Saint David Encourages the Meek to Hope by the Example of His Own Deliverance (Verses 5–7)

Ps. 33:5. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and from all my tribulations He delivered me.

Holy David speaks to them as it were thus: I found myself in the most difficult circumstances; but I turned to God with firm hope, and He delivered me from trouble. Turn to God yourselves, and the same will be granted to you. “This is what (Basil the Great) he says—hear it, you who are meek—that I sought the Lord and was heard. In that heavy time, when the wrath of the spiteful was directed against me and the hands of all were raised against me, while I, unprotected by anything, was prepared to receive every blow from the enemies—even in that time I was not confused in my thoughts from fear, I did not abandon the thought of God, I did not despair of my salvation, but I sought the Lord—and because I sought, I was delivered from the trouble. Learn from this where the safe refuge in afflictions is, and take courage”.

Why do some who seek the Lord find no help from Him? Because they do not seek with the whole soul—they cry out, as it were, only with the tip of their tongue. The Prophet, however, says of himself that he did not merely seek, but sought earnestly. “The expression: I sought earnestly — signifies more than I sought, just as close examination signifies more than examination” (Basil the Great). As a child who senses danger seeks its father or mother with weeping and crying, passing by all others: so I, he says, in the utmost need, passing by all human means of salvation, sought the one Lord earnestly—from the depth of my soul, with an aching heart (Euthymius Zigabenus), undistracted by anything, having in mind only the one Lord. Therefore—He heard me. For God is the God of the heart—the One Who is near to every heart and comprehends all its thoughts and longings. Wholehearted seeking, without any mediation or interval, is received by the Lord directly and draws down His mercy.

Where did the Lord hear the Prophet? In the very place where he sought Him. And where did he seek Him? In the heart. “Outwardly (Augustine) no one heard David’s voice and his appeals to God. There was no time, and there was no place to cry out with the tongue. The seeking and the crying took place in the heart: the outward appearance showed something entirely different. But where the seeking was, there too was the hearing and the giving. The Lord hears inwardly, inwardly in the heart, and gives. Therefore, pray there, and there you will be heard and blessed. Inwardly, in the heart, you will both pray and be heard and be blessed, while a bystander standing right next to you will know nothing of it. Everything will be accomplished in secret, as the Lord says in the Gospel: entering into your chamber, shut your door and pray in secret, and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you openly (Mt. 6:6). For to enter into the chamber means to enter into the heart. Blessed is he who, having entered into his own heart, rejoices there, finding nothing evil. Let your holiness attend! It happens that one does not wish to enter his own house because there is a bad wife there. When such a man goes out of the house he rejoices, but when the hour comes to return home he grieves, because not joy awaits him there, but offense, sorrow, quarreling, and strife. Wretched are such people; but far more wretched are those who do not wish to enter within their heart, on account of the stings of conscience awaiting them there for the sins they have committed. Therefore, so that you may enter willingly into your heart, cleanse it: blessed are the pure in heart (Mt. 5:8). Cast out from it the filth of lusts, of covetousness and miserliness, the thorns of pride, the weed of envy, of hatred, and of every evil thought. Cast all this out—and then, entering into your heart, you will rejoice there. When you begin to rejoice there, the very purity of the heart will delight you and dispose you to pray. When you come, for instance, to some clean, quiet, peaceful place, you say to yourself: I will pray here. The pleasantness of the place draws you in, and you expect that there you will pray more earnestly and be heard by the Lord more quickly. If outward cleanliness draws you so; how much more attractive will be inward cleanliness? Enter therefore within, and cleanse everything. Then, lifting only the eyes of your heart toward God—He will come to you at once and help you”.

