“THY VOWS ARE UPON ME, O GOD”
Psa. 56:12-13
Morning Meditation 5/15/17
My wife came into my study this morning bringing me a cup of coffee and said,”Happy Thanksgiving.” I asked, “Is this Thanksgiving? I have been thankful all week!” When I think of the things for which I am thankful, I just see the tip of a giant iceberg. But that is a good place to start being thankful, i.e., the things you can see, and as you do, other things will begin to appear. And will me, it will be so many things, I will be spending this whole day being thankful.
Let me briefly state, I am thankful for my salvation so freely given to me by grace alone. I am thankful for my dear wife of 50 years (as of Nov. 12th). I am thankful for our daughter who is the joy of my life. I am thankful for my son-in-law who is as a son to a father. I am thankful for my four grandchildren, one granddaughter, and three grandsons, whom I love with agape and phileo love as dedicated christian young people. And I am thankful for all of you to whom I mail this Morning Meditation. It is a joy to serve you in my retirement years (retirement from the pastorate, not the ministry) and to have such a large audience (more than I every preached to in a local church) to pray for me, and aid me in that way, to continue to serve Him through the exposition of the Scriptures to “feed His sheep.” I am soooo thankful. I am thankful for my pastor and local church family who stand with me in prayer, and support my continuing ministry of missions and Bible conference work (over 30 meetings this year). I am thankful.
Now to look at what David said in the two verses of our text. John Phillips says, “This Psalm was written when David found himself in Gath, fleeing from King Saul, and up to his neck in very hot water. The king of Gath had put David under arrest and was under pressure from his advisers to put him to death. After all, this was the man who had killed Goliath! David pretended to be mad, hoping thus to dispel the force of these threats on his life.”
“Let us put ourselves in David’s place. We picture him under lock and key in Gath, a prisoner in a foreign land, the home of the hereditary foes of his people. His life hangs on a thread. Outside his cell, up and down march the triumphant troops of the Philistines. They are exulting in their capture. They have him at last, the young fellow who had slain their Goliath and thus caused such a massive defeat for them at Elah. Some of them, doubtless, had lost brothers, fathers, sons, friends in that battle. Now they have David in their power.”
“David encourages himself in the mercy, mindfulness, and might of God. That is a great way to face a hopeless situation. Life is full of situations far beyond our limited powers to control: situations at work and at home, with our families, in the fellowship, in matters of finance, and in matters of our future. Well, God is able!”
Now to narrow this down to what David says in verse 12: “Thy vows are upon me, O God.”
What provoked David to utter these words? I believe the answer is in the words of verse 13 where he says, “For thou hast delivered my soul from death . . .” We discover first that,
VOWS ARE MADE IN TIMES OF CRISIS
David is speaking of a deliverance of the past. The words “thou hast delivered” This is the translation of “natsal” and means, “to snatch away, deliver, rescue, save, strip, plunder.” In the Hebrew it is a hiphil perfect which is causative action. David is crediting God as the cause of being snatched from death. Death was after David. God snatched him away from death’s intentions. All hope seemed to be gone and God stripped death of its prey. God plundered death of its victory and David was the plunder that God walked away with. David said, “For thou hast delivered my soul from death.”
There have been times in my own life that the possibility of death surrounded me. I cast myself on the mercy of God. I begged Him for deliverance. And I survived without a scratch. When the FLESH looks back it reasons, “well, that wasn’t as bad a situation as I thought. I just imagined that I was in imminent danger.” When Satan is robbed of his intent, he is helpless to do anything about it. So his next step is TO MAKE YOU THINK that you were really in no danger at all SO YOU WILL NOT GLORIFY GOD AND BE THANKFUL. He is setting you up for future defeