The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"in the morning," Hebrew boqer (בֹּקֶר). David sets the pattern of a life ordered around prayer: "in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." Two things are striking, and the first is the timing: morning. Before the day's demands and dangers crowd in, David seeks God first. To meet God at daybreak is to set the tone for the whole day and to arm the soul before the battle. "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee" (Psalm 63:1).

"direct," e'erokh (אֶעֱרָךְ) from arakh, to arrange, set in order (as a priest laying wood on the altar, or a soldier arranging for battle). The second striking thing is the manner: he will "direct" his prayer, the word arakh means to arrange in order, like a priest carefully laying the sacrifice on the altar. Prayer is not careless muttering but the deliberate, ordered offering of the heart to God.

"look up," atzappeh (אֲצַפֶּה), watch expectantly, keep a lookout. And having prayed, he will "look up", watch expectantly for God's answer, like a sentinel scanning the horizon. He prays and then waits, confident that God hears and will act. This is the shape of vital prayer: seeking God early, ordering our requests before Him thoughtfully, and then watching in expectation for His response. To begin each day directing our prayer to God and looking up is to walk through the day in fellowship with heaven.

Explanation

The word "direct" (arakh) is a word from the altar. It is what the priest did each dawn as he was to "lay the burnt offering in order" and arrange the wood upon the fire (Leviticus 6:12); the same verb is used of a soldier drawing up his ranks for battle. David chooses it on purpose, and he chooses the morning on purpose. As the priest laid the morning sacrifice on the altar at daybreak, David lays his prayer there, an offering set in order, not words flung out at random. Prayer, seen this way, is not chatter but sacrifice, arranged and presented to God with the care a priest gives the fire. And then he does the one thing we most often skip: having offered, he "will look up," staying at the altar to watch for the answer to come.

Gospel Focus

"In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up", David's morning prayer points us to the Lord Jesus, who Himself rose early to pray, and who opens the way for us to pray with confidence. "In the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed" (Mark 1:35). If the sinless Son of God began His days in prayer, how much more do we need it. And because of His finished work, we may direct our prayers to God and look up with assurance that He hears: "in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6); "let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16). To "look up" is the posture of Gospel hope: we pray, and then we watch, trusting the God who answers in His wisdom and time. And our looking up is ultimately toward Christ Himself, "looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2), and toward His return, for we "look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). Begin each day as David did, and as Jesus did: seek God first, order your heart before Him in prayer, and look up in expectation. The God who hears us for Christ's sake will answer, and the day begun with Him at the throne of grace is a day walked in His presence.

Word Study

"multitude," Hebrew rov (רֹב), abundance, greatness. David has just spoken of God's holiness, that He has no pleasure in wickedness and cannot let evil dwell with Him (v4-5). How, then, can David, a sinner, approach such a holy God? He answers with the only possible ground: "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy." It is not a trickle of mercy he pleads but an abundance, a mercy great enough to cover the distance between a sinner and a holy God.

"mercy," chesed (חֶסֶד), steadfast love, covenant kindness. Not by his own merit, not by his righteousness, but by the abundance of God's chesed, His steadfast covenant love, David dares to enter God's presence. This is a profound Gospel truth: sinners approach the holy God only through mercy.

"fear," yirah (יִרְאָה), reverent awe. And note the reverence: "in thy fear will I worship." Coming by mercy does not breed carelessness but deepens awe. Here the two great truths of true worship stand together: we come boldly, because of the multitude of God's mercy, yet reverently, in holy fear. Presumption forgets the fear; despair forgets the mercy; true faith holds both.

"worship," eshtachaveh (אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶה), bow down, prostrate. The one who knows he enters only by grace worships with the most profound reverence. David, a sinner in a hostile world, finds his refuge in God's house, entering by mercy and bowing in awe.

Explanation

Feel the force of "But as for me." The verses just before have shut the door on a whole crowd: the foolish, the "workers of iniquity," those who speak lies, "the bloody and deceitful man" whom the LORD will abhor (vv4-6); not one of them may stand in His sight. And David knows he has no natural right to be counted out of that crowd. So "But as for me, I will come into thy house" is not the boast of a better man; it is the plea of a sinner slipping in by another door entirely, and that door is named at once: "the multitude of thy mercy." Notice that it takes a multitude. One mercy is not enough to bring a guilty man into a holy house; it takes mercy heaped upon mercy, an abundance, and there is exactly that much in God. The only thing that separates David from the excluded crowd is grace, not merit.

