Context No. 2708 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 108:1-13: in context

1My heart is steadfast, God. I will sing and I will make music with my soul. 2Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn. 3I will give thanks to you, LORD, among the nations. I will sing praises to you among the peoples. 4For your loving kindness is great above the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 5Be exalted, God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth. 6That your beloved may be delivered, save with your right hand, and answer us. 7God has spoken from his sanctuary: “In triumph, I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth. 8Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is my helmet. Judah is my scepter. 9Moab is my wash pot. I will toss my sandal on Edom. I will shout over Philistia.” 10Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? 11Haven’t you rejected us, God? You don’t go out, God, with our armies. 12Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain. 13Through God, we will do valiantly, for it is he who will tread down our enemies.

This psalm is stitched together from two earlier ones, and it opens on a high note. "My heart is steadfast, God. I will sing and make music with my soul." The singer means to wake the dawn with praise and to thank God out loud among the nations, certain that God's loving kindness rises above the heavens.

Then the same prayer turns to raw need. God has spoken his claim over the land, Gilead and Judah and the rest, yet the armies feel abandoned: haven't you rejected us? You don't go out with us anymore. Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. Notice that the praise and the desperation sit in one breath. The psalmist does not wait to feel delivered before he praises, and he does not pretend a confidence he has lost. He hands God the settled heart and the unsolved trouble together.

Can I bring God both my praise and my unsolved trouble at once, without waiting for one to resolve before I offer the other?

Sources

Psalm 60:11: "Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain."
Psalm 57:7: "My heart is steadfast, God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises."
2 Corinthians 1:9: "That we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead."