 Vol. 17, No. 5, Sep. - Oct. 1988 |
DAVID'S WORSHIP
Psalm 139
Harry Foster
Such understanding is a real feature of this intensely individual psalm which records the heart outpouring of a man who is quite alone with his God. In its 24 verses there are 46 references to David himself and 35 to the Lord. The only outside reference is to his hatred of the Lord's enemies; apart from them, this is a song sung to the Lord alone and offered to Him in heartfelt devotion. Perhaps it may help us to gain a better understanding of how we may bring acceptable adoration to our Saviour. The Lord Jesus told the woman of Samaria that the Father desires and appreciates true worshippers. Naturally we who are His children want to satisfy our Father's desires, so a study of this psalm may perhaps help us to identify some of the elements of the true spiritual worship which we may bring Him. They are:
1. WONDER
True faith is never self assured. It always finds itself confronted by that which seems too good to be believed. When captive Israel was released from Babylon, they confessed that it all seemed like a delicious dream (Psalm 126:1). When Peter was brought out of Herod's prison, he could not believe that it was really happening and expected to wake out of a dream at any moment (Acts 12:9). Such wonder makes for genuine worship. People who think that they know and can predict in detail how God is going to work, seldom do more than give God credit for what they always expected of Him, and can even take some satisfaction in their own perspicacity. They will doubtless be thankful, but they will not be brought low in wondering worship. It is when we are surprised by the Lord's unexpected goodness that our hearts are melted in wondering worship. I truly believe that at times God finds pleasure in giving us surprises, and the Gospel stories bear out this idea.
See here what David says about the greatness of his God: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it" (v.6). Look, as he considers how to get away from God [98/99] and finds it quite impossible: "If I ascend to heaven" he argues, or "If I take the wings of the morning", or "If I try to hide in the dark", there is no way. I have to give it up. His own being and history are quite beyond him. "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" he says of God's wonderful skill, and "all my days are written in Your book even before they have ever happened" (v.16). And of all wonders, the greatest is the wonder of God's love: "Your thoughts about me cannot be counted" he sings, "You are with me while I sleep and still with me when I wake up".
It is all summed up in David's words, "Too wonderful!" Like the rest of us, David longed to do some great work for God. He even planned to build a magnificent temple. However the prophet Nathan came and told him not to do it but just to listen to God's promises to him. So David went and sat before the Lord and worshipped. "Who am I to be so blessed?" he asked, and then added, "Thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like Thee" (2 Samuel 7:22). Perhaps that was David's finest hour; not when he was doing mighty public deeds, but when in the secret place with God he was pouring out his heart in worship. God has a lot of people working for Him. It is true that there are not nearly enough, but there are many. Alas, He has only a few who will sit quietly in His presence and wonder at His greatness.
A friend can give you presents or work hard on your behalf and so give you great pleasure. If, however, you have ever had a loved one look straight in your eyes and murmur, "I think you are wonderful", you will agree that this is the greatest joy a person can ever experience. And what about our God? Can we not give Him that joy? Yes, and supremely so when we look into His face and tell Him that we find Him most wonderful. That was what David did as he sat in God's presence alone. He had many faults, but he was a true worshipper. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why God described David as a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22).
2. DISCOVERY
We cannot know God unless and until He reveals Himself to us. David's glowing and eloquent words of worship came, in a sense, from what he had been taught about God, but his method of describing the divine wonders suggests that his knowledge came also from personal experience. From God's side it was revelation but from David's it can best be described as discovery.
i. God's Knowledge
David could have used theological terms and said that the Lord is omniscient. That would have been correct but would not necessarily have provided a reaction of worship. He could have spoken in general terms and declared in a cold matter-of-fact way that God knows everything. Intellectually that would have been true, but many who believe it are not true worshippers. What David did was to say that he had found out in his own experience that there was nothing he could hide from the Lord. His actions, his words and even his thoughts were all fully known.
The king did not want anybody to know about that evening when he got up from his bed of idleness and did his peeping Tom act on Bathsheba. But God saw him. He possibly felt that he was quite clever in getting her husband home on compassionate leave and suggesting quite privately that he should go home and spend the night with his wife. Uriah heard the words, but did not realise the intention, whereas God not only heard David's words but knew his thought afar off. David lived for about a year without telling a soul about his closely guarded secret, but when Nathan came and denounced him with the accusation, "You are the man", he realised that you cannot hide anything from the Lord.
