Let me say, before we begin our reading, that the 108th Psalm is made up
partly of the 60th and partly of the 57th; yet we are sure that the Holy
Spirit is not short of language, so that he needs to repeat himself. It is
always a pity to think that any portion of Scripture can be tautology. It
cannot be; there is some good reason for every repetition; and you will see
that, in the two Psalms, which we are about to read, the latter part of the
57th coincides with the first part of the 108th; and that, in the 57th
Psalm, we have prayer and praise, and, in the 108th, we have praise and
prayer. It is well that we should see how these two holy exercises can
change places, — so that, sometimes, we begin with prayer, and pray
ourselves up into praise, and, at other times, we begin with praise, and
find in it the strength we need to aid us in prayer.
Psalm 57:7. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and
give praise.
Let the lions open their cruel mouths, and roar, and let wicked men, “whose
teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword, do their worst
against me; let my every footstep be among the nets and pits that they have
set and dug to catch me; even in the midst of danger, ‘my heart is fixed, O
God, my heart is fixed: I still sing and give praise.’”
8. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
“I will awake the dawn,” — so the Hebrew has it; — ”I will wake up the
morning and chide it for being so long in opening its eyes to look upon God’
s works. David did this, notwithstanding all the trials of his surrounding
circumstances. He calls on his “glory” — perhaps he means his tongue, —
possibly, his poetic faculty, — perchance, his musical skill, — it may be
that he means his intellect, — whatever his “glory” is, he calls upon his
highest powers to awake to praise his God. Then he takes his psaltery and
harp, — strange companions for a man whose soul is among lions but saints
know how to evoke sweetest music even when their enemies are fighting
fiercely against them; — and he sings, —
9-11. I will praise thee, O lord, among the people: I will sing unto the
among the nations. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth
unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be
above all the earth.
Have not some of you found God’s mercy to be “great unto the heavens”? It
even seemed to reach above the heavens; and as for God’s truth, you followed
it till you could follow it no further, for it had ascended above the
clouds. We could scarcely, I think, ever expect to understand here all the
truth which God has pleased to let us hear or read. It reaches “unto the
clouds,” and there we must leave it for the present. When God ceases
toreveal anything, we may cease to enquire concerning it. I saw, in
Florence, a picture of “The Sleeping Savior.” He is represented as sleeping
in the manger at Bethlehem, and the artist depicts the angels hovering round
him, with their fingers on their lips as though they would not wake him from
his holy slumbers. So, when God bids truth sleep, do not try to wake it.
There is enough revealed for thee to know, and more that thou wilt know
by-and-by, so, pry not between the folded leaves; but wait your Lord’s
appointed time to teach you more of his will.
Psalm 108:1-5. O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even
with my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will
praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee
among the nations for thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth
reacheth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy
glory above all the earth;
Here, we begin with praise, — the very praise with which we finished the
other Psalm, — praise in a very joyous, confident spirit, for the praise
which precedes prayer has more of the “Jubilate” note in it than ordinary
praise has. The prayer in Psalm 57:1, which preceded the praise, was
earnest, and fervent, and confident, yet it did not reach so high a note as
this: —
6-9. That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer
me. God hath spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem,
and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my law-giver; Moab is my
washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.
David is claiming the kingdom which God promised to him by the mouth of
Samuel the prophet; — looking first upon the kingdom itself, and then upon
the surrounding territories, and laying hold upon them all as his own
because God had given them to him.
10. Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
In the spirit of a truly courageous leader, he means to fight with that
ancient foe of Israel; and wisely appeals to God to lead his army: —
11-13. Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God,
go forth with our hosts? Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of
man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down
our enemies.
In Celebration of Life in Him,
Dr.Jim DeBruhl, gembeaux@bellsouth.net
" Everything is wrong until God makes it right."
