Introduction:
One of the things the Devil hates is when we praise the LORD especially in adverse circumstances or when after praying there seems nothing has changed in the natural. At such times Satan will take advantage of our situation, knowing full well what buttons in our soul to push to evoke from us a spirit of despair and anxiety.
David experienced this weariness of soul and spirit many times like this in his life even to the point of physical exhaustion, yet he also found that the way out was to praise the LORD, even when he did not feel like it. He knew that a thankful heart of gratitude and praise accompanied by a childlike trust in Him would drive the Devil away and slap his accusing mouth shut.
We read what David writes; “From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise because of Your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger” (Psalm 8:2). And again he writes; “I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your Name, O Most High. My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before You” (Psalm 9:1-3).
When we read what David writes he did not just focus on his circumstances, even though at times he had to persevere in his trust in God that He in His foreknowledge of all things knew what He was doing. When David focused his prayers and petitions on the character of God his perspective on his circumstances changed. We see this in exemplified in Psalm 139. Let’s now look at our text in Psalm 138.
Psalm 138 : Exposition:
(Vs.1-2) “I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing Your praise. I will bow down toward Your holy temple and will praise Your name for Your love and Your faithfulness, for You have exalted above all things Your name and Your Word.”
Notice several things. His petition and plea was an act of his will, not his emotions or feelings, or what he saw in the circumstances facing him which were always changeable at the best of times. “I will praise You O LORD.” This is not an easy thing to do when we are passing through that deep dark valley of depression, anxiety and the constant taunts from the accuser of the brethren, he who accuses us day and night before our God (Revelation 12:10).
Notice that David also said “with all my heart; before the gods I will sing Your praise.” The “gods” are the demons in the unseen spiritual realm just above the surface of the earth that are involved in idolatry which is the worship of these demons (Deuteronomy 32:16-17) (Psalm 106:36-37) (1 Corinthians 10:20).
Not only did he will to pray with all of his heart, revealing his total transparency before the LORD and his dependency on His strength and power, but also as an action of his will to sing God’s praise which involved focusing on who God is, His perfect, wise and loving divine nature and His immeasurable attributes.
Then we read where David again says; “I will bow down toward Your holy temple and will praise Your Name.” Once again the action of his will, not primarily his emotions. As was his custom and that of many of the Old Testament saints when praying, if they were not in Jerusalem they would bow towards the direction of the Holy City but more so for the Temple where the glory and presence of God dwelt by His Spirit. Also this involved praising His Name accompanied by a thankful heart.
In our personal relationship with our Triune God, when we walk in step with His Holy Spirit acting by faith and not by sight, it involves the action of our will (2 Corinthians 5:7) (Romans 1:17) (Galatians 3:11) (Hebrews 10:38). In both Testaments the word faith means to believe but also contains the idea of being faithful to what we believe. It is a faith that produces works along the line of the faith professed (James 2:26). It is a faith that works by love (Galatians 5:6). This is the kind of faith that pleases the LORD and which He richly rewards (Hebrews 11:6). It is a filial trust that bows before a trustworthy Triune God.
When David bowed down he was showing God his total dependency on Him, and that with a humble and contrite heart, knowing that God would in no way despise this action of the will in submission to His sovereign purposes for David’s life.
As David also prays in another psalm; “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite (humble) heart, God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). This was part of his heartfelt repentance after committing adultery and murder. David knew that God; “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).
And again it is written in the prophet Isaiah; “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smouldering wick He will not snuff out” (Isaiah 42:3). Our prayers and petitions before our Triune God may be like that bruised reed battered and worn by the storms of daily life, however, He will not allow despair to completely dominate us, but after a while establish us and strengthen us in our trust and confidence in His loving benevolence which He continuously exercises towards all of His beleaguered redeemed saints.
As the Apostle Peter writes; “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in the Messiah, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:7-11).
Also when we are laden down with a heaviness and weariness of mind and spirit through manifold temptations and trials of many kinds and even despairing of life itself, He will not snuff out our requests and petitions.
As the Apostle Paul writes; “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9).
