A song. A Psalm of David. My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my being.A Song. A Psalm by David. My heart is steadfast, God. I will sing and I will make music with my soul.A Song or Psalm of David. O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.A Song, a Psalm of David. My heart is fixed, O God; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises, even with my glory.
6 sermons cite this verse
… psalm opens with this this loud praise and confidence we're gonna come back here in a minute he says i will sing and make melody with all my being Mm-hmm. but the psalm doesn't end there, and it doesn't stay there. In fact, it kind of feels like there's two psalms here, and we'll talk about why in a minute. By the time we get to verses 10 and 11, he says, who will bring me to the fortified city? Who's going to lead me up against my enemy, Edom have you not rejected us oh God you do not go out oh God with our enemies he's saying God we're going out against our enemies and it feels like you've rejected us it feels like you've tossed us out to the wolves and then you just walked away where are you why aren't you helping us Let's do this. and before we go farther in the psalm we know this feeling right maybe it's a persistent conflict somewhere in your family or there's some frustrating dynamics at work that just linger months over months over months and make it so hard or it's a friend who keeps disappointing you even after lots of hard conversations There's more and more pain. …
… before, you'd be right. Wow, they're so familiar. I wonder if they're in here twice. Well, they are in here twice. Psalm 108, verses 1 through 5. So, you have your Bible. Look at there. Verses 1 through 5 are taken almost word for word from Psalm 57, 7 through 11. Now, hold on. We'll go to Psalm 57 in just a moment. And then 108 verses 6 through 13, so the second half of Psalm 108, is taken almost word for word from Psalm 60 verses 5 through 12. Now, you notice the superscription says a Psalm of David. It may be that David put these two halves together or that someone later put the two halves together, but those other Psalms are both from David. And so, it's given the title of David. But what we'll see in just a moment is Psalm 108 consists virtually identically with the conclusion of two other psalms. And so, we're left scratching our heads and thinking, why? Why have a psalm that appears to be redundant? We already have all of these words in the conclusion of 57 and the conclusion of 60, and now we've mashed them together for Psalm 108. …
THE Believer in Christ sees much more than any other man sees. There is a proverb which says, "Seeing is believing," but that is not true, for there are many things that we see, which, if we are sensible persons, we shall notbelieve, since our eyes are very apt, indeed, to be deceived, and optical illusions are very common. If you turn the proverb around the other way and say, "Believing is seeing," you will often find it come true. The man who has believed has "the evidence of things not seen" as yet. He is like Moses who is described as "seeing Him who is invisible." Faith is to a man like new eyes—eyes with a far wider range of vision than natural eyes ever have—eyes which see the Truths of God, which natural eyes often do not—eyes which wax not dim, but which, as age increases, grow yet more bright and farseeing! Blessed is the man who has the eyesight of faith! Elisha had it and, therefore, when he saw the hosts of Syria, with their horses and chariots encompassing the city of Dothan, he also saw the angelic hosts with their horses and chariots of fire which God had sent to guard him from the Syrians. The eyesight of faith produces, in the man who possesses it, a calm and quiet frame of mind. Elisha's servant said, "Alas, my master!" but Elisha did not say, "Alas, my servant!" for there was nothing to cause him to be alarmed. The servant said, "What shall we do?" but his master said nothing of the kind—with those horses and chariots of fire visible to his eyes, he had no need to be dismayed and no reason for asking the question, "What shall we do?" It is a grand thing to have a calm, serene frame of mind, so as not readily to be put out of temper and to grow angry, or to become depressed and anxious, but to possess one's soul in patience and peacefulness. This is to be a king among the sons of men! When others are driven here and there, like the thistledown upon the hillside, this man stands like the royal oak in the midst of the tempest, too deeply rooted to be easily swept away. He is the man who is not "afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." He can say, with David, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise." And he is of the same mind as that Psalmist who said, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth is removed, and though the mountains are carried into the midst of the sea." Oh, that we all had these eyes of faith, that we might enjoy such calm, quiet patience as Elisha enjoyed! If we could see what Elisha saw, we would be as quiet and serene as Elisha was. But most men have not this calmness of mind because they have not the spiritual eyesight which would bring it to them. The narrative before us, if we use it as a kind of illustration, will help us to realize the blindness of those who as yet have not had their eyes opened. And I trust that it will also lead us to admire the rich Grace of God which has been manifested in those of us who have had our eyes opened that we may see the things of God. …
