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God has started something in us. It is an amazing work. We serve a God who loves us and has great plans for us. God is good, all the time. God loves us every second of every day. God’s love is never ending.

God’s goal for us is that we trust him and believe in the good works he has in store for us.

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

      On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.

      All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.

      For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.

      Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.

      Yahweh [The Lord] will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Yahweh [the Lord], endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

English Standard Version. (2016). (Psalm 138:1–8). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

It was one of those occasions when a single experience opened a whole new vista—on the nature of Yahweh [the Lord], the future of the world and personal security. Of the experience itself we only know that prayer was answered in a way that gave David new vitality so that he wanted to sing the Lord’s praise into the face of every so-called ‘god’.

  • He felt he knew Yahweh [the Lord] as never before.
  • He knew that no trouble or foe could ever beat him or prevent the realization of Yahweh’s [the Lord] purpose.

Maybe it all happened in 2 Samuel 5:17–21 when the Philistines challenged David’s infant kingdom, and in answer to enquiring of the Lord, a signal victory was won and the ‘gods’ of Philistia became the litter of battle. Maybe, but it all arose simply through prayer and answered prayer. The place of prayer is the place where the Lord’s revelation of himself takes on new dimensions, the place of renewal, world-vision and confidence in God.

In David’s day the Tent was at Gibeon but probably the reference here is to the heavenly temple. More dramatic ‘In the day I called, you answered me’. May does not express doubt but asks that the assured future may happen. The verbs could equally be futures: ‘All … will’. The words declare the glory, defined as the Lord’s condescending identification with the lowly. This is the truth which, in answer to prayer, opened David’s eyes to the dimensions of the Lord’s name and transformed him inwardly.

He is convinced it will win the world and by it he can face the future with assurance.