Month: August 2024

Psalm 18:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

David’s response to the Lord’s deliverance and answers to prayer is to pause and speak about the Lord’s actions of his behalf and to think about the words and promises of God. It is beneficial and edifying for us to take some time daily to meditate on God, His Gospel, and His love. He is my Strength and my Redeemer.

He promises to listen and care. He accepts my words and thoughts, my prayers and pleas, my thanks and praise. My meditations do not stop with myself, and my prayers do not stop at the ceiling. He actually hears my meditations for Jesus’ sake. He responds to my thoughts and does something about it. This is really an awesome promise that we believe seriously.

We take some special time every day to meditate on the greatness and goodness of God, and then we turn our thoughts toward the Lord often during the day. This way of life is a healthy response to God and makes life better. The Lord is my Strength and my Redeemer: think about that. Let it sink into your heart and affect your whole being.

Psalm 19:10-11 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; and in keeping of them there is great reward.

David speaks of the general revelation of God in Creation: the heavens declare the glory of God. Then he moves to the special revelation of God in His Word: the law, the testimony, the statutes, the commandment, the fear, the judgments of the Lord. The Word gives us so many good things, for it gives us God.

The Spirit creates in us a desire for the Word, a hunger and thirst for it, for it is worth more and does more good than all the money in the world. The emptiness inside cannot be satisfied with anything other than God, who comes to in His Word. Therefore, we yearn for Church, Bible study, and personal time in the Word.

Through the Law God warns His children, convicting of sin, leading to repentance and faith in the Gospel, and guiding them into good works.

Then the Spirit motivates and empowers us to keep the Law of God and live out His Commandments in daily living. For obedience brings great reward and blessing. Keeping the Law is worth it. Of course, we keep the Law imperfectly, but Christ has kept it perfectly in our place. By faith in Jesus we are counted righteous, and so we thankfully receive the rewards and benefits.

Psalm 18:46, 49 The Lord liveth: and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted….Therefore will I give thanks. Unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.

David had just recounted the miraculous deliverance that the Lord had given him. His response to answered prayer and God’s mighty help was to bless the Lord and give Him thanks and praise. This is the appropriate and natural response to God’s great salvation in answer to our prayer. Every time we recognize a God sighting in response to our need we give thanks.

Thanks and praise and blessing is characteristic of the believer’s daily life. It is a natural part of living all the time, for God is always there, He is always good, His mercy never ends, He

hears our prayers, and the Gospel is ever present to our hearts and minds. We live a life of blessing, constantly praising God for His mercy, grace, forgiveness, and eternal salvation. His mercies are new every morning and His love won’t stop. Therefore, prayer and thanksgiving never ceases.

I had often thought that in our church services hymns and songs of praise should follow the preached gospel sermon. And our daily life follows the same pattern: we hear the Gospel, pray, receive forgiveness, and thank Him every morning; then praise is on our minds and lips all day long.

Psalm 18:21-23 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.

The Lord gloriously answered David’s prayer and delivered him. As a result of God’s power and love in answer to prayer, he keeps God’s ways and keeps himself from sin. The received salvation of God provides the desire and ability to keep His ways. Keeping His ways results in a good life, while keeping our selfish, sinful ways yields a bad life.

Jesus Christ died and rose for us in order to grant us God’s righteousness by grace as a gift. By faith we are righteous. “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” David says God rewarded him according to his righteousness (v. 20). We are not righteous by our own works, but we are righteous by the faith worked in us by the Spirit through the Gospel. I am the righteous one who lives by faith, for the gospel is the power of God. By faith in Christ I keep His ways.

Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

As David did so often, he called upon the Lord and cried to Him when he was in trouble or distress. In Psalm 50:15, the Lord says to us all: “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Whenever we are distressed or in need we may pray to the Lord, who lives within our spirit. He is present in the temple, which is our body, and He hears our voice, no matter how soft, even our thoughts. When we cry in distress, He hears, and He delivers. Then we give Him thanks, praise, and glory.

Since we live in a fallen world we are almost always in some kind of distress. But we may always pray without ceasing and live in the joy of the Lord always ready with praise and a thankful attitude. Constant prayer and praise, and awareness of the presence of God, is the life we live in the spirit by faith. Since we have been baptized we live in that world of salvation and deliverance alongside this sinful world that brings trouble and distress. We respond with a faith that God is here, that He cares, and that He hears.

