Psalm 119:83 states, "For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes." "What an affecting picture of misery! Not only were his patience and hope—but his very body—‘dried up’ by long-continued affliction. (Proverbs 17:22) This is he, who in the prime of youth was ‘ruddy and of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to’ (1 Samuel 16:12),--now shriveled up like a bottle of skin (Joshua 9:4; Matthew 9:17), hung up in the smoke… How did this man of God behave? When his soul was fainting, his hope in the word kept him from sinking. (Psalm 119:81) Under the further continuance of the trial, the same recollection gives him support—yet do I not forget thy statutes. (Compare Psalm 119:51, 61, 109, 141; Psalm 44:17-19.)
