David

Learn to be empty of all things, both inwardly and outwardly, and you will realize that I am God.

David says, 'My iniquities have taken hold of me, and I have no power to see.'

I will reserve my strength for you, focusing the power of my desires solely on you.

Maybe darkness will blind me in my pleasures and I will have night as my light.

David said, 'If riches abound, do not set your heart on them,' to warn us of the dangers of desiring wealth.

Do not be afraid or envious when someone becomes rich, thinking that they are superior to you. When they die, they will not be able to take anything with them, and their wealth and happiness will not follow them.

Even if we have a lot of wealth, we should not focus our hearts on it.

Be still and see that I am God.

David said that those who set their affections on idols will become like them, because love creates a likeness between the one who loves and the thing loved.

David says that God sends wisdom to souls in small, manageable pieces, like morsels.

The Lord has granted the poor their desire.

The judgments of God, which are the virtues and attributes we perceive in God, are true and justified in themselves. They are more desirable than gold and precious stones, and sweeter than honey.

David says, 'I am poor and in labours from my youth.' He calls himself poor, even though he was rich, because his will was not set on wealth. In this way, he was truly poor.

My desires, which are my sins, have bound me from all sides.

And so David, understanding how blind these souls are and how completely they are hindered from seeing the truth, and how angry God is with them, says to them: Before your thorns harden, God will swallow you up in His wrath.

Day communicates with day and overflows with words, while night shares knowledge with night.

When David speaks of the heavenly creatures, he says that there is none.

David describes this experience of returning to himself from forgetfulness, saying, 'I have watched and I have become like the lonely bird on the house-top.'