The Reason Why I Thank and Praise the Lord with All My Heart
[Psalm 138]
Last Sunday, I reflected on Romans 6:15-23, focusing on the concepts of being "slaves to sin" and "slaves to obedience" (slaves to righteousness). Through this reflection, we learned that we should "give thanks to God" (verse 17). Why should we thank God? The reason is that we are no longer slaves to sin. Instead, through God's grace and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been justified and have become slaves to righteousness. Therefore, we must give thanks to God. The more we live our faith, the more I wonder what fruits the slave to righteousness produces. I thought of two main things: “thanksgiving” and “obedience.”
Today, in Psalm 138:1, we see the psalmist, David, making this statement (resolution): “I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing Your praise before the gods.” Why does David say he will give thanks and praise to the Lord with all his heart? The reason is because of “Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness” (verse 2). What was the steadfast love (mercy) and faithfulness (loyalty) of God that David was experiencing? Look at the second verse of today’s passage: “I will 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.” The steadfast love and faithfulness that David experienced was that God had exalted His word (the promise He made to David) above all His name (according to Park Yun-seon). This means that God had fulfilled the promise He made to David. Therefore, because David experienced the steadfast love and faithfulness of God, he resolved to give thanks and praise the Lord with all his heart (verse 1). More specifically, we can consider four reasons in this passage why David resolved to give thanks and praise the Lord with all his heart—reasons based on his experience of God's steadfast love and faithfulness.
First, the reason David thanked and praised the Lord with all his heart was that the Lord had answered his prayer, giving him strength and making him strong.
Psalm 138:3: "On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul."
As we look back on our past lives, we cannot help but confess that the God of Ebenezer has helped and guided both you and me to this point. How has God helped us come this far? God has answered our prayers, strengthened us, and empowered us, bringing us to this moment. When we reflect on David's life, we see that he prayed to God in this way: "Turn to me and be gracious to me; give Your strength to Your servant..." (Psalm 86:16). Both David and we, as we live in this world, are deeply in need of the strength that the Lord supplies. When David pleaded for strength from the Lord, God not only gave him strength but also became his strength. That’s why David confessed in Psalm 18:1, "I love You, O Lord, my strength." Dr. Park Yun-seon said: "God desires to renew our hearts first, even before He renews our circumstances. Above all, we must receive grace in our hearts (Phil. 4:23). ... To say that 'He made his soul strong' means that God not only gave him good things, but also gave him the strength in his heart to handle them" (Park Yun-seon). Our Lord is the God who gives us strength. He is not a passive observer who gives us a mission and leaves us to it. He provides us with the necessary strength to fulfill the mission He has entrusted to us. Therefore, we must pray to God just as David did. E. M. Bounds, in his book The Essentials of Prayer, said: "Just as prayer brings the answer, the answer brings forth gratitude and praise. Just as prayer sets God to work, answered prayer sets thanksgiving to work." (“For as prayer brings the answer, so the answer brings forth gratitude and praise. As prayer sets God to work, so answered prayer sets thanksgiving to work”) (Bounds). I am reminded of the lyrics of the gospel hymn "Blessed People": "Those who gain strength from the Lord, with the highway of Zion in their hearts, are the blessed people of God. The Lord is so pleased with them..." When we feel weak and powerless, let us pray to our Lord. Surely, He will give us strength, just as He did for David, and He will strengthen us. And by receiving that strength, I pray that we may give heartfelt thanks and praise to the Lord.
Secondly, the reason David thanked and praised the Lord with all his heart was because the kings of the earth also thanked and praised the Lord.
Psalm 138:4-5: "All the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, O Lord, when they have heard the words of Your mouth. They will sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord."
Why did the kings of foreign nations, like David, thank and praise the Lord? The reason is that the glory of the Lord is great. God's glory was not only revealed through David, but also through David to the kings of the nations. How was God's glory revealed to the kings of the foreign nations through David? It was revealed through the Lord’s word. In other words, God gave the promise to His beloved David and, by fulfilling that promise, revealed His glory to the nations. The prophet Isaiah says: "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah 60:1-3). As God's glory is revealed throughout the world, seeing His glory, the kings of the nations come to the Lord’s light and brightness. By revealing His glory through David, the kings of the nations also saw God's glory and gave thanks and praise to the Lord. I pray that God would reveal His great glory through you and me in this dark world, so that the people of the world will be moved to give thanks and praise to God. When this happens, we will, like David, not be able to help but give thanks and praise to God.
