1. Make a joyful noise unto God. “In Zion,” where the more instructed saints were
accustomed to profound meditation, the song was silent unto God, and was
accepted of him: but in the great popular assemblies a joyful noise was more
appropriate and natural, and it would be equally acceptable. If praise is to be
widespread, it must be vocal; exulting sounds stir the soul and cause a sacred
contagion of thanksgiving. Composers of tunes for the congregation should see
to it that their airs are cheerful; we need not so much noise, as joyful noise.
God is to be praised with the voice and the heart in holy exultation. Happy the
day when all the earth will adore the Creator thereof. All ye lands. The
languages of the lands are many, but their praises should be one.
2. Sing forth the honor of his name. The noise is to be modulated with tune and time, and
fashioned into singing, for we adore the God of order and harmony. The honor of
God should be our subject, and to honor him our object when we sing. It is our
glory to be able to give God glory. Make his praise glorious. Let it
arise with grandeur and solemnity before him. The pomp of the ancient festivals
is not to be imitated by us, under this dispensation of the Spirit, but we are
to throw so much of heart and holy reverence into all our worship that it will
be the best we can render. Heart worship and spiritual joy render praise more
glorious than vestments, incense, and music could do.
3. Say unto God.
Turn all your praises to him. Devotion, unless it be resolutely directed to the
Lord, is no better than whistling to the wind. How terrible art thou in thy
works. The mind is usually first arrested by those attributes which cause
fear and trembling; and, even when the heart has come to love God, and rest in
him, there is an increase of worship when the soul is awed by an extraordinary
display of the more dreadful of the divine characteristics. Till we see God in
Christ, the terrible predominates in all our apprehensions of him. Through
the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee;
but, as the Hebrew clearly intimates, it will be a forced and false submission.
Power brings people to their knees, but love alone wins the heart. Tens of
thousands, both in earth and hell, are rendering this constrained homage to the
Almighty; they only submit because they cannot do otherwise; it is not their
loyalty, but his power, which keeps them subjects of his boundless dominion.
4. All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto
thee. Everyone must prostrate themselves
before thee, but a time will come when they will do this cheerfully: to the
worship of fear will be added the singing of love. They shall sing to thy
name. The nature and works of God will be the theme of earth’s universal
song, and he himself will be the object of the joyful adoration of our
emancipated race. Acceptable worship not only praises God as the mysterious
Lord, but it is rendered fragrant by some measure of knowledge of his name or
character. God would not be worshiped as an unknown God, nor have it said of
his people, “Ye worship ye know not what.” May the knowledge of the Lord soon
cover the earth, so that the universality of intelligent worship may be
possible. Throughout all Old Testament writings, there are intimations of the
future general spread of the worship of God. Perverted Judaism may be
exclusive, but the religion of Moses, and David, and Isaiah was not so. Selah.
A little pause for holy expectation. No meditation can be more joyous than that
excited by the prospect of a world reconciled to its Creator.
5. Come and seethe works of God. Such glorious events as the cleaving of the Red Sea are
standing wonders. Even till the close of all things they will be the subject of
meditation and prayer. He is terrible in his doing toward the children of
men. For the defense of his church and the overthrow of her foes he deals
terrible blows. Remember the scattering of the Canaanites before the tribes.
This same God still lives, and is to be worshiped with trembling reverence.
6. He turned the sea into dry land. He who did this can do anything, and must be God, the
worthy object of adoration. The Christian’s inference is that no obstacle in
his journey heavenward need hinder him, for the sea could not hinder Israel,
and even death itself will be as life. They went through the flood on foot.
Through the river the tribes passed dry-shod; Jordan was afraid because of
them. There did we rejoice in him. Faith casts herself bodily into the
past joys of the saints, and realizes them for herself in much the same fashion
in which she projects herself into the bliss of the future, and becomes the
substance of things hoped for. Israel’s joy was in her god; there let ours be.
It is not so much what he has done, as what he is, that should excite in us a
sacred rejoicing.
7. He ruleth by his power for ever. He has not deceased, nor abdicated, nor suffered defeat.
The prowess displayed at the Red Sea is undiminished. His eyes behold the
nations. As he looked out of the cloud upon the Egyptians, so does he spy
out his enemies, and mark their conspiracies. Let not the rebellious exalt
themselves. The proudest have no cause to be proud. Could they see
themselves as God sees them they would shrivel into nothing. Where rebellion
reaches to a great head, and hopes most confidently for success, it is a
sufficient reason for abating our fears, that the Omnipotent ruler is also an
Omniscient observer. “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and
exalted them of low degree.” Selah. Pause again, and take time to bow
low before the throne of the Eternal.
8. O bless our God, ye people. You who are chosen, it is yours to bless your covenant God
as other nations cannot. First visited by his love, you should be foremost in
his praise. And make the voice of his praise to be heard. Whoever else
may sing with bated breath, you should give full tongue and volume to the song.
Compel unwilling ears to hear the praises of your covenant God. Make rocks, and
hills, and sea, and heaven itself to echo with your joyful shouts.
9. Which holdeth our soul in life. At any time the preservation of life, and especially the
soul’s life, is a great reason for gratitude, but much more when we are called
to undergo extreme trials which of themselves would crush our being. And
suffereth not our feet to be moved. If God has enabled us not only to keep
our life, but our position, we are bound to give him double praise. Satan is
put to shame, for instead of being able to slay the saints, as he hoped, he is
not even able to trip them up.
10. For thou, O God, hast proved us. He proved his Israel with sore trials. David had his
temptations. God had one Son without sin, but he never had a son without trial.
Why ought we to complain if we are subjected to the rule which is common to all
the family, and from which so much benefit has flowed to them? The Lord himself
tests us; who then will question the wisdom and the love which are displayed in
the operation? The day may come when, as in this case, we shall make hymns out
of our griefs, and sing all the more sweetly because our mouths have been
purified with bitter draughts. Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
Searching and repeated, severe and thorough, has been the test; the same result
has followed as in the case of precious metal, for the dross and tin have been
consumed, and the pure ore has been discovered. Since trial is sanctified to so
desirable an end, ought we not to submit to it with abounding resignation?
11. Thou broughtest us into the net. The people of God in the olden time were often enclosed by the
power of their enemies, like fishes or birds entangled in a net; there seemed
no way of escape for them. The only comfort was that God himself had brought
them there, but even this was not readily available, since they knew that he
had led them there in anger as a punishment for their transgressions; Israel in
Egypt was much like a bird in the fowler’s net. Thou laidst affliction upon
our loins. God’s people and affliction are intimate companions. As in Egypt
every Israelite was a burden-bearer, so is every believer while he is in this
foreign land. We too often forget that God lays our afflictions upon us; if we
remembered this fact, we would more patiently submit to the pressure which now
pains us. The time will come when, for every ounce of present burden, we shall
receive a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
12. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. Riding the high horse, in their arrogance, they, who were
in themselves mean men, treated the Lord’s people as if they were the meanest
of mankind. They even turned their captives into beasts of burden, and rode
upon their heads, as some read the Hebrew. Nothing is too bad for the servants
of God when they fall into the hands of proud persecutors. We went through
fire and through water. Trials many and varied were endured by Israel in
Egypt, and are still the portion of the saints. The fires of the brick-kilns
and the waters of the Nile did their worst to destroy the chosen race, but
Israel went through both ordeals unharmed, and the church of God has outlived
and will outlive the cruelties of man. Fire and water are pitiless and
devouring, but a divine fiat stays their fury, and forbids these or any other
agents from utterly destroying the chosen seed. Many an heir of heaven has had
a dire experience of tribulation; the fire through which he has passed has fed
upon the marrow of his spirit, and burned into the core of his heart. Yet each
saint has been more than conqueror hitherto, and, as it has been, so it will
be. But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. God, who took them
into Egypt, also brought them into the land which flowed with milk and honey,
and Egypt was in his purposes en route to Canaan. The way to heaven is via
tribulation. The depth of our griefs bears no proportion to the height of our
bliss. Glory be unto him who saw in the apparent evil the true way to the real
good. With patience we will endure the present gloom, for the morning is
coming.
13. I will.
The child of God is so aware of his own personal indebtedness to grace that he
feels he must utter a song of his own. He joins in the common thanksgiving, but
since the best public form must fail to meet each individual case he makes sure
that the special mercies received by him are not forgotten, for he records them
with his own pen, and sings of them with his own lips. I will go into thy
house with burnt offerings. The usual sacrifice of godly men. Even the
thankful heart dares not come to God without a victim of grateful praise. Never
attempt to come to God without Jesus, the divinely promised, given, and
accepted burnt offering. I will pay thee my vows. He would not appear
before the Lord empty, but at the same time he would not boast of what he
offered, seeing it was all due on account of former vows. After all, our
largest gifts are but payments. When we are released from trouble, and can once
more go up to the house of the Lord, we should take immediate occasion to
fulfill our promises. How can we hope for help another time, if we prove
faithless to covenants voluntarily entered upon in hours of need?
14. Which my lips have uttered, or vehemently declared—blurted out. What we were so eager
to vow, we should be equally earnest to perform. And my mouth hath spoken.
He had made the promise public, and had no desire to go back; an honest man is
always ready to acknowledge a debt. When I was in trouble. Distress
suggested the vow; God in answer to the vow removed the distress, and now the
votary desires to make good his promise. It is well for us to remember that we
were in trouble: proud spirits are apt to speak as if the road had always been
smooth for them, as if no dog dare bark at their nobility, and scarce a drop of
rain would venture to besprinkle their splendor; yet these very upstarts were
probably once so low in spirits and condition that they would have been glad
enough of the help of those they now despise. All people have trouble, but they
act not in the same manner while under it; the profane take to swearing and the
godly to praying. Both bad and good have been known to resort to vowing, but
the one is a liar unto God, and the other a conscientious respecter of his
word.
15. I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings. The good person will give his best things to God. No
starving goat upon the hills will he present at the altar, but the well-fed
bullocks of the luxuriant pastures. He who is miserly with God is a wretch
indeed. With the incense of rams. He would offer the strength and prime
of his flocks as well as his herds. Of all we have we should give the Lord his
portion, and that should be the choicest we can select. It was no waste to burn
the fat upon Jehovah’s altar, nor to pour the precious ointment upon Jesus’
head; neither are large gifts and bountiful offerings to the church of God any
diminution to our estate. I will offer bullocks with goats. A perfect
sacrifice should show the intense love of the heart. We should magnify the Lord
with the great and the little. None of his ordinances should be disregarded; we
must not omit either the bullocks or the goats. In verses 13–15 we have
gratitude in action, not content with words but proving its own sincerity by
deeds of obedient sacrifice.
16. come and hear.
Before, they were bidden to come and see. Hearing is faith’s seeing. They saw
how terrible God was, but they heard how gracious he was. All ye that fear
God. These are a fit audience when a good person is about to relate
experience, and it is well to select our hearers when inward soul matters are
our theme. We do not want to furnish wanton minds with subjects for their
comedies, and therefore it is wise to speak of personal spiritual matters where
they can be understood. And I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
Testimonies ought to be borne by all experienced Christians, in order that the
younger and feebler sort may be encouraged by the recital to put their trust in
the Lord. To declare human doings is needless; they are too trivial, and,
besides, have trumpeters enough. Let each speak for himself; secondhand
experience lacks the flavor of first-hand interest. Let no mock modesty
restrain the grateful believer from speaking of himself, or rather of God’s
dealing to himself, for it is justly due to God; neither let him shun the
individual use of the first person, which is most correct in detailing the
Lord’s ways of love.
17. It is
well when praise and prayer go together. Since the Lord’s answers so frequently
follow close at the heels of our petitions, and even overtake them, it becomes
us to let our grateful praises keep pace with our humble prayers. The psalmist
did both cry and speak; the Lord has cast the dumb devil out of his children,
and those of them who are least fluent with their tongues are often the most
eloquent with their hearts.
18. If I regard iniquity in my heart. If, having seen it to be there, I continue to gaze upon it
without aversion, if I cherish it, The Lord
will not hear me. Can I desire him to connive at my sin, and accept me
while I willfully cling to any evil way? Nothing hinders prayer like iniquity
harbored in the heart; as with Cain, so with us, sin lies at the door and
blocks the passage. If you refuse to hear God’s commands, he will surely refuse
to hear your prayers. An imperfect petition God will hear for Christ’s sake,
but not one which is willfully mis-written by a traitor’s hand. For God to
accept our devotions, while we are delighting in sin, would be to make himself
the God of hypocrites, which is a fitter name for Satan than for the Holy One
of Israel.
19. But verily God hath heard me. The answer to his prayer was a fresh assurance that his
heart was sincere before the Lord. See how sure the psalmist is that he has
been heard; it is with him no hope, surmise, or fancy, but he seals it with a verily.
Facts are blessed things when they reveal both God’s heart as loving, and our
own heart as sincere. He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. He
gave his mind to consider my cries, interpreted them, accepted them, and
replied to them, and therein proved his grace and also my uprightness of heart.
Love of sin is a killing sign, but those prayers which evidently live and
prevail with God most clearly arise from a heart which is free from dalliance
with evil. See to it that your inmost soul is rid of all alliance with
iniquity, all toleration of secret lust or hidden wrong.
20. Blessed be God.
Be his name honored and loved. Which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his
mercy from me. He has neither withdrawn his love nor my liberty to pray. He
has neither cast out my prayer nor me. His mercy and my cries still meet each
other. The psalm ends on its key note. Praise all through is its spirit.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
