Matthew Henry Commentary Psalms 144:1-8

"Blessed be Jehovah my rock, Who teacheth my hands to war, [And] my fingers to fight: My lovingkindness, and my fortress, My high tower, and my deliverer; My shield, and he in whom I take refuge; Who subdueth my people under me. Jehovah, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him? Man is like to vanity: His days are as a shadow that passeth away. Bow thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down: Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them; Send out thine arrows, and discomfit them. Stretch forth thy hand from above; Rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hand of aliens; Whose mouth speaketh deceit, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood." — Psalms 144:1-8 (ASV)

When individuals become eminent for things for which they have had few advantages, they should be more deeply aware that God has been their Teacher. Happy are those to whom the Lord gives that noblest victory: conquest and dominion over their own spirits.

A prayer for further mercy is appropriately begun with thanksgiving for past mercy. There was a special power of God inclining the people of Israel to be subject to David; this was a type of the bringing of souls into subjection to the Lord Jesus.

Human days have little substance, considering how many thoughts and cares of a never-dying soul are occupied with a poor, dying body. Human life is like a shadow that passes away.

In their highest earthly exaltation, believers will remember how lowly, sinful, and vile they are in themselves; thus they will be preserved from self-importance and presumption. God's time to help his people is when they are sinking and all other sources of help fail.