Psalm 18:1-3 I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

David sang this psalm on the day the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. In the midst of threat and danger, David could still love the Lord. He could trust Him because the Lord is his rock, fortress, deliverer, God, strength, buckler, horn, and tower. With that kind of God as his God, David could call upon the Lord in every trouble and know that he would be saved from all enemies.

Every day we are hard pressed by our spiritual enemies, Sin, Death, and the Devil. But every moment we have our powerful Warrior by our side fighting for us. Jesus has soundly and decisively defeated our enemies at the cross and the empty tomb. There He won the victory for us. And He sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts by faith to give us confidence and assurance. We cannot be overcome. Our God overcame and won the victory through the awesome power of sacrificial love, the greatest power in the universe.

Therefore, we call upon, praise, and trust Him. Prayer and faith is our God-given response to the pains and worries of a sin-ridden life on earth. We fear, love, and trust God because He first loved us in Christ. We call and are delivered.

Psalm 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

David thanks God for hearing his prayer. He has come into the Presence (face) of God and he is satisfied that God heard him. After being with God by faith he now bears His likeness. He reflects the Lord in his looks, acts, and life. Nothing else on earth can satisfy us other than being in the presence of the Lord.

We come into God’s Presence in church worship where we hear the gospel, in the fellowship of two or three gathered in His name, and in time alone with God in the Word and prayer. But more: we can live always, every minute, in the presence of God, whatever we are doing and wherever we are. We respond to His reminders of His loving presence by being mindful of Him all the time. When we are consciously aware of Him with us and in us we begin to reflect Him more often. When we practice the presence of God we will be satisfied and content, for He is always there to hear our prayers and meet our needs. Nothing lives like living with God.

Psalm 17:6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline ear unto me, and hear my speech.

In the midst of troubles, David’s first response is to pray. He calls upon the Lord for two reasons: he needs His help, and he knows God will listen and answer. He is always nearby and ready to hear.

Besides being in need, two things are required for believing prayer: believing that the Lord can answer our prayer and that He will. The Gospel tells that the Lord has the ability and power to help us and that He has the desire and the compassion to hear our prayer. So we pray in Jesus’ strong and loving name. We pray “Our Father,” believing He loves like a perfect father, and “in heaven,” believing He is almighty.

We trust the Lord to hear our speech, whether spoken aloud, quietly whispered, or just thinking in our heart. We pray because God promises to hear. All we need to know is that God cares. And Jesus send the Holy Spirit into our hearts to pray for us and grant the faith to believe God is both great and good.

Psalm 17:3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou has tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

Because the Lord searches the thoughts of my heart and tries and tests me, I am motivated not to sin with my mouth. So says David. He purposes not to sin with his words. This is sincere repentance and honest confession. God does not search and test the heart in order to judge and punish, but to bring about repentance and change, to make me a better person. God searches the motivations and movements of the heart out of love for us in order to bring about repentance, faith, and real change. Our loving Lord is not looking to uncover sin so that He can judge and punish us. His purpose is to show us our sin so that we will want to change and determine to do better. Romans 4:2: “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.”

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and it gives the motivation and ability to purpose in the heart, to want to do better, and to actually change how we talk. The Law tests the heart, convicts of sin, and leads us to the Gospel of Grace. It is because God is kind and good that He shows us our sin and leads us to repent, receive forgiveness, and live a godly life. The Gospel affects our aim and purpose.

We actually invite God to search the heart and test us and find nothing, for Jesus has taken the sin away. However, we are not yet perfected, sin remains in the sinner, and so we continue to need to hear God’s Law and Gospel. It works.

Psalm 17:1 Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.

David prays in faith, not in hopes that God hears but in the sure hope that God does hear his prayer. “Amen, amen, it shall be so.” His close and trustful relationship with God is so tight that he knows the Lord hears, cares, and answers his cries. His prayers do come out of deceitful lips. He is not hypocritical, but he prays out of an honest and good heart.

The good news is that the Lord promises to hear our prayers. 1 John 5:14: “And this the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” We do not need to heap up eloquent words, as the hypocrites do, but we simply ask what is in the heart for the sake of Christ. We have the simple assurance in the heart that God hears, and meets the need. Because life is full of troubles and dangers, we are constantly in prayer. Every minute of every day our hearts are attuned to the Lord and His ear is always there. “Pray without ceasing.”