Psalm 138:1 I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing praises to You before the gods. 2 I will bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word according to all Your name.  3 On the day I called, You answered me;
You made me bold with strength in my soul. 4 All the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, O LORD, when they have heard the words of Your mouth.  5 And they will sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.  6 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. (NASB)

What a beautiful psalm of praise and honor to our God! For years I have pondered this psalm and prayed it to give praise for the way Father God is and for what He has done in my life.  I have used it to thank Him for answering my prayers and strengthening me.  I have prayed it to remind myself of how He is worthy of honor and how I should be humble before Him.  And I have used verses 7 and 8 in my prayers to call out for His help and protection and completion of His promises and work in my life. 

"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."  Other versions use the word 'rescue' instead of 'revive' and recently when I was praying through this psalm I stopped to consider why the NASB version says 'revive'.  Revive means to renew, to restore to life again, to bring back, to make operative or valid once more, to reanimate or cheer the heart or the spirit.   It seems to me that Father is more likely to revive me in the midst of trouble than to rescue me - because He knows that the times of trouble in my life are His times for building Christ-like character in me, growing the fruit of the Spirit, and honing me into the instrument He desires to use in His kingdom purposes.  Without a sharp chisel upon a stone, how does a sculptor create a beautiful work of art?  Without the fire and mallet, how does a blacksmith shape iron into a sword?  How can a piece of lumber become a support beam in a beautiful building without a saw cutting it or nails being pounded into it?

So I have begun to pray for Him to revive me in the midst of my trouble instead of rescue me from the trouble.  And I can trust that He will hold back the anger of my enemies and save me from their intent to destroy me along this life's journey.   He will leave me in the trouble but He will renew my strength, restore me to life when I feel as if I am on my last breath, bring me back to a place of focus and purpose, invigorate me to be operating fully in Him, and He will reanimate me and cheer my spirit with His lovingkindness.  Just like King David, who wrote this psalm, and who experienced 14 years of trouble and running from Saul before he was crowned king, my circumstance may not change, but my heart will be revived.  I will be safe and I will praise Him.

"The LORD will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting; do not forsake the works of Your hands."  Like King David, I want Him to accomplish the things that concern me - I know He is able - so I ask Him to do it.  Father, please finish what You have started in me - fulfill Your promises - complete Your plans!  But in my recent meditations on this psalm He did some re-emphasizing of the words in this verse.  Instead of me hearing that He will accomplish what concerns me - what is on my mind and heart - what makes me anxious or cry out - He let me hear that He will accomplish in me what concerns Him.  He told me that He will accomplish in me all the things He has planned to do in me and that those things are His concern, not mine.  He reminded me that He is doing these things in His lovingkindness, and He will not forsake His own work.  He will finish what He has started in me.  Philippians 1:6 says that "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." 

As I pondered, He changed the emphasis of verse 8 once again.  He told me that He will accomplish what concerns Him and His kingdom and His intent for my usefulness and purpose in those plans.  Just like with King David, Father has a plan and purpose for my life that has eternal impact.  He did not make David into a king just because He loved him and favored him.  He did it for the sake of His people,  to preserve them in the Promised Land, to record David's songs and life story for our benefit - teaching us to trust, to pray, to praise -  and to ultimately bring about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, fulfilling prophecy with eternal impact.  It was not all about David and is not all about me.  He does love and favor me for I am His beloved child.  And He is concerned with my sanctification and takes it very seriously so I can count on Him accomplishing that work in regard to me and my life.  But it is His character and nature to be most concerned with the greatest good for the greatest amount of time and for the greatest number of people.  So what concerns Him about me is how He is accomplishing things for the kingdom through the work He is doing in and through me.  Now, as I pray this verse, I am learning to ask for Him to accomplish His kingdom purposes and for the fullfillment of His plans for eternity with regard to how He desires to use me and my life in Him.

As I walk in the midst of trouble, I know He will be my very life's breath and will not let my enemies destroy me because His concerns are far greater than the momentary troubles of my days.  His lovingkindness will revive me so that His work in me and through me for the Kingdom that will stand for eternity will be completed.  When King David wrote this psalm, He began it with praise that was open and obvious to the kingdom of Israel and to the world as he praised before the gods and in the temple.  And He prophesied that one day all kings and kingdoms would bow before the Lord God and give Him praise.  David's praise and concern and thoughts and prayers were that he would be strengthened for the kingdom call upon his life.  As a king, his focus in life had to be for the kingdom.   That was his job!  I'm sure that part of David's heart was crying out to God in those last two verses as a man and not a king.  But when he turned his eyes toward God, his heart - as the heart of a king and as a heart after God's own heart - was crying out with kingdom focus so that he could be revived in the midst of his trouble and press on in the kingdom concerns of God. 

This psalm is not really all about prayers for personal rescue and fulfillment of personal dreams and promises - but prayers for God to accomplish His kingdom work by and through His work in David - and me.  I don't think Father minds that sometimes I pray this psalm in moments of crying out for personal rescue and resuscitation but now I think that since He has revealed a different emphasis, Spirit will direct my prayers with more kingdom focus. And I have confidence that those prayers will be answered as He makes me bold for the kingdom and strengthens me for the completion of His purposes.

Oh, that He would continue to reveal the nuances of His word and His truth and His work and His plan so that there would be less of me and more of Him and His kingdom in my life.

Revived and singing,
Amy