Psalms of Thanksgiving consists of a rich biblical genre, expressing gratitude not merely through words, but through praise, action, and covenantal loyalty to God. The psalter has a five-book seasonal structure with various festival connections explaining how the genres overlap to meet the full range of human experience. Thanksgiving Psalms such as Psalms 18, 30, 32, 40, 66, 107, 116, and 138—celebrate God's deliverance by acknowledging His interventions and responding with committed acts of worship, like Hannah's dedication of Samuel. Psalm 18 serves as a primary example portraying David's life.
Those of you who have been around for a while know that I really like the Psalms. There is just so much there that's interesting, intrigues my mind, and I've liked it so much that to date I've given about 40 sermons on various aspects of the psalter. Most of those Psalms that I gave were part of my very long running series one I guess it was a series in 5 parts that I gave at various times, but they were on the 5 books of the Psalms, but I've also done a couple, a few. Several deep dives into particular Psalms like I did the sermon on the Psalms, Psalm 22 through 24 how it, uh. Compares to what happened at Christ's death. I've done 4 Psalms on Psalm 51 a Bible study on 55, Psalm 55. I did another one on Psalm 83. I did 4 different sermons at various times on Psalm 90, which is my favorite. I've done, uh. Psalms on the halal, which is Psalms 113 through 118. I've done three sermons on Psalm 119. I've done a sermon or so on the Psalms of ascent, which is 120 through 134, and I did a Bible study that I gave around everywhere. Uh, I travel on Psalm 133. I just am intrigued by them, I guess maybe as my literary background they are all poetry they are all very uh. Imaginative, metaphorical and just bring out a lot of different ideas and emotions. So, like I said, there is just so much to learn from them. But I thought I would go back to. My normal introduction when I do something about the Psalms because I find that having this understanding makes it easier to place things in the Psalms so I'm going to give you a very quick run through of how the the 5 books of the Psalms are uh. Arranged theologically as well as just as it is in scripture. But like I said, the Psalms are divided into 5 books, and they correspond to the 5 seasons of the Hebrew year. Now, You would think spring, summer, fall, winter, that does 4. Well, how do you, the Hebrews get 5? Well, their seasons were mostly centered around the various feasts of the year, so they cut spring into two basically if you want to put it that way. So you had the Passover season, which was the first, then you had Pentecost season, the second, then you had summer, which is a long. The long dry season of the year. Then you had the fall fall festival seasons with trumpets, atonement Feast of Tabernacles and the 8th day, and then you had the winter months centered around the, the feast of Purim. They also correspond, that is the five books of of the Psalms correspond to the five books of the Pentatuch, the five books of the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and each one of the Psalms has a corresponding festival scroll in Hebrew, they are called collectively the Meguillot M E G I L L O T H Meguillot. They are the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. And finally, The last 5 Psalms 4 146, 147, 148, 149, and 150 are the summary psalms collected at the end of of the final book of each book in order. So the first book of Psalm corresponds to the summary psalm of 146. The second book of Psalms corresponds with 147, and so forth. So Because you have these, all these, these correspondencies, correspondences between these various things, we can perceive general themes that run through the five books of Psalms. These same themes are the same are the same themes as the seasons of the year, the festivals that are in that season, the books of the Torah that match that particular book, the festival scroll that matches that book, and of course the summaries that are linked to it. For instance, just give you an example. Book one. Which is linked with the Passover. And Genesis and the Song of Songs deals with beginnings. And deliverance. And salvation. And sacrifice book one also includes several prophecies and allusions to Christ's human life. Uh, several Messianic Psalms there in the first book. For another, another example, book 3, which is the summer book, uh. Corresponds with Leviticus and its content and the Book of Lamentations. The main, what we, what you call, I wouldn't call it a holiday or festival, but the main day in that summer season that the Jews observe is the 9th of Ave and that day is when the temple fell twice. And it's a. A day of mourning of lamentation, of grief over the loss of the temple and you can see how that that might fit with especially the festival scroll of lamentations now it's right there in the name. So, book 3 tends to, to say a lot about correction and tribulation and devastation, and it has a lot in there too about the temple and the tabernacle. So there are ways to study these books one by one along with the particular festival and festival scroll to and the book of the Pentatu as well to really pull out a lot of of guidance instruction from the particular the particular books. So this approach makes for a tiny package and a real workable method of understanding the book. However we are going to add another layer here to this, this time, and Talk about types of songs or genres of palms. These Genres or types are throughout