Blessings on God's People

Guest (Male): Throughout the Psalms we’ve been granted admission to view the heart of David and to hear his desperate pleas for help in times of trouble. Now as we approach the end of the Psalter, we see David offering a completely different petition. Not a prayer of desperation, but a prayer of quiet confidence in a God he’s learned to trust. Welcome to the Bible Study Hour, a radio and internet broadcast with Dr. James Boice, preparing you to think and act biblically. David is at a point in his life when he is quite aware of his own weakness and his inability to accomplish anything in his own strength. But David’s also aware of God’s greatness and of the many times he’s rescued David in the past. Let’s join Dr. Boice as he examines David’s prayer of deep humility and divine sufficiency from Psalm 144.
Dr. James Boice: One of the things Luther said on one occasion is that true religion is found in personal pronouns. What Luther meant by that is that it is only when we’re able to speak of God as our God and speak of Jesus Christ as my Savior that Christianity becomes more than merely a tradition and is actually a living faith for us. One example of that, a biblical example, would be found in the Apostle Thomas and Christ’s appearance to him after the resurrection. You’ll recall that he was questioning the resurrection and doing it on the same kind of grounds that we would do it. We say, well, we don’t believe in miracles. Thomas didn’t believe in miracles. And so he said I won’t believe it unless I see the evidence. And when Jesus appeared to him and gave him the evidence so he could have placed his finger into the nail prints in Christ’s hand and thrust his hand into the wound in his side if he had chosen to do so, he was so overcome with the presence of Christ that he fell at his feet and said, my Lord and my God. That’s the great climax of the Gospel of John. It’s what comes at the end of the next-to-the-last chapter. It’s John’s way of saying that’s what it’s all about so that after you hear these things you might actually come to the point of responding personally to Jesus Christ. Now, that’s true religion. It’s true religion indeed. Psalm 144 that we’re studying now is like that. It’s extremely personal as David begins by confessing that God is my rock, my loving God, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, and my shield. These opening verses set the exalted tone for the Psalm. And it’s from this beginning that David then goes on to pray, acknowledging first of all human frailty, especially his own, and then secondly asking God for help because of his frailty and his great need, third offering a new song of praise to God, and then finally repeating his prayer for deliverance while he looks forward to a day of God’s rich blessing upon his people. And it’s with that that the prayer and Psalm ends. Blessed are the people of whom this is true. Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. In these last lines, David commends what he has experienced and come to know of God to the people of God. And what he’s saying in effect is this: Happy are the people who are able to make the same confession that I do, who can say as I have been doing, this is my Lord and this is my God. Now I need to point out that this Psalm is a lot like Psalm 18. And any careful comparison matching phrase for phrase will indicate quite quickly that it’s written by the same individual. Some of the scholars when they find one Psalm quoting another assume that it’s a later writer borrowing on the earlier one, but you can argue the other way just as well. Certainly all of this sounds like David. Charles Spurgeon said to us the whole Psalm appears to be perfect as it stands and its language is of David if ever language can belong to any man. Here you have two Psalms that are much alike, and yet their tone is different. In Psalm 18, David is explaining how he had been in desperate trouble at one time but how God delivered him from it. He says things like this: The cords of death had entangled me. The cords of the grave had coiled around me. I was in great distress. But then he says, the Lord reached down from on high and took hold of me and drew me up out of deep waters. I pursued my enemies and I overtook them. That’s Psalm 18. Now in Psalm 144, David’s enemies are also present, but here they’re a present threat. He’s not looking to the past and a past deliverance. This is something he’s experiencing right now and so he prays: Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, verse 11. And yet in spite of the fact that this is a present need and what he needs is a present deliverance, the tone of this Psalm 144 is calm and settled and trusting. The reason is that David knows that the Lord who is his rock, his fortress, his stronghold, his deliverer, and his shield is going to give him victory and is going to bless his kingdom. He says in verse 14, when God does that, there’ll be no breaching of the walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of distress in our streets. Psalm 18 is described as a song which David sang to the Lord when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. It’s a victory song, a celebration. But here, victory is needed, it’s still to come, and the Psalm breathes an assurance that God will really give it. Now, that’s the way we introduce it. That’s the first few verses. The next stanza of this Psalm begins to talk about human beings in their frailty and David certainly includes himself in that. Oh Lord, what is man that you care for him? The son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath. His days are like a fleeting shadow. I pointed out that much of this Psalm sounds like Psalm 18, but when you read these verses, they sound very much like Psalm 8. As a matter of fact, with very few changes, this is exactly like that central section of Psalm 8 in which the Psalmist places man at this mediating position in the universe. Man is an insignificant being when you compare him to the angels who are above him and the stars and all of the heavenly hosts. This is what’s quoted here almost word for word. And yet again, there’s a change because in Psalm 8, what causes the Psalmist to marvel is that although man is such an insignificant being, God has nevertheless appointed him over the animal creation and has given him the possibility of fellowship with God himself. What David talks about in this Psalm as he thinks about the frailty of man and what amazes David is that God should be a help and a stronghold for him. What he’s saying is this: You know, when I consider human beings and I look at myself and I think how insignificant I am, why do I have any right at all to think that the almighty glorious God of the universe should care about me or help me? And the answer to that, of course, is no right at all except that God does. And so David stands in perfect amazement when he thinks about that. Does that ever amaze you? We tend to think very highly of ourselves, especially in our culture today, and so we think, well, of course God ought to pay attention to me because I’m so important. And if you think of yourself in terms of the vastness of creation and think of your own insignificance, then instead of thinking how important you are, you think how wonderful God is. Because you say, isn’t it wonderful that the great God of the universe should care about somebody like me? That’s what David is doing. G. Campbell Morgan in his very brief commentary on this Psalm suggests that we’ll appreciate it better if we remember the Psalms that come before it, Psalms 135 to 153, the ones that follow the Songs of Ascent. He says five of these elaborate the sufficiency of God and they’re followed by four which declare the utter helplessness of man. Both truths, he says, are present here. In Psalm 144, the divine sufficiency is seen encompassing the human helplessness until it is so lost sight of as hardly to be discoverable. In other words, David is utterly aware of his weakness, but even more, he’s aware of the greatness of God and so he’s kept from being arrogant on the one hand and being defeated on the other. We need to learn from David and learn that this is what true religion is all about. Now with the exception of the two opening verses, the portion of this Psalm that is most like Psalm 18 is the portion to which we come now. That’s verses 5 through 8. It’s a section in which David asks God to come down from heaven and rout his enemies. Let me read it: Part your heavens, Oh Lord, and come down. Touch the mountains so that they smoke. Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy. Shoot your arrows and rout them. Reach down your hand from on high. Deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. Now Psalm 18 also describes God as parting the heavens to come down, touching the mountains so they shake, scattering the people’s enemies with lightning like arrows. But the important thing about these similarities is not that Psalm 144 is like Psalm 18, which is what so many of the scholars get hung up on because then they say, what is the relationship between the two? How does one depend upon the other? And many of them say, well, Psalm 144 must have been written later, it’s certainly not by David, it’s copying the early Psalm. That’s not the significant thing about the similarities. The significant thing about the similarities is that both Psalms are drawing on well-known, established, common Old Testament imagery. In other words, they’re doing what the people of God do when the people of God come together. They remember what God has done in the past. And so Psalm 18 does it, and so does Psalm 144. Now here’s the way it works. When verse 5 uses language like it does, it’s referring to the descent of God to Mount Sinai to give the law through Moses, which was accompanied by a shaking of the earth, dark clouds, and lightning. Hebrews in the New Testament does the same thing because it describes Sinai as a mountain burning with fire, darkness, gloom, and storm, so terrifying that even Moses said I am trembling with fear. David’s referring to this when he asks God to come down and touch the mountains. What he’s saying is that he wants God to be as real in action in his own life and time as he was back there in the days of Moses in the wilderness. Verse 6 touches on God’s intervention in the war against the Canaanites at the time of the Jewish conquest under Joshua, particularly against the southern confederation in the battle that’s described in Joshua 10. That’s when God sent hailstones, probably accompanied by flashes of lightning, against the Jews' enemies. Verse 7, the deliverance from mighty waters, may refer to the parting of the Red Sea, it