 26).

But some commentators suggest that here one may also understand preachers of the word of God in every age. Preaching is unceasing in the Church, and though it is addressed to Christians, it does not always meet with a Christian reception among them. In this verse the Prophet’s example admonishes one not to bend the preaching of the truth, not to conceal it beneath any evasions in order to please the powerful of the earth, but to set it forth without deflection and boldly. Conviction in the truth, combined with a good life, gives boldness. St. Athanasius writes further: “As these words fitly belong to the martyr who is brought ‘before governors and kings’ (Matt. 10:18) for Christ, so too do they belong to those who open their mouths before royal, holy souls. Worthy of shame is he who, having received the word from God, does not preach it with great power!” St. Hilary ascends to the source of such speech: The duty of a widened heart is to pour forth abundantly the words of divine teaching. Preachers of the truth must be guided in this not only by the example of the Prophet, but also by the word of the Lord, Who has commanded those who know the truth to preach it everywhere, inspiring them: ‘Do not fear.’ Didymus, in Zigabenus, urges those who speak thus to take on the mind of the martyrs: ‘One who pronounces the words of God with his lips must have the mind of the martyrs and always be ready to suffer for the word of truth. For this reason the testimony of God is called by a word that means martyrdom as well.’ And every person everywhere, in his own life circumstances, can continually meet occasions for witness to the truth, and may even suffer for it. By what then shall such a one be inspired for this witness, if not by hope in God, Who does not forsake righteousness and the righteous?

Ps. 118:47. And I meditated on Your commandments, which I loved greatly.

The third fruit of hope is the seeking of the one thing needful. Reading this verse, one’s mind is involuntarily carried to Mary, sitting at the feet of the Savior and attending to the words issuing from His divine lips. At the same time one recalls the Lord’s lesson, spoken in the person of Martha, to all: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her (Luke 10:41); and further, the general law laid upon all: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matt. 6:33). What does this amount to? — The Prophet, having kindled hope in himself, detached his heart from all that is worldly, earthly, and vain, and was occupied solely with the commandments of God—that is, with how to understand them better and how better to fulfill them; for “I meditated” means he was learning not only to understand, but to know how to do. All of this because the commandments are loved; and they are loved because in them alone are hidden the eternal elements of life, to the contemplation of which hope had carried him—that hope which was kindled, as shown above, in the preceding verses.

As soon as we hear the words “one thing needful,” we immediately think of the necessities required for the maintenance of the body, and a question arises: but how can this be? However, when it is said that the “one thing needful” must be chosen, this does not mean that one is advised to do nothing, but only to apportion one’s labors according to the value of what is done: to the principal work to devote principal care and predominant effort, and to secondary, appended tasks—secondary care and even tenth-level care and corresponding effort. Place the pleasing of God and salvation through the fulfillment of the commandments in first place, and in second, third, and fourth place—everything else pertaining to the maintenance of life; and to the first cleave with your whole heart, while touching the rest outwardly, as it were only with the tips of your fingers, and you will be a faithful executor of what the Lord said about the “one thing needful” and the choosing of the good portion. That will be your principal work, and all the rest—side-work or auxiliary tasks, as the great ancient ascetics expressed it. One cannot help but labor and work in domestic and civic life, but these activities must be conducted in subordination to the principal work, in its spirit, and not contrary to it.

I recall in this connection a conversation between an elder and a disciple, in which, after the elder had explained the distinction between the principal work and auxiliary tasks and was lamenting that in his time (that is, the time when this was being said) the order had been inverted and the auxiliary tasks had become the principal work while the principal work had been relegated to auxiliary status, the disciple asked him to explain this by way of an example. “Do you see,” said the elder, “you are sitting at your handiwork, and suddenly the bell rings for church prayer; you must immediately put down your work and hasten to church, having first made a few prostrations in your cell. You will do so, if in your heart the work of God holds the principal place. But if you say: I will just finish—there is not much left—and sit for a while longer at your work, taking that time away from the divine service, you will show that for you the work and the gain from it are dearer than the work of God, and your soul’s order has been turned upside down, head below and feet above. Understand all other things in the same way.”

Applying this account to ourselves and generalizing it, we get the following: whenever someone’s only concern is with temporal needs, while the work of salvation and the pleasing of God is always pushed into the background because of them and what belongs to it is fulfilled only to the extent that these concerns allow—and even then carelessly, hastily, and by halves—then in such a person the principal thing does not stand where it ought, and the auxiliary has taken the wrong place. Where the number of such people multiplies to the point that those unlike them can no longer be found, the whole society is not in its proper order; from a spiritual point of view, it is a society walking upside down. And since this is contrary to the order of things, it naturally follows that all manner of other disorder develops within it: hence confusion, dissolution, and ruin. How much fuss, noise, and jostling! Yet from it all comes nothing but filth. We often hear that those who have left the world and retired to a monastery are treading water—no, it is these others who are treading, and not even water but filth; while those have chosen the good portion which shall not be taken from them.

