Vs. 116 — Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live; And do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

Charles H. Spurgeon:

It was so necessary that the Lord should hold up his servant, that he could not even live without it. Our soul would die if the Lord did not continually sustain it, and every grace which makes spiritual life to be truly life would decay if he withdrew his upholding hand. It is a sweet comfort that this great necessity of upholding is provided for in the word, and we have not to ask for it as for an uncovenanted mercy, but simply to plead for the fulfilment of a promise, saying, “Uphold me according to thy word.” He who has given us eternal life hath in that gift secured to us all that is essential thereto, and as gracious upholding is one of the necessary things we may be sure that we shall have it.

A man would be ashamed of his hope if it turned out that it was not based upon a sure foundation; but this will never happen in our case. We may be ashamed of our thoughts, and our words, and our deeds, for they spring from ourselves; but we never shall be ashamed of our hope, for that springs from the Lord our God. Such is the frailty of our nature that unless we are continually upheld by grace, we shall fall so foully as to be ashamed of ourselves, and ashamed of all those glorious hopes which are now the crown and glory of our life. (Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). The treasury of David: Psalms 111-119 (Vol. 5, p. 356). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)

Prayer:

Uphold me, Father, according to Your word, that I may live; and do not let me be ashamed of my hope. You have shown me that hope in the temporal is a mere wish or dream. No guarantees apart from You–Who holds and controls all things. But when my hope is the person of Jesus Christ and what You, Jesus, did for me at the cross and the grave, it is secured eternally.  I trust the promise in Scriptures that I am sealed and secure in Christ and nothing can separate me from You. I will not be ashamed of such glorious, eternal hope. Amen