THE GLORIOUS HONOUR OF THY MAJESTY

This psalm, entitled “David’s Psalm of praise”, is his last in the Book, and gives the highest expression of his worship. The second verse forms the chorus of a well known hymn.

David cannot say more about his God and King. He “will extol” and “bless thy name for ever and ever”, v. 1, “every day”, v. 2. “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is Unsearchable”, v. 3.

Superlatives alone suffice to speak about God, “I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty … I will declare thy greatness”, vv. 5, 6. Not only is God’s strength extolled, but His moral superiority is to be remembered, “the memory of thy great goodness”, v. 7. Then we have His grace and compassion, without which we sinners would be forever lost. We depend on the fact that He is “slow to anger, and of great mercy”, v. 8.

God’s goodness, however, is not limited to His saints, for “The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works”, v. 9. In N.T. language, “God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe”, 1 Tim. 4. 10, that is to say, He provides the necessities of life to all, as in verse 15 of this psalm. The special nature of divine Saviourhood is the spiritual salvation provided for believers.

The saints’ task is to “bless thee”, v. 10, and to “speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power”, vv. 11, 12. So then, the saints have to speak to men about God, and also to speak to God about men, the fallen men of verse 14, for instance, whom “the Lord upholdeth”.

Potentially, God can satisfy the need of all. He can satisfy us with his mercy, Psa. 90. 14; good things, 107. 9; His likeness, 17. 15; the goodness of His house, 65. 4, etc. Truly He satisfies the longing soul, 107. 9, but “the doctrines of men” lead only “to the satisfying of the flesh”, Col. 2. 23.

The statement in verse 18 that “The Lord is nigh unto all them that Call upon him … in truth” finds its clear parallel in Paul’s words to the Athenians, that He is “not far from every one of us”, Acts 17. 27. The progression of thought, “them that call upon him … fear him … he also will hear … and will save them … preserveth all them that love him”, Psa. 145. 18-20, is our own experience. We happily concur with king David!