Weekly Devotional 14th of March 2025
by Bruce Billington
We will continue our series on hearing God through the Psalms by examining Psalm 138, a Psalm of David’s.
Psalm 138:6-8 – For though the LORD is exalted, Yet He regards the lowly, But the haughty He knows from afar. 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. 8 The LORD will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
Despite being the Almighty God, far above all, He still shows respect for the lowly. While we should indeed exalt and praise God for this, we must also be cautious. He regards the lowly as precious; all their cries and prayers ascend to Him, and He will take action if they are exploited. They may struggle with their own self-esteem, but they are highly esteemed in His eyes. In contrast, He has no respect for the haughty. He keeps them at a distance (Verse 6), and His actions towards them are destructive – they will receive no blessing from Him.
David was confident that any trouble that surrounded him would not overtake him. He was convinced that God would revive Him, meaning preserve his life, as he faced his enemies. Why did David have such confidence? Because he was convinced that God would complete the purposes God had for his life. We find that the apostle Paul stood on the same promise for himself and us when he said,
Philippians 1:6 – “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Such promises are accessible to everyone who is in Christ, which means that we should also be confident in Him as David and Paul were. We need to understand that we serve a God so great that He takes our enemies’ evil intentions and uses them to accomplish His plan for us (Genesis 50:20). He works everything together for good for us (Romans 8:28). We should never allow fear or doubt to rule or take control of our hearts (2 Timothy 1:7). Often, our sorrows serve as a way for God to capture our full attention. Spurgeon says,
Adversaries may be many, and malicious, and mighty; but our glorious Defender has only to stretch out his arm and their armies vanish. The sweet singer rehearses his assurance of salvation, and sings of it in the ears of the Lord, addressing him with this confident language. He will be saved,—saved dexterously, decidedly, divinely; he has no doubt about it. God’s right hand cannot forget its cunning; Jerusalem is his chief joy, and he will defend his own elect.
Spurgeon then breaks into poetry to proclaim the promise that he has embraced.
“The work which his goodness began,
The arm of his strength will complete;
His promise is yea and Amen,
And never was forfeited yet.”
The fact that we have given our hearts to God through Christ signifies that He has established a covenant with us—one that He is committed to fulfilling. This covenant does not solely apply to the Davids and Pauls among us; it is bestowed upon every individual in Christ. In fact, it was instituted on this earth before we even arrived here (Ephesians 2:10).
So, what should we do? We should press on to what we believe God has called us to do, knowing that the Holy Spirit is working within us to change us from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18) and empower us to achieve God’s purposes in our lives.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington