Psalm 144

In the previous Psalms David was overwhelmed in his spirit (142:3; 143:4).  Here he is in great waters (144:7).  In other words David is again in a situation where he is incapable of handling his situation on his own.  He cries out to God.

This Psalm, I believe, should be understood by the final verse: those whose God is the Lord are happy/blessed.  While David is in a difficulty here, this Psalm sees him as in great confidence in the Lord (v1) and ready to lift his praise to the Lord (v9-10).  Again we are reminded: there are times of distress when we are overwhelmed; but this is not the end of our affliction.  Even before we experience the actual deliverance from affliction, our prayer of faith should bring us to happiness (not giddiness but to a sense of joyful blessedness simply because God is our LORD!  Here is how that happens.

·       To David, God is everything he needs and desires, his Portion (v1-2).

·       Further, David recognizes that God is not simply in heaven but that He has condescended to know him and come to him (v3-4).  Believers today should be supremely aware of this given the Incarnation of Christ, the greatest visit of God to earth.

·       Thus what David prays for is that God, who has condescended, will continue to bow down and come down to us in our neediness (v5-8).  He prays for this for his personal happiness (v9-10) as well as for the happiness of the people of God that he shepherds (v11-14).  These verses contain a great description of what Israel would be like if they were experiencing God’s favor in their homes and land.

May our prayer come before God when we are surrounded by great waters.  Thus we too will have God’s happiness.