Not all who seek the Lord find Him. For it is written: the wicked will seek Me and will not find Me (Prov. 1:28). Only those who have a sound disposition of heart and sincere feelings toward God find the Lord as their Helper, Protector, and Deliverer from troubles (Anthimus, Patriarch of Jerusalem). One may seek God as a means, while the heart is turned toward something else—and therefore receives nothing. “The holy Prophet sought nothing other than the Lord Himself, and was heard (Augustine). Therefore, whoever is not heard certainly was not seeking the Lord. Look carefully! The Prophet did not say: I sought gold from the Lord, and He heard me. I sought long life, and He heard me; I sought this or that—and He heard me. It is one thing to seek something from the Lord, and another to seek the Lord Himself. Therefore, do not seek from the Lord something that is outside Him, but seek the Lord Himself—and He will hear you, and while you are still speaking, He will say: Behold, I am here (Is. 65:24). What does it mean: Behold, I am here? Here I am Myself: what more is there to want, what more to ask of Me? Whatever I might give you is all less than Myself. Here I am Myself: receive Me and take possession of Me. You cannot yet receive Me wholly, or be wholly in Me. But touch Me by faith, and you will partake of Me. And then I will cast off all your burdens from you, so that you may both receive Me wholly and be wholly in Me. Then you will become equal to the angels (Mt. 22:30). You will continually see My face and reveal your desires and needs to Me face to face. And I will hear you quickly and deliver you from all your tribulations”.

What tribulations did the Prophet have in mind when he said: from all my tribulations He delivered me? Those which he experienced in the occasion mentioned in the title. There was not a single tribulation there, just as the danger was a complex one. The Prophet speaks as it were thus: how many times did King Saul attempt to take my life with his own hand, and I was covered by the right hand of the Most High! Finally he sent armored men to kill me, and there too the Lord helped me to escape from their hands. In Nob the high priest could have detained me; but he was not given to discern my flight, and he not only did not detain me but provided me with bread and a sword. Having fled to a neighboring people, I fell by carelessness into the hands of a king who could not be lenient toward me; but by the nod of that same Helper and Protector God of mine, I wondrously escaped the death that awaited me by the most trifling of means. What might have happened had I been detained there? To what indignities would they have subjected me—and after abusing me, either tortured me or handed me over to Saul! From all these tribulations and troubles our most merciful and loving God and Father delivered me for the sole reason that I earnestly sought Him with an aching heart (Irenaeus, Archbishop of Pskov).

Holy David was a man after God’s own heart; and yet he was given to experience extreme tribulations. “The life of every righteous man (Basil the Great) is filled with tribulations; the path of each of them is a narrow and afflicted path. Many are the tribulations of the righteous, for through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). God delivers the holy ones from tribulations not by leaving them untried, but by granting them endurance. The complete removal of tribulations would not be beneficial. For if tribulation produces endurance, and endurance—proven character (Rom. 5:3), then the one untouched by tribulation is deprived of experience. And just as no one receives a crown without having an adversary and without wrestling with him: so too it is impossible to show oneself proven without tribulations and without bearing them with courage. Therefore the words: from all my tribulations He delivered me — do not mean: He did not permit me to suffer, but granted together with the trial a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (1Cor. 10:13)”.

Ps. 33:6. Draw near to Him and be enlightened, and your faces will not be put to shame.

“Having strengthened himself in hope by what he himself received, the holy Prophet leads others to the same” (Athanasius the Great). I, he says, sought the Lord and here is what I received. Do the same and you will receive the same. Since he urges them to correspond their actions to his own: it is evident that “draw near” corresponds to “I sought earnestly”, “you will be enlightened” to “He heard me”, “your faces will not be put to shame” to “from all my tribulations He delivered me”. As I sought earnestly, so do you draw near; as I was heard, so will you be enlightened; as I was delivered from all my tribulations, so will you not be put to shame.

The Lord is everywhere: how is one to draw near to Him? By turning the heart to Him with an aching desire in trustful prayer. As the earnest seeking of the Lord is an aching cry to Him, so too the drawing near to Him is persistent pleading with Him in earnest prayer, like the widow in the parable who persistently pleaded with the unjust judge. Whoever draws near so sincerely and with such constancy will be heard. Into his heart will descend the assurance that his prayer is accepted by God, and his sorrow-darkened face will be brightened by hope. Sorrow and grief ordinarily darken the face and the mind. The holy Prophet speaks here as it were thus: you whose faces are darkened by sorrows and griefs—draw near to God by earnestly seeking Him, as I sought Him; and undoubtedly you will be enlightened by Him with joy and consolation, which will drive away the dark cloud of grief from your heart, and thus your faces will not be put to shame in your hope in Him (Euthymius Zigabenus, Anthimus, Patriarch of Jerusalem). “When someone endures, says Blessed Augustine, some misfortune, contempt, dishonor, or persecution, his face is covered with shame. But you, says the Prophet to one who hopes, do not be afraid. Draw near to the Lord, and you will not be put to shame. The enemy, prevailing over you, seems to get the upper hand over you and put you to shame; but you are higher than him in the eyes of God, Who will also exalt you above your enemy in His own time and remove the shame from your face. How the Jews exalted themselves when they tormented the Lord! His face seemed to be put to shame and brought to nothing. But in very fact the Jews were put to shame. A few years passed, and their city was destroyed and they were scattered over the face of the earth. Thus, as the Lord Himself was not covered with shame, so He does not allow those whom He enlightens to be put to shame”.

Such is the direct meaning of this verse. But, outside the context, it can have a manifold application, to which the holy Fathers who commented on the Psalms gave greater attention—not with a view to knowledge, but with a view to spiritual edification. The words: draw near to Him — that is, to the Lord—point to those who have drawn away from Him and through this withdrawal have grown darkened and brought shame upon their faces. Some stand in remoteness from God in that they do not know Him and do not believe in Him; others — in that, though they believe in Him, they do not live according to that faith; still others — in that, wishing to draw near to God, they do not travel to Him by the path by which one ought to travel. To all such persons the summons may be and has been applied: draw near to the Lord and be enlightened, so that, being enlightened, you may remove the shame of darkness from your face.

Draw near to the Lord, you who do not know God and His Christ, who wander in the darkness of falsehood and delusion, outside the saving path. A Christian who has been enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit does not wish to be the sole partaker of this blessing, but invites all to draw near to our Lord Jesus Christ (Augustine). Those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death are here urged by the Prophet to draw near to the Lord—to draw near to the rays of the Godhead—so that, through this drawing near, illumined by truth, by grace, they might receive within themselves His enlightenment. For just as this visible light does not shine for all, but only for those whose eyes are open and turned toward the sun for unobstructed reception of its rays; so the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2), the Light of truth Who enlightens every person who comes into the world (Jn. 1:9), is not visible in His radiance to all, but only to those who open the eyes of their soul by faith and turn toward the Lord, turning away from every false belief and ruinous error (Basil the Great).

Such persons receive the power of enlightenment in the holy sacraments. Those who turn for the first time from paganism receive it in holy baptism, which is therefore called illumination; just as the feast of the Lord’s Baptism, during which the baptism of those turning to Christ was celebrated most abundantly in the early Church, is called the feast of lights. For this reason Theodoret, Euthymius Zigabenus, and Anthimus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, see in the words: draw near and be enlightened — an invitation to the unbaptized to receive holy baptism, as though saying: draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith in the Holy Gospel and receive holy baptism. Holy baptism will cleanse your souls and enlighten the eyes of your mind, and thus remove the shame from your face, washing away from you the cause of shame—your sins.

The one who has believed enters upon the path of intimate drawing near to the Lord. He must go forward without turning back, without delay, without sloth. How is he to go? By faith through love. “Your feet, says Blessed Augustine, are your love. Have two feet: do not be one-legged and lame. What are these two feet? The two commandments of love—toward God and toward neighbor. With these feet run to God and draw near to Him. He Himself invites you to run to Him, and He gives His light so that you may draw near to Him in a manner befitting God”.