Further, do not let it be your trouble because it leads to evil to your fellow Christians. They see your mournful face and they are very apt to catch the infection. Some of you remember dear old Mr. Dransfield, our beloved elder who has gone to Heaven. Whenever he used to come into this building, it was like the shining of the sun! On a Lord's-Day morning when he came into the vestry, if it was a heavy, foggy morning, he would say to me, "Well, my dear Pastor, the morning is not very bright, but we can be very happy in our souls even on such a morning as this is. The fog cannot get into our hearts, blessed be God!" And then he would be sure to tell me some cheering thing that had happened during the week—some soul had been converted—or something that would help to gladden us all before we began the service. I have heard of deacons who have always been sure, on the Sabbath morning, to tell the minister any unpleasant thing that had happened during the week—so as to depress his spirit in order that they might feel duly miserable under his ministry during the rest of the morning. Never do that, Brothers and Sisters, but be bright and cheerful for the sake of your fellow Christians. I always think there is quite enough misery in the world without my making any more. There are more than enough wild beasts to howl in this wide wilderness, so I need not do any howling. Let us be among the people of whom it is written, "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them." As God's great caravan of saints goes traveling through the Sahara of this world, let them make the clarion of holy joy ring out triumphant notes till the desert itself shall "rejoice even with joy and singing." …
Am I His, or am I not?" is to be in continual unhappiness! The man who is in such a state as that may be safe, but he cannot have joy and peace. He must be weak, trembling and tossed to and fro, like the waves of the troubled sea when it cannot rest. It is only when we can say with David, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise," that there is the music of deep and lasting joy in the songs that we send up to Heaven! Let me add that you may confidently hope to attain this assurance of knowledge because so many others have already done so. I have reminded you of Philip, John and Paul, but such knowledge as this was not confined to the Apostolic age—it is at this moment the priceless privilege of tens of thousands of Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ! If I were now to say, "Let all those Brothers and Sisters who know that Christ is theirs stand up and testify to this fact," I believe that the bulk of this congregation would at once rise! And I pray that you weaker ones, you timid and trembling souls may seek Him who can work this great Grace in you, also, so that you, too, may be able to say as positively as Philip did, "We have found Him." Now I am going, with the Holy Spirit's help, to suggest a few reflections for those to bear in mind who can say, "We have found Him." And the first is this—IF WE HAVE FOUND CHRIST, HE MUST HAVE FIRST FOUND US. …
"Let cares like a wild deluge come, And storms of sorrow fall"— His faith still points to Heaven! His trust is fixed on Jesus! Whatever else may move, he remains firm and steadfast, and he cries as David did when he was hunted by Saul as a partridge upon the mountains, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed! I will sing and give praise." I do not know whether your experience is similar to mine, but I find myself, on the whole, more equable in spiritual things than I used to be. When one has known the Lord for 14 years, one can look back over a considerable period and, taking such a survey as that, I can discover certain times when I had great bursts of exhilaration, great heights of holy joy, followed by deep sinking of spirit and utter prostration of soul! I still have both those experiences at times, but not often, either of them, now. On the whole, I find my soul calmly and quietly resting upon the promises of God—neither unduly delighted at the prospect of the joys of Heaven nor too much depressed by the cares of the world, the responsibilities of my ministry, or the sin that still troubles me—simply resting upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, having few doubts and fears, and comforting assurance of salvation, but not so much of the ecstatic rapture that was one of the characteristics of my early faith. I suppose that this is the condition of many Christians and I am inclined to regard it as one of the evidences of growth in Grace when we become more equable in our spiritual temperament. Children are very much excited over matters which a full-grown man scarcely notices. And the spiritual child is swayed here and there by many winds which have little or no effect upon one who has come to the full stature of a man in Christ Jesus. …