The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"make a joyful noise," Hebrew hari'u (הָרִיעוּ), raise a glad shout. The psalm opens with a summons, and it is not a summons to a murmur. The "joyful noise" is to be a glad shout, the opposite of careless, half-hearted, mumbled worship.

"all ye lands," kol-ha'aretz (כָּל־הָאָרֶץ), all the earth. See how wide the summons reaches. This is no private, national hymn; it is a call for the whole earth to join, and a confident prophecy that one day it will, "All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee."

"make his praise glorious," simu khavod tehillato (שִׂימוּ כָבוֹד תְּהִלָּתוֹ), set glory to his praise. A striking little command. We tend to treat praise as an overflow that either happens or does not, but the psalm speaks of it as something to be shaped and lifted and beautified, given weight, made worthy of its subject. Our praise matters enough to be worth crafting.

"terrible," nora (נוֹרָא), awesome. Not dreadful but awe-inspiring. A God this terrible in His works deserves and welcomes worship offered with all our art and heart, not a chore performed with one eye on the clock.

"submit themselves," yekhachashu (יְכַחֲשׁוּ), come cringing, feign obedience. Even the enemies are drawn in, though their submission is at first a cringing, forced homage before overwhelming power. The psalm sets before us the goal of all history: a whole world making God's praise glorious.

Explanation

Notice the striking little command in verse 2: "make his praise glorious." We do not usually think of praise as something to be made glorious, as if it were a craft to be worked at; we tend to treat it as an overflow that either happens or does not. But the psalm speaks of praise as something we are to shape and lift and beautify, "set glory to his praise," give it weight, make it magnificent, worthy of its subject. There is a rebuke and an encouragement in that. The rebuke is against careless, half-hearted, mumbled worship, the "joyful noise" is to be a glad shout, and the praise is to be glorious, not a chore performed with one eye on the clock. The encouragement is that our praise actually matters enough to be worth crafting, that a God this "terrible" in His works deserves and welcomes worship offered with all our art and heart. And see how wide the summons reaches: "all ye lands... All the earth shall worship thee." This is no private, national hymn; it is a call for the whole earth to join, and a confident prophecy that one day it will, "All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee." Even the enemies are drawn in, though their submission (yekhachash) is at first a cringing, forced homage before overwhelming power. The psalm sets before us the goal of all history: a whole world making God's praise glorious.

Gospel Focus

"All the earth shall worship thee... they shall sing to thy name", this worldwide worship is the certain outcome of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in whom God is gathering praise from every nation. The call for "all ye lands" to praise God is answered in the Great Commission, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" (Matthew 28:19), and its end is the great multitude "of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" singing before the throne (Revelation 7:9). The command to "make his praise glorious" is fulfilled in worship offered through Christ, "by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually" (Hebrews 13:15), for only in Him is our praise acceptable. And the promise that even enemies shall "submit themselves" points to the day when "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow... and... every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians 2:10-11), some in glad worship, all in acknowledgment. The God who is "terrible in his works" is the same Lord Jesus who conquered sin and death, and His mighty acts are the theme of a song that will fill the earth. So join the summons now: make a joyful noise, make His praise glorious, and give the awesome God, revealed in Christ, the worship of your whole heart, a foretaste of the worship of all the earth.

Word Study

"proved us," Hebrew bechantanu (בְחַנְתָּנוּ), tested, examined. God's people look back on hard providence and read it rightly. Notice who is the actor: "Thou hast proved us." The hardship is not attributed to blind chance or the mere malice of men but traced to the hand of God.

"tried," tzeraftanu (צְרַפְתָּנוּ), refined, smelted. The word belongs to the smelter's furnace. It frames the whole ordeal as refining, not ruin, so the trials were God's assaying of His people, painful but purposeful.

"as silver is tried," kitzrof-kasef (כִּצְרָף־כָּסֶף). The silversmith does not put silver in the fire to destroy it, but to purify it, to burn away the dross and bring out the shine; and he watches it the whole time. The aim was their purity, not their destruction.

"net," metzudah (מְצוּדָה). "Thou broughtest us into the net." The image is of a snare closing on a trapped animal, and again the verb is second person: God Himself led them in.

"affliction," mu'aqah (מוּעָקָה), a heavy burden. The word pictures a crushing weight laid "upon our loins," the pressure that bends a man's back. It is honest about how the refining felt while it lasted.

"fire and water," esh umayim (אֵשׁ וּמַיִם). Notice the little word "through": "we went through fire and through water." The fire and the water were a passage, not a permanent dwelling; there was an "out" on the far side.

"wealthy place," revayah (רְוָיָה), abundance, overflow, a place of plenty. See how the passage is bracketed, for this is the deepest comfort: "thou broughtest us into the net... but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." The same hand that led them in led them out, and what waited on the far side was not merely survival but abundance.

