A Song or a Psalm of David [Psalm 108] 

THIS PSALM is actually a mash-up of two of David’s previous psalms, Psalm 57:7-11 and Psalm 60-5-12. Another intriguing thing to notice is that the opening verses of this psalm are the closing verses of Psalm 57. 

The background of that psalm, as you may recall, was that David was hiding from King Saul in a cave at En Gedi. He begins this psalm where he left off in Psalm 57, and it appears that experience has become David’s teacher. He begins with praise first and moves into another difficult season . 

He sets a good example in doing that. If you recall, in Exodus, after being miraculously delivered from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, Moses and the Israelites sang this song: “I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war; The Lord is His name” (Exodus 15:1-3). In truth, Moses and the children of Israel could have sung this song on either side of the Red Sea. It was as true of the Lord before the sea parted as it was afterward. And this is what David seems to have learned and perhaps why he chose to open with the words of praise from a previous psalm: God is worthy of praise before deliverance comes. He is worthy of praise before the battle is won. He is worthy of praise before provision is given. What David seems to fully understand now is that God is worthy of praise because of who He is, not just because of what He does. 

As we make our way through this psalm, we’ll discover the same thing for our own lives. Let’s look at what Isaiah wrote: “ . . . Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.’ . . . ‘Praise the Lord, call upon His name; declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things. . . .” This is similar to what David has said in these verses, even though Isaiah wrote 300 years later. And you and I can say these exact same things as well, even though we are reading it 3,000 years later! Truth is unchanging. Our God is the way, the truth, and the life. What we read today is ours to appropriate and carry with us always, as these truths about who God is never change. 

We need to have a meeting as believers about how to live our lives with the mindset and manner that has been described here. “What kind of meeting?” you ask. Well, let’s call it a P.T.A. meeting! Why would we call it that? We’re going to be learning through the words of David how to have a vibrant Christian life. People often talk about being “on fire” for the Lord, and our P.T.A. meeting is going to show us what that looks like. The “on-fire” Christian life is one that is filled with Praise, Trust, and Action (P.T.A.), even in perilous times and in the face of adversity. There is much to be learned from David here, so let’s call this meeting to order and dig in! 

Excerpt from “Beside Still Waters” now available on Amazon.

BARRY STAGNER