God’s Promise to Honor His Word and to
Complete His Work
This psalm is titled A Psalm of David. Several
commentators mention that it was fittingly placed next to
Psalm 137, which described the inability of the psalmist to
sing before the heathen. Psalm 138 is a declaration that
even the kings of the nations will praise Yahweh.
“This Psalm is wisely placed. Whoever edited and arranged
these sacred poems, he had an eye to apposition and
contrast; for if in Psalm 137 we see the need of silence
before revilers, here we see the excellence of a brave
confession. There is a time to be silent, lest we cast pearls
before swine; and there is a time to speak openly, lest we
be found guilty of cowardly non-confession.” (Charles
Spurgeon)
“There is a fine blend of boldness and humility from the
outset: boldness to confess the Lord before the gods,
humility to bow down before him.” (Derek Kidner)
A. Declaration of praise for the past.
1. (Psalm 138:1-2a) The declaration of praise.
I will praise You with my whole heart;
Before the gods I will sing praises to You.
I will worship toward Your holy temple,
And praise Your name
a. I will praise You with my whole heart:David began
this song with a bold declaration —that he would hold
nothing back in his praise to God. It would be done
with all his being, with his whole heart.
i. My whole heart: “We need a broken heart to
mourn our own sins, but a whole heart to praise
the Lord’s perfections.” (Spurgeon)
ii. “‘With the whole heart’ leaves no room for
mixed motives of divided devotion.” (Morgan)
b. Before the gods I will sing praises to You: We
can’t imagine that David meant he would praise
Yahweh in the actual presence of idols and images of
other gods. There are three ideas about what David
meant by his singing praise before the gods (elohim).
- Perhaps it was a declaration of allegiance to Yahweh
- and Him alone, and the gods represent the idols of
- the heathen.
- Perhaps gods (elohim) in this context refer to
- angelic beings, as in a few other places in the
- Hebrew Scriptures.
- Perhaps gods refers to kings or judges, such as are
- spoken of later in verse 4.
i. “A witness against the impotence of idols....
Praise belongs to the Lord alone and not to the
gods of the nations, whose kings will have to
submit to the Lord.” (VanGemeren)
c. I will worship toward Your holy temple: Even when
David was not at the temple, he recognized it as
God’s appointed place for worship and sacrifice. He
would worship according to God’s direction.
i. “Wheresoever I am the face of my soul shall turn,
like the needle of a dial, by sacred instinct, towards
thee, in the ark of thy presence, in the Son of thy
love.” (Trapp)
2. (Psalm 138:2b-3) Reasons for praise.
For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word above all Your
name.
In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul.
a. For Your lovingkindness and Your truth: David’s
praise was not empty adoration. It had reasons
behind it, which were a basis for it. He thought of
the great lovingkindness (hesed) of God toward him,
and God’s firmly established truth. Meditation on
those gifts from God gave David a basis for his spirit
of praise.
b. For You have magnified Your word above all Your
name: Having mentioned God’s truth in the previous
line, now David considered the main way God’s truth
is communicated to us — through His word. God has
such a high estimation of His word that He has
magnified it above His very name, His character.
i. This is a stunning and remarkable statement,
showing the incredible regard God has for His own
word. He holds His word in greater esteem than
His very character or name.
ii. “It would be as if God is saying, ‘I value my
integrity above everything else. Above everything
else I want to be believed.’ The verse does not
have to mean that God’s other qualities are moved
to second place.” (Boice)
iii. Charles Spurgeon explained his confidence in
complete, God-spoken, inspiration of the Bible:
“We believe in plenary verbal inspiration, with all
its difficulties, for there are not half as many
difficulties in that doctrine as there are in any
other kind of inspiration that men may imagine.
If this Book be not the real solid foundation of our
religion, what have we to build upon? If God has
spoken a lie, where are we, brethren?”
c. In the day when I cried out, You answered me:
David also had very practical reasons to praise and
thank God. The LORD had answered and rescued
him many times. When David’s strength failed, God
made him bold with strength in his soul.
i. We notice an important pattern in the reasons
David gave for his praise. It is important to praise
God for who He is, even more than for what He has
done for us.
- First he gave God praise for who He is — a God
- of lovingkindness and truth.
- Then he gave God praise for His revelation —
- the word, magnified above His very name.
- Then he gave God praise for what He had done
- — God’s response to David in a time of crisis.
ii. Made me bold: “The psalmist uses a remarkable
expression, in saying that Jehovah had made him
bold, or, as the word is literally, proud.” (Maclaren)
iii. “If the burden was not removed, yet strength
was given wherewith to bear it, and this is an
equally effective method of help.” (Spurgeon)
B. Declaration of confidence for the future.
1. (Psalm 138:4-6) Praise from the kings of the earth.
