Part 2: Psalm 128

Let’s suppose you wanted to build a house. You don’t know much about building, but you know that you need cement, lumber, nails, and plumbing and electrical materials. So you go to the building supply store and buy a bunch of those items and take them to your property. You start sawing and nailing boards together, and stringing the electrical wires around and putting pipes here and there for plumbing. If your finished product was anything more than a ramshackle lean-to, you would be lucky.

What you lack is a plan or blueprint. If you want to build a house, you need a blueprint which shows the design and necessary materials. No one in their right mind would consider building a house without a blueprint.

Everyone would agree that the structure called a house is not nearly as important as the relationships called a home. And yet while we wouldn’t think of building a house without a blueprint, many go about building their homes with no idea of God’s plan. It doesn’t make sense. And the result, all too often, is a ramshackle, lean-to family life.

Psalms 127 & 128 show us God’s blueprint for building a satisfying home. Taken together, the two psalms may be seen as four stages in the development of a family:

127:1-2, Inception of home—“Foundation.”

127:3-5, Expansion of home—“Building on foundation.”

128:1-4, Child-rearing years—“Building material.”

128:5-6, Empty nest years—“Finished product.”

Psalm 127 says: A satisfying home is based on God’s blessing. Psalm 128 goes a step further:

God’s blessing in the family is based on the fear of the Lord. Thus, a satisfying home is based upon the fear of the Lord.

Psalm 128 is showing us an ideal, but we don’t live in an ideal world. Some homes have already been split apart by divorce and a single mom is trying to hold everything together. Others are in mixed marriages, where the husband is hostile or indifferent to the gospel and the wife is trying to provide spiritual training for her children. If your family is far from the ideal, don’t despair. It doesn’t mean that God won’t bless you. Whatever your situation, God wants you to fear Him and walk in His ways. But just because we can’t totally follow the ideal, let’s not scrap the plan.

Like throwing a pebble in a placid lake, Psalm 128 begins with a godly man as the head of the home, ripples out to his wife, then to the children, and finally shows the effect of this godly home on the nation. I’m going to follow that progression in teaching the psalm:

1. A godly man is to lead his family in fearing the Lord (vv. 1-2, 4).

You’ve probably noticed that God did not inspire the psalmist along politically correct lines! In our American society, seeing the man as the head of the family is not the “correct” thing. Even many Christians have opted for an “egalitarian” marriage. But in both the Old and New Testaments, God’s directives for the family invariably are given to the man as the spiritual leader. And so, this psalm is addressed to the man of the family (v. 3, “your wife,” etc.).

How do you lead your family spiritually? There’s some good news and some bad news. The good news is, it’s easy to lead: Kids follow your example. But that’s also the bad news. We can’t escape being examples to our children, either for good or for bad. Do we live out our Christianity in our attitudes, words, and actions in the home? Do our kids see the fruit of the Spirit in us, especially when we’re under pressure? A great deal of what our kids learn about everyday life comes from watching our example as dads. Scary, isn’t it!

A study once disclosed that if both parents attend church regularly, 72 percent of their children remain faithful. If only the dad attends regularly, it drops to 55 percent. If only mom comes, it plummets to 15 percent. If neither parent attends, but they just send the kids, only 6 percent remain faithful (“Pulpit Helps,” 6/81). Of course, God can overcome the percentages as we seek Him, so a single mom shouldn’t lose hope. But it does show the important influence of godly fathers on their kids.

A godly man will lead his family in fearing the Lord.  The fear of the Lord is a dominant theme throughout the Bible, and yet I fear that we have lost it in our upbeat, feel-good, American Christianity. What is the fear of the Lord? I define it as a healthy respect and reverence for God stemming from the knowledge of God and resulting in obedience to God. Thus it is an attitude (respect and reverence) that results in an action (obedience).

The fear of the Lord stems from knowing Him. We may fear some things, like future events, because we don’t know them. Some people may fear God in an unhealthy sense that causes them to avoid Him because they don’t know Him. But we fear other things because we do know them. I fear my power saw because I know the terrible damage it can cause if I carelessly get my hand caught in the blade. That fear doesn’t cause me to avoid my saw, but rather to treat it with proper respect.

The proper fear of the Lord stems from understanding something of His greatness, power, and absolute holiness. Our God is the eternal God who spoke the vastness of the universe into existence. Modern science can’t fathom the awesome enormity of our universe. In fact, we can’t even figure out many of the simple functions of the human body which, as David wrote (Ps. 139:14), is fearfully and wonderfully made. We can’t keep our bodies from getting sick, growing old, and dying. We can’t create or explain the essence of life.

Yet proud, rebellious man shrugs off God by saying that it all happened by sheer chance plus time! How stupid! Surely, “there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Ps. 36:1; Rom. 3:18). If we see God’s greatness and power in what He has made, we will fear Him.

We especially should fear Him when we realize that this great and powerful Creator is also absolutely holy and that we have violated His holy standards. Every time in the Bible a man, even a righteous man, gets a glimpse of God in the splendor of His holiness, he is stricken with fear. None of us could even dare to draw near to this holy, powerful God if He had not also revealed Himself as a God of love, who mercifully made provision for our sins in the death of Christ. Now He invites us to draw near, but we must always do so with reverence and awe. The fear of the Lord stems from the knowledge of Him.

The fear of the Lord results in obedience to Him. The man who fears God “walks in His ways” (v. 1b). Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.” Some Christians say, “That’s too negative. God is my loving Father, so I don’t like to think in terms of fearing Him. I just like to think about His love.” But in 2 Corinthians 7:1, just after stating that God is our Father and we are His sons and daughters, Paul concludes, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

If we’re growing in the knowledge of God, we’ll be growing in the fear of God. To grow in the fear of God means to grow in holiness and to flee from evil. When we’re tempted to sin, even if no one else is watching, we will remember that God is always watching. Joseph’s brothers had sold him into slavery in Egypt. He was far from his family, in a pagan land. He was alone in the house with a wealthy woman who tried to seduce him. He easily could have rationalized, “I’ll never get a wife here as a slave in Egypt. I have needs. Besides, who will know if I go to bed with her?” But instead, because he feared God who sees into every bedroom, Joseph replied to her, “How could I do this great evil, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). Fearing God will cause us to walk in His ways as revealed in His Word.

In terms of home life, a man who fears God will not use His name in vain. He will not joke about God or be flippant toward God or His Word. He will rid his home of any trashy magazines. He will not watch trashy TV shows or videos. Positively, he will take the initiative in leading his family in reading God’s Word, in prayer, and in a commitment to church life and ministry.

The fear of God is a practical thing that affects all of life. The man who fears God will “eat of the labor of [his] hands” (v. 2). He is a hard worker, whether on his job or at home. I’m not talking about overwork, but rather about an attitude toward work. The man who fears God is not lazy. By his example and attitude he shows his children the positive value of work and motivates them to use their lives productively. In my opinion, if you spend hours each week in front of the TV set, you communicate something negative to your kids. I’m not against some TV watching, if a program is wholesome. But there are far more productive ways to spend leisure time. A man who fears God will use his time productively.

The fear of God also affects our emotional state and attitude toward life: “You will be happy and it will be well with you” (v. 2b). The man who fears God is content. He isn’t griping about how hard life is or complaining about all the bad breaks he has received. He isn’t grumbling about how hard he has worked. He is happy. It is well with him. He’s a cheerful, pleasant man to live with. The key to his happiness is given twice, so we won’t miss it: He fears the Lord and walks in His ways (vv. 1, 4). This man’s happiness doesn’t come from circumstances; his joy is in the Lord.

A little girl was out in the yard where her dad was working after a rainstorm. She stepped exactly where he stepped and called out to him, “Daddy, if you don’t get mud on your feet, I won’t get any mud on me!” A dad and his son were climbing a mountain and came to a difficult part. The dad stopped to consider the best route up. Behind him, his son called out, “Choose the best path, Dad! I’m coming right behind you!”

We lead our families by example, men! At the heart of our example, we need to be growing in the fear of the Lord. It’s a process, but my question is, Are you involved in the process? You need daily to be growing in your knowledge of God through His Word and seeking to make His ways your ways. A man who fears God is at the center of God’s blueprint for a satisfying family.

The second part of the blueprint is ...

2. A godly woman will be fruitful and faithful in the home (v. 3a).

She is described as “a fruitful vine within your house.” Fruitfulness is the main thought in the figure of the vine. The main purpose of a grapevine is to bear fruit. There are probably two senses of fruitfulness referred to here: childbearing and productivity. The Hebrews saw children as a blessing from God (Ps. 127:3); barrenness was seen as a curse. Our culture views having many children as a curse! I’ve talked to women with large families who say that strangers have looked at them with pity and said, “You poor thing!” While I can’t go into the reasons for lack of time, I think there is a biblical case for limiting our family size through birth control, if our motives are right. But we should view every child God gives as a blessing from Him.

This godly wife’s fruitfulness refers not only to bearing children, but also to her productivity. A fruitful vine in that hot Mid-Eastern climate produces something refreshing and nourishing for others. A godly wife and mother will not be a lazy, self-centered, aimless woman who spends her days in front of the TV set, watching quiz shows and soap operas. She will be industrious and productive, laboring to provide a satisfying and nourishing home life for her family (Prov. 31:10-31). If you haven’t read Edith Schaeffer’s Hidden Art, I commend it to you as an example of how a wife can be creative in making the home a refreshing place for her family.

The fruitful vine points to the joy this woman brings to her family. The fruit of the vine in the Bible is associated with joy and gladness (Jud. 9:13; Ps. 104:15). You may not have thought of gladness and godliness as compatible, but they are. The real truth is that it is only the godly person who can enjoy life. A godly mother will make sure that her home is an enjoyable place to be.

The figure of a fruitful vine also suggests that the godly wife will make not only her home, but also herself, attractive to her husband. The Song of Solomon 7:8 (the R-rated portion of the Bible) graphically describes the wife as a vine whose clusters satisfy her husband. The Bible extols physical love within marriage. You may not have thought of that as a part of godliness, but it is!

This godly woman is not only fruitful; also, she is faithful in the home: “within your house.” The Hebrew word for “within” is a strong word meaning the innermost part. It stands in marked contrast to the promiscuous wife in Proverbs 7:11 who “is boisterous and rebellious; her feet do not remain at home.” A godly wife and mother has a commitment to her family as seen by the fact that she is “within” the house. In the words of Paul, she is a “worker at home” (Titus 2:5).

I’m troubled by the number of Christian mothers who have abandoned the home for a career. I realize that sometimes it is necessary. I sympathize with single moms who have to work and make a home for their children. May God be gracious to each one! But I’m grieved when mothers work to provide the family with more affluence than it needs or to provide the woman with the “fulfillment” she supposedly needs and can get from a career. During the formative early years of a child’s life, I cannot fathom why a Christian couple would choose to allow a day care center to shape their children’s attitudes and values. A godly mother is faithful in her home, with a commitment to her home above her career or above the desire for a higher standard of living.

Thus a satisfying home will have a man who leads his family in the fear of the Lord and a woman who is fruitful and faithful in the home. But there is a third part of the blueprint:

3. Growing, fruitful children will carry on the godly legacy of the home (v. 3b).

The blueprint for a satisfying home includes children described as “olive plants” around the table. These are not mature trees, but little shoots that grow up around a mature olive tree. They will someday replace the parent tree, continuing to bear fruit after it is gone.

There are two implications here: First, the children are developing, not perfect. They have potential for fruitfulness, but they are not there yet. They need time to develop and mature in the nourishing soil of this God-fearing home. They need to be allowed to make mistakes without rejection. They need to be allowed to develop according to their unique, God-given “bents” and desires.

Christian parents often err because they have high standards for their kids (which is good), but they demand perfection and don’t give the kids room to grow. Sometimes we want our kids to be perfect because it makes us look good as Christian parents. But none of us are perfect parents and we don’t have perfect kids. We ought to be growing together as a family in the Lord’s ways.

The second implication of the “olive plant” is: Our children require nurture, care, and patience. A tree doesn’t bear fruit overnight. It takes a lot of tender loving care, protection, weeding, watering, and feeding (and prayer!) before there is fruit. That’s the picture here, of the children being nurtured towards fruitfulness as they mature in years. I believe that the teen-age years, instead of being dreaded, can be the beginning of fruitfulness in the olive plants that God has entrusted to us, if we will give them proper nurture, care, and patience in a climate of grace.

Thus God’s blueprint begins with a God-fearing man, ripples out to a fruitful, faithful woman, ripples still further to growing and eventually fruitful children. What is the end result of this process?

4. Personal and national well-being are the result of homes where God is feared (vv. 5-6).

Personal well-being is described in verses 5a & 6a; national well-being in verses 5b & 6b. The man pictured here is a happy old man, enjoying God’s blessing as he sees his grandchildren following the Lord. A man who pursues financial success to the disregard of his home will end up with poverty in his soul. A man who follows God’s blueprint for the home will end up with prosperity in his soul.

And the family is the building block of the nation. The turmoil in our nation today can be traced to the turmoil in our homes. If we want to see our nation turned around, we must start within our homes. We must follow God’s blueprint by becoming men and women who fear the Lord and walk in his ways, teaching our children by our example and words to grow up in the fear of the Lord.

A study of two families revealed some startling results. One family descended from Max Jukes, who did not follow the Lord, nor did his wife. Among the over 1,200 descendants studied, 310 were professional vagrants; 440 were physically wrecked by lives of debauchery and uncleanness; 130 went to the penitentiary for an average of 13 years each (7 were murderers); 100 were alcoholics; 60 were habitual thieves; 190 were prostitutes. Of the 20 who learned a trade, 10 learned it in a state prison. Collectively, they cost the state of New York over a million dollars.

The second family studied was that of Jonathan Edwards, the New England preacher, and his godly wife, Sarah. Among his descendants, 300 became pastors, missionaries, and theological professors; over 100 became college professors; over 100 became lawyers, including 30 judges; over 60 became physicians; over 60 authored good books; 14 became presidents of universities; 3 became United States congressmen; and one, although he was a black sheep spiritually, became the Vice President of the United States (Aaron Burr, Jr., Edwards’ grandson).

Conclusion

J. Allen Blair (in “Discovery Digest”, July, 1979) wrote,

During the past 10 years an army of over 30 million people have come to the United States. Because they have arrived one by one, appearing innocent and harmless, we have not suspected their potential power. Someday soon, however, we shall awaken to the fact that this army has taken over our nation. They will publish our papers, operate our radio and television stations, control our churches, and teach in our schools. They will capture Washington and dominate the federal government, as well as the administration of each state. They will take over business and industry, including the control of atomic energy. Complete authority will be in their hands. All that will remain for the rest of us will be to submit and die. This army, of course, is an army of children. We have the power to decide whether these future conquerors of our country are to be pagan or Christian.

The outcome depends upon our following God’s blueprint, given in Psalms 127 and 128: A satisfying home is based on God’s blessing. God’s blessing is based on the fear of the Lord. Is your home being built on the fear of the Lord?

Discussion questions

1. How can a man who has blown it with his family recover? What is the key ingredient in becoming a God-fearing man?
2. Must a Christian woman find fulfillment in the home? Can’t she also have a career?
3. How do parents avoid perfectionism but maintain high standards?

Copyright 1993, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation

If I were a better planner, I would have worked it out so that this sermon came on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, because this psalm is all about thanksgiving. The command to give thanks is repeated in verses 1, 2, 3, and 26, each time with the same reason given, “for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Arguably, the same command is implied for every verse of the psalm, because the same reason concludes all 26 verses of the psalm, “for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

But as you know, we’re not supposed to give thanks to the Lord only one day each year, when we stuff ourselves with turkey and all the trimmings. Giving thanks to our gracious God should not be seasonal, but perpetual: “Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Eph. 5:20). “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18). And so this psalm is appropriate for any and every day of the year. It tells us,

Always give thanks to the Lord, because His lovingkindness is everlasting.

It is a unique psalm in that the same refrain is repeated 26 times. The only thing close is when Psalm 118:1-4 repeats, “His lovingkindness is everlasting” four times. Probably, Psalm 136 was designed for public worship. The Jews called it the Great Hallel (= Praise), and it was especially sung at the Passover. Perhaps the worship leader would recite the first line of each verse, followed by the congregation repeating together the response, “for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” John Calvin (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Psalm 136, p. 181) says that the repeated refrain teaches us that to praise the Lord properly, we must acknowledge that everything we receive from Him is bestowed by His grace.

Commentators note how similar this psalm is to Psalm 135, and that both psalms cite frequently from other Scriptures, especially Deuteronomy. For example, the title, “the God of gods” and “the Lord of lords” (136:2, 3) comes from Deuteronomy 10:17. The reference to God’s strong hand and outstretched arm (136:12) also comes from Deuteronomy (4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8). It refers to God’s display of His strength. In verse 15, it literally says that God shook off Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. The same Hebrew verb is used in Exodus 14:27, “then God shook off [lit.] the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” Many other expressions in the psalm come directly from other Old Testament Scriptures.

The lesson for us is that it is important for us to know Scripture (including the Old Testament!) so well that we respond to trials and other situations in our lives with biblical language and thought patterns. Spurgeon once said of John Bunyan, “Prick that man anywhere and his blood runs bibline.” He meant that Bunyan was so full of the Bible that it ran in his veins. The stories in the Old Testament that Psalm 136 alludes to “were written for our instruction,” so that we would not crave evil things as they did, nor be idolaters, nor try the Lord, nor grumble (1 Cor. 10:6-11). If you are not familiar with these stories, so that they shape your worldview, you will not apply them when you most need to. Rather than thanking the Lord for His everlasting love, you will fall into grumbling with the rest of the world.

We can divide the psalm into three sections: The call to give thanks (vv. 1-3); the causes for giving thanks (vv. 4-25), which are God’s power in creation, in salvation, and in provision for His creation; and, a final call to give thanks (v. 26).

1. The call to give thanks: Give thanks to God for His goodness and sovereignty, which display His everlasting love (136:1-3).

The opening verse is identical to Psalms 106:1, 107:1, and 118:1, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” The Hebrew word for give thanks means to confess or acknowledge, and thus “calls us to thoughtful, grateful worship, spelling out what we know or have found of God’s glory and His deeds” (Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150 [IVP], p. 457).

The first reason given for us to give thanks to the Lord is that “He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” In his classic work, The Existence and Attributes of God ([Baker], 2:210, 211, 212), Stephen Charnock points out,

God is only originally good, good of himself. All created goodness is a rivulet from this fountain, but Divine goodness has no spring…. God only is infinitely good…. God is only perfectly good, because only infinitely good…. The goodness of God is the measure and rule of goodness in everything else. God only is immutably good…. There is not such a perpetual light in the sun as there is a fulness of goodness in God.

We need to be reminded often of God’s goodness because the enemy of our souls repeatedly tries to get us to doubt it, especially in times of trials. That’s why Peter warns us, in the context of suffering, to be on the alert because our adversary, the devil, is seeking to devour us (1 Pet. 5:8). It’s during trials that the enemy whispers, “If your God is so good, why is He letting you suffer like this? Why doesn’t He deliver you?” Peter tells us to resist such temptations, firm in our faith, knowing that the God of all grace will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish us (1 Pet. 5:9-10).

The psalmist goes on to say that we should give thanks to God for His sovereignty. He is “the God of gods,” and “the Lord of lords.” This is not to imply that there are other gods. There is only one God, creator of heaven and earth, the only sovereign over all angelic and demonic powers, who are created beings. Satan is powerful, but only by the permission of the God of gods and Lord of lords. At God’s ordained time, Satan will be cast forever into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). There are no heavenly or earthly powers that can thwart in the slightest degree the eternal plan of the God of gods and the Lord of lords. By the way, when Revelation 19:16 refers to Jesus as the Lord of lords, it is a clear assertion of His deity. There is only one Lord of all other lords, and He is the eternal triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The sovereignty of God is truly a reason to give thanks to Him, because it means that His predetermined purpose for His people will be carried out without any glitch or delay. It means that His everlasting love, covenanted to His chosen people, will never fail. As Paul so beautifully explains at the end of Romans 8, God’s goodness, sovereignty, and love mean that all things work together for good for us, because He has chosen us and called us according to His purpose. Therefore, no trial, however severe, can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:28-39). Thus we should give thanks to God for His goodness and sovereignty, which display His everlasting love.

2. The causes for giving thanks: God’s power in creation, in salvation, and in provision displays His everlasting love (136:4-25).

A. Give thanks for God’s power in creation, which displays His everlasting love (136:4-9).

The psalmist begins by extolling God’s power in creation (v. 4), “To Him who alone does great wonders….” Of course, the Bible begins by bringing us face to face with the Almighty Creator, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). It doesn’t argue the point. It confronts you with it!

When the psalmist says (v. 6) that God “spread out the earth above the waters,” he is referring to the third day of creation (Gen. 1:9), where God separated the dry land from the waters. Verse 7 refers to day four (Gen. 1:14-16), when God established the sun and moon to govern day and night. Just as this psalm affirms that God is both the Creator and that He is good, so Genesis 1 affirms repeatedly that God saw all that He made and it was good. He designed the earth for humans to live in and be stewards of as we reflect His image.

Verse 5 says (literally), “To Him who made the heavens with understanding.” The same Hebrew word is used in Proverbs 3:19, “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding He established the heavens.” The earth is situated at just the proper distance from the sun to sustain life. Any closer and we would burn up. Any further away and all plant and animal life would freeze. Also, if the earth were a few miles smaller in diameter, the density of our atmosphere would be greatly reduced. The thinner air would not retain enough heat to sustain life. If the earth were a few miles larger in diameter, the thicker atmosphere would result in too much heat being retained, which would also kill all life. We should bow in wonder and thanks before God as the Almighty Creator, who made the heavens by His word (Ps. 33:7). “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:9).

When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God subjected the creation to the fall (Rom. 8:20), but even in its fallen condition, it still reflects God’s glory. Paul writes (Rom. 1:20), “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” You cannot study the intricacy, balance, and design of creation without marveling at the wisdom, understanding, and power of God. Whether you go out to the vastness of the universe or down to the amazing intricacies of the atom or DNA molecules, there is obvious, inescapable evidence of an infinitely brilliant, powerful Creator. Paul explains that the reason people reject God as Creator is that they “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18). They love their sin and they do not want to submit to God as Lord of their lives.

