And the Praise Goes On
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Sometimes, praise comes out of nowhere, spontaneous or planned, and it’ll burst forth in the midst of the mundane events of every day life. Maybe you’re sitting at the mall, enjoying some Sbarros Pizza or some greasy Chinese food. Maybe praise to God will burst forth while you’re at work, sitting at home, or hanging out with friends. Or maybe, like David, you’ll find yourself at the end of a life full of walking with God in the ups and downs, through the good and bad, praising God all the same.
Psalm 18 is a psalm of praise. It begins with praise and ends with praise. It’s characterized by a deep love for God and a high view of God. And it continues. David’s praise just goes on and on and on and on. David praises the Lord with a great claim and praises Him for a wide kingdom.
Psalm 18 shows us that praise is deep and high, great and wide. And the praise goes on...
In the second half of this psalm, David makes an absolutely blatant claim of his own righteousness. A lot of people bristle when they read this; it doesn’t seem to fit the theme of praise to God. What it seems to be is David praising himself, David praising David. But we know that’s not the case.
Look with me at verses 20-29:
20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.
Some of these phrases make me terribly uncomfortable. I was raised, as were you, I’m sure, to avoid speaking highly of yourself.
It’s rude to be arrogant. We shouldn’t brag on ourselves. I never had the problem of being more athletic than anyone else, so I never was tempted to brag on myself where sports or physical events were concerned. I couldn’t ever rub in how I schooled someone in basketball or ran circles around them on the football field. That wasn’t me; it couldn’t be said, even if I was stretching the truth.
But academically, it’s always been a temptation. I was even in the habit of correcting a few of my teachers; granted, they were wrong…but, all the same, they didn’t need a snot-nosed kid rubbing it their face. I once told my high school government teacher that I was smarter than her. Not good.
No one likes the person who brags. So when David says things like: “The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness” or “I am not guilty of turning from my God” or “I have been blameless before him”, it’s as off-putting as a kid bragging about how smart they are or how good they are at this or that.
But David’s claims here can’t be read in light of our cultural understanding. We can’t say, “Come on, David! You’re being a poor sport. Let’s try a little humility.”
David praises the Lord by making:
A Great Claim
A Great Claim
What we find here in Psalm 18 (also, remember this is in 2 Samuel 22) is what we saw in Psalm 17: not boasts of self-righteousness, but professions of loyalty and overall obedience. He’s not claiming sinlessness, but he is denying faithlessness. He lives in obedience to God and lives under God’s Word.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
He’s loyal to God. And he’s obedient to Him.
If David was being boastful and self-promoting, some of what he says would be contradictory; some of what he says wouldn’t make any sense:
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
If David was just bragging and boasting, the Lord would bring him low. But this isn’t the case; David isn’t bragging.
If David were bragging or thinking too highly of himself, he probably wouldn’t go on to proclaim that all his sufficiency comes from God:
28 You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.
David knows it’s God who keeps him and helps him and empowers him. David is asserting his faithfulness and his loyalty, but also praising God’s faithfulness and God’s covenant loyalty (LORD=Yahweh, the Covenant-Keeping God).
Some Christians (myself included) are hesitant to make such claims of personal faithfulness: “The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness” or “I am not guilty of turning from my God” or “I have been blameless before him”.
If you’re hesitant, I’m tempted to say, “Rightly so.”
As Dale Ralph Davis puts it: “For by grace, we have become painfully aware that our own hearts are bottomless cesspools of iniquity; our minds and imaginations will ponder any filth; our motives we find are twisted and self-serving; what seems our most laudable designs are often quests for self-deification (making ourselves God).”
A regenerated person easily begins to see the pervasive and pathetic corruption of their own soul. All this makes me weary of speaking about “my righteousness.”
It’s good we have Psalm 18. It might bring a proper balance to our perspective. And maybe it will make us more willing to acknowledge and live with yet another paradox. Let’s illustrate with a few of our friends from the New Testament.
Do you remember what Paul had to say near the end of his life before Nero finished him off?
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
That’s a pretty blatant claim to righteousness. Yet the same Paul had previously said this:
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
This is Paul the Christian speaking. And he definitely says, “I am the worst,” not ‘I was’ or ‘I used to be’, but “I am the worst [sinner].”
Let’s think of Peter. When Jesus told Peter to put out into deep water and let down his nets after a long, fish-less fishing trip and Peter ended up catching more fish than he knew what to do with, what did Peter say?
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
“I am a sinful man.”
Beside that verse, put Luke 18:28
28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
Peter said this after Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler who couldn’t leave his wealth. Peter says, “See, we left our homes and jobs and families to follow you.” It’s matter-of-fact.
Two statements, very different; both true. “I am a sinful man…and I’ve left all I had to follow you.”
The people of God throughout history live in a similar paradox. God’s people know they aren’t perfect, but they can claim that they’re walking in basic 1st-2nd Commandment devotion (they have no other God and they are worshipping Him alone).
Both our sinfulness and our faithfulness may stand side-by-side.
It’s like the old spoof, the Celebrity Roast line, where I’d say something like: “Some of the finest people I’ve ever met are right here in Rich Hill, Missouri. Unfortunately none of them are here with us this morning.” Two affirmations, both true, but opposites of one another (and, of course, a joke).
