John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:145

"I have called with my whole heart; answer me, O Jehovah: I will keep thy statutes." — Psalms 119:145 (ASV)

I have cried with my whole heart. This verse can be read and connected in such a way that at its end the Psalmist may show what he desired in crying; and thus the meaning would be, that as he was inflamed with an intense desire to keep the law, he continually made supplication to God on that subject.

But the subsequent verse compels us to take a different view, for the same thing is, no doubt, repeated there. The Prophet then requests that God would hear him; and as a sign of his gratitude, he promises to keep God’s commandments. He simply uses the indefinite term cry; and thus he does not express what prayers he offered up to God, but only shows that while the children of this world are distracted by a multitude of concerns, he directed all the affections of his heart exclusively to God, because he depended solely on Him.

As the world is compelled to acknowledge that God is the author of all good things, many formal prayers proceed from that principle. This consideration led David to affirm that he prayed with his whole heart. When he has obtained his requests, he sets the glory of God before himself as his goal, resolving to devote himself with all the more ardent affection to the work of serving Him. Although God declares that He is served rightly by the sacrifice of praise, yet David, to distinguish himself from hypocrites who profane God’s name by their cold and feigned praises, rightly declares that he will give thanks through his life and works.

In the following verse, he makes no new statement, but he speaks more expressly. First, he says that he cried to God; and next, he adds that he entrusted his welfare to Him through prayer. He thereby intimates that whether he was safe, or whether imminent danger threatened him with death, he consistently relied on God, being fully persuaded that the only way he could remain safe was by having Him as the guardian and protector of his welfare.