You have two choices when it comes to creation. Either God alone did these great wonders by His great power and wisdom (v. 4), or it all happened by random chance over time. The second option is simply absurd! The fact that so many educated, otherwise intelligent, people believe in evolution is evidence of how darkened by sin the human heart really is. The wonders of God’s creation should cause us to give thanks to Him and marvel at His everlasting love that made these wonders so that we would worship Him.

B. Give thanks for God’s power in saving His people, which displays His everlasting love (136:10-24).

The major part of the psalm rehearses God’s love and grace on behalf of His chosen people, Israel. The history of His dealings with them, in spite of their repeated rebellion and idolatry, displays that His lovingkindness is truly everlasting. This history of physical Israel is a picture of our spiritual history, of how God chose us by grace alone, redeemed us from bondage to sin, and saved us to be “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession” (1 Pet. 2:9). There are five aspects of God’s saving power and love as seen in these verses:

(1). God’s saving love is a particular love.

If God loves everyone on earth equally, how do you explain verse 10, “To Him who smote the Egyptians in their firstborn, for His lovingkindness is everlasting”? You could add verses 17-22, which describe God’s slaying Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and giving their land to the Israelites. It was not just the kings who died, but also all of their people (Num. 22:35). They experienced God’s judgment, while Israel experienced His everlasting love.

Many in our day object to the doctrine of election, saying that it denies John 3:16, which they interpret to mean that God loves everyone on the planet equally (a blasphemous example is Dave Hunt, What Love is This? [Loyal Publishing]). But clearly, God’s love was on Israel in a way that it was not on the Egyptians or the Canaanites or, for that matter, on any other people on the earth.

Moses states this quite clearly (Deut. 7:7), “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.” He goes on to explain that it was because of His covenant with their forefathers that He brought them out of slavery in Egypt (see, also, Deut. 4:37). In other words, God saved Israel because of His sovereign, gracious choice of Abraham, who was an idolater living in an idolatrous city, and His covenant promises to him (Josh. 24:2-3; Gen. 15:1-21).

Paul lays this out very clearly in Romans 9, where he shows how God loved Jacob and hated Esau (Rom. 9:13). He anticipates our objection, which is that God is unfair (v. 14). His answer is that God has the sovereign right to show mercy to whom He desires and to harden whom He desires (v. 18). Again, he anticipates our objection, that then God couldn’t hold us accountable. But this time he simply retorts (Rom. 9:20), “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” As the divine potter, God can show mercy to whom He chooses and leave others to be the objects of His wrath. No one will be treated unjustly, because all deserve His wrath. Those who receive mercy should bow before Him in worship and marvel at His everlasting love. Apart from it, we, too, would perish.

You may ask, “But what about John 3:16? Doesn’t it teach that God loves everyone equally?” In the context, “world” means both Jews and Gentiles. Nicodemus (with whom Jesus was speaking) would have been astounded. He thought that God only loved the Jews. Jesus was saying that God’s message of salvation through the cross now would extend to the whole world. The offer of the gospel should go out to everyone. Those whom God has sovereignly chosen will believe unto eternal life (Acts 13:48; 18:10; 2 Tim. 2:10). Those who are not chosen will reject His love as shown on the cross.

(2). God’s love does not negate His judgment of the wicked.

Many argue that God’s love means that everyone will be forgiven and saved. Many deny the doctrine of eternal punishment, because they think it negates God’s love. But the Bible clearly affirms both God’s love and His righteous judgment. In His inscrutable wisdom, God chooses some as vessels of His mercy to make known the riches of His glory. He leaves others in their sin for judgment, to display His perfect justice (Rom. 9:22-23). But none can accuse Him of being unfair. The wicked will get what they justly deserve.

(3). God’s love for His people is secure against all enemies.

Pharaoh, Sihon, and Og were all impressive kings. Pharaoh came after defenseless Israel with his powerful army. Og was a giant (Deut. 3:11). But none of them could thwart in the slightest God’s covenant promises to His people. No one can stand against His “strong hand and outstretched arm” (Ps. 136:12), which can divide the Red Sea, sustain several million people in the barren, scorching desert for 40 years, and give them the promised land.

This means that if God has given you eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, He will keep you until the day of eternity (Phil. 1:6). Although foes will assail you and you may lose a few battles, the overall victory is secure. He “is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy” (Jude 24).

(4). To appreciate God’s everlasting love, you must be brought low.

God “remembered us in our low estate” (Ps. 136:23). This refers to Israel’s condition of bondage in Egypt. As God tells Israel through Ezekiel (16:2-6), He found them as an abandoned baby, with their navel cord uncut, squirming in their blood by the side of the road. He took them, cleaned them, and caused them to live. This is a picture of our spiritual condition before He saved us. We were dead in our sins, without hope and without God in this world (Eph. 2:1-3, 12). We deserved His wrath. But He showed us mercy, “because of His great love with which He loved us” (Eph. 2:4).

The point is, to appreciate God’s everlasting love, you must see the depths of sin from which He rescued you. If you think you’re forgiven little, you’ll love God little. When you know that you’ve been forgiven much, you’ll love God much (Luke 7:47).

(5). You cannot save yourself or deserve salvation; only God can save you by His grace and power.

Israel could never have escaped from Egyptian bondage if God had not exerted His power on their behalf. They would have died in the wilderness if He had not sustained them. They would have been destroyed by their many adversaries, but He rescued them (v. 24). It would have been absurd for any of them to claim that they got to the promised land by their own ingenuity or effort!

The biggest hindrance to salvation is the notion that you can do something to save yourself. If you think that you are good enough or that you deserve salvation, you don’t get it. Only God can save you from your sins and He does it apart from anything that you can do. You must simply receive it as His gift by faith.

Thus the psalmist has shown two causes for giving thanks to God: His power in creation and in salvation displays His everlasting love. But he touches on a third cause for thanks:

C. Give thanks for God’s provision of food for all creatures, which displays His everlasting love (136:25).

Verse 25 alludes to God’s promise to Noah after the flood, to sustain “all flesh” (Gen. 9:8-17). The idea here is the same as what Jesus said, that if God cares for the sparrow, He will take care of you. It also teaches us that we should give thanks for every bite of food that we eat, which is an evidence of God’s enduring love.

So the psalm begins with a call to give thanks to God because of His goodness and His sovereignty, which display His everlasting love. He then gives us the causes for giving thanks: God’s power in creation, salvation, and provision, which displays His everlasting love. He concludes with…

3. A final call to give thanks: Give thanks to the God of heaven for His everlasting love (136:26).

The title, “God of heaven,” occurs only here in the Psalms. It is used nine times in Ezra, ten times in other exilic and post-exilic books, and only four other times in the Old Testament. It is used twice in the Book of Revelation (11:13; 16:11). It points to God’s sovereignty (John Martin, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament [Victor Books], ed. by John Walvoord & Roy Zuck, 1:655). He rules from heaven, which He made, and thus rules over all.

To give thanks to God in the midst of difficult trials, you must submit to His sovereignty. You must acknowledge that He has orchestrated your circumstances for your ultimate good, and submit to Him as good and loving in His dealings with you (Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28). If you find yourself grumbling about your trials, it is an indication that you have not submitted fully to the God of heaven.

Conclusion

Why does the psalmist hammer home 26 times the theme that God’s lovingkindness is everlasting? It’s because the enemy wants us to doubt it, especially when trials hit.

This truth was so important that David appointed singers whose job was to repeat at the tabernacle, “give thanks to the Lord, because His lovingkindness is everlasting” (1 Chron. 16:41). Later, when the ark was brought into the newly completed temple, Solomon appointed singers to sing, “He indeed is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (2 Chron. 5:13). God’s response was to fill the temple with the cloud of His glory. Still later, Jehoshaphat appointed singers to lead the army into battle singing, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (2 Chron. 20:21). Then the Lord routed the enemy.