Thirdly, the reason David gave thanks and praised the Lord with all his heart was because he believed that the Lord would save him, the humble one.
Psalm 138:6-7: "Though the Lord is on high, He looks upon the lowly, but the proud He knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life; You stretch out Your hand against the anger of my foes, with Your right hand You save me."
Our God, though He is on high, looks upon the lowly. The phrase "looks upon" here means that God sees them with special love. But the question is: are we the lowly, the humble ones? One thing is certain: because of the humble Jesus, God looks upon us, the proud, with special love. What an amazing grace! This grace of God was especially evident when the humble David was in trouble. God, in His grace, preserved David's life in the midst of trouble. In Psalm 71:20, it says: "You who have shown us many troubles and calamities will revive us again; You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth." And the Lord, with His mighty right hand, struck down the proud ones, David's enemies, and delivered him from their hands (138:7). Even though we may be afflicted in trouble, like David, we must trust in the kindness and faithfulness of God, who looks upon us with special love. Our God is never one to abandon us when we are in trouble. Indeed, our God is the one who, through His promised Word, will preserve us and strengthen us. He strengthens our hearts through His Word. Therefore, even in the midst of suffering and persecution, He enables us to endure and, in the end, defeats the proud ones, our enemies, and saves us from their hands. David praised and thanked God because he trusted in the Lord, even though his circumstances were difficult. In other words, even though he was in trouble, he looked to the God of salvation with faith and with confidence in His deliverance, giving thanks and praise to God. This should be our attitude as well. No matter what hardships we face, we must, like David, give thanks and praise to God with the certainty of salvation and with faith in His promises.
Lastly, the fourth reason that David gave thanks and praised the Lord with all his heart was because he believed that the Lord would complete what was related to him.
Psalm 138:8 says: "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands." Here, one thing to note is that in the original Hebrew, the word "concerns" (His purpose) is not present. Therefore, if we translate this verse literally, it should be translated as: "The Lord will complete for me." So, what exactly is the Lord going to complete for David? In other words, what does "what concerns me," or "His purpose," mean according to this translation? It refers to the promise that God made to David in 2 Samuel 7. That is, God appointed David as the ruler over Israel, made his name great, promised to give a place for the people of Israel, gave them peace, and promised to build God’s house through David’s descendants. God also promised that David’s house and kingdom would be preserved forever, and his throne would remain steadfast. Therefore, David prayed: "O Lord God, now confirm forever the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, and do as You have spoken" (v. 25). This promise of God speaks of the Messiah who will come through David’s descendants, and through that Messiah, God’s kingdom, or the true Israel, will be established.
So how does this promise to David apply to us as New Testament believers? In other words, what will the Lord complete for you and me? It is our salvation. Let’s look at Romans 8:30: "Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." That’s why Paul says in Philippians 3:20-21: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself." This is the completion of our salvation: when our lowly bodies are transformed to be like the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must praise the Lord with gratitude, holding on to this hope of salvation. Also, while living on earth, we should rely on the faithful Lord who gave us this promise. We, too, must live our faith with the same confidence Paul had: "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
Because of the Lord’s mercy and faithfulness, we must thank and praise God with all our heart. More specifically, we should thank and praise God because He answered David’s prayer, gave him strength, and made him strong (Psalm 138:3). Another reason is that the kings of the earth gave thanks and praised the Lord (v. 4-5). Furthermore, David believed that the Lord would save the humble (v. 6-7), and he also believed that the Lord would complete what He had promised concerning David (v. 8). For these reasons, we too should thank and praise God with all our hearts.
With a heart of thanksgiving and praise to God,
Pastor James Kim
(As we live in the Lord’s mercy and faithfulness)