“I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You. I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord, When they hear the words of Your mouth. Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord , For great is the glory of the Lord . Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord , endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.”
Psalms 138:1‭-‬8
Written by David, Psalm 138, is about God’s love, truthfulness and dependability. David begins with praising God with his whole heart. Before the onlooking world with is gods, David vowed to sing before Him. He also vows to bow before God’s holy temple and worship Him. This is all very public for David–he’s not at all shy about celebrating His love for God publically! He finishes vs 2 with an amazing statement, “For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” In the midst of all of his praise and worship and thanks, David stops to state this amazing attribute about God: as awesome as God’s Name is and as powerful as it is spoken in praise, God regards His Word– what He says, to be of more importance and to be more awesome and powerful than His Name. Even more amazingly, we hold His precious Word, perfectly preserved, in our hands and have it as our disposal all the time! David continues his praises to God, stating that when he cried out to God, He heard and answered him, giving strength to his soul and emboldening him. Yes, BOLDLY David proclaims his praise, even breaking into songs of joy for God’s goodness, and because David himself was a king, his platform was to make these bold proclamations about God before the highest raking kings and leaders of his day! His expectation is that these kings and leaders with sing God’s praises with him, because of the greatness of God’s glory! Again, David astonishes us with another statement about God’s character in vs 6 when he says, “Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar.”
David knew that in God’s greatness and glory, He still has time for those who humble themselves before Him. He also knew that God is a gentleman–He will never force Himself on anyone and thus is far “from the proud.”
David also knew, as the psalm concludes, that God cared deeply for him and everything that concerned Him. God, likewise, cares about YOU! He loves YOU! Reach out to Him and enbrass that love today!
Think about it!