Gospel Focus

"I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy", the truth that sinners enter God's presence only by mercy is fulfilled and magnified in the Gospel, for that mercy has come to us in Jesus Christ. We draw near to God not by our own worthiness but through the blood of Christ: "having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus... let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:19-22). The multitude of God's mercy is poured out in the cross, where He is "rich in mercy" and saves us "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy" (Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:4). And Christ Himself is the true temple toward which we worship, "the temple of his body" (John 2:21); through Him we have access to the Father. Like David, we come by mercy and worship in reverent fear, for the Gospel does not diminish the awe of God but deepens it: we serve God "acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:28-29), even as we come boldly through the mercy shown in His Son. So never come to God trusting your own goodness, for the holy God has no pleasure in wickedness; come in the multitude of His mercy revealed in Christ, and worship with reverent, grateful awe. The door of God's house stands open to every sinner who enters by the mercy that flows from the cross of Jesus.

Word Study

"bless," Hebrew tevarekh (תְּבָרֵךְ). The psalm ends with a triumphant promise for all who trust in God: "For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield." Two beautiful images crown the psalm, and the first is blessing: God blesses the righteous, He does them good, delights to prosper their souls.

"the righteous," tzaddiq (צַדִּיק). This is the settled security of all who trust in the LORD: not merely occasional blessing, but a life surrounded by the favor of God. Whatever enemies press, whatever dangers threaten, the righteous are shielded all around by the goodwill of God.

"favour," ratzon (רָצוֹן), goodwill, acceptance, delight. Note the word ratzon, "favour", it means God's goodwill, His acceptance, His delight. The psalm that began with a cry for help ends with the certainty of God's encircling favor.

"compass," ta'terennu (תַּעְטְרֶנּוּ), crown, surround. God's favor is not a small thing held over us but a shield that surrounds us on every side. To be compassed with God's favor is to be enveloped in His approval and pleasure, guarded on every side by His good will toward us.

"shield," tzinnah (צִנָּה), a large shield covering the whole body. The second image is the shield: He surrounds them with favour "as with a shield", the word tzinnah is the large body-shield that covered a soldier completely. His favor is our full-body armor, and no arrow of the enemy can pierce the shield of God's delight in His own.

Explanation

This is the second shield in three psalms, and the Hebrew has quietly upgraded it. In Psalm 3 the LORD was David's "shield" (magen), the small round buckler strapped to the arm; here God compasses the righteous "as with a shield" (tzinnah), the great body-shield an armour-bearer carried ahead of the soldier, tall enough to cover the whole man. The protection has grown from something held in the hand to something that surrounds the body. And the verb "compass" (atar) rewards a second look: it is also the word "to crown." God's favour does double duty; it shields the righteous like armour and adorns them like a crown, encircling them at once for defence and for honour. To be surrounded by the goodwill of God is to be both perfectly guarded and openly honoured.

Gospel Focus

"With favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield", the favor that surrounds the righteous is ours in fullness through Jesus Christ, in whom we are accepted and eternally kept. The great question is how a sinner can be counted "the righteous" whom God blesses, and the Gospel answers: we are "made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21), "accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). In Christ, God's favor rests upon us not because of our worthiness but because of His Son, in whom the Father declared, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17), and in whom we too are well pleasing to God. That favor surrounds us as a shield: "kept by the power of God through faith" (1 Peter 1:5), guarded so that nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:39). The angel greeted Mary as one "highly favoured" (Luke 1:28), and every believer, in Christ, is enveloped in the favor of God. So the psalm that began at daybreak with a cry for help ends in the settled security of God's encircling favor, and for the believer that favor is sealed for ever in Jesus. You who trust in Christ are the righteous whom the LORD blesses, compassed about with a favor that no enemy can breach, shielded on every side by the delight of God in His own beloved children.