The Lord led me to Psalm 138 about a week ago, and I found it very powerful and encouraging! This Psalm is rich with David’s thankfulness and trust in his journey with God!
I will praise You with my whole heart;
Before the gods I will sing praises to You. Psalm 138:1
David penned this Psalm to recount God’s lovingkindness and His mercies towards him. David had a long history of experiencing God’s faithfulness in his life. When David’s brothers shunned him, God was there for him. When Saul made empty promises to him, God was a promise keeper to David. When his own son rose up against him, He had the Lord on his side! David learned to worship the Lord through difficult circumstances and rely on Him for everything he needed.
David wasn’t a perfect man, but he had a heart to be in the right standing with God. He had a lifestyle of humility and repentance before God. David was a man after God’s own heart because he was fully devoted to the Lord and His ways. David rejoiced in God because he had seen His mercies in his seasons of pain and need. Therefore, he was not ashamed to call on His name or praise Him before any people group. He was not reluctant to call on his name before the idols of the culture.
Sometimes we may shy away from speaking up about the Lord out of fear of sounding strange or offending others. David could not be quiet about what God had done for him, and we shouldn’t be quiet about God’s faithfulness in our lives either! How will people hear about the Lord, if we don’t share about the goodness of God and him delivering us from sin, bondage, and darkness!? Those who are struggling with mental and emotional issues should hear about His healing and deliverance power!
2 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.
V2a The Holy Temple was where the presence of the Lord resided. David sought the presence of God and worshipped Him. God had declared that He inhabits the praises of His people! If we desire to sense the presence of God, we should look for opportunities to praise Him regularly and invite Him in our midst.
The scripture tells us that God’s goodness brings us to repentance (See Romans 2:4). The Lord knew us long before we knew Him, and He put the right circumstances and people around us to bring us to Himself. We finally came to the point of acknowledging Him and recognizing that we are sinners in need of salvation. Everyone of us has a story of God’s faithfulness and His loving intersection of our lives that brought us to salvation. Before we knew Him or ever praised Him, He was at work to lead His lost sheep back to His fold! It’s good to remind ourselves of where the Lord has brought us from and thank Him for getting us to this point!
V2b Jesus is the word that took on flesh and lived among us. Jesus’ name is above all names, and it is through His name that every person on this earth is saved and has been given access to the Lord! David did not know Jesus yet He knew that God’s word has supremacy above all other names. Even though the Jewish people would not dare to pronounce God’s name, His word was higher than all His names!
The beauty of the New Covenant is that we don’t have to be fearful of God or be afraid of calling on His name. We are His children, and we are in relationship with Him. Therefore, we have confidence that we can call upon His name and ask Him to help us without being afraid or ashamed.
This week, make time to praise and worship the Lord in your quiet time with Him. Call on His name and allow His word to speak to you. I will continue with Psalm 138 in the next devotional.