But not everyone does this: others yield to the pull of the passions and, turning aside into crooked paths, again withdraw from God. For them the light of Christ, Who enlightens all, will grow dim. “Just as the sun (Basil the Great), though it rises, does not rise for bats and other creatures that seek their food by night: so the light of the Godhead, though it is in itself radiant and all-illumining, is not partaken of by all in its splendor. The cause of this is not in the light itself, but in the evil will of the sin-loving heart”. For such as these the goodness of God has established another path of drawing near to God—the path of repentance. What darkness is darker than the darkness of sin? And what shame is more shameful than sins committed? And so sinners are invited to draw near to God in repentance, so as to be enlightened and cleansed of the sins that darken and shame them. The sin-loving heart sometimes persists even here, ashamed of confession—which washes away every shame. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed (Jn. 3:20).

“A sinner often says: how can I draw near? I am burdened by such sins; such transgressions lie upon my conscience: how dare I draw near to God?! How? By humbling yourself in repentance. I am ashamed, you say, to perform repentance. But just draw near, and you will be enlightened, and your shame will vanish. The fear of shame turns you away from repentance; but repentance draws you toward God, Who removes shame. The seal of condemning guilt is on your brow; but draw near, and the Lord will remove it. Do you not see that your face is covered with shame precisely because you have not yet drawn near to the Lord? Humble yourself therefore in repentance: and your shame will vanish, and your face will be enlightened” (Blessed Augustine).

One who has repented journeys toward the Lord. The path to Him is properly an interior path, accomplished in the mind and heart. The thoughts of the mind and the dispositions of the heart must be so ordered that the spirit of the person is always with the Lord—showing itself to have drawn near to Him. Whoever is such is continually illumined by interior enlightenment, receiving upon himself the rays of intelligible light (Theodoret), like Moses, whose face was glorified on the mountain through his abiding with God. Of this holy David says elsewhere: the light of Your face has been marked upon us, O Lord (Ps. 4:7). The means adapted to this end is the interior prayer accomplished in the heart. When it is formed, only then does the gaze of the mind become clear, and the spirit, clearly seeing God, receives from Him the power both to see and to repel everything capable of putting it to shame before God. Meanwhile there are not a few who hope to draw near to God by outward deeds and labors alone. They hope, but do not draw near; for they do not travel the right path. And so to them comes the summons: draw near to God with mind and heart and be enlightened, and cease to be put to shame by the enemy who, with all your outward correctness, continually prevails over you and puts you to shame in thoughts and feelings of the heart. Interior and heartfelt drawing near to God will give you the power to gain mastery over all other movements of the soul, and thereby to put the enemy to shame when he ventures to put you to shame.

Holy Basil the Great draws yet another deeply edifying thought from this verse. Draw near to the Lord, seeking His help, be enlightened by hope of deliverance, and your faces will not be put to shame in your expectation. This concerns the present life, so full of labor and affliction. But there will also be another life, in which even unwillingly we will have to appear before the light that will illumine all that is ours. Oh, if only then we need not be put to shame! He will not be put to shame then who here draws near to the Lord by faith and repentance and is enlightened by the labors of good works and the endeavors of cleansing the heart from passions. Such a one is blessed. On the day of God’s righteous judgment, when the Lord comes to bring to light the hidden things of darkness and to disclose the purposes of the heart (1Cor. 4:5), such a one will step boldly into that radiant light and will not be put to shame, because his conscience is not defiled by shameful deeds, having been cleansed by the tears of repentance and the labors of self-correction. But those who did evil (and did not repent) will rise to mockery and shame, to see in themselves the ugliness and imprint of the sins committed. And perhaps more terrible than the darkness and the eternal fire is the shame in which sinners will be fixed forever, having before their eyes continually the traces of sins committed in the flesh—remaining, like some indelible dye, forever in the memory of their soul. There is only one destructive power for these traces—the tears of repentance. One must wash the face of one’s soul with them here, and it will be enlightened and will not be put to shame on that day.

Ps. 33:7. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and from all his tribulations He saved him.

