Psalms 57:7 - Meaning and Application

How surprising the tone changes here. David’s prayers and complaints are suddenly turned into praise and thanks by the living power of faith. His sackcloth is gone, and he is clothed with joy, and his hallelujahs are as sincere as his cries for help were before. This should make us love prayer, because in time it will be turned into praise.

Notice, first, how he gets ready to praise God: “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed” (Psalm 57:7). His heart is uplifted, or lifted up, after being bowed down in the previous verse. His heart is fixed, first, with regard to God’s providence, meaning God’s wise ordering of all events. He is ready for whatever happens, because he is anchored in God (Psalm 112:7; Isaiah 26:3). If God’s grace brings us into this calm and settled state, we have great reason to thank him. His heart is fixed, second, with regard to God’s worship. He is ready to sing and give praise. This shows that the heart is the main thing in all worship. Nothing in religion is truly done well unless it is done with the heart. The heart must be fixed, prepared for the duty, and held closely to it, with full attention on the Lord and no distraction.

Next, notice how he stirs himself up to praise God (Psalm 57:8). “Awake up, my glory,” that is, my tongue, since our tongue is our glory, especially when it is used to praise God. Or it may mean his soul, which must be awakened first. Dull and sleepy devotion will never please God. We must rouse ourselves, and all that is within us, to praise him. The sacrifice must be lit with holy fire and rise like a holy flame. David’s tongue will lead, and his harp and lyre will follow in these songs of praise. “I myself will awake” means more than, “I will not be lazy or careless in this work.” It means, “I will be fully awake and lively, like someone just refreshed by sleep.” He will rise early for this work, beginning the day with God and praising him early when mercy first appears. When God comes toward us with his blessings, we should go out to meet him with our praise.

Then notice how he takes joy in this work and even delights in it (Psalm 57:9). He is not ashamed to admit his debt to God or his need for him. He resolves to praise God among the people and sing to him among the nations. This means, first, that his own heart was deeply moved and enlarged in praising God. He would make the earth ring with sacred songs, so all could see how much he owed to God’s goodness. Second, he wanted others to join him in praising God. He would spread God’s praise among the peoples so that knowledge of God, reverence for him, and love for him would spread, and the ends of the earth might see his salvation. When David was driven into foreign lands, he would not bow to their gods. Instead, he would openly declare his devotion to the God of Israel. He would carry his religion with him wherever he went, try to win others to it, and leave behind the sweet smell of it. In his psalms, which fill the whole church and will continue to do so, David is still praising God among the peoples and singing to him among the nations, because all God’s people use his words in worship. In that way, John, in his writings, is said to prophesy again before many peoples and nations (Revelation 10:11).

He then gives himself rich reasons for praise (Psalm 57:10). What had been the matter of his hope and comfort, that God would send out his mercy and his truth (Psalm 57:3), becomes now the matter of his thanksgiving. “Your mercy is great to the heavens,” that is, beyond what we can fully measure or describe. “Your truth to the clouds” means it is also beyond our full discovery, because no eye can reach what is hidden among the clouds. God’s mercy and truth reach to the heavens, because they will bring to heaven all who store up their treasure in them and build their hope on them. His mercy and truth are praised to the heavens, too, meaning by all the bright and blessed beings in the upper world, who are always lifting God’s praise to the highest place, while David on earth seeks to spread that praise as far as he can (Psalm 57:9).

Finally, he leaves it with God to glorify his own name (Psalm 57:11). “Be exalted, O God” is the same language he used in his prayers in Psalm 57:5, and here he uses it again in his praise, not as empty repetition. He is saying, “Lord, I want to honor your name, and I want all creatures to honor it. But what can even the best of us do? Take the work into your own hands. Do it yourself. Be exalted, O God.” In the praises of the church in heaven, God is exalted to the heavens, and in the praises of the church on earth, his glory fills the whole world. Yet he is above all the blessing and praise of both (Nehemiah 9:5). So David asks the Lord to exalt himself above the heavens and above all the earth. It is the same as saying, “Father, glorify your own name. You have glorified it already, glorify it again.”