All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD,
When they hear the words of Your mouth.
Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,
For great is the glory of the LORD.
Though the LORD is on high,
Yet He regards the lowly;
But the proud He knows from afar.
a. All the kings of the earth shall praise You: David
was king of Israel and gave praise to the LORD, but
he also knew the day would come when all the kings
of the earth would praise Him. They would praise
Him in response to hearing the words of His mouth
from those who proclaim.
i. Morgan saw a connection between the answered
prayer of verses 2-3 and the praise of kings
described here: “The reason of praise is next
declared to be that of lovingkindness and truth as
already proved. The effect of praise is to be that of
the revelation of God to others, who if they come
to know Him, will also praise Him.”
ii. When they hear the words of Your mouth: “It
probably means when those who know God
declare his words to them. In other words, the
psalm is acknowledging the need for the people
of God to be missionaries.” (Boice)
b. They shall sing of the ways of the LORD: The
kings of the earth would not only praise Yahweh with
words, but also in song. This was in response to their
understanding that great is the glory of the LORD.
c. Yet He regards the lowly: David understood that
God is great in glory and on high, yet He holds the
lowly, the humble, in high regard. On the other hand,
God keeps His distance from the proud.
i. “Infinitely great as God is, he regards even the
lowest and most inconsiderable part of his
creation; but the humble and afflicted man
attracts his notice particularly.” (Clarke)
ii. “Unto the lowly; unto such as are mean and
obscure in the world; to me, a poor contemptible
shepherd, whom he hath preferred before great
princes, and to such as are little in their own
eyes.” (Poole)
iii. David’s statement that God regards the lowly,
but the proud He knows from afar is another way
of saying a truth from Proverbs 3:34 that is
repeated twice in the New Testament: God resists
the proud, but gives grace to the humble
(James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5).
iv. “Low things he looketh close upon, that he may
raise them higher; lofty things he knoweth afar off,
that he may crush them down lower. The proud
Pharisee pressed as near God as he could; the
poor publican, not daring to do so, stood aloof off;
yet was God far from the Pharisee, near to the
publican.” (Trapp)
v. “Proud men boast loudly of their culture and ‘the
freedom of thought,’ and even dare to criticize
their Maker: but he knows them from afar, and will
keep them at arm’s length in this life, and shut
them up in hell in the next.” (Spurgeon)
2. (Psalm 138:7-8) David’s firm confidence for the
future.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive
me;
You will stretch out Your hand
Against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
The LORD will perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
a. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will
revive me: As David considered the greatness of
God and His kindness to the humble (verses 4-6),
it gave him confidence that God would revive him in
his present trouble. Understanding God’s greatness
and kindness builds our faith.
b. Your right hand will save me: When God’s help
came, it would come with all His skill and strength
(Your right hand). God would defend David against
the wrath of his enemies.
i. “Thou shall strike them with thy left hand, and
save me with thy right.” (Trapp)
ii. “Adversaries may be many, and malicious, and
mighty; but our glorious Defender has only to
stretch out his arm and their armies vanish.”
(Spurgeon)
c. The LORD will perfect that which concerns me:
This was David’s confident declaration. He knew
that God had a plan concerning him, and this God
of greatness and goodness would absolutely
perfect that plan.
i. “This is the language of utmost confidence....
The hope is based, not upon the determination
of the singer, but upon Jehovah.” (Morgan)
ii. This is another way of stating the great promise
of Philippians 1:6: being confident of this very
thing, that He who has begun a good work in you
will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
iii. David could think of the particular promise
(2 Samuel 7) that God had made concerning him —
that his descendants would rule forever,
especially fulfilled in the Messiah. The principle is
true for every believer regarding the promise and
course of life God has appointed for him.
iv. Maclaren noted the connection between the
phrases the LORD will perfect and Your mercy,
O LORD, endures forever: “Because Jehovah’s
lovingkindness endures forever, every man on
whom His shaping Spirit has begun to work, or
His grace in any form to bestow its gifts, may be
sure that no exhaustion or change of these is
possible.”
d. Do not forsake the works of Your hands: With
confidence in the never-ending mercy (hesed) of
Yahweh, David knew that God would never forsake
him, who belonged to God by creation and
redemption.
i. “Look upon the wounds of thy hands,and forsake
not the works of thy hands, prayed Queen
Elizabeth. And Luther’s usual prayer was, Confirm,
O God, in us that thou hast wrought, and perfect
the work that thou hast begun in us, to thy glory;
so be it.” (Trapp)
ii. “His creating hands formed our souls at the
beginning; his nail-pierced hands redeemed
them on Calvary; his glorified hands will hold our
souls fast and not let them go for ever.” (Burgon,
cited in Spurgeon)