This verse corresponds almost word for word to verse 5: only in place of I sought earnestly we have here this poor man cried, and in place of He delivered—He saved. This is why all commentators agree that holy David is again speaking here of himself. He returns again to his own experience of deliverance from trouble in order to awaken hope in those who are in distress. After saying of himself: I sought the Lord earnestly, and He heard me—now draw near with hope yourselves—someone might have thought: you are a king, you are a Prophet, and that is why you were heard—and with that thought might have quenched again the hope that was beginning to revive. To prevent this, holy David now points to his own thoroughgoing deprivation, in order to make clear that he himself was in an extremely abased state when he cried to the Lord, and was nevertheless heard.

Behold: being a poor man, deprived of all help, even of food and shelter, I cried out with faith and hope to God, and as soon as I knocked at the door of His mercy with a fervent prayer, He immediately heard me and from all my tribulations He saved me (Irenaeus, Archbishop of Pskov).

But one may here, understanding by the poor man everyone who is in extremity and without help, pass in thought to the manifold instances of deliverance from troubles shown by God’s goodness over many persons from the beginning of the world to the present—saying to oneself as it were thus: behold, such-and-such a person cried and was heard; and likewise that one, and that one, and many, finding themselves in trouble, cried to the Lord and were heard. Do not despair yourself; cry out, and you too will be heard. And here we have a guiding indication of how to revive in the heart a fading hope for God’s mercy and help. Turn over in your mind the examples of those saved from troubles—and you will be filled with hope. Danger threatened Jacob from Esau: he cried to God, and God changed the heart of Esau. In what great extremity were Moses and all the people of Israel when Pharaoh with his army was overtaking them before the sea? But Moses cried to God—and He wondrously saved them. How many times did the people of Israel, groaning under the oppression of neighboring peoples, turn to God and seek His help—and every time were quickly heard and saved, not by human means, rejoicing in triumph over their enemies. These and similar instances of salvation wrought by God existed before holy David and nourished in him the spirit of hope. But how many such instances did David himself see—both in his own life and in the life of all his people? How many were shown afterward among the people of God? How many more in the Christian kingdoms of the East, the West, and of God-protected Russia? Even now, one who is attentive cannot fail to see them—both in his own life and in the lives of those known and unknown to him, God-fearing persons who take refuge under God’s covering and intercession. How comforting it is to gather such instances in memory! And how pleasant to listen to a person who, for every sorrowful occasion, can recall in memory not one but many examples of God’s swift help! Here is the true school of hope!

In pointing, however, to his own experience of deliverance from trouble—as a poor man — in order to awaken hope, the holy Prophet at the same time hints at what kind of poverty has value before God, drawing His mercy. “Poverty is not always praiseworthy, says Basil the Great, but only when it has been accepted by the will. Many are poor in means, yet extremely covetous in will. Such persons are not saved by their poverty, but condemned by their will. Therefore blessed is not the one who is poor, but the one who has detached his heart from every possession, preferring the commandment of Christ to the treasures of the world. Such are those whom the Lord calls blessed, saying: blessed are the poor in spirit (Mt. 5:3)—not those who are poor in property, but those who have chosen poverty by the will of their heart. For what does not come from the will does not make one blessed. And it is such a poor man who will cry and will be quickly heard and delivered from tribulations and troubles”.

The holy Prophet also hints at the spirit of humility and self-abasement with which one must cry to God in prayer in order to receive what is asked. “If someone (Basil the Great), guided by a holy and loving spirit, not thinking highly of himself but humbling himself to exalt others, cries out in spirit, asking for something great, and utters nothing unworthy or base—nothing that expresses the seeking of earthly and worldly things—then the cry of this petitioner will be heard by the Lord”. “Holy David teaches here, says Blessed Augustine, how one may be heard. If you cried out and were not heard, it is because you appeared before God as a rich man. Cry as a poor man, and the Lord will hear. And how is one to cry as a poor man? In such a way that, even if you have something, you attribute no merits to yourself, but acknowledge yourself to be in want—and this until you have acquired Him Who enriches everyone who calls upon Him”. One who is thus disposed in spirit will be heard before all others, according to the promise of God, Who looks with the greatest favor upon the gentle and the humble.