The Pity of the Lord
J. W. Lance. Psalm 103:14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. The pity of the Lord is here said to spring out of His knowledge and His memory; but if He were not pitifully inclined towards the frail children of the dust, no amount of knowledge and memory could in themselves originate in Him the sweet qualities of tenderness and mercy. A hard man may fully know and well remember the sorrows and afflictions of his neighbours, and yet feel no pity, and exercise no benevolence. Even the fact that such an one is a father is no absolute security here; for there are fathers without natural affection, who harden their hearts against their children, and close their doors against their own flesh and blood. As to the limitation that is here, "them that fear Him," there need be no thought for a moment of narrowness or exclusiveness; for if the Lord pitied only those who fear Him, what would have become of us when we feared Him not? "He knoweth our frame," for He hath made it. He, and He alone, understands the mystery of life, and the invisible link that binds together the body and the spirit, the silver cord which, being loosened, ends the feast of life so far as this present world is concerned. He "knoweth our frame," too, for He has taken part with us in our very flesh in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. "Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself took part in the same." "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." He knows the weakness of our flesh, for He Himself was weak; when shrinking from the Cup He said, " If it be possible, let it pass," while yet, in the impossibility of love's failure, it passed not. "Could ye not watch with Me one hour?" not one brief hour? "Verily, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." We are but dust. He knows it, and by the experience of His humanity remembers it. He knows, too, the strength of our temptation, matched, and, alas! sometimes overmatched, against this weakness, and He will not burden us above our strength; or if even for wise ends this should be, and we should faint and fall, we shall be sure still of His pity, for He "knoweth our frame." (J. W. Lance.) Parallel Verses KJV: For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. WEB: For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.