If you are a true worshipper, you do not want to do so. You may be crushed by the discovery of the Lord's perfect knowledge but then from the dust you find not only forgiveness but an urge to worship. You may wonder why, if God knew, He did not expose and condemn you out of hand. That is the greatest discovery of all, to know Him as the God of all grace.
ii. God's Presence
Once again, David the theologian might have said, "The Lord is Omni-present", but in fact he recounted to himself how impossible he found it to get away from the Lord. The various points raised by his use of the word 'If' suggest that this was his considered opinion. And who of us has not at some time wanted to keep God at a distance? Who of us has not welcomed darkness to [99/100] cover our shame? David's history proved to him that he could not evade God in this way. He could and did run to heathen kings for shelter, but he could not get away from God, and his psalms tell how glad he was to get in touch again. He could pretend to Joab -- and perhaps to himself -- that he only wanted the army to be counted for the sake of efficiency, but God's all-seeing eye penetrated into the deeper reason, which was pride of heart, and in the end he confessed and regretted that action. So what began as a foolish act of self-agrandisement ended in a new tribute of worship on the altar of his pardoning God.
iii. God's Power
David had looked out on to the mountains and wondered at God's works of majesty and power. Now he looked into his own frail body and discovered there an exhibition of the marvels of divine working. Isaiah, with a telescopic view, had proclaimed the greatness of God in that not one single star is missing or out of place (Isaiah 40:26). Now David, with a microscopic view, sees that all his members are recorded in God's book, not one of them being missing.
Perhaps we are more privileged than David was. He realised that even before he was born God was able to visualise all his members. He saw when there was nothing to see. With us The Lord does much more, for He sees us already in our perfect likeness to Christ even though we are all too conscious of our ugly imperfections. "Whom he justified them he also glorified" (Romans 8:30). All this is because He is absolutely confident of His own ability of grace. And He plans our days. They are pre-ordained and pre-recorded: "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (v.16).
iv. God's Love
This is the greatest discovery of all, the awareness of the Lord's personal love for me. He thinks of me. His thoughts are precious. They cover every detail of my well-being (v.17). They are innumerable like the sand on the seashore. The Lord had spoken to Abraham about this matter of the sands, promising him that his seed would be as countless as the sand which is on the seashore. Looked at in that way, David was just one grain of sand. Now he find's new cause for wonder in that God's thoughts of love about this little grain are in themselves more than all the sands. This must be a wonder to all of us. We are just like insignificant grains of sand, yet the Lord's thought toward us are more than all the sands by the sea. No wonder we want to worship Him for His great kindness even to people like us.
3. SUBMISSION
The third characteristic of true worship is complete submission to the will of God. The worshipper's proper position is either on his face or on his knees. First of all David tells the Lord that he hates evil, even with what he calls 'perfect hatred'. Then he makes it his prayer that no such thing may be found in him and for that purpose he asks God to pursue that searching ability of His to deliver him from anything in him which might cause grief to the Spirit of God. So he ends with a prayer, "Go on with Your work of searching me" he prays to God, "See if there is any of my ways which could cause You grief, and lead me from it into your everlasting way."
Now worship is more than prayer. That is a lesson which God's people seem all too slow to learn. Worship is sheer appreciation and devoted love. Yet worship may well lead us on to prayer, as it did with David. The psalmist does not mention the matter of sin in this song, not because he had none but because grace had pardoned and blotted out all his sins. But still he prayed; and he did so in a new committal of himself to the perfect will of God.
The greatest worshipper of all was David's great Son, the Lord Jesus. For Him also the time came when He fell to the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane and, as He worshipped, He prayed to His holy Father, "Not my will, but Yours be done". That was submission. But it was more. It was active committal. He chose at all costs to obey the Father's will. It would be done because He Himself would do it.
This is the essence of all true worship. It involves not only acceptance of God's will but also a complete committal for the doing of the things that are pleasing to Him. The Lord Jesus taught us to worship in this way even as we voice our prayers. "Hallowed be Thy name" -- we hallow it. "Thy kingdom come" -- we welcome Your sovereign rule. "Thy will be done on earth ..." -- may it be done here and in us. This is the true spirit of worship. This is what it means to be led in the way of everlasting. [100/ibc]
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