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 to reveal 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 shalltread down our enemies. In Celebration of Life in Him, Dr.Jim DeBruhl, gembeaux@bellsouth.net " Everything is wrong until God makes it right."
