Psalms 56:8 - Meaning and Application

Several things David used to comfort himself with in his distress and fear.

First, he took comfort in knowing that God paid close attention to all his troubles and sorrows (Psalms 56:8). God noticed every hardship in his life. David was still a young man, under thirty, yet he had already moved many times, from his father’s house to the court, then to the army camp, and now he was driven to keep moving from place to place, without rest. He was hunted like a partridge on the mountains, with constant fear and weariness. Still, this comforted him: God kept an exact record of all his movements and counted every tiring step he took, day and night.

God sees all the sufferings of his people. He does not push away from his care and love those whom people have pushed out of their company. He also sees every mark those troubles leave on their hearts. David had often been weeping while wandering, so he prayed that God would put his tears in his bottle, kept safe and remembered. He was sure his tears were already in God’s book of remembrance.

God has both a bottle and a book for his people’s tears, whether those tears come from sin or from suffering. This means two things. First, God looks on them with compassion and tender care. He is hurt in their suffering and knows their hearts in trouble. Just as the blood and deaths of his saints are precious to him, so are their tears. Not one will fall to the ground unnoticed. He said to Hezekiah, “I have seen your tears” (2 Kings 20:5). He heard Ephraim grieving for himself (Jeremiah 31:18).

Second, God will remember those tears and review them later, as people go back over written accounts. Paul remembered Timothy’s tears (2 Timothy 1:4), and God will not forget the sorrows of his people. The tears of God’s persecuted people are stored up and sealed among his treasures. When those books are opened, those records will become bowls of wrath poured out on the people who caused the tears. God will surely judge them for every tear they forced from his people’s eyes. But for God’s mourners, those same tears will become a source of comfort. Their sorrow will be turned into praise. God will comfort his people according to the time he has afflicted them, and those who sow in tears will reap in joy. What was planted as a tear will come up as a pearl.

Second, David trusted that his prayers would help defeat and confuse his enemies, as well as strengthen and encourage him (Psalms 56:9). He says, “When I cry to you, then my enemies will turn back.” He needed no other weapons than prayers and tears. He knew this because God was for him, to defend his cause, protect him, and rescue him. If God is for us, who can stand against us and win?

God is for his saints, and they may know it. When enemies surround them, they must cry out to him. If they do this in faith, they will see God’s power at work for them. Their enemies will be driven back. This is especially true of spiritual enemies, against whom we fight best on our knees (Ephesians 6:18).

Third, David’s faith in God lifted him above fear of man (Psalms 56:10, Psalms 56:11). He repeats, with strong feeling, what he had already said: “In God I will praise his word.” That is, he would firmly trust God’s promise because of the One who made it, who is true and faithful and has enough wisdom, power, and goodness to keep it. When we trust a man’s promise, we honor the man who made it. In the same way, when we act and suffer for God while depending on his promise, without doubting it, we give glory to God. We praise his word, and so we praise him.

After placing his trust in God, David looks with holy disregard at the threats of men: “In God I have put my trust. I will not be afraid of what man can do to me” (Psalms 56:11). He knew very well what men would do if they could (Psalms 56:1, Psalms 56:2), yet he would not fear them. The apostle later put this same confident word into the mouth of every true believer, making each one a Christian hero (Hebrews 13:6). We too may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper,” and then we need not fear what man can do to us, because man has no power except what God allows from above.

Fourth, David knew he was bound to God (Psalms 56:12). “Your vows are upon me, O God.” He did not mean them as a heavy burden crushing him, but as a badge he was glad to wear, a sign that he belonged to God as his servant. They were not like chains that trapped him, as superstitious vows can be. Rather, they were like a bridle that kept him from what would harm him and guided him in the path of duty. These were the vows David had made to God, not only witnessed by God, but made with God himself, who had commanded and encouraged him to make them.

He may especially mean the vows he made in his time of trouble and fear, vows he would not forget after the danger passed. It should be a matter of both thought and joy for us that God’s vows are upon us, including our baptismal vows, renewed at the Lord’s table, and our other vows made in times of conviction or correction. By these, we are bound to live for God.

Fifth, David knew he would still have more reason to praise God. “I will render praises to you.” This was part of keeping his vows, since vows of thankfulness should go with prayers for mercy, and when mercy comes, those vows must be fulfilled. When we think about what we should give back to God, this is the least we can decide on, to give him praise. Poor returns for rich gifts, yet still fitting.

He will praise God for two things. First, for what God had already done for him (Psalms 56:13). “You have delivered my soul from death,” that is, from death which was about to seize him. If God has delivered us from sin, either by keeping us from doing it through preventing grace or by pardoning it through merciful forgiveness, then we have reason to say he has delivered our souls from death, since death is the wages of sin. If we were dead in sin by nature and have been made alive together with Christ, then we have reason to say God delivered our souls from death.

Second, he praises God for what he expected God to do. “You have delivered my soul from death, and so you have given me new life, and with that you have given me a promise of more mercy, that you will deliver my feet from falling.” God has done the greater thing, so he will surely do the smaller. He has begun a good work, so he will carry it on and finish it. This can be taken either as a prayer, with David appealing to his past experience, or as praise, with David raising his expectations. Those who know how to praise in faith will thank God for blessings promised and in sight, as well as for blessings already received.

Here we see what David hoped for, that God would keep his feet from falling, either into sin, which would wound his conscience, or into the appearance of sin, which would give his enemies a chance to wound his good name.

Those who think they are standing firm must be careful not to fall, because even the strongest person can stand only as long as God supports them. We are weak. Our path is slippery, there are many stumbling blocks along it, and our spiritual enemies work hard to push us down. So we should trust ourselves to God’s care through faith and prayer, since he is the one who keeps the feet of his people.

What he builds this hope on is this: “You have delivered my soul from death.” In doing that, God has shown his power and goodness, and he has also put the believer in a place to receive more mercy from him. So the psalmist reasons, in effect, “Will you not now protect and complete your own work?” God never brought his people out of Egypt only to destroy them in the wilderness. In the same way, he who saves the soul from so great a death as sin in conversion will not fail to keep it for his heavenly kingdom.

What he aims at with these hopes is this, “That I may walk before God in the light of the living.” That means, first, that I may reach heaven, the only land of light and life, because in this world darkness and death rule. It also means that I may do my duty while this life lasts. We should aim for this in all our prayers for deliverance from sin and trouble, that we may serve God all the better. When he frees us from our enemies, we should use that freedom to serve him without fear.