The psalms starts out with the psalmist giving thanks to God for everything that he has done.
138 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.
3 On the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased.
What A change to the past Sundays and the state that the psalmist is in in the previous psalms. To see how through all the refection of our sins and every low point in our lives we still praise God. Through understanding our sins and our depravity is molding us into understanding how great God is and how he is changing us to be image bearers of him. Our whole identity and right standing is depend on Christ and not us. I find myself at times missing this part. To be so wrapped up with the weight of my sins and how I have not measured up. I forget that God is still the author of my salvation and that He is molding me and making me new every day. By doing this it gives us the freedom to praise him and love him because we are not the focal point. In praising God for what he has done will be contagious to others.
4 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of your mouth,
5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord.
6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
but the haughty he knows from afar.
Praising God and thanking him for all he has done is just a small act that we can give back for what he has done for us. To be image bearers of God and point people to him that is not us but Christ shining through us. So through all the mundane or deep valleys we go through it is important to understand where we stand as a sinner in the presence of a Holy God. That what God has started will one day be finished in us. He is our protector and our savior. As we go through our week we should try to take time out time to thank god for everything he has done for us and not focus only on how we do not measure up.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.
To sum it up I leave you with a quote from Charles Spurgeon who said it better.
Most manifestly the confidence which the Psalmist here expressed was a divine confidence. He did not say, “I have grace enough to perfect that which concerneth me – my faith is so steady that it will not stagger – my love is so warm that it will never grow cold – my resolution is so firm that nothing can move it”; no, his dependence was on the Lord alone. If we indulge in any confidence which is not grounded on the Rock of Ages, our confidence is worse than a dream, it will fall upon us, and cover us with its ruins, to our sorrow and confusion. All that Nature spins time will unravel, to the eternal confusion of all who are clothed therein. The Psalmist was wise, he rested upon nothing short of the Lord’s work. It is the Lord who has begun the good work within us; it is he who has carried it on; and if he does not finish it, it never will be complete. If there be one stitch in the celestial garment of our righteousness which we are to insert ourselves, then we are lost; but this is our confidence, the Lord who began will perfect. He has done it all, must do it all, and will do it all. Our confidence must not be in what we have done, nor in what we have resolved to do, but entirely in what the Lord will do. Unbelief insinuates – “You will never be able to stand. Look at the evil of your heart, you can never conquer sin; remember the sinful pleasures and temptations of the world that beset you, you will be certainly allured by them and led astray.” Ah! yes, we should indeed perish if left to our own strength. If we had alone to navigate our frail vessels over so rough a sea, we might well give up the voyage in despair; but, thanks be to God, he will perfect that which concerneth us, and bring us to the desired haven. We can never be too confident when we confide in him alone, and never too much concerned to have such a trust.
- Steven M Barrett