What is your heart set on? The answer to this question can determine how one’s life is heading, and where one’s eternity might likely end up. As we look into our psalm for this week, one that is not very familiar to many, and is often overlooked, we will read David’s answer to that question for himself. In this passage from the Word of God, David also gives a figurative look at how God saw some of the pagan nations at that time. Let’s look into our Scripture.
Psalm 108 is similar to two other psalms. Verses 1-5 are quite like what we read in Psalm 57:7-11, and verses 6-13 are also like that of Psalm 60:5-12. However both of these two other psalms are more of a lament, while today’s Psalm 108 is much more a psalm of victory.
As our psalm opens, David proclaimed where his heart was set. The Hebrew word that we read as “steadfast” in verse 1, meant to be firmly established, fixed, and secure. David was proclaiming that his heart was firmly fixed on God. It wasn’t wavering. David wasn’t going to be lured away from the Lord when something supposedly new and exciting came along. What lures our heart? What is it fixed upon? Is it fixed on amassing a fortune? Is it in living a life of pleasure? God’s Word warns us to guard our hearts, because out of it comes what our life is made of (Proverbs 4:23).
David’s heart was fixed on God, and he proceeded to sing the Lord’s praise (vs. 1-5). He wasn’t going to waste his day lying around in bed. No, David said he would wake up early so he can get a good start on praising the Lord (vs. 2). We don’t see God exalted on earth today (vs. 5). However, He will be when Jesus returns!
One thing that David praised the Lord for was His mercy and His truth (vs. 4). Both of these virtues are parts of God’s character, and David proclaimed that they were so vast and overflowing that they were higher than the clouds and sky. Mercy can be defined in the Bible as God withholding the just punishment that we deserve. He does this because of His vast love towards us, shown in the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf for our sins. Jesus is mercy in living form. He is also truth personified (John 14:6).
Right in the middle of our psalm we read a rather unusual and figurative description of some of the foreign nations that surrounded Israel at the time of King David (vs. 7-11). Moab was the kingdom to the east of Israel. The Moabites were descendants from Lot through incest with his eldest daughter, following their flight from Sodom at its destruction (Genesis 19:30-38). The Kingdom of Edom was to the southeast of Israel. The Edomites were descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. Philistia, or the Kingdom of the Philistines, was to the west, southwest of Israel, along the coastal area of the Mediterranean. They were one of several Canaanite peoples.
Each of these nations were enemies of Israel. Both Moab and Edom had refused any aid to the people of Israel following their departure from Egypt. All three groups fought with God’s people from the time of Moses through the days of David. Furthermore, they each had adamantly rejected Yahweh as the one true God, clinging to their worship of false idols. Because of their national rejection of Yahweh, He would judge them. Moab is pictured as a lowly servant, who would bring a washbasin. Edom was also pictured as a lowly servant who retrieved cast off shoes. And God claimed triumph over the Philistines. Each of these nations have vanished into the dust of history. Nobody today claims that they are Moabites or Edomites.
God did judge each of these nations because of their rejection of Him. However, individuals always had the opportunity to turn and accept Him as their God. We see that with Ruth, who was a Moabite woman, and was brought up worshiping the pagan Moabite gods. Yet through the godly influence of her Israelite mother-in-law Naomi, she came to faith in Yahweh, and accepted Him as her one God. Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David, and thus is in the family line of Jesus Christ.
God still judges nations today. However, that does not mean that any individual from any nation cannot turn to Him for salvation, just as Ruth did. God will always accept anyone, from any nation, that will accept His Son, Jesus Christ, as their Savior.
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