Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 25:17

"The troubles of my heart are enlarged: Oh bring thou me out of my distresses." — Psalms 25:17 (ASV)

The troubles of my heart - The sorrows which spring up in the heart, particularly from the recollections of sin.

Are enlarged - They have become great. They increased the more he reflected on the sins of his life.

O bring thou me out of my distresses - Alike from my sins, and from the dangers which surround me.

These two things, external trouble and the inward consciousness of guilt, are often combined. Outward trouble has a tendency to bring to mind past transgressions and to suggest the inquiry whether the affliction is not a divine visitation for sin.

Any one source of sorrow can bring numerous others with it. The laws of association are such that when the mind rests on one source of joy and is made cheerful by it, numerous other blessings will be suggested to increase the joy; and when one great sorrow has taken possession of the soul, all the lesser sorrows of past life cluster around it, so that we feel as if we are wholly abandoned by God and by man.