the five books. None of them have a, a corner on any of the types of Psalms but they are another way to approach the study of the Psalms. These are literary categories. When commentators or scholars of of one stripe or another look at the Psalms, they try to categorize it as a certain type of Psalm, um. And there are dozens or more of these categories. Uh, early on they tried to group them into a few categories and found after more study that. They they did not fit real well. You had to shoehorn some of them in there uh, after a while they said this psalm needs a whole another category and there is these other 568, 12 psalms that are a lot like it more like it than these other ones that we've been placing in these categories. So let me just give you 12. I'll give you a dozen of these genres or categories of Psalms and. I think you'll be impressed to see how wide ranging they are, how, how different they can be. So we will start with on a downer. There are psalms of lament. Another going to the other side of the spectrum, there are Psalms of praise. There are Psalms of Thanksgiving, that's 3. There are Psalms of petition. That's 4 Then, like all Israelite things, there are Psalms of complaint. That's 5. There are also this is 6 imprecatory Psalms. Now that's a word that you need your your your Latin roots about 4, but basically imprecations are curses or request for divine. Uh, destruction upon one's enemy. So you, you plea, you, you make a plea to God to destroy your enemy. So that's imprecatory Psalms, I M P R E C A T O R Y, imprecatory or curse Psalms. Number 7 is penitential Psalms or Psalms of repentance. 8 is would be royal psalms, Psalms of the monarchy, Psalms having to do with David and his line. Number 9 is Psalms of trust or faith. Psalms that show reliance upon God. Number 10 is Psalms of wisdom. Where the psalmist is trying to teach you more practical, practical things about what to do. Uh, 11, this is probably one that you had in mind. Psalms of Messiah. Messianic Psalms. And then there are several. Historical songs where the the psalmist sings about. Um, things that happened in Israel's past and comes to a conclusion and uh urging the people to, to have faith in God. Oftentimes these Psalms, uh. Talk about God's Sovereignty over the nations also about his creative power and his miracles in behalf of Israel. So that's the 12. I'll go through them very quickly. Lament praise, Thanksgiving, petition, complaint. Imprecatory or curse Psalms, penitential or repentance Psalms, Royal Psalms, Trust Psalms, wisdom Psalms, messianic Psalms, and historical Psalms. And believe it or not, They can be divided into even more categories. I gave you a dozen but scholars are continually adding, you know, subcategories or other categories to these lists. Uh, they have added in the last couple decades Torah Psalms, creation Psalms, enthronement Psalms, prophecy Psalms, Zion Psalms, pilgrimage Psalms, and, and others there the ways of people categorizing the Psalms is, I think, endless. What makes it worse is that these categories often go by various names, 234 different ways that they describe them, but they are the same Psalms. So that's why I said penitential Psalms repentant Psalms, that's a pretty easy one where they would call them two different very similar names. Uh, and. Make it even more confusing. Many of these psalms are placed in multiple genres, multiple categories, since the categories overlap a great deal. For instance some psalms you can place in. Uh, the royal, the Messianic, and the historical categories because they have elements of all of them. Um, some Psalms have praise, thanksgiving, and trust all through them. Where do you put them? Well, Uh, throw them in the one they think it, it is the the most uh. Valid for that, but. You know it's just it's just very personal same with has to do do with lament Psalms, imprecatory psalms and penitential Psalms. They are are often put in the same categories. And but there is a reason for this. We have to understand that the Psalms are not academic. Even though the commentators and the scholars and the intelligentsia among the theologians try to make them academic. The psalms were meant to be used. The psalms were meant to be sung. The songs, Psalms were meant to be studied. By God's people and uh. Wisdom taken from them. And just as life throws different problems and situations at us, the Psalms give us diverse songs to help us through them. Cause they are eminently helpful. Especially to our emotional state when we are going through various situations in life. And one Protestant pastor that I read an article from. Suggested as had his website, his website is called Restitutio. Quote, the best way for you to use the Psalms is to ask yourself how you're feeling. What are you going through? Are you in desperate need for deliverance? Read the Psalms of petition. Are you sad and looking to boost your confidence? Read the Psalms of trust. Are you seeking to expand your praise vocabulary? Look for psalms in the praise or enthronement categories. Are you having an existential crisis and asking why God doesn't help you? That's what the Psalms have complained her for. You get the idea, unquote. Well, since we have just celebrated another Thanksgiving Day, we are just 2 days away from that, I decided to give you some meat in due season and speak about Psalms of Thanksgiving. We will by no means get through all of them. In fact, we are not even going to scrape the surface of Psalms of Thanksgiving, but I hope at least to get your feet wet, as it were in this genre of Psalms by touching on a few of them. And we are actually going to go outside the Psalms and, and look at one or two that are elsewhere. They're really not Psalms of Thanksgiving. They are more like prayers or songs of Thanksgiving because they are not in the Psalms. That, that just makes a whole lot of sense. OK. There seems to be a general consensus. That's Psalms 18. 