Both our sinfulness and our faithfulness stand side-by-side. If we are Christians, this is where we stand. On the one hand, we admit how extensive and overwhelming our corruption is (scumbags); on the other, we contend that by grace we are still holding fast to and following our Savior (righteous).
No one really likes the thought of being a scumbag or being called a scumbag, so let’s call ourselves “Righteous Scumbags”. “Scumbag” should keep us from pride; “Righteous” should save us from despair.
Along with David, we can make a great claim to righteousness without bragging, without being arrogant.
We rightly praise the Lord and the Holy Spirit for leading us in paths of righteousness.
What’s more, where our righteousness fails (and it will), where there are gaps in our righteousness (and there are; large gaps. Our righteousness looks like a slice of Swiss cheese for all the holes)—where our righteousness fails, we have the perfect, spotless, matchless righteousness of Christ imputed to us, credited to our account.
We can claim a righteousness of our own and a righteousness that’s not our own.
By faith in Christ, we make this great claim as we praise our Lord and Savior.
>And the praise goes on:
30 As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way secure.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he causes me to stand on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You make your saving help my shield,
and your right hand sustains me;
your help has made me great.
36 You provide a broad path for my feet,
so that my ankles do not give way.
None of this psalm is startling to you if you’re familiar with the overall narrative of the Bible, if you’ve read throughout the Old Testament about the coming kingdom.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is a song of David’s based on David’s experience with and relationship to the Lord. We need to step into David’s sandals and go back to square one.
When David became king, it was a pretty pathetic start. Saul had taken his own life and so David and his men moved to Hebron (south of Jerusalem). There, in Hebron, the men anointed David as king over Judah.
At this point, it could be argued that the Lord Yahweh’s chosen king now reigns. But it’s not much of a kingdom; David reigns over exactly one tribe. In Hebron. One measly little, backwater town.
It doesn’t look like this is going to amount to squat, let alone anything worth singing about.
If you remember this, then the content of David’s praise is shocking. Somehow, in some way, at some point in time, the mustard-seed sized kingdom of David is going to become a:
A Wide Kingdom
A Wide Kingdom
David starts out by praising God for what God has already accomplished. In verses 30-36, David belts out praise to God, saying God’s way has been perfect. The Lord has given David strength and stability and success.
And then, in verses 37-42, the focus is on what David has/will accomplish by means of God’s help. David has been equipped—he’s been armed with strength, kept secure; the Lord has made his feet like a deer and has trained his hands for battle; the Lord has provided a broad path. And now, equipped as he is, David pursues his enemies and finishes them off, shattering them, annihilating them, trampling them:
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You armed me with strength for battle;
you humbled my adversaries before me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
to the Lord, but he did not answer.
42 I beat them as fine as windblown dust;
I trampled them like mud in the streets.
David is incredibly successful militarily. He’s victorious. All this, because of what the Lord has done for him.
We can’t hear the tone of David’s voice, but imagine his surprise when he realizes the scope of the kingdom the Lord is building.
43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
you have made me the head of nations.
People I did not know now serve me,
44 foreigners cower before me;
as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
45 They all lose heart;
they come trembling from their strongholds.
David is the head, not just of Israel, but of nations (plural, many). People he didn’t know now serve him; foreigners cower before him, obey him, and surrender to him. David’s kingship is not just Israel-wide; it’s international in its scope.
David’s kingship, his victory over his enemies, is a wide as his praise.
46 The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Savior!
47 He is the God who avenges me,
who subdues nations under me,
48 who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from a violent man you rescued me.
49 Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing the praises of your name.
David’s praise goes as far as his kingdom does—to the nations.
If all of this makes you think, “Boy, all this has to be about someone besides David,” you’re exactly right. Even David realizes this as he’s singing:
50 He gives his king great victories;
he shows unfailing love to his anointed,
to David and to his descendants forever.
David’s praise concludes by confessing the steadfast love (hesed) of the Lord is not confined just to David, but to David and his descendants forever and ever, in keeping with His promise.
We know from reading 1-2 Kings that the kings of David’s line were a mixed lot of good kings and bad kings, more bad than good. Most of the kings were nothing more than faithless bums.
Still, there was a non-negotiable element in the Lord’s covenant to David (the Promise-Making God is the Promise-Keeping God): the Lord would somehow establish David’s seed and throne forever.
And so, David and the other faithful ones looked with faith to that day when the True Representative of David’s line would have worldwide rule and the ends of the earth as His possession. David wouldn’t live to see the day when the True King sat enthroned, but he knew it was a-comin’. David believed the Lord and took Him at His word; after all, His word is flawless.
So, for those with ears to hear and eyes to see, it’s quite clear: the wide kingdom of Psalm 18 becomes the worldwide Kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ. As John has envisioned in his revelation:
15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
From the line of David, Jesus has come and He will have the praise of a “great multitude [of people] that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb…singing in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”
We look forward to and work for a wide kingdom, a worldwide kingdom, knowing all the kingdoms of this world belong to God and to His Christ.
And so we burst forth in glorious praise to the One who reigns forever and ever!
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