In praising His name we are praising Him with the realization of His character; “…for Your love and Your faithfulness,” Two things that are outstanding about the character of our Triune God is that He is Love and that He is faithful. Many times in his life David had seen the love and faithfulness of God in his at work and in his changing circumstances both the good and the not so good.
Even if we are unfaithful, and there are times when we will be, He remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). He cannot deny His nature or the perfection of His eternal deity, or what He has said in His Word. Because He is love and faithful He can be depended upon to watch over His Word to keep it and to perform it according to His infinitely wise, loving and divine will (Jeremiah 1:12).
If we want to know what He can do we need to get into His Word! As we read; “The entrance of Your Word gives light” (Psalm 119:130). And again it is written; “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). If we would know the LORD then we need to know His Word because it is also written; “Where there is no revelation, the people are unrestrained but happy is he who keeps the law” (Proverbs 29:18). It needs to be said that God’s Word guiding our life will keep us from Satan’s power, whereas yielding to Satan’s power in our life will keep us from God’s Word.
As it is also written; “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned (against being led astray); In keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19: 7-11).
And then we are also told; “…for You have exulted above all things Your Name and Your Word.” God does not change; neither does His Word change because it will say the same thing tomorrow as it does today. Indeed it is written; “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever” (Isaiah 40:8). And again we read; “Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89). As it is also written; “Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever” (Psalm 119:152). As we also read; “God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change his mind” (Numbers 23:19). His Name can do whatever it says He can do. His Word is His name and His Name is His Word.
He is called by many names in scripture and each name describes an aspect of His divine nature and character. He can do anything His Word says He can do! What is impossible with man is possible with God, for with God nothing is impossible, and all things are possible to those who believe! See; (Job 42:2) (Jeremiah 32:17, 27) (Jeremiah 1:12) (Matthew 19:26) (Luke 18:27) (Mark 9:23). As we read in Proverbs; “Every word of God is proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him” (Proverbs 30:5).
And then we read…
(Vs.3) “When I called, You answered me; You made me bold and stout hearted.”
David knew that through life’s experiences that when he called God answered Him and so David cultivated waiting on God in anticipation of having his petition answered in God’s time and in God’s way. We see this throughout the Psalms. Waiting on God with the expectancy of faith will always cause God to act on our behalf.
David also writes “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times; you people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:5-8).
Sometimes the LORD waits to answer us and when He sees our determination to keep trusting Him, even though nothing changes in the natural, He goes to work according to His good, acceptable and perfect will for our life. Waiting on God increases our expectancy and when the answer comes there is praise and glory given to Him.
Through the time of testing and waiting on God our faith and confidence in Him will be enhanced and develop and grow stronger (Isaiah 40:31). Through our trials, our tests and severe unrelenting temptations He will make us “bold and stout hearted”; bringing about in us a confidence in God that produces in our soul that supernatural strength which we can never produce in ourselves, but must be supernaturally implanted by the blessed Holy Spirit. It is that kind of faith that pleases God which He richly rewards (Hebrews 11:6).
Does not the LORD say Himself through the prophet Jeremiah; “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it, the LORD is His Name: Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:2-3). Now let’s continue…
(Vs.4-5) “May all the kings of the earth praise You, O LORD, when they hear the words of Your mouth. May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.”
In this fallen world and in this age the kings of the earth do not praise our Triune God nor give Him thanks or pay any attention to the Messiah our Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). In virtually every nation in the world the leaders despise the Word of the LORD. They do not hear the Word of the LORD and even if they do they do not accept it. God of course will frustrate their plans, especially those leaders and their nations that have afflicted Israel (Psalm 2) (Psalm 83).
However, after the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus, the surviving nations and their leaders will hear the words of His mouth and sing the way of the LORD acknowledging that His glory is great. Some will do it reluctantly of course but have no choice in the matter. However, many will turn to the LORD, give Him their allegiance, and sing His praises when they hear His Word and sing of the ways of the LORD in the age to come in the Messianic Kingdom. We see this prophetically reflected in Psalm 150.
As we are told concerning His Word going forth in the Millennium; “For the law (Torah) shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Micah 4:2b). And again it is written; “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
Psalm 50 has a prophetic application which will come to fruition in the Messianic Age to come; “Praise the LORD. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for his surpassing greatness. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with the strings and flute, praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.”
