"The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly." (Psalm 118:14-15)
Last time we learnt that our struggles in life teach us to look to God as our rescue. That He alone is the one who can pull us out of the troubles of our life. As the psalmist continues, we now learn three results of God helping us. Let us look closer at them.
We Are Filled With Joy (vv 14-15)
Verse 14 is taken from the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:2. In its original context, Moses was giving praise to God for Him delivering the nation from the hands of the Egyptian army at the crossing of the Red Sea. The Exodus is the main event of the Old Testament that many, if not all, of the Old Testament writers looked backed to one way or another in their writings. It is seen as the ultimate example of God saving His people.
The psalmist here had obviously been through such a life changing rescue in his life, therefore he too saw God as his strength, song and salvation. Whatever the circumstances were in his life, he praised God for it. Words and feeling that obviously resonated with the people of Israel that they began to use this psalm in their own prayer life and sang it at Passover every year.
All of us have been rescued by God from something in our lives, including our sin. God is our strength, song and salvation too. Therefore, our hearts are also filled with joy for what He has done for us.
He is Glorified (vv 16-18)
As a result of what God has done for him, the psalmist vows to tell others about "the works of the Lord" (v17). It is also interesting to note that although the psalmist initially declared that his trouble was coming through the hands of his enemies, he actually recognises this as being discipline from God (v18). As John Calvin notes "The main thing in adversity is to know that we are laid low by the hand of God, and that this is the way which He takes to prove our allegiance, to arouse us from our torpidity [sluggishness], to crucify our old man, to purge us from our filthiness, to bring us into submission and subjection to God, and to excite us to meditate on the heavenly life."
Ultimately, it is God who is in control, and He gets the glory. Not only at the time of His rescuing us, but also as we go forward in our lives telling others about His rescue.
Entry Into His Presence (vv 19-21)
As a result of the nation's rescue from her enemies, Israel had the joy of being able to come before God at the temple in Jerusalem. Through the Passover, the nation of Israel were able to worship God in a way that no other nation could.
However, to enter the temple was not something to be treated lightly. Each worshipper had to check the state of their heart and make sure it was right before God. In old Testament times, this was only possible through ritual bathing and the offering of sacrifices. Now, as a result of Christ's death on the cross, all of us can come before God and worship Him. All we have to do is to repent of our sin and believe and trust in Him, then we will have the benefit of entering His presence. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us just before encouraging us to approach the throne with confidence, God will judge the thoughts and intentions of our hearts(4:12-16).
So far in Psalm 118 we have seen that God's mercy should be our continual song of praise (vv 1-4), that because we do not see salvation as our greatest need, God reminds us through allowing difficulties in our lives (vv 5-13), which when He rescues from them, He becomes our strength, song and salvation, for which He is glorified (vv 14-21). Let us go forth with this song of praise in our hearts and mouths.
Just a Thought!
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