The Lord Will

When I was four years old, my parents bought a home with a pool in the backyard. I have memories of myself in my bright seventies’ swimsuit and yellow floaties standing on the edge of the pool. My dad was standing in the shallow end of the pool with his arms outstretched, encouraging me to jump in the water. 1-2-3, jump! Splash! My dad caught me. I grinned. I wanted to do it again. My dad had caught me and brought me safely to the edge. I had confidence I could jump again, and my dad would catch me.

David wrote Psalm 138 based on his past experience with God which in turn gave him confidence to trust God for the future.

Of David.

1 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;

before the gods I sing your praise;

2 I bow down toward your holy temple

and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,

for you have exalted above all things

your name and your word.

3 On the day I called, you answered me;

my strength of soul you increased.

4 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,

for they have heard the words of your mouth,

5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,

for great is the glory of the Lord.

6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,

but the haughty he knows from afar.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

you preserve my life;

you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,

and your right hand delivers me.

8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;

your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

Do not forsake the work of your hands.[1]

I continue learning new things about the Psalms. This past week I listened to a podcast with Nancy Guthrie talking with Mark Futato about the Psalms. Futato highlighted the importance of the organization of the Psalms into five books during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. There is an overall purpose of the Psalms to instruct in happiness and holiness, but then each book has a theme running through it. Psalm 138 is part of Book 5. Although it was written by David which pre-dated Israel’s exile to Babylon, it corresponds with the theme in Book 5: living out your faith even when circumstances seem to contradict what you know is truth. God had made a covenant with David that there would always be someone from his lineage sitting on the throne (ultimately, we see this fulfilled in Jesus). But after the exile, Israel had no king on the throne. They had to live by faith in God’s promises based on God’s character even when their circumstances didn’t reflect the promise.

We have similar experiences. We observe world events and wonder if God is sovereign. We face a serious health concern, and we conclude that God is not good. Wickedness seems to prevail, and we question God’s justice. We experience brokenness in relationships, and we have misgivings whether or not God loves us. We continue struggling with a particular sin, and we doubt that there really is no condemnation, and we are more than conquerors in Jesus. We all face times when life seems to contradict what we know is true. We choose to live by faith, placing our confidence in God and His Word. This is what David did in Psalm 138.

This Psalm has three strophes (lines grouped together by a common idea):

Personal thanksgiving (vs 1-3)

Global thanksgiving (vs 4-6)

Confidence in God (vs 7-8)

David begins with his own thanks and praise to God. Notice that David does so with his “whole heart.” I think how often my own thanksgiving and praise is marred with distraction with other things. David is focused. He is giving God his full attention in thanksgiving and praise. God deserves nothing less than our whole heart because He is God, because His love is steadfast, and He is faithful (vs 2). The more we are consumed by awe of who God is and what He has done, the more we will praise and give thanks with our whole heart.

“Before the gods I sing Your praise” – This might seem like a strange thing for David to say. What other gods? There is one God, but that is David’s rhetorical point. There is only one true God, the Lord, Yahweh, and David is completely devoted to Him.

In verse 3, we see the reason for David’s whole-hearted thanksgiving and praise. “On the day I called, You answered me; my strength of soul You increased.” God had answered David’s prayer. In some Psalms, we are told what the trouble is. Here we don’t know what David’s trouble was, and we don’t know how God answered him other than giving David strength. Sometimes God delivers us from the trouble, but often He gives us the strength to persevere through the trouble, walking with and leading us (Psalm 23). However God chooses to work, we can have confidence that God hears and answers our prayers.

We can learn from and be encouraged by even a single verse in a Psalm, but as we zoom out to the whole Psalm, and zoom out again to the Psalms around our Psalm and then zoom out further to the Book in Psalms that our Psalm is part of, we gain a fuller and richer meaning. I want to zoom out to Psalm 137:3 for a minute.

For there our captors required of us songs,

And our tormentors, mirth, saying,

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

Psalm 137:3

Here the word “sing” is being used as a taunt by Israel’s Babylonian captors. In Psalm 138, “sing” describes whole-hearted praise first by David (vs 1) and then one day by “all the kings of the earth” (vs 4). The same Hebrew is used in all three verses. I love how God redeems and makes things beautiful. Before, the Babylonians taunted the Israelites to sing, but one day “all the kings of the earth” will sing praise to God. Why? “For they have heard the words of Your mouth.” God’s Word has transformed them. God’s ways and His glory are known (vs 5). What a contrast!

We’ve looked at personal thanksgiving and global thanksgiving. Now we will learn how thanksgiving led David to confident trust in God for the future.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

you preserve my life;

you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,

and your right hand delivers me.

8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;

your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

Do not forsake the work of your hands.

David is looking towards the future in these verses. Because God helped him in the past (vs 3), David is confident that God will preserve his life midst future trouble and deliver him. In praising God, we remind ourselves of who God is, His attributes. In thanking God, we remind ourselves of what God has done. These two things give us confidence in trusting God, depending completely on Him, as we go forward. We know Who is with us.

Verse 8 is the last verse of this Psalm, but this is the verse that made me pause and want to zoom out for the whole context. “The Lord will…” I think how often I say, “I will…” I may have good intentions. I try to do what I say, but sometimes my pain or fatigue prevent me from doing what I said I would do. Other times, something else comes up. And still other times, I decide it isn’t something I want to do after all. Not so with God. “The Lord will…” is a promise. God is faithful. “He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians5:24). God does what He says He will do. He has all power, wisdom, and sovereignty to carry it out. David has an unshakeable confidence when he writes, “The Lord will…” because he knows the Lord and what the Lord has done.

“The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me;” David may not know what future trouble will come. He may not know how God will preserve and deliver him, but he does know that God’s purpose for him will be fulfilled. We spend so much time worrying about the future what may or may not happen, or what we can do to control the future. David rests in God knowing that God will fulfill His purpose for him because God’s steadfast love endures forever. David’s confidence emanates from his prayerful dependence on his faithful, loving, eternal God.

Reflection

1. Read back through Psalm 138 and write down all the “God is…” truths. Then clear away distractions and spend time thanking God for what He has done in your life and praising Him for who He is.

2. What circumstance in your life seems to contradict what you know to be true? Have you doubted God and His Word in this circumstance? How specifically? Don’t rush an answer. Prayerfully consider if your view of God has shifted.

3. How does “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me” encourage you to confidently trust God today and for the future?

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 138:title–8.