At His Second Coming at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11). David’s anticipation of all of the kings praising the LORD will be answered in the Millennial Messianic Kingdom of God on earth in the age to come. In the closing verses of Psalm 138 David once again focuses on the LORD’s power to preserve his life in the midst of trials and troubles, to defeat his enemies and enable him to fulfil God’s foreordained purposes for his life (Psalm 139:6). And so we read…
(Vs.6) “Though the LORD is on high, He looks upon the lowly, but the proud He Knows from afar.”
Our Triune God is far above us in the heavens whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways. As He himself has said; “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
God the Son, our advocate with God the Father, sits at the right hand of the throne of God in heaven, and in the Messiah we have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens to plead our case in heaven’s courts (Hebrews 7:26). He is one who has become a priest not by a law of succession, but by the power of an indestructible life (Hebrews 7:16). That indestructible life is in you and me as New Covenant believers, and we are also told by the Apostle John that; “Greater is He in you than He that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Even in His high and exulted position our Great High Priest who has made purification for our sins through His pure untainted atoning blood, looks down upon His bride trusting in His saving power and is watching over them day and night (Hebrews 1:1-3) (Zephaniah 3:17). He is very near those who are lowly or humble before Him, who know the spiritual corruption that lies deep within their soul, and who know they are powerless to overcome the evil one.
These are the ones He looks upon with favour because they are trusting His saving and keeping power and absolute authority over all principalities and powers and the hosts of spiritual wickedness in the atmosphere above the earth’s surface which is Satan’s domain (Job 1:6-7; 2:1-2) (Ephesians 2:2).
While God looks upon the humble and draws near to them He distances Himself from the proud, knowing the innermost thoughts and motives of the human heart without the saving and sanctifying work of grace through the Holy Spirit. As it is written; “God opposes the proud, but gives grace (unmerited, unearned favour) to the humble” (James 4:6). As Jeremiah the prophet also writes; “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
There will be circumstances or situations when we will pass through times of trials and tests and David was no stranger to opposition, temptation and enemies that sought to take his life. There was an extended period of approximately 15 years between David’s anointing by Samuel and when he actually became king. He was anointed as a teenager and became king at the age of 30. Prophetically this was significant because the Messiah our Lord Jesus also started His ministry when He was thirty years of age. King David of course foreshadowed the Lord Jesus who as the King of the Jews in the Messianic Kingdom will sit on David’s throne at Jerusalem (Luke 1:32). And then we read…
(Vs.7) “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life; you stretch out Your hand against the anger of My foes, with Your right hand you save me.”
We live in a troubled world that is getting worse as we head towards the Time of the Big Trouble. In this world we will experience to a greater or lesser degree alienation, marginalization, criticism, oppression, and persecution because we do not belong to this world but have been chosen out of this world according to God’s foreknowledge of all things (John 15:19) (Romans 8:28-30) (1 Peter 1:2).
God allows us to be tested, not to discourage us or hurt us, but that we might pass the test! If we fail then He puts us through it again, possibly in a different situation because He wants us to pass it! The tests we have now as painful, prolonged and weary as they may be are preparing us for the future tests which are coming upon the global Body of Messiah at the very end of this present age especially when we enter the Time of Jacob’s Trouble.
From his very early life as a shepherd David had seen the LORD preserve his life, especially when it came to killing a lion of a bear to protect his sheep, and especially when he took down Goliath. Even the anger of David’s foes was addressed by God who took action against them because David was His anointed servant.
When we look back over our walk with the LORD there have been times when we have found ourselves in a tumultuous situation which we could not rectify, however, at the right time God stepped in and delivered us. When looking back at the times when God preserved our lives can give us confidence for the future when temptations, trials and tests come our way. When we find ourselves walking in the midst of troubles we have the assurance that God will deliver us in His time and in His way.
As the Psalmist writes, concerning God’s dealings with Israel; “Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of His praise be heard; He has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance” (Psalm 66:8-12).
The ‘happy clappy club’ in many churches today avoid these kinds of verses in Psalm 66 which speak of perseverance in a prolonged time of testing and finding a deliverance in and through it, rather than being delivered out of it. However, at the end of it spiritual abundance, growth, the glory of God, and the supply of every temporal need are the results.
