John Calvin Commentary Psalms 89:50

"Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; How I do bear in my bosom [the reproach of] all the mighty peoples," — Psalms 89:50 (ASV)

O Lord! remember the reproach of thy servants. They again allege that they are held in derision by the ungodly—a consideration which had no small influence in moving God to compassion. For the more grievous and troublesome a temptation it is to have the wicked deriding our patience, so that by making us believe God is not true in what he has promised, they may precipitate us into despair; the more ready is he to aid us, so that our feeble minds may not yield to the temptation.

The prophet does not simply mean that the reproaches of his enemies are intolerable to him, but that God must repress their insolence in deriding the faith and patience of the godly, so that those who trust in him may not be put to shame. He further enhances the same sentiment in the second clause, telling us that he was assailed with all kinds of reproaches by many peoples, or by the great peoples, for the Hebrew word רבים, rabbim, signifies both great and many.

Moreover, it is not without cause that, after having spoken in general of the servants of God, he changes the plural into the singular number. He does this so that each of the faithful in particular may be more earnestly stirred up to the duty of prayer.

The expression, in my bosom, is very emphatic. It is as if he had said: The wicked do not throw their insulting words from a distance, but they vomit them, so to speak, upon the children of God, who are thus constrained to receive them into their bosom, and to bear patiently this base treatment. Such is the perversity of the time in which we live that we need to apply the same doctrine to ourselves; for the earth is full of profane and proud despisers of God, who do not cease to make themselves merry at our expense. And as Satan is a master well qualified to teach them this kind of rhetoric, the calamities of the Church always provide them with material for exercising it. Some take bosom for the secret affection of the heart; but this exposition seems to be too subtle.