Psalm 138
The first of eight psalms “of David” in the next ten days. What can we expect to find in psalms “of David”? Thanksgiving and praise, certainly, and pleas for deliverance from his enemies. We see all that today in Psalm 138. See especially Ps. 138:1-2,7-8.
For though the LORD is high, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar. (v. 6) At first I thought it strange that David would be writing these words, since he, himself, is also of high stature. But then I remembered his earlier life, his times of running from Saul, and then his later life, when he was challenged by Absalom. Surely he had surrounded himself with people of both high and low stature. In addition, in his earlier life he was a shepherd and he likely knew other shepherds – again, people drawn from lower societal classes. So David is clearly qualified to write these words.
But beyond David’s perspective on the high and the low, this verse speaks of the God of Heaven and Earth having high regard for the lowly; no doubt He also has high regard for the mighty, so long as their might is cloaked in humility. The key in this verse is “haughty”. David is telling us that God “despises” our self-righteous pride. I have written before that pride is humankind’s greatest sin – and I believe it! Our personal pride leaves too little room for God to work in our lives. If we think that we’ve done it all ourselves, then there’s no basis for thanking God and little cause for praising Him. And without thanks and praise, most of our prayers are just “gimme, gimme”! Not good!
All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD… (v. 4) The word “all” does not leave much room for exceptions. All is all, the entire set, every last one. Yet it does not take much looking around the world or down through history to find plenty of “kings” (aka emperors, rulers, leaders, presidents, CEOs…) who don’t seem to care a fig about the LORD. Indeed, it would seem quite the opposite, that those who actively seek the LORD are very much in the minority. So is David deluded here? Or is he just speaking with tremendous hyperbole? No. David is quite well aware of the nature of his fellow man. He knows there is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10–12; Psalm 14:1–3; Psalm 53:1–3) But he also knows his God, the LORD, Who reigns supreme. And God is not done with us just yet. One day all those kings will indeed bow before the Lord and give Him praise, for He is the Lord God Almighty. But like David, we need eyes of faith to look forward to that Great Day, when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10,11)
Ah yes. My study notes mention that God regards the “haughty from afar” (v.6), meaning that he sees their proud hearts and doesn’t draw near to them.
However, verses 1-3 show us that God answers the prayers of those whose hearts are filled with praise and thankfulness to him. Even kings who praise and glorify God are looked upon favorably (v.4).
On another note, the verses that stood out to me today were 7-8:
The beginning of verse 8 is affirmed in Philippians, chapters 1&2:
So even when I am tempted to believe I’m such a mess, that God has surely given up on me by now, I bring these verses to mind, knowing the enemy wants me to be discouraged, but God is still working…