This Psalm, in its conceptions, appears to have been likewise the cry of David in the day of his desertion. The visits of Jonathan (1 Sam. 20; 1 Sam. 23) were very happy pledges to his soul that in due season the righteous (as this Psalm speaks, Psa. 142:7) would compass him about. It might have also been the musing of the soul of Jesus in such an hour as that of Gethsemane, when He was calling to mind the overwhelming of His spirit, and foretasting the subsequent desertion of His disciples (Matt. 26:42,56). In its application, too, as I have noticed above, it may well suit the soul of any saint tried in such a way; as the Apostle Paul might have found an utterance for his heart here, in the circumstances of 2 Timothy 4:16-17.
But still more exactly is it the language of the Israel of God, on entering into the sense of that condition in which they are to be, just on the eve of their deliverance. For then the Lord will take knowledge of them as deserted and friendless, with no eye to pity, no hand to save, but His own (Deut. 32:36; Isa. 59:16); and in this condition, He Himself will awake for them. And in this affecting little Psalm, they understand and are in sympathy with this; they are feeling that state of things which the Lord thus, in other scriptures, is said to see and relieve. And I may observe another sympathy like this in Psalm 140; for their language in Psalm 140:8 is according to the thoughts of the Lord Himself in Deuteronomy 32:27. This may be noticed by our souls with great interest—the Spirit forming experiences in the saints in company with the mind of God.