They nourish a good hope that will not put them to shame; while those who are without hope have nothing left but to grasp at splinters that sink with them into the abyss.

Ps. 118:48. And I lifted up my hands to Your commandments, which I loved, and I meditated on Your statutes.

The fourth and final fruit of hope matured in the soul is unwavering perseverance on the good path, or patience in well-doing. One who lifts up his hands to the commandments is the same as one who has put his hand to the plow, in the words of the Savior. Just as the latter successfully tills the earth only when he does not look back and does not glance from side to side, but draws furrow after furrow regardless of hardship and the sweat that pours from him—so the laborer who has lifted up his hands to the commandments can make progress in fulfilling them only when he arms himself with patience, sparing no toil and fearing no obstacle, but doing one thing after another in accordance with the commandments. That this is precisely what the Prophet is speaking of is indicated, beyond the uniformity of expression with the parabolic speech of the Lord, by the word “I meditated”—meaning he sat persistently at the statutes and commandments of God, and dwelt with patience in well-doing.

What produces such constancy and firmness? — Love, which “never fails” (1 Cor. 13:8). But before love arrives, by what do the laborers inspire themselves and by what are they actually inspired? — By nothing other than hope.

In hope one undertakes the work of salvation and the pleasing of God, and in hope one continues it. Whatever entrepreneur you take, the soul of his enterprise is the hope of success; and so it is here. There is hope of success—and so one labors. This hope at first is bore, alone, without any support from other spiritual movements, save the unshakeable faith that quickens all things; but afterward, when through patient adherence to the commandments and statutes some faint fruits of progress begin to appear, and the heart starts to acquire a taste for this way of life, then hope has this foretaste of the sweetness of well-doing as a garment against cold and a covering against heat, and is yet more winged—like a man walking home when he sees his roof in the distance: he cannot hold back his feet; they run of themselves. Such a spontaneous walking in the commandments is the fruit of patient perseverance in their fulfillment.

St. Athanasius writes: “The Prophet here calls the active powers ‘hands,’ because action is the end of meditation on the commandments. After receiving the word about the commandments, it is best to lift up the hands to the practical fulfillment of what the commandments require—not with sorrow or compulsion, but with a good disposition.” Blessed Theodoret adds: “The kingdom of God is ‘not in word but in power’ (1 Cor. 4:20). Therefore the Prophet joined activity to instruction. What he learned, he also fulfilled in deed. ‘For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified’ (Rom. 2:13); and this is why he said: ‘I meditated on Your statutes,’ since he was constantly occupied with them.”

“What a beautiful order!” exclaims St. Ambrose. “First to reflect upon and meditate on God’s commandments, so as thereby to incline oneself to zealous action according to them, and then to act accordingly. Just as the end of the study of, say, history is the remembrance of its events, so the end of meditation on the Divine words is action in accordance with them—labors directed toward their fulfillment. One must lift up the hands to work by the commandments and do this with love and joy, so that our good is not forced, not done with sorrow and burden, but willingly. One who does it without willingness is a servant. He who is a friend does his work willingly. Let us strive, therefore,” St. Ambrose concludes, “that by the willing fulfillment of the commandments we too may deserve to hear the words: ‘You I have called friends’ (John 15:15).”

St. Hilary goes further: “Reflection with love is not enough; one must add the activity of the will—to lift up the hands to the commandments, not to destroy them, but in humble fulfillment, so that deeds may correspond to faith and hope. ‘Meditation’ shows the continuity of the doing. He represents himself as a constant guardian of the statutes established from above, gazing not so much on their present form as foreseeing and taking delight in their future.”

This foreseeing of the future, granted by hope, is the chief support of patience in the doing of needful things and the producer of those things. The Apostle commands, for example: continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it (Col. 4:2). For what purpose? — Because he who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Matt. 7:8). St. Peter teaches: add to… self-control, patience. For what purpose? — For if these things are yours and abound, they will make you neither idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:5–8). Further: whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. For what? — Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance (Col. 3:23–24). Thus without patience in well-doing one succeeds in nothing, and there is nowhere to draw this patience from except in hope. This hope must therefore be kindled with all zeal, armed with faith.