Explanation

Notice who is the actor in every clause of this hard passage, and it will change how you read your own troubles. "Thou hast proved us... thou hast tried us... thou broughtest us into the net... thou laidst affliction upon our loins... thou hast caused men to ride over our heads... but thou broughtest us out." The net, the crushing burden, the enemies riding over their heads, the fire, the water, none of it is attributed to blind chance or to the mere malice of men; all of it is traced to the hand of God. That could sound bleak, but the psalm frames it as refining, not ruin: "thou hast tried us, as silver is tried." The silversmith does not put silver in the fire to destroy it, but to purify it, to burn away the dross and bring out the shine; and he watches it the whole time. So the trials were God's assaying of His people, painful but purposeful, aimed at their purity, not their destruction. And see how the passage is bracketed, for this is the deepest comfort: "thou broughtest us into the net... but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." The same hand that led them into the trial led them out of it; the entrance and the exit are both God's. And notice the little word "through", "we went through fire and through water." The fire and the water were a passage, not a permanent dwelling; there was an "out" on the far side, and it was not merely survival but abundance, "a wealthy place." The God who brings His people into the furnace is the God who brings them out enriched.

Gospel Focus

"We went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place", this is the believer's path in Jesus Christ, refined through trial and brought out into abundance. God's own promise breathes the same imagery, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee... when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned" (Isaiah 43:2), and it is fulfilled in Christ, who walks with His people through every furnace. The New Testament reads our fiery trials exactly as this psalm does, as refining, not rejecting: "the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire" (1 Peter 1:7), so that we "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" (James 1:2), knowing they work patience and maturity. And the "wealthy place" on the far side is the believer's sure inheritance in Christ, for "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). Christ Himself went through the deepest fire and water, the wrath and the death we deserved, and came out into resurrection glory, and He brings His people through with Him. So when you pass through fire and water, remember: the same hand that led you in will lead you out, the fire is refining not consuming, and the exit opens into abundance. In Christ, the furnace is never the end of the story.

Word Study

"come and hear," Hebrew lekhu shim'u (לְכוּ שִׁמְעוּ). Watch the movement from the wide angle to the close-up. Earlier the summons was, "Come and see the works of God" (v5), the great public deeds anyone could look at; now one word changes, and the psalmist steps out of the crowd of national history to speak.

"declare," asapperah (אֲסַפְּרָה), recount, tell out. A testimony is meant to be told, not merely felt. What God has done privately becomes, in the telling, part of the public worship of the congregation.

"for my soul," lenafshi (לְנַפְשִׁי). Here is the close-up: "what he hath done for my soul." Both belong in worship, the mighty acts of God in Scripture and history, and the particular things He has done for one's own soul; a believer who can only recite the general works of God is missing something.

"regard," ra'iti (רָאִיתִי), literally "look upon," cherish, hold with approval. Then comes a sober condition: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Mark the word. It does not say "if I have iniquity," for who then could ever be heard, but if I look upon it with approval, cherish it, and refuse to let it go.

"iniquity," aven (אָוֶן). The sin in view is hidden and beloved, kept "in my heart" where no one else can see it. Cherished, cuddled sin closes the ear of God; a heart that hides an idol cannot expect answered prayer.

"verily," akhen (אָכֵן), surely. Yet the testimony stands: "But verily God hath heard me." The very fact that his prayer was answered is evidence that he was not clinging to secret sin, for God found no cherished idol barring the way.

"attended," hiqshiv (הִקְשִׁיב), gave heed. Not merely heard as a sound, but listened to, bent down to. God "hath attended to the voice of my prayer", the answer of a Father who leans in toward His child's voice.

Explanation

Watch the movement in the psalm from the wide angle to the close-up, for it is deliberate and instructive. Earlier the summons was, "Come and see the works of God" (v5), the great public deeds, the Red Sea, the acts of God in Israel's history, things anyone could look at. Now the summons changes one word: "Come and hear... what he hath done for my soul." The psalmist steps out of the crowd of national history and offers his own personal testimony, an answered prayer, a private mercy that only he can tell. Both belong in worship: the mighty acts of God in Scripture and history, and the particular things He has done for your soul. A believer who can only recite the general works of God, but has no personal "what he hath done for my soul" to tell, is missing something; God means to be known not only in the pages of the past but in the story of your own life. And then comes a sober, searching condition that every praying heart must weigh: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Mark the word "regard", it does not say "if I have iniquity," for who then could ever be heard? It says if I regard it, look upon it with approval, cherish it, hold it secretly and refuse to let it go. Cherished, cuddled sin closes the ear of God; a heart that hides a beloved idol cannot expect answered prayer. But the testimony that follows is the proof of a clean heart: "But verily God hath heard me." The very fact that his prayer was answered is evidence that he was not clinging to secret sin; God found no cherished idol barring the way. So the passage humbles and assures at once: search your heart for any iniquity you are "regarding," and then, with a heart that hides nothing, come and be heard.

Gospel Focus

"But verily God hath heard me... Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me", the assurance that God hears is made sure for the believer in Jesus Christ, through whom the cleansed heart has open access to the Father. The condition "if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" stands, and it is echoed in the Gospels, "God heareth not sinners" who cling to their sin (John 9:31); but the gospel provides the cleansing the condition requires, for "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7), and "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9). Through Christ we do not merely hope to be heard; we "come boldly unto the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16), and "if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John 5:14). The believer's every prayer rises through a great High Priest who "ever liveth to make intercession" (Hebrews 7:25), so that we too may say, "verily God hath heard me." So deal honestly with any iniquity you are tempted to "regard," bring it to the blood of Christ, and then pray with confidence, for God has not turned away the prayer of those who come to Him in His Son, nor will He turn away His mercy from you.