John Calvin Commentary Psalms 18:27

"For thou wilt save the afflicted people; But the haughty eyes thou wilt bring down." — Psalms 18:27 (ASV)

For thou wilt save the afflicted people. This verse corrects a mistake into which we are very prone to fall.

Experience shows that the merciful are often severely afflicted, and the sincere involved in very distressing troubles. To prevent anyone from regarding as false the statement that God deals mercifully with the merciful, David admonishes us that we must wait for the end.

For although God does not immediately run to aid the good, yet, after exercising their patience for a time, he lifts them up from the dust where they lay prostrate and brings them effective relief, even when they were in despair.

From this it follows that we should only judge by the outcome how God shows himself merciful toward the merciful and pure toward the pure. If he did not keep his people in suspense, waiting long for deliverance from affliction, it could not be said that it is his prerogative to save the afflicted.

And it is no small consolation, in the midst of our adversities, to know that God purposely delays to provide his assistance, which is otherwise fully prepared, so that we may experience his goodness in saving us after we have been afflicted and brought low. Nor should we consider the wrongs inflicted on us too bitter, since they prompt God to show us his favor, which brings salvation.

Regarding the second clause of this verse, the reading is a little different in the song in 2 Samuel, where the words are, Thine eyes are against the proud to cast them down. But this difference does not alter the meaning, except that the Holy Spirit there more plainly threatens the proud that, since God is on watch to overthrow them, it is impossible for them to escape destruction.

The substance of both passages is this: The more the ungodly indulge in gratifying their own inclinations without any fear of danger, and the more proudly they despise the afflicted poor who are under their feet, the nearer they are to destruction. Whenever, therefore, they cruelly lash out against us with mockery and contempt, let us know that the only thing preventing God from repelling their headstrong obstinacy is that their pride has not yet reached its peak.