may refer to the parting of the waters of the Jordan River. So either it’s referring to the exodus or it’s referring to the conquest. What is happening in these verses is that David is reflecting on God’s manifestations of his presence and power in the past, and he’s asking that something of that same power and presence might be seen in his own time. And it also means this: By alluding to these past proofs of God’s presence, David is declaring that the God of Moses and the God of Joshua and the God of the other Old Testament figures is his God too. In other words, he’s standing in the line of the covenant people, possessing the benefits and the blessings that God imparted to them as a result of the covenant that was made at Mount Sinai. And here’s the point: So do we if we belong to the covenant people of God. We think of these past stories and they’re not merely stories, these are manifestations of the power of our God. Do you think of that? You come to church, do you say yes, the God of Abraham is my God? And the God of Moses is my God? And the God of Joshua is my God? And the God of David is my God? And the God of the Apostles is my God? Only one true God, and this is the God who has acted powerfully in the past and is operating in the present as well by his Spirit to do what he’s determined to accomplish. Now you say at this point, well, what should be our response to that? How should we respond to the fact that this God is our God and the God who was powerful then is powerful today as well? David’s response, after he rehearses the things that God has done, is what he calls a new song, presumably the song that we’re studying. It’s not the first time he’s done this. Title to Psalm 18 says that David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and the hand of Saul. And toward the end of that song, Psalm 18:49, he says himself, I will sing praises to your name. He does the same thing again in the 40th Psalm. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. And now here in Psalm 18, he thanks God for what he’s going to do and this is the song that thanks him for it. Here, thanksgiving is petition. He’s still waiting for God’s intervention, but he’s so confident of God’s help that he’s already singing about it. Now David didn’t have the song that we often sing, but if he had, this would have been appropriate space for him to sing: Our God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. When we sing a song like that, we place ourselves in this great sequence of the people of God. And you know, since we’re thinking about songs, let’s not forget that new song that’s mentioned in the New Testament in the book of Revelation. It’s an antiphonal song sung by different groups of people: the four and twenty elders and the angels and then all creatures of the earth and under the earth and on the seas. And they sing this new song to God and it goes like this: First of all, the elders. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth. That’s what the elders say. Then the angels join in, they perform their part. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. And then at last all these creatures sing: To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever. Now when they finish that, there’s nothing left for anyone to do but say Amen, which is what the four and twenty elders do do, and then the chapter tells us that they fall down and worship. Now I haven’t said a great deal about worship so far, but you’ll recall in the study of these last Psalms of the Psalter, that’s what we’re dealing with. And here you have a marvelous illustration of what the worship of the people of God is and has always been. What does it consist of? First of all, it’s a rehearsal of the great and mighty acts of God. That’s why we remind ourselves of these things. It’s why we teach the Bible. That’s where this is recorded. We, of course, have the advantage of understanding what God has done in Jesus Christ, which is the climax of it all. David could only anticipate that slightly as if he were seeing through a glass darkly. We look back, we have it all, but we begin at that point. But then you see Christianity isn’t just a collection of ideas, it’s not just a history lesson. Because all of this is for our benefit and for our salvation. And so we respond and we respond personally, and the way we do it is by singing a new song. Ever thought of that? That you have the privilege of singing not just a song but a new song, one that rises out of your own experience? I’m not sure that means that you have to have new words, but you simply have a new content to it. Our God, our help in ages past, our help for years to come. That’s your personal testimony if you sing it well and with thought. And so the people of God do that and they do it week after week after week and will continue to do it week after week after week until Jesus comes again, and even then we’re going to keep on doing it. Because what we’ll be doing in heaven is reminding ourselves of the greatness of our God and responding in a personal way as we sing praises to him. Now the very last section of this anticipates the blessing that David expected God to give his kingdom after those who were threatening him were defeated. Alexander MacLaren, whom I usually think is a marvelous commentator and right on, didn’t think this actually belonged with the song. He called these last verses, 11 through 15, an appended fragment that has been attached to the earlier verses in what he called an embarrassing fashion. That’s because these last verses don’t have echoes of other Davidic Psalms as the first verses do and he can’t see a connection between the two. But I think the flow of thought is obvious. When God delivers the nation from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies and whose right hands are deceitful, verse 11, then there will be no military threat, no breaching of the walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets. The young men will grow up like well-nurtured plants, the young women will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace, and the efforts of the people will be directed away from war to the fields and flocks so that the country will flourish and become increasingly prosperous. These last verses are not even added in an embarrassing way as MacLaren supposed. They’re actually tied in beautifully for the prayer for deliverance in verses 7 and 8 is repeated in verse 11 which introduces this last section with the omission of just one line, implying that when the prayer has been answered, the days of prosperity will come. Now this prayer is not a desperate plea as some of the other Psalms have been. Sometimes David has been in so great trouble that he simply in virtual desperation calls out to God. That isn’t the tone of it here. Instead, this is a confident prayer that leads to the vision of blessing that’s expressed in the last four verses. Now what kind of a blessing is it? Well, significantly, it begins with the family as the foundation of any strong society, verse 12. Then it advances to the people’s prosperity, verse 13. That follows from the stability of the people and the culture. Then verse 14, to the security of the city. And finally, the blessing is anchored in its only adequate source which is God, which is why the Psalm ends by saying that the greatest blessing of all is to have Jehovah as one’s Lord. Now the point is that without Jehovah, none of the other blessings follow. This isn’t the way we think. Certainly not the way the world thinks. Most people want the blessing of these last verses. People are not made to be alone, people need other people, and so most people dream of being part of a warm and supportive family or a community that substitutes for a family or something like that. But without God, the family collapses and relationships are destroyed. The collapse of the American family in our day is one proof of how it happens. People also want to prosper. Everybody wants to prosper. We want our work to go well, we want our bank accounts to grow. There’s nothing wrong with that. But even when this happens, people are still insecure without God because they find that things alone don’t satisfy the longings of the heart. And finally, people want to be safe. But when the culture is crumbling as our culture is, they know that they’re not secure and that violence and even death can strike them from nearly any source at any moment. Now having Jehovah as our God does not in itself immediately guarantee these blessings. We live in a fallen, sinful world. Even David, David didn’t experience uninterrupted blessings. The families of believers also fail as David’s did. We do not always live lives utterly free from want. We’re often in physical danger as David was when he wrote this Psalm. But we’re blessed by God all the same because to know God is the greatest of all blessings and knowing and serving God is the best and surest path to other blessings. What does the world say? The world says blessed are those who put themselves first. Blessed are those that look out for number one. Blessed are those who trample down the opposition. But the Word of God says blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night. He’ll be like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither and whatever he does will prosper.
Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to this message from the Bible Study Hour, a listener-supported ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. The Alliance is a coalition of pastors, scholars, and churchmen who hold to the historic creeds and confessions of the reformed faith and who proclaim biblical doctrine in order to foster a reformed awakening in today’s church. To learn more about the Alliance, visit alliancenet.org. And while you’re there, visit our online store, Reformed Resources, where you can find messages and books from Dr. Boice and other outstanding teachers and theologians. Or ask for a free Reformed Resources catalog by calling 1-800-488-1888. Please take the time to write to us and share how the Bible Study Hour has impacted you. We love to hear from you and pray for you. Our address is 600 Eden Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17601. Please consider giving financially to help keep the Bible Study Hour impacting people for decades to come. You can do so at our website, alliancenet.org, over the phone at 1-800-488-1888, or send a check to 600 Eden Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17601. For Canadian gifts, mail those to PO Box 24097, RPO Josephine, North Bay, Ontario, P1B 0C7. Thanks for your continued prayer and support and for listening to the Bible Study Hour, preparing you to think and act biblically.