These things are for our instruction. In every situation, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (Ps. 136:1).

Application Questions

1. Why must we submit ourselves to God’s sovereignty to be able to give thanks in the midst of trials?
2. Does the doctrine of election negate the truth of God’s love, as some assert? Why not? Support your answer with Scripture.
3. Can a Christian believe in “theistic evolution”? What important and practical truths would this undermine?
4. Some argue that the doctrine of hell contradicts that God is love. How would you refute this biblically?

Copyright Steven J. Cole, 2009, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

One of the greatest truths in life which we all know, but which we all must come to learn, is that there is no escape from God. Like fugitives, we may run, but we cannot ultimately hide from the God who penetrates even the darkness with the gaze of His light. If we manage to dodge Him in this life, we must still stand exposed before Him on that fearful day of judgment. There is no place to hide from God.

Happily, once we give up our flight and allow ourselves to be found by this relentless “Hound of Heaven” (as Francis Thompson described Him in his poem), we discover that His intention is not to harm but to bless us. He formed us even in our mother’s womb for His purpose and ordained all of our days before we ever saw the light of day. With David we must exclaim, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!” (v. 17).

In coming to know Him, we come to know ourselves. In the blinding light of His holiness, we recognize instantly the desperate need we have for inner purity. Since we cannot escape from this all-knowing, all-present, all-wise Creator, we cannot escape from the need for holiness. That is the message of the beautifully-crafted Psalm 139. It’s not a generic psalm; it’s intensely personal, between David and God (note the frequent “I” & “me”). Thus I want to express its main message and points in the first person singular:

Since I cannot escape from God, I must commit myself to holiness.

The psalm falls into four stanzas. The first three deal with different attributes of this inescapable God as they relate to the individual: His omniscience (vv. 1-6); His omnipresence (vv. 7-12); and, His omnipotence as the sovereign Creator (vv. 13-18). The final stanza (vv. 19-24) sets forth the inescapable response to the inescapable God: personal holiness.

1. I can’t escape God’s knowledge of me (139:1-6).

God knows absolutely everything about me! He knows my actions: When I sit down and when I get up (v. 2); when I go somewhere and when I lie down (v. 3). He is intimately acquainted with all my ways! He knows my words: in fact, He even knows what I am going to say before I say it (v. 4)! He even knows my thoughts from afar (v. 2b). Like a caged bird, He’s got me surrounded, with His hand upon me (v. 5). There is no escape from His thorough, penetrating knowledge. So David exclaims (v. 6): “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.”

The closest we can get to knowing another human being ought to take place in the marriage relationship. As a man and woman live together in that lifelong commitment, they grow to know one another’s actions, words, and--to the degree that they openly communicate--thoughts and feelings. The Bible uses the verb “to know” to describe the sexual relationship in marriage (Gen. 4:1). But even so, you can be married for years and still discover new things about your mate. Even the closest human relationships fall short of total knowledge.

In fact, we can’t even know ourselves thoroughly. Life is a process of coming to know ourselves. But, as Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked; who can understand it?” We can’t know our own motives and inner drives apart from God’s revealing it to us through His Word. God alone knows us thoroughly. He sees through us.

Your first reaction to that thought is probably, “Where can I run to hide?” It seems to have been David’s thought (v. 7). Since the human race fell into sin, that kind of total intimacy has been threatening to every person. Before the fall, Adam and Eve enjoyed open intimacy with God and with one another. They were naked and not ashamed in each other’s presence (Gen. 2:25). But as soon as they sinned, they tried to hide from God and they sewed fig leaves to hide their nakedness from one another. We have a longing to know and be known, but only within safe limits. We fear being totally exposed.

But the amazing thing is, this God who knows us so thoroughly, who knows every awful thought we ever have, desires to have a relationship with us. Because of our sin and God’s holiness, something had to be done to remove that barrier to our relationship with Him. With the first couple, God performed an object lesson that pointed ahead to His ultimate solution. Their fig leaves were not adequate; God slaughtered an animal and clothed them with its skin, showing them that they could not be restored to fellowship with a holy God without the shedding of blood.

Although the Bible doesn’t specify, I believe God slaughtered a lamb and explained to Adam and Eve the coming Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. Can you imagine their shock at seeing death for the first time as they watched the blood spurt and the animal writhe as its life-blood drained from it? It showed them in a graphic way that God takes sin seriously. It must be paid for through death. But it also showed them that in His grace, God would provide the substitute so that no sinner need be separated from God or pay the penalty for his or her own sin.

Christianity is not following a set of rules or going through a bunch of religious rituals. It is at its heart a personal relationship with the living God who knows you thoroughly. You enter that relationship when you put your trust in the substitute He provided, the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for your sin with His death on the cross.

The threat of being known so intimately by God provokes the reaction, “Where can I go to hide?” David pursues that thought in the second stanza:

2. I can’t escape God’s presence (139:7-12).

Where do you plan to run? Heaven (v. 8)? God is there! The first Soviet cosmonauts irreverently joked that they didn’t see God from their spaceship. But God saw them! He is there! Do you want to escape God in the place of the dead (Sheol)? He’s there, too! Do you want to head east (“wings of the dawn,” v. 9) or west (“remotest part of the sea”)? You won’t dodge God (v. 10)! You can hide in the dark, but God is light and He will find you out (vv. 11-12). Since God is everywhere, you can’t get away from Him. Again, David is intensely personal about it: God isn’t just everywhere; everywhere I go, He lays hold of me (v. 10)!

A college student fancied himself to be a ladies’ man. One evening the phone rang. Picking up the receiver, he murmured in a low, sexy voice, “Talk to me, baby ....” Suddenly he flushed bright red. He said weakly, “Oh, hi, Mom” (Reader’s Digest [6/84], p. 32).

A mother’s presence, even over the phone, has a way of straightening out wrong behavior! How much more would we live uprightly if we constantly kept in mind that God is present with us everywhere we go!

3. I can’t escape God’s power and sovereignty (139:13-18).

The thought that darkness doesn’t hide us from God leads David to consider that God formed him in his mother’s womb. Though hidden from human eyes in that day before sonograms, David was not hidden from God’s eyes (v. 16). And not only did God make me through His creative power, but also He ordained all of my days before any of them came into being (v. 16)! Considering how fearfully and wonderfully we are made should cause us to break forth in thanksgiving to God (v. 14).

Augustine observed, “Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering” (in Reader’s Digest [1/92], p. 9). Every person has in his or her body sufficient proof that God exists. To ignore that kind of evidence renders a person without excuse (Rom. 1:18-23). To say that something as finely balanced and complex as the human body is the result of sheer chance plus time is nothing short of ludicrous!

Consider the miracle of the human body: Every second more than 100,000 chemical reactions take place in your brain. It has 10 billion nerve cells to record what you see and hear. That information comes to your brain through the miracle of the eye, which has 100 million receptor cells (rods and cones) in each eye. Your retina also has four other layers of nerve cells. Altogether the system makes the equivalent of 10 billion calculations a second before an image even gets to the optic nerve. Once it reaches your brain, the cerebral cortex has more than a dozen separate vision centers in which to process it. Your tear ducts supply a bacteria-fighting fluid to protect your eyes from infection. The tears that fight irritants differ from the tears of sadness, which contain 24 percent more proteins. That’s not to mention the miracle of the ear and how it translates sound waves into meaningful speech and sounds; or of touch, taste, and smell.

Part of your brain regulates voluntary matters, such as muscle coordination and thought processes. Other parts of the brain control involuntary processes, such as digestion, glandular secretions, the rate at which your heart beats, etc. How did it accidentally happen that your body could speed up your heart rate to the proper speed to meet increased oxygen demand when you exercise and slow it down when that need is met? One square inch of your skin has about 625 sweat glands, 19 feet of blood vessels, and 19,000 sensory cells. Working in coordination with your brain, it maintains your body at a steady 98.6 degrees under all weather conditions.

Your stomach has 35 million glands which secrete the right amounts of juices to allow your body to digest food and convert it into stored energy for your muscles. To avoid digesting itself, your stomach produces a new lining every three days. Your body is an efficient machine: to ride a bicycle for an hour at ten miles per hour requires only 350 calories, the energy equivalent of only three tablespoons of gasoline.

You have more than 200 bones, each shaped for its function, connected intricately to one another through lubricated joints that cannot be perfectly duplicated by modern science. More than 500 muscles connect to these bones. Some obey willful commands; others perform their duty in response to unconscious commands from the brain. They all work together to keep us alive. The heart muscle itself beats over 103,000 times each day, pumping your blood cells a distance of 168 million miles.

Coupled with that, your lungs automatically breathe in the right amount of life-giving oxygen (about 438 cubic feet each day), which just happens to be mixed in the right proportions (about 20% oxygen, 80% nitrogen) in our atmosphere. Each of the other vital organs and glands in your body works in complex conjunction with the others to sustain life, which science can’t explain or create.

I haven’t even mentioned the complexity of human cells. Listen to this: A single human chromosome (DNA molecule) contains 20 billion bits of information. How much is that? What would be its equivalent, if it were written down in an ordinary printed book in modern human language? Twenty billion bits are the equivalent of about three billion letters. If there are approximately six letters in an average word, the information content of a human chromosome corresponds to about 500 million words. If there are about 300 words on an ordinary page of printed type, this corresponds to about two million pages. If a typical book contains 500 such pages, the information content of a single human chromosome corresponds to some 4,000 volumes. “It is clear, then, that the sequence of rungs on our DNA ladders represents an enormous library of information. It is equally clear that so rich a library is required to specify as exquisitely constructed and intricately functioning an object as a human being.”

That information, incredibly, comes from the astronomer, Carl Sagan, who thinks it all happened by chance (The Dragons of Eden, Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence [Ballentine Books], pp. 23-25)! He points out that the Viking landers that put down on Mars in 1976, each had instructions in their computers amounting to a few million bits, slightly more than a bacterium, but significantly less than an alga. Yet he thinks that life on this planet evolved by chance! Would he say that the Viking spacecraft could evolve, given enough time? Who, I ask, has more faith--the creationist or the evolutionist?

When David says (in v. 18), “When I awake, I am still with You,” he may be referring to the fact that each morning the thoughts of God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence are still with him, so that he can’t escape the overwhelming fact of God in relation to himself. Or, he may be referring poetically to God’s presence after death, in the resurrection. In that case, David would be referring to God’s hand on his life from conception through eternity.

But in any case, the awesome thought that God skillfully made me and ordained the days of my life ought to make me see that I can’t escape from His power and sovereignty. By the way, even if you suffer from birth defects, God declares that He made you. When Moses complained to God that he couldn’t speak eloquently enough to lead Israel out of Egypt, God said, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” (Exod. 4:11).

That means that God has fashioned and has a purpose in this fallen world even for those whose bodies or minds are not perfectly formed. That God creates and ordains the days of each human life gives significance and value to each life and it strongly confronts the abortion of any baby, even if it is supposedly “defective.”

So David is saying that you can’t escape from God. He knows everything about you; He is with you wherever you go; He has created you and ordained the days of your life. So what’s the bottom line? What do you do with a God like this? In the final stanza, David shows that ...

4. Therefore, I must commit myself to holiness (139:19-24).

The inescapable conclusion of the fact that we can’t escape from the living God is an inescapable commitment to holiness. As David thinks about God’s searching knowledge, His ubiquitous presence, and His infinite wisdom as seen in his own body, he is led first to cry out to God to destroy the wicked, affirming his own abhorrence of them (vv. 19-22); and then quickly to add a prayer that the God who had searched him (v. 1) would continue the process, so that if any sin still lurked in the dark corners of his own life, David could root it out and walk in God’s everlasting way. This shows us two aspects of holiness which we must develop:

A. Holiness means living apart from the wicked (vv. 19-22).

Does the thought of “perfect hatred” strike you as odd? Does it seem like a vice rather than a virtue? We have a syrupy, sentimental notion of love in our day. We wrongly think that Christians should not hate anything. But to fear God is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13). We can’t love God properly and be complacent about sin.

I know what you’re thinking: “I was just making a little progress in learning to love my enemies and now this guy Cole comes along and tells me I’m supposed to hate them with a perfect hatred! How can I love them and hate them at the same time?” C. H. Spurgeon helpfully explains the balance:

To love all men with benevolence is our duty; but to love any wicked man with complacency would be a crime. To hate a man for his own sake, or for any evil done to us, would be wrong; but to hate a man because he is the foe of all goodness and the enemy of all righteousness, is nothing more nor less than an obligation. The more we love God the more indignant shall we grow with those who refuse him their affection (The Treasury of David [Baker], VII:229).

R. C. Sproul explains along the same lines:

If there is such a thing as perfect hatred it would mirror and reflect the righteousness of God. It would be perfect to the extent that it excluded sinful attitudes of malice, envy, bitterness, and other attitudes we normally associate with human hatred. In this sense a perfect hatred could be deemed compatible with a love for one’s enemies. One who hates his enemy with a perfect hatred is still called to act in a loving and righteous manner toward him (“Tabletalk” [11/91], p. 9).

Jude 22-23 reflects the fine line between loving sinners but hating their sin: “And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” Holiness means living apart from the wicked and staying undefiled from their sin, but reaching out to them with the message of salvation.

B. Holiness means living openly before God (vv. 23-24).

David no sooner mentions the wicked and his hatred for their irreverence than he quickly realizes his own need for God’s cleansing. This is not so much a prayer that God may know him (which He already does, v. 1), but rather that David might know himself through God’s purifying, refining fire. There are two elements to a holy life in these verses:

First, I must constantly expose my inner life to God. “Search me, try me ....” David is inviting God to shine His pure light into the inner recesses of his thought life, where all sin originates. If you want to be holy, not just outwardly, where you can fake it, but inwardly, you must constantly confront your thought life with God’s Word.

Second, I must constantly yield my whole life to God. “Lead me ....” When God’s Word exposes where I’m wrong, I must submit to the Lord and walk in His way. Knowledge without obedience leads to deception and pride. I must become a doer of the Word, not just a hearer who deludes myself (James 1:22).

Conclusion

John Calvin wisely wrote, “It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself” (Institutes of the Christian Religion [Westminster Press], edited by John T. McNeill, 1:1:2). That’s what David is saying here: Look upon God: He knows you thoroughly; He is with you everywhere you go; He has wondrously created you and sovereignly ordained the days of your life. Then, scrutinize yourself by inviting the searchlight of God’s Word into your innermost thoughts and feelings and by yielding yourself to be obedient to God’s ways. Since you can’t escape from God, you must commit yourself to holiness.

Discussion Questions

1. Why are we afraid to be known thoroughly? How vulnerable should we be? What principles guide how much we share with others?
2. How can a person develop a sense of God’s unshakable presence, so as not to sin?
3. Is theistic evolution a viable option for Christians? What do we lose when we negate God as Creator?
4. Does God love everyone equally (Ps. 5:5-6)? Must we (Ps. 139:21-22)? What does this mean practically?

Copyright 1993, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation

When I was in high school, I had a couple of English teachers who drilled into us the basics of English grammar. We learned about verb tenses, participles, infinitives, gerunds, and other parts of speech. I assure you that when the teacher announced another lesson on these subjects, we students did not cheer. We groaned and thought, “Why do we have to study this stuff?”

But when I got to seminary and studied Greek, many of my classmates didn’t have a clue what a participle or infinitive are. The seminary had to put together a remedial English class for these students just so the Greek instructor didn’t have to get bogged down with teaching basic English. And now that I write sermons each week, I am very thankful for those high school English teachers who forced us to learn the basics of English grammar.

We come today, class, to another lesson on prayer. It is similar, although not identical, to the lesson we had last time in Psalm 142. You may groan and think, “Why do we have to have another lesson on prayer?” Why did God put all of these psalms in the Bible when so many of them are similar? The psalmist is in a difficult trial; he cries out to God; God answers him; he praises God. Maybe a few of these are needed, but why do we need so many repeated lessons on prayer?

The answer is that not many of us handle trials rightly. I have seen many that profess to be Christians, when they encounter various trials, get angry with God and fall away from the faith. Some turn to worldly solutions or false teaching. I’ve told you before about a couple in my church in California where the wife suffered from chronic back pain. I was chatting with the husband about it when he told me that they had been going to a Science of Mind type of group, and that it was providing his wife with some relief. When I told the husband that these groups held to heretical beliefs, he indignantly replied, “My wife was in pain. This group gives her relief from pain. We’re going there!” I never saw them again.

In the parable of the sower (Mark 4:3-20), Jesus warned that two out of the four types of soils would fall away because of trials. The seed sown on the rocky soil at first received the word with joy, but when affliction or persecution arose because of the word, they fell away. The seed sown among the thorns took longer to fail. But eventually the thorns, which represent “the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (4:19).

As I understand it, the only type of soil representing true believers is that which endures and brings forth fruit. False believers reveal their true colors by falling away or returning to the world under trials. So we need to know how to take our trials to the Lord in prayer so that we endure and grow, rather than fall away. That’s why Psalm 143 is in the Bible, because we need this additional lesson on how to pray correctly when we face severe trials.

I emphasize that this is a lesson for those who, like David, can say, “You are my God” (v. 10) and “I am your servant” (v. 12; cf. v. 2). Prayer is not a method or technique that just anybody can use to manipulate God to get what he wants. Rather, prayer is for those who have repented of their sins, trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior from God’s wrath, and who are seeking to follow Him as Lord. To apply this vital lesson on prayer, you must know God as your God and you must be obedient to Him as His servant.

We can’t identify for sure the situation behind this psalm. The LXX (Greek O.T.) and some ancient versions add to the inscription that it was when David was fleeing from his son Absalom. If that is the situation, it may explain his painful request (v. 2) that God not enter into judgment with him, adding, “for in Your sight no man living is righteous.” Absalom’s rebellion was a direct consequence of David’s sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 12:11). So David may be connecting his present trial with his own previous failure. But the reference (v. 3) to dwelling “in dark places, like those who have long been dead,” sounds more like the situation in Psalm 142, where David was hiding from Saul in the cave.

But whatever the exact situation, the language is general enough that we all can identify with David. He was in a severe trial, where he desperately needed God to answer. Whether your trial is a life-threatening disease, the need for a job, a difficult person, a powerful sin that keeps defeating you, or whatever, David’s lesson on prayer will be helpful to you. To sum it up,

We are to face overwhelming trials with heartfelt, humble, believing, obedient prayer that seeks not only relief from the trial, but also to know God better.

The psalm falls into two halves, divided by the musical notation, “Selah” (v. 6). In the first half (1-6), David lays out his problem to the Lord, crying out to Him to hear and answer. In the second half (7-12), he presents his prayer, repeatedly crying out to God to answer him and to teach him to do His will before it is too late. Since a number of the themes are repeated because of the intensity of David’s feelings, I thought it best not to work through the psalm verse by verse from first to last, but rather somewhat thematically, under three main headings.

1. Being godly, or even being one of God’s chosen leaders, does not exempt us from severe trials.

Although David was God’s servant (2, 12) and was a man after God’s heart (1 Sam. 13:14), God allowed David to be pushed to the brink, where he despaired of life itself. Many times he thought that Saul would succeed in killing him. As he told Jonathan (1 Sam. 20:3), “… there is hardly a step between me and death.” During Absalom’s rebellion, David’s army would not let him go into battle, because they knew that he was the main target (2 Sam. 18:2-4).

Note how he describes his situation in Psalm 143. He says (vv. 3-4), “For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead. Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart is appalled within me.” Derek Kidner (Psalms 73-150 [IVP], p. 475) observes, “Every phrase here is so heavy with distress, that no sufferer need feel unique in what he experiences. And the similarity of these terms to those that describe our Lord’s emotions (cf. Mt. 26:37 ff.; Heb. 4:15 ff.) remind us that none need feel himself alone, or less than fully understood.”

This lesson, that God does not exempt any of us from trials, is especially needed now because of the popular, but false “health and wealth” teaching. Some of the pastors of the largest churches in America promote this error, and it is spreading rapidly in Africa and other places. The claim is, God wants you healthy and wealthy. You don’t have to suffer illness or poverty. Just claim your healing or that new car by faith. And, if you’ll send your generous gift to us, we’ll pray for your miracle! Suckers are born every minute!

But Scripture clearly exposes the falsehood of this error, which appeals to the flesh. God uses trials so that we may share His holiness (Heb. 12:5-11). The apostle Paul shares (2 Cor. 1:8-9),

For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.

He goes on (2 Cor. 4:7-10) to explain that we have the treasure of the gospel…

… in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

Several more times in this letter he tells of the difficult trials that had come upon him as an apostle (2 Cor. 6:4-10; 11:23-33; 12:7-10). The Savior, who suffered horribly at the hands of sinners, warned us (John 15:20), “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (also see John 16:2). The apostle Peter warned (1 Pet. 4:12), “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.” So don’t fall for the health and wealth lie. Being godly does not exempt anyone from trials. But, you need to know how to respond when you encounter such trials.

2. Heartfelt, humble, believing, obedient prayer is how to respond when you face severe trials.

In this life threatening crisis, David turned to God. Again, this is not an automatic response. As we saw from the parable of the sower, rather than turning to God in trials, many turn away from Him. But the more intense the trial, the more diligently you need to seek the Lord. But, you need to seek Him in the right way. David here teaches us four vital lessons about prayer:

A. Prayer should be heartfelt.

David’s heartfelt cry bleeds through the entire psalm. It begins (v. 1), “Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications! Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness!” In verse 6 he cries, “I stretch out my hands to You; my soul longs for You, as a parched land.” He continues, “answer me” (v. 7), “let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning” (v. 8), “deliver me” (v. 9), and, “cut off my enemies and destroy all those who afflict my soul” (v. 12). He’s a desperate man, crying out for deliverance before his enemies kill him.

While we may rarely be in such life-threatening situations, David’s prayer teaches us that we will not pray as we ought unless we recognize our weakness and need and, therefore, our total dependence on God. Many unbelievers go to their graves without the Lord because they are oblivious to the peril of judgment by a holy, all-knowing God, who will judge them by His perfect standard. In fact, the greatest dangers are often those that we do not perceive. As you know, people die of carbon monoxide poisoning because they cannot smell or see that deadly gas. Satan lulls many into breathing the deadly gas of good works. They think, “I’m a pretty good person. I’ve never deliberately hurt or killed anyone. I’m not a child molester. So I should be good enough for heaven.”

Even as believers, we often do not realize our own inadequacy, and so we do not depend on the Lord in prayer. We assume that we can handle things on our own, unless we get into a huge problem. So the Lord sends overwhelming trials so that we will not trust in ourselves, but in God, through heartfelt prayer.

B. Prayer should be humble.

David asks God to answer in His faithfulness and righteousness. I understand him to mean, “Answer me according to Your faithful promises to your people and in accordance with Your way of exonerating the righteous and punishing the wicked.” But no sooner are the words out of his mouth than he is caught up short. He realizes, “But I’m not completely innocent, either.” His prayer would have brought judgment on himself! So he quickly adds (v. 2), “And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no man living is righteous.”

As you know, there are several psalms where David pleads with God on the basis of his own innocence (Ps. 7:3-5, 8; 18:20). Willem VanGemeren (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. by Frank Gaebelein [Zondervan], 5:852) explains, “Both expressions are valid, depending on the context in which one finds himself. The confession of innocence is appropriate when one is insulted and persecuted for righteousness’s sake, and the confession of guilt is proper when confronted with one’s own frailties.”

Here, David is painfully aware of his own sins. So he asks God not to bring him to the bar of His absolute righteousness. Rather, he appeals to God’s lovingkindness (v. 8), which is His loyal covenant love. He asks the Lord in His lovingkindness to cut off and destroy his enemies (v. 12). As I pointed out in our study of Psalm 136, there is obviously a special love that God has for His chosen people. David asks God (v. 11), “For the sake of Your name, revive me.” In other words, he appeals to the attributes of God (His name) and to His covenant love for His people. That’s why we pray “in Jesus’ name,” which means, “on the basis of all that He is and His covenant promises to us.” We don’t pray on the basis of our merits or good deeds.

C. Prayer should be believing.

David affirms his trust in the Lord (v. 8). He bases his prayer, as we have seen, on God’s faithfulness and righteousness. He can always be trusted to be faithful and righteous. There is faith behind David’s confession, “You are my God” (v. 10). David strengthened his faith by meditating on all of God’s doings and work from days of old (v. 5). If we come to God in prayer, we must come in faith that He is able to answer us (Mark 11:22-24; Heb. 11:6; James 1:5-6). Prayer must be heartfelt, humble, and believing.

D. Prayer should be obedient to God’s will.

That is, it must flow from a heart that is ready to do God’s will. We cannot pray and expect God to answer if we are unwilling to follow Him completely. If we’re just using prayer to get out of our crisis, and then we put God back on the shelf and go back to acting as lord of our own lives, we are really practicing idolatry. Idolaters try to use their god to get what they want. Followers of the living and true God submit to Him even through trials.

Also, whenever you’re in a trial caused by a sinful person who is trying to get you, it is easy to react against their sin by sinning yourself. He angrily threatens you, so you yell back threats at him. He cheated you, so you connive to cheat him. He lied about you, so you lie about him. So it is especially important that you be on guard against this. With a teachable heart, pray that you will know and be obedient to God’s will in the trial.

Thus David here prays that he might know and do God’s will. He asks (v. 8), “Teach me the way in which I should walk.” Then he goes a step further and asks (v. 10a), “Teach me to do Your will.” He’s asking not just that he will know God’s way or will, but also that he will know how to do it.” He doesn’t want to be just a hearer of the word, but also a doer (James 1:22). He adds (v. 10b), “Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” This is similar to the request in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:13a), “do not lead us into temptation.”

Derek Kidner (p. 476) points out that David’s three requests for guidance (vv. 8-10) each has its own nuance. The first (“Teach me the way in which I should walk,” 8b) has an individual flavor, showing that each of us is uniquely placed and called. The second (“Teach me to do Your will,” 10a), “settles the priorities, making the goal not self-fulfillment but pleasing God and finishing His work.” The third (“Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground,” 10b), “speaks with the humility of one who knows his need of shepherding, not merely of having the right way pointed out to him.” The request for level ground “implies the admission that one is prone to stumble, not only to stray.”

Thus David teaches us that our prayers in times of crisis must be heartfelt, humble, believing, and obedient. But, we also need the right aim in prayer.

3. Our aim in prayer should not only be to gain relief from our trials, but also to know God better.

All too often, our prayer in a time of crisis is, “Lord, get me out of this and make it snappy!” David does pray like that here: “Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails” (v. 7). He is on the brink of becoming like those who go down to the pit (v. 7), that is, who die. So he needs help fast. But he also realizes that this is a time to go deeper with the Lord.

A. There is nothing wrong with pleading with God for quick relief from our trials.

David prayed that the child which he conceived with Bathsheba not die, but God did not grant his request (2 Sam. 12:15-20). King Hezekiah prayed that God would heal him of what Isaiah had said would be a fatal illness, and God granted him 15 more years of life (2 Kings 20:1-7). The apostle Paul asked God three times to take away the thorn in his flesh, whatever it was (2 Cor. 12:8). But when God told Paul (12:9), “My grace is sufficient for you,” Paul submitted to God’s purpose in the trial. Even Jesus prayed in the Garden (Matt. 26:39), “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” So it is not wrong to pray that God would remove the trial, as long as we submit to His sovereign will. But, also …

B. In our desperate cries for relief, we must not lose focus of the greater purpose, to come to know God better.

David does not just cry out for God to save him from his enemies. He also cries out for God Himself. He meditated on God’s doings and on the work of His hands (v. 5). In other words, he went back and rehearsed how God has acted on behalf of His people in the past. He thought about how God has delivered His people. He meditated on God’s work in creation, which displays His power and His infinite understanding. He wanted to know God and His ways more deeply.

Also, David stretched out his hands to God (v. 6), as a little child reaches up for his parent to pick him up. He wants that intimate contact. He adds (v. 6), “My soul longs for You, as a parched land” (see Ps. 63:1). He asks God not to hide His face from him (v. 7). He wants to hear God’s lovingkindness in the morning (v. 8). He lifts up his soul to God (v. 8). He takes refuge in God Himself (v. 9). He prays for God to revive him (v. 11). In all of this, his repeated prayer is “to You.” He was seeking God Himself, not just relief from his enemy.

It is very easy in a time of intense trial just to focus on the need for relief, rather than to use the trial to get to know God better. Often, we ask, “Lord, why is this happening to me?” But the better question is, “Lord, how can I get to know You better through this trial? Lord, give me a teachable heart, so that I come to know You better. Lord, don’t let me miss the lessons that You want me to learn!” As John Piper prayed when he was diagnosed with cancer, “Lord, don’t waste this cancer on me!” He wanted to learn what God was trying to teach him.

Conclusion

Let’s review: Why do we need this repeated lesson on prayer? We need it because we all face trials, some of which are overwhelming. We need it because false teachers appeal to our flesh, promising us instant health and wealth if we will only believe. We need it so that we can learn how to pray in a time of trials: with heartfelt, humble, believing, and obedient prayer. We need it so that we aim in our prayers not only to get relief from our trials, but also to grow to know God better. Don’t waste your trial! Let it drive you to God in prayer.

Application Questions

1. How can a teaching as patently false as the “health and wealth” error entice so many? How can we help a person caught up with it?
2. If a person turns away from the Lord because of a trial, should we encourage him (her) to examine whether he is in the faith?
3. Does praying in faith mean that we believe that God will deliver us from this trial, or that He is able to deliver us? See Daniel 3:17-18.
4. What are some ways that you have come to know God more deeply through trials? How can you help others do the same?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2009, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation