SUNDAY 14th
Psalm 35
NIV (v27b) – ‘The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.’
ESV (v27b) – ‘Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!’
This whole Psalm is a lament that David makes as he considers yet again all his enemies that are coming against him, and he seeks God to come to his aid, and at the same time to bring his enemies to shame. He finally comes to verse 27 when he mentions those who are for him, and then makes a statement, ‘Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!’ he then concludes that his tongue would tell of the LORD’S righteousness and of his praise all day long. Sometimes I read a chapter and wonder, ‘what I am going to share from this?’ But then a little phrase gets my attention, and it is the two phrases found together, ‘Great is the LORD’ and ‘who delights in the welfare of his servant’. We will not consider the first phrase in this devotion, but rather the second, ‘who delights in the welfare of his servant’.
This is a reminder for us as who are the children of God by reason of our new birth experience that God is interested in our welfare. This means that God is interested in our well-being, and I want to suggest that we can take this to mean that he is interested in our whole man, body, soul, spirit, and I include our emotional well-being as well. David will later say that the LORD takes pleasure in his people, (Psalm 147:1, 149:4) and we know that the people of God are portrayed as the flock of his pasture, the sheep under his care, and his care towards them was expressed in so many ways. And we have become his children, we can call him our heavenly Father, and as our heavenly Father he cares for each one of us. Jesus illustrated this to us in his sermon on the mount, a section we know so very well and which I point simply to a couple of the verses (see the whole section in Matthew 6:25-34) Verse 26 reminds us that we are more valuable than the birds of the air, if our heavenly Father cares for their welfare, how much more will he care for ours, verse 29-30 reminds us of how God clothes the grass of the fields, how much more will he clothe us, verse 32, our heavenly Father knows that we need these things. What is the greatest evidence of his care? We had a very deep and serious need, the need of the soul, the spirit that was dead in trespasses in sin, and yet God cared enough to send his only Son to redeem us. And then when it comes to the area of the mind and our emotional well-being, he brings us peace which passes all understanding, he brings us peace which will guard both our hearts and our minds. ‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ Philippians 4:7, ‘You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.’ Isaiah 26:3
Whatever your circumstances, remember God knows and God cares, your welfare is of the utmost important to him.