Psalms 118:1 - Meaning and Application

It appears here, as often elsewhere, that David’s heart was full of God’s goodness. He loved to think about it, loved to speak about it, and wanted God to receive the praise while others received comfort. The more our hearts are moved by God’s goodness, the more ready we will be for all kinds of obedience.

In these verses, David first celebrates God’s mercy in general and calls on others to confess it from their own experience (Psalm 118:1). “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is not only good in himself, but good to you, and his mercy lasts forever.” It lasts forever in God himself, the never-ending source of mercy, and in the flowing streams of that mercy, which will run as long as eternity lasts. It also lasts in the people of mercy, who will stand forever as lasting signs of it.

Israel, the house of Aaron, and all who fear God were called to trust in God before (Psalm 115:9-11). Here they are called to confess that his mercy lasts forever, and in doing so to strengthen their trust in him (Psalm 118:2-4). Priests and people, Jews and Gentiles who had turned to God, must all own his goodness and join in the same thankful song. If they can say nothing more, let them at least say this for him, that his mercy lasts forever. They have known it all their days, and they can trust it for blessings that will last forever. The praise and thanks of all who truly fear the Lord are just as pleasing to him as those of the house of Israel or the house of Aaron.

David then gives an account of God’s kind dealings with him in particular, so others may take from it both songs of praise and support for faith, and in both ways God receives glory. David had passed through much trouble, and that gave him deep experience of God’s goodness. So we should notice, first, the great distress and danger he had been in, which makes God’s goodness to him in his present honor stand out even more. Many people, once lifted up, do not want to remember or speak about their low place before. David, however, took every chance to remember it.

He was in distress (Psalm 118:5), squeezed tight and unsure what to do. Many hated him (Psalm 118:7), and that would have hurt a man of a noble spirit who wanted the goodwill of all. “All nations surrounded me” (Psalm 118:10). The nearby nations around Israel set themselves against David when he had just come to the throne, including the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, and Ammonites. His enemies were all around him and tried to cut off every help. This attack is repeated in Psalm 118:11: “They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me.” That shows how harsh and forceful they were, and how for a time they were successful. When they were thrown into confusion, they gathered again and pushed their plan forward.

“They surrounded me like bees,” so many were they, so loud, so irritating. They came in swarms and attacked him with their stings. Yet in the end they brought about their own ruin, like a bee that loses its life when it stings. “Lord, how my troubles have multiplied” (Psalm 118:9). David was brought into trouble in two ways. One was by the harm men did to him (Psalm 118:13): “You, O enemy, pushed hard at me.” They made many violent attempts so that he might fall into sin and ruin. Satan is the great enemy who presses hard against us through temptation, trying to pull us down from our standing with God and from our comfort in him. If God had not upheld us by his grace, those blows would have destroyed us.

The other way was through the suffering God laid on him (Psalm 118:18): “The Lord has chastened me severely.” Men attacked him out of hatred, but God disciplined him for his good. They acted with the malice of enemies, but God acted with the tenderness of a father. David may be speaking about the same trouble, which God meant for his benefit, so that through it he might share God’s holiness (Hebrews 12:10-11). But the men who were used as instruments of that trouble did not mean good at all, “for it was in their heart to destroy” (Isaiah 10:7). What men plan for the worst harm, God often turns to the greatest good, and it is easy to see whose purpose will stand. God will make trouble serve his people’s good, since it is his discipline, and he will also protect them from the evil their enemies intend. Then we need not be afraid.

David’s account of his troubles fits our Lord Jesus very well. Many hated him, and they hated him without cause. They surrounded him, both Jews and Romans. They pressed hard against him, the devil in temptation, and his persecutors in mocking and abuse. Even the Lord chastened him severely, bruised him, and put him to grief, so that by his wounds we might be healed.

Second, we see the favor God showed him in his trouble. God heard his prayer (Psalm 118:5): “He answered me with wide-open spaces.” He did more for David than David was able to ask. He enlarged David’s heart in prayer and then gave even more than David desired. Another way to read it is, “He answered me and set me in a large place,” where David had room to act, room to enjoy himself, and room to prosper. That large place was all the sweeter because he had come to it out of distress (Psalm 4:1).

God also ruined the plans of David’s enemies. “They are quenched like a fire of thorns” (Psalm 118:12). Thorn fires flare up quickly, make a lot of noise and blaze brightly, but soon go out and cannot do the damage they threatened. So it was with the fury of David’s enemies. Their laughter is like the crackling of thorns under a pot (Ecclesiastes 7:6), and their anger is just as empty. So it is not wise to fear it, any more than to envy their laughter. Both should move us to pity.

“They thrust hard at me, but the Lord helped me” (Psalm 118:13). God helped him keep his feet and hold his ground. Our spiritual enemies would long ago have ruined us if God had not been our helper. God also kept his life when death was very near (Psalm 118:18): “He has disciplined me, but he has not given me over to death,” because he did not hand him over to the will of his enemies. The apostle Paul seems to refer to this when he says, “As dying, and behold, we live; as disciplined, and not killed” (2 Corinthians 6:9). So when we are disciplined severely, we should not quickly give way to despair. God sometimes seems, for a time, to be leading people toward destruction, and yet he says, “Return,” and, “Live.” This also applies to Jesus Christ.

God answered him and set him in a wide place. He quenched the fire of his enemies, whose rage only consumed themselves. Through death he destroyed the one who had the power of death. He helped him in his work, and so far did not hand him over to death. He did not leave him in the grave or let him see decay. Death had no rule over him.

The good he received from this mercy made him trust in God more. From his own experience, he can say that it is better, wiser, more comforting, and safer to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in people, even in princes (Psalm 118:8, Psalm 118:9). Anyone who gives himself fully to God's guidance and rule, depending on God's wisdom, power, and goodness, has a better safety than if all the kings and rulers of the earth promised to protect him.

This mercy also led him to rejoice in that trust. He rejoices in God, and in his relation to him and his share in him (Psalm 118:6). "The Lord is on my side," he says. God is righteous, so he supports the righteous cause and defends it. If we are on God's side, he is on ours. If we are for him and with him, he will be for us and with us (Psalm 118:7). "The Lord takes my part and stands with those who help me. He is among my helpers, and so fully with them and with me that without him I could not help myself, and no friend in the world could help me either."

So too (Psalm 118:14), "The Lord is my strength and my song." That means, I make him my strength, because without him I am weak and sad. I lean on him for strength in both doing and suffering, and I find comfort in him as my song. He gives me joy and eases my sorrow. And as I make him this to me, I find that he truly is so. He strengthens my heart with his grace and gladdens my heart with his comfort. If God is our strength, he must also be our song. If he works all our works in us, then he must have all praise and glory from us.

God is sometimes the strength of his people when he is not yet their song. They may have inward support when they do not yet have inward delight. But if he is both to us, then we have every reason to rejoice in him. For if he is our strength and our song, he has become not only our Savior, but our salvation. His being our strength is our protection on the way to salvation, and his being our song is a promise and taste of that salvation.

He also triumphs over his enemies. Now his head will be lifted above them. First, he is sure they cannot really hurt him: "God is for me, and then I will not fear what man can do against me" (Psalm 118:6). He can stand against them all, and he is not shaken by any of their attacks. They can do nothing to him except what God allows. They cannot do real harm, because they cannot separate him from God. They can do nothing that God cannot turn for his good. The enemy is only a man, a weak creature whose power is limited and under a higher power, so he will not fear him. "Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die?" (Isaiah 51:12). The apostle applies this to all Christians (Hebrews 13:6). They may boldly say, just as David did, "The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me." Let him do his worst.

Second, he is sure that in the end he will be too strong for them. "I will see my desire on those who hate me" (Psalm 118:7). He will see their plans brought to nothing. More than that, "In the name of the Lord I will destroy them" (Psalm 118:10-12). He trusts in the Lord's name that he will overcome them, and in that name he will go out against them. He depends on God's strength, acts under God's authority, and aims at God's glory, not his own power or revenge. In this way David went out against Goliath, in the name of the God of Israel (1 Samuel 17:45). David says this as a type of Christ, who triumphed over the powers of darkness, destroyed them, and made a public show of them.

Third, he rejoices in the certainty that his comfort, victory, and life will continue. As for his comfort, "The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous, and especially in mine, in my family" (Psalm 118:15). The homes of the righteous in this world are only tents, poor and movable. We have no lasting city here. Yet these tents are more peaceful than the palaces of the wicked are to them. In the home where religion rules, there is salvation, meaning safety from evil and a sign of eternal salvation, as when salvation came to Zacchaeus's house (Luke 19:9). Where there is salvation, there is reason for joy, for lasting joy in God. Holy joy is called the joy of salvation, because salvation gives rich reason for joy. Where there is rejoicing, there should be the voice of rejoicing, meaning praise and thanksgiving. Let God be served with gladness of heart, and let that joy be heard daily in our families, to God's glory and to the encouragement of others.

As for his victory, "The right hand of the Lord does valiantly" (Psalm 118:15) and is lifted up, or, as some read it, "has lifted me up." God's mighty hand is committed to his people. It works strongly for them, and so it wins for them. What trouble can stand before God's courage and power? We are weak, and we often act in fear even for ourselves. But God is mighty, and he acts bravely for us, with zeal and firm purpose (Isaiah 63:5, Isaiah 63:6). There is spirit, as well as strength, in everything God does for his people. And when God's right hand works bravely for our salvation, it should be lifted up in our praise.

As for his life, "I shall not die by the hands of my enemies who seek my life, but live and tell of the works of the Lord" (Psalm 118:17). He will live as a living witness of God's mercy and power. God's works will be shown in him, and he will make it the business of his life to praise and honor God. He sees that as the purpose of being preserved. It is not worth living for any other end than to declare the works of God, for his honor and for the encouragement of others to serve him and trust him. Such were the triumphs of the Son of David in the confidence that his work would succeed and that the Lord's purpose would prosper in his hand.