30 32 40 66 92 107 116 118 and 138 should be considered psalms of Thanksgiving. I'll give you that list quickly. 18,303,240 66 92107 116, 118, and 138. Others like Psalm 4, Psalm 9. Psalm 34, Psalm 64. Psalm 124. And a few others are also found on various genre lists as Thanksgiving Psalms, but I'm going to concentrate on that first list because those are the ones that are the consensus picks as Psalms of Thanksgiving. Now the reason for the disagreement is the differences in the definition of what Thanksgiving is or what a Thanksgiving psalm should look like. So when you have different people and they define things differently, they are going to come up with different conclusions on which Psalms or Thanksgiving psalms, but I gave you the ones first that have the the most. Uh, picks as it were most people think are actually Thanksgiving psalms, so some fit the criteria better than others. OK, all scholars. seem to agree that a thanksgiving psalm includes some form of thanks. Isn't that incredible? They agree on that. Some sort of thanks or gratitude usually it's for an answered prayer or some sort of deliverance they are in a tough spot and they cried out to God and God gave them an answer he heard from his his throne and bent down and helped. And so the person who has helped feels obligated then to give thanks. Obviously when somebody does something nice for you, you should give thanks. Uh, children should be taught that from an early age to say thanks, thanks or thank you to people who do them uh a service. We taught our kids even before they could speak we gave them the American Sign Language, uh. You know, we told them thank you do that to people who give you something. We taught them how to say thank you. But sometimes. In the Thanksgiving Psalms it's not enough just to try to find the word thanks or thank you or thanksgiving or gratitude or some sort of word of appreciation in the Psalm because sometimes it's not there, which of course now you understand a little bit better why some people think Psalms are palms of Thanksgiving or Psalms of something else when they do not see the the word thanks in there. So, we have to remember at this point that the Psalms are poetry. I mean just face it, you hated poetry in in high school. You did not wanna read Shakespeare or, you know, Walt Whitman or or some other, you know, English poet like Lord Byron and, uh. So you have this feeling of, of near hatred for poetry. I do not know who likes poetry? But a lot of the Bible is poetry, and you have to have at least some understanding and knowledge of how to read poetry and interpret poetry so that you can get the most out of it. So as poetry, the Psalms in their wording or expression of gratitude, it's not always cut and dried. Uh, you know, dear God the Father, thank you very much for what you did. It sounds like a, a card we might send for some, you know, somebody giving us a gift. You're not going to find that in the Psalms. It's not going to be that, that, uh. Uh, plain. Or pedestrian, it's going to be something more colorful more imaginative, uh. You know, David's great at Blowing up something, we will read one a little bit later where you know God intervened for him. Yet David treats it like God. He did so many miracles. He was right there on the scene. He rode a car to get there and then he, you know, the, the earthquake and you know. All these miracles were done. You know, he smote his enemies, you know, all this stuff, we will see it that's in Psalm 18 when we get to it, but Uh, it's, it's uses such high language that you have a hard time seeing the gratitude in it by because of all the description and the way he is, he is talking about what God did. So sometimes I, I would say we could say frequently the thanks in a lot of these psalms takes the form of actual praise. Where the word of word of thanks or gratitude is not even mentioned, but you know, I will praise thee O eternal. That has an element of thanks in it, even though it on the surface looks just like. You know, giving God glory. So it's either a form of praise. A form of giving God glory a form of blessing. I will bless thee most high, um. But it doesn't ever very rarely say I will thank you. Because it's put in a little bit different way and we will get to some of the reasons for this later on. So you're very. Infrequently going to see any kind of common thanks. It's going to be a little bit higher level. Uh, let's go to Psalm 30 and just see the this, uh. In the 1st 4 verses of Psalm 30. This is actually a kind of a template for a lot of the songs of praise, at least these 1st 4 verses. Now this actually has 2. Instances of God saying thank you or of David saying thank you to God or saying that he would say thank you to God, but it doesn't appear right away. Psalm 30:1, I will extol you. OK, there is a new one. I will extol you, oh Lord, for you have lifted me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. So God has done something here. He's lifted David up so that he would be over his foes. He would prevail over his foes and instead of saying thank you, he says, I will extol you. Verse 20 Lord my God, I cried out to you, and you have healed me. Oh Lord, you have brought my soul up from the grave. You have kept me alive and I that I should not go down to the pit. So here he's been sick, and God has heard his prayer and he has healed him. Sing praise to the Lord verse 4, you saints of his, and here it is, finally, verse 4, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. So we do get here an actual word of thanks. Where it's right there in the scripture and we can't avoid it. Obviously, this is a psalm of Thanksgiving. Now, let's go to verse 12 and we see this repeated in a way to the end that my glory may sing praise to you and not be silent. Oh Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever. So I just wanted to go here because this was one. This is a Psalm where it plays out really easy to understand that it is a a psalm of of Thanksgiving. So thanks are in there. In some of these psalms but not in others. Now another thing to be aware of in Thanksgiving Psalms is that they are closely tied to giving offerings and making vows. Now, you have to know something about the Hebrews, Hebrew language and that sort of thing. The Hebrews were big on actions. Rather than words. Um They would express their thanks by doing something. Now, what can you do for God? I mean you could be obedient in that sort of thing and sometimes that's mentioned in in these Thanksgiving psalms but if they were going to show it and show it publicly the thing that they would most likely do would be to bring a thank offering before God. And so in a lot of Thanksgiving psalms you see the people expressing their thanks not by saying oh thank you thank you thank you God I'm really grateful for what you've done no they would actually bring an animal for sacrifice and thank God with this offering this sacrifice to, to praise him and thank him for something that he has done in intervening in their lives. So they, they were more inclined to show their thanks than necessarily to express it with their mouth. So this is another reason why the words we expect in a Thanksgiving psalm like thanks or gratitude or some sort of thankfulness may be absent because of the Hebrew the general Hebrew personality where. The thanks is expressed in an action, not in a word. Now you have to understand I've mentioned this several times down through the years that Hebrew is a very solid concrete language it's grounded in. In the physical, in natural imagery, and natural action. They they are not many words in Hebrew that express total mental ideas and notions, concepts they are usually described in in concrete terms. You know, we, we would think like just pull one out of, out of my head, uh. The process of sanctification you're not going to find that in in the Old Testament. Those words you may find make make holy or sanctify every once in a while, but that's because we are influenced by Greek and we put those words back in to translate. Hebrew concept they would say walk. Or something along that line. That's our path, that's, you know, God making us holy and. They put it in terms of something you can see, you can understand. They do this all the time. It's a very grounded language in in concrete things. Unlike Greek, which is based more on ideas and nuances of thought and emotion and non-material, even physical con philosophical concepts. And so God balances out his word with one language that's very physical and grounded and another language that is very mental and, and more philosophical for lack of a better term. So we get both and both play off the other. And in this way, Hebrew Thanksgiving is shown in acts of obligation. Done because of what God has done. Since God has done something in terms of a blessing or an intervention that brought deliverance, they are then obliged. To do an action in return. They've got to balance the scales, if you will, with another of the corresponding action. They can't really balance the scale, but because this is a covenantal relationship where the two parties are in an in an agreement to for mutual help and support to get to a certain end. Well, if one does something, then the other is obliged to do something. So The Hebrews look at it this way and instead of saying, you know, just out of their mouth which can be kind of trite after a while they actually do something and it's usually an an act of obligation and that act act of obligation is usually some sort of sacrifice some sort of giving up something. Um, In order to Let God know that you're in it with him. You thank him very much so. Thanks may not be spoken, but expressed by explicit action. Of some sort or another. OK, let's see a great example of this. It is not in the Psalms it is in 1 Samuel, verse 2, chapter 2, excuse me, this is one of those songs of Thanksgiving. Uh, done by Hannah. After she bore Samuel. We're going to read Hannah's prayer here. It's a prayer of thanksgiving. And it, it should teach us a lot about the Hebrew mind and the way that these Thanksgiving Psalms work, so we are going to read the 1st 11 verses, and Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the Lord, and there is none beside you, nor is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly. Let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty man are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, and those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the baron has borne 7, and she who has many children has become feeble. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap to get them among princes to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lords, and he has set the world upon them. He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength no man shall prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces. From heaven. He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of His anointed. Then Elkana, that's Hannah's husband, went to his house in Rama, but the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. OK, this is Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving for God opening her womb and burying Samuel notice how she dwells on God about how he changes things. He takes the low and makes them high. He takes the the poor and makes them rich and you know vice versa for both of those he. Is the agent of change as as she sees him here because he's sovereign, he can do everything he can see what what is needed to happen and by her petition to him. He was made aware, if you want to want to say of her lowly condition she was feeling humiliated she had no sons and she asked him to change that and he did. He took her from being barren to being a producing mother. And that changed her status in society at the time and so she's praising him, but did you notice any word of thanks? Zilch, not one in that whole prayer. No, she said she would praise him, right, and her heart was rejoicing. Because of what he had done, but you know, there is, there is no thanks, no gratitude as we would see it. Now we get a hint of it. In verse 11, but if we want to see it fully, let's go back to chapter one. And verse 20. This is after she had actually prayed to God and Eli had seen her and thought she was drunk, but she was praying this, this prayer that she would have a son. Verse 2. So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked for him from the Lord. And the man Alca and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow, but Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, I will not go up until the child is weaned. Then I will take him that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever. And Alan, her husband said to her, Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him, only let the Lord establish his word. So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with 3 bulls, 1 Ifa of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord and Shiloh, and the child was young. Then they slaughtered a bull and brought the child to Eli, and she said, O my Lord, as your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the Lord. She's talking to Eli. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition, which I asked of Him. Therefore, Notice that therefore, because of what God had done. I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he shall be lent to the Lord, so they worshiped the Lord there. OK. Remember what I said about Hebrews and they are wanting to do things, do specific actions as explicit actions rather than just say thank you, that was not enough. They felt a great obligation. After especially a miracle of of this consequence. And so Hannah deemed it. Worthy of a sacrifice of a bull, that that's a big sacrifice. So they came and brought it there before the Lord at Shiloh and And offered it to him there but she went a step farther than that, and she gave her son to God, the one who had come from her womb as a blessing because she had been barren. Talk about a sacrifice. Talk about expressing your gratitude. I asked for him. You gave him. Now I'm going to thank you by giving him back to you. Hannah was a remarkable woman. The entire series of events we see here in chapter one. Is her act of gratitude, her act of of of expressing her gratitude to God. She came to Shiloh. She came and appeared before God. She gave an offering and then she gave her son. In service to God at the Tabernacle for his entire life. Would you be willing to give that much in gratitude? Makes you think, doesn't it? All of that was her expression of thanks, and in her prayer of thanksgiving, she doesn't even mention thanksgiving. Jesus talks about how how happy she is and how much she loves God for all that he does. Puts a different emphasis on things, I think. And this is a Shown in some ways in the Psalms of Thanksgiving in in the Psalms itself. OK. If you read a Thanksgiving psalm, then, And do not see a word of gratitude. Within that song If you read it close enough. You do not even necessarily need to read between the lines. I do not think you'll see that the attitude of Thanksgiving is there. And it's probably shown as some sort of physical action or some verbiage of of praise and rejoicing. As they extol. The Lord OK, now we are going to look at one of these. Uh, Thanksgiving Psalms before we finish, we are going to start with Psalm 18. We start, we are going to only go to Psalm 18. Now if you look at Psalm 18 and it has 50 verses, do not quail and say we will be here till midnight. I'm not actually going to go over all the verses here. I just want to give you the, the gist of what we are dealing with in the Thanksgiving Psalms. OK, let's just start out by reading the first three verses, Psalm 18. I will love you, oh Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold, I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. OK, this is the introduction to this song. Now, if you know anything about these Psalms, you might know that this Psalm is also appears in II Samuel 22. And the commentators are just about unanimous that Psalm 18 is a Thanksgiving Psalm. Despite the fact that the word of the only word of gratitude is in verse 49. Which we see here. Therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name. And in the parallelism, giving thanks and singing praises are parallel, so they kind of mean the same thing. Now It follows the format of other Psalms of Thanksgiving. That the textual studies by literary scholars have discovered this is a template you might say like what the other one we saw Psalm 30, very similar in the way they are arranged. So, Thanksgiving Psalms typically begin with an expression of praise. Here it's, I will love you, um, oh Lord. And the other one we saw, it was, I will extol you. Uh, others say I will praise you or something along that line. Very often it's not. I will thank you. Now notice, this is another little tidbit of of the formatting of these psalms. It says, I will praise you. I will extol you. I will praise you. It puts it in the future tense. It shows that because of what is, what has happened in the person's life, whether it's a blessing or some sort of deliverance that it has. Put them under obligation, so they are intending now. To do this into the future, I will extol you. I will praise you. I will love you. Because of this obligation they have because of what God has done, so this signals that the psalmist has received some blessing or intervention or help from God and being now under obligation, he will do something. He must do something. And here the intended act is to love the Lord. Now this is a strange one actually among the palms of Thanksgiving because this word love here, it's Raham Raham. It's the only time that word appears in the Old Testament that it is translated as love. Now it can't really be translated as anything else, um, in this particular context. Raham Means, it does mean to have great affection for or care for or loyalty for another, but most of the time when it's used, it's used to being to have compassion for somebody or to have pity. Because of their lowly state or their particular circumstance. Now you can't do that in terms of God. You can't have pity on God. He has everything. He's the best in everything. He, he can do anything he wants. You can't really have compassion on God. That's He's never in a state where he needs our help. So the only other way you can think about it is that, that you have affection. Or you will care for or you will be loyal for to to God. Now remember that loyalty is part of the covenant it we have a covenant obligation to God because he is loyal to us we have to be loyal to him. And so the uh. Normally it's, it's a different word. What's what's it I'm thinking off the top of my head and I can't think of the word, um, that is normally that. Uh, but David used Raham here and was obviously thinking about this covenant loyalty or love to God. 11, lexicographer in defining what this word meant here in this particular place. Defined it as to love deeply based upon the Based upon an association or relationship mani manifesting in acts of kindness. So he would be kind to the Lord, and he would be loyal to the Lord because of this association or relationship under the covenant that he would have. So love is better than compassion or pity as it could be. Because it implies a reciprocal obligatory affection or care for due to God's kindness toward David. Because God was kind to David, it was obligatory upon David to be kind to God. To have this affection and the way you are kind to God is to do what he says and to be loyal and faithful to him. And so this is the idea that's brought out here. Now the word is modified a bit. In verse 3 by the word call he says, I will call upon the Lord. So in verse 1, he says, I will love you, oh Lord, and then he says, I will call upon the Lord. This is part of his future action that he's going to do, and it is to come before God and ask him for things and that. Is kind of a A big word and not it's not a big word, it's a, it's a word that there are a lot of ideas expressed by it, uh. It stands for not just appealing to God for help, but engaging in other acts of worship and service. So when you call upon the Lord, say that's what Abraham did or Isaac, they called upon the Lord. Well, that doesn't mean they just asked him for things or they just uh. You know, praised him. It also meant that they did all the other things of worship that were necessary under. Uh, the covenantal relationship that they had. So when you see that in Genesis that Abraham called upon the Lord, it just does not mean he spoke to him. It means a whole basket of other things that he did as God's servant. Another thing that we should understand here. At least specifically to Psalm 18 because it appears in II Samuel 22 at the end of David's life, most commentators believe it does not thank God for only one instance of help. Rather, it thanks God for a lifetime lived in relationship with Him. And we could see this if we went through every verse in the chapter, he, he talks about all kinds of things that he has done God has done in his life. Now, let's think about that for a minute. Think about David. Think about his life, his, his life is pretty well documented from the time that he was a late teenager, you know, he's, he's out with his father's sheep he's fighting off bears and lions. He gets the call from Samuel to be the next king. He goes out. Delivering food to his brothers at the battle and he ends up fighting Goliath and killing Goliath and being the great victor and everybody loves David and then he, he starts having trouble with Saul because Saul gets jealous. David has his 10,000s, but poor Saul only has his thousands and so. You know, he gets a spear thrown at him for his efforts, and he spends all that time in the wilderness with Saul chasing him about. And then finally Saul dies on Mount Gilboa and David is made king, but he's not made king of all Israel, he's just the king of Judah and so he spends what is it 7 years as king of Judah before the rest of Israel figures out that he should be king of Israel and lots of stuff happens there between uh. Like Joe A and Abner and all that stuff you know, trying to put two kingdoms together and then you have all his sons and there is, well, let's start at the beginning, all his wives and then all his sons and all the the stuff that's happening there David fights battles all over the place expands Israel's borders, uh. As far up as, you know, to the Euphrates River and uh. He has great fame. And then he commits the great sin with Bathsheba and things we see start going down in his life. He numbers Israel. He, he has Absalom trying to take his throne. Shimi throws rocks at him and, and you know, various other things happens in his life, uh. And he has to deal with them. What I'm showing here is that. David's life was a series of highs and lows. I mean, probably if he had a week where nothing bad happened or nothing great happened, you know, he was good. It was like a vacation to him. But no, he had a life that was, you know, looked like the, the Richter scale or the, you know, during an earthquake. He just had a lot happen. But Psalm 18 or II Samuel 22, thanks God. Not just for the highs. But for all his life. And by the time he was dying, that they think that he probably wrote this psalm toward the end of his life. It really hit him that God was with him the whole way. God may have seemed not to be in the picture at certain parts. But in thinking Back to those times. He was made aware how much God actually was with him when he was in the dumps. And he brought him out of the pit time and time again. When he was sick, God was there. He healed him. He gave him all these wonderful things and He just saw how much he owed to God because he was there at all times. Didn't matter how David was feeling or whether he was high or low or or whether he had been blessed or thing or destitute or or what have you, God was always there. God heard him. So the tone. Of Psalm 108 Psalm 18 or II Samuel 22 is this idea of God's constancy in his life. And it's very much like Habakkuk 3. Let's go there. This is another prayer that's also a, a song of thanksgiving. Habakkuk 3. I just want to read verses 17 and 18 because Habakkuk puts it very plainly here. It's in figurative language, but the idea is the same. Though the fig tree may not blossom. Nor fruit beyond the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail. In the fields yield no food. Though the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk It doesn't matter what life is hurling at me at the moment. It may be the worst of times when we can't grow a thing and our animals keep dying and just nothing good is happening. Yet I'll rejoice in the Lord. He's saying, I will thank God. For his being with me. For helping me, for blessing me. It doesn't matter what my state is. This is God, and he's been with me. He's been taking me along the road that he wants me to go on and if he wants me to go on this road that's all rutted and, you know, washed out and makes me wish I had changed my shock absorbers. Then that's good, and I will rejoice in what he has done for me. That's the tone of Psalm 18. And what David is telling us, what Habakkuk is telling us is We need to thank God for his presence even when circumstances. Do not feel favorable at all. As a matter of fact, that's the best time to do it. Because Once he is aware that you are aware that he's the one that's sovereignly guiding your your your particular life and your particular circumstances, then he understands that you are humble. That you've given over. The responsibility for this to God and that you will do as He. wants you to do, you'll follow him no matter what. That's what he wants to see. Let's go back to Psalm 18. I do want to read verses 4 through 19 here. Just to give you a flavor of what what David is talking about how he's expressing his thanks without saying thanks, but just showing what God has done and how astounded he is at what God was willing to do for him. So 4 through 19 here in Psalm 18, the pangs of death encompassed me, and the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Shia surrounded me. The snares of death confronted me. He's on death's door. There is just no way he's going to avoid it. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry came before him, even to his ears. That went a long way, that prayer. It did not stop at the ceiling. It went straight to the very throne of grace. Verse 7. Notice how he describes God's reaction to hearing David's cry for help. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth, coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under his feet, and he rode upon a carabb and flew. He flew upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place. His canopy around him was dark waters and thick clouds in the skies. From the brightness before him, his thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out his arrows and scattered the foe, lightnings in abundance, and he vanquished them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the fountains of the world were uncovered. At your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils, he sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. Now, if you're a tried and true literalist, you would have a hard time finding this in history. But this is the Psalms. It's poetry. It's metaphorical. It's exaggerated for us to get a point. David is telling us here. That God was so eager to answer David's prayer that he moved heaven and earth to come to his aid. Nothing was going to stand in his way. He brought the whole force of his power to stand beside David and Mow down his enemies. Because he loved David. He delighted in that man. They were friends. They were in a relationship by the covenant. And God, or David was God's chosen king. And he wanted to do something for him. To take him from that depth of the pit of Shia and put him, bring him up safe, secure in a broad place where he could bless him. And he did it all because. He delighted him in it. He was pleased with David. David satisfied him. Because he trusted him Because he looked to him. For the help that he needed. All of this happened, David says, because. God felt something for him. Delight This word is uh. Happe, or something along that line, happesh, H A P E S in the guttural way that the Hebrews speak. It means to delight in or to take pleasure and to be satisfied with. In other words, God, God supported David because of his affection for the man. He loved him. God's affection and delight in David spurred then David's affection and loyalty to God and it kept going around in a big circle because when God saw his, his affection and loyalty, he delighted in him some more and blessed him and David then, you know, back and forth and back and forth. It was a mutual reciprocal arrangement of love. And service to one to the other. It did not end You want to know why David was a man after God's own heart. Because he reacted like God. He did not do it perfectly, obviously. But God's heart was a giving heart where he was going to bless and to give to David and David reciprocated it. He would bless and give to God what a man can give to God. Which is obedience and loyalty. He had a lot to learn. He had some pretty big mess ups during his life, but he always. Came back to God. I've sinned I've done wrong I owe you I have a great obligation to you and I'm going to do that by praising you by extolling you, by obeying you, about by being loyal to loyal to you like he says in the end of Psalm 51, I'll preach about you you know, you do not want sacrifices and all that. You want a broken heart. I'll give that to you. uh, I'll do all these things because I'm obligated to you for all that you've done. So they had a mutual loving relationship. David, as he says here at the beginning, I will love you, oh Lord, and the Lord said to David, I delight in you, David. And because they loved each other. They did things for each other, good things. The things that God can do for a man and the things that a man can do for God. That was the Thanksgiving. From David, David's point of view, he showed his thanksgiving by giving to God what he could. He was obliged to because God had given him so much. Now, this is why Paul can say in Colossians 3:14 that sacrificial love is the bond of perfection. Let's go read that paragraph. Colossians 3. Verses 12 through 17. Colossians 312 to 17. Therefore, as the elective God, now this is, this is where we come in here. After what we've just learned about God and David. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you were called in one body and be thankful. Notice in verse 17. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. All of these things. That we can do for each other in our own mutual relationship of obligation to one another. Ends in Thanksgiving. Be thankful You can be thankful when Your brethren are supporting you and you're supporting them. And the thanks ultimately goes to God the Father, for calling us and giving us this ability through his spirit and the example of Jesus Christ. To do these things. It's high level spiritual life, but that's what we are aiming for. As God's people We're aiming To replicate that covenantal relationship with God that we should have. With each other. You cannot separate the two great commandments. Love God, love neighbor. It all works the same. It all works together. God comes first, obviously he has the greatest power. He has the greatest love. He has the greatest sovereignty. He has all the things that we need and we love him and obey Him and do what we can and worship of him and then we are supposed to transform that relationship into our relationships with each other. Now it's among equals. And we give And they give Back to us. We give thanks They give thanks. We give kindness. They bestow kindness upon us. We give them mercy. They give us mercy back. We forgive them, they forgive us. You can go through this whole list. It's how it's supposed to work. So let's finish Back in Psalm 18. Verses 46 through 49. See how David concludes all this. Psalm 18:46, notice this, the Lord lives. Isn't that incredible? That was one of his conclusions. He knew God was alive and working. Why? Because he loved him. And David loved the the Lord. And it showed it expressed itself in David's life with God being there at every turn. He says blessed be my rock. Let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God who avenges me and subdues the people peoples under me. He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me, who have you have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name. God shows his people that he lives through his frequent marvelous acts of deliverance and blessing. It's an amazing thing to be able to say God did that and he did it for me. So we with David, must give thanks to God and let's all get up and sing praises to his name.