We see this deliverance exemplified when Shadrach. Meshach and Abednego were facing the fiery furnace because they refused to worship the golden image set up by King Nebuchadnezzar. They said to the king; “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your hand O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up”(Daniel 3:17-18). They had already received their deliverance!
Around the world today unnumbered multitudes of our dear brothers and sisters in Messiah are enduring this kind of trial that the three Hebrews faced and are finding deliverance in the fiery furnace of persecution as they embrace martyrdom through the enabling grace of God and going to be with Him forever!
Fulfilling the will of God is not easy for any of us if we are honest, the pressures from the world, the flesh and the devil to make us compromise are coming one upon another, however, when we find the will of God and walk in it by His enabling grace and power then doing His will ultimately turn out to be the best and sweetest thing in the entire world. He will preserve us and keep us until it has been completed.
If anyone had afflictions, trials and severe persecution it was Rabbi the Apostle Paul. However, at the end of his life facing martyrdom he writes; “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day— and not only to me, but to all who crave His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Now as we move on in our psalm notice also David says to the LORD; “with Your right hand you save me.” The right hand of God or the arm of the LORD in the Old Testament is a reference to the pre-incarnate Messiah before His incarnation. He was most certainly involved in the lives of God’s people in the Old Testament. For starters, He wrestled with Jacob. He spoke to Abraham. He appeared and spoke to Moses in the burning bush. He was Melchizedek the king of Salem (Jerusalem), and the Angel of the LORD (not any angel but the Angel of the LORD with the definite article in the Hebrew text). Finally we read…
(Vs.8) “The LORD will fulfil His purpose for me; Your love, O LORD, endures forever- do not abandon the works of Your hands.”
In closing; despite the many situations David faced in his life and they were many both favourable and unfavourable, he had the inward assurance from the indwelling Holy Spirit that God would fulfil His pre-ordained purpose for David’s life. We see him acknowledge this in Psalm 139 when David says to the LORD; “My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them; if I was even able to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you” (Psalm 139:15-18).
Whenever we see the phrase “O LORD” in the psalms it is the breathing out of a deep desire. It is not just a word but an expression of a desire needing to be satisfied and that only God can do. In this psalm this breathing out of a desire is in the deeper realisation that God’s love endures forever. He is not fickle, neither does He change (Malachi 3:6) (James 1:17). He is Love and it is perfectly revealed within the Tri-Unity of the Godhead.
David had come to a fuller realization of the love of God and in light of this he went on to say to the LORD; “…do not abandon the works of Your hands.” Indeed David understood this in light of the fact that God had created him in the womb of his mother as he said; “For You created my innermost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful I know that full well” (Psalm 139:13-14).
David of course was human and could not bear the thought of God abandoning him to his enemies and David had plenty of them throughout his life. Possibly he also remembered King Saul and what happened to him. It was not that David thought God would abandon him, but had the realization of the propensity of his own heart to wander away from his relationship with the LORD.
David would never forget his sin of adultery and murder, and he had to live with the consequences of his sin. However, when he repented God forgave his sin, cleansed his heart, restored his relationship with Him, and after that when David had served God’s will in his own generation, he fell asleep and went to be with the LORD, David’s spirit and soul were absent from his own physical body but present with the LORD (Acts 13:36) (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Dear brothers and sisters two things to remember that will bring us comfort in our walk with God as we seek to serve Him in our generation. Firstly; All the days ordained for us as New Covenant believers in Messiah were written in God’s register in heaven in eternity before any of them came to be (Psalm 139:16). Secondly; ‘For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).
As Rabbi the Apostle Paul writes; “…being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of the Messiah Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Our Triune God is “the author and perfector of our faith” and what He starts He fully intends to complete on the day He returns (1 Corinthians 15:51-56).
A great and encouraging Psalm to memorise and confess daily is found in Psalm 121 which we can personalise…
“I lift up my eyes to the hills–where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let my foot slip–He who watches over me will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over me, the LORD is my shade at my right hand; the sun will not harm me by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep me from all harm–He will watch over my life; the LORD will watch over my coming and going both now and forevermore.” Amen!
