February 18
Reading: Psalm 108
A Song. A Psalm of David.
1 My heart is steadfast, O God!
I will sing and make melody with all my being!
2 Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
3 I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4 For your steadfast love is great above the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
6 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
give salvation by your right hand and answer me!
7 God has promised in his holiness:
“With exultation I will divide up Shechem
and portion out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine;
Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I cast my shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 Oh grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!
13 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.
The endings of two psalms have been put together to make this single psalm. Psalm 57:7-11 (vss. 1-5) follows David’s crying out to God because he is being hunted. Psalm 60:5-12 (vss. 6-13) follows David’s lament after a defeat. The combined effect of the joining of the endings of these psalms is to say, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, because in God we shall do valiantly.” This is true even, or especially, when things look grim.
Do you know the power of desperate praise when you are suffering or you seem to be failing? Do you know what happens when you turn to God in faith when you feel like He is neglecting you? What happens when you praise God when you are sure He has rejected you?
After my sophomore year of college, I was kicked out of the University of Illinois. I did it to myself. It was me that watched movies and hung out with friends when I ought to have been studying. It was me who missed classes, played basketball, and watched baseball. I had been pursuing a physics major. My father was a physics professor at the university. It was embarrassing. I felt like a failure. I felt like God was punishing me for my sin. He probably was.
But, due to some close friends who loved the Lord and a mentor who shepherded me, I got into my Bible and learned to praise God in my failure. My failure drove me to God. Learning to trust God in it and praise Him for who He is transformed my life. God took my eyes off myself. He taught me not to trust in my own strength.
I said to Him over and over, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!” As a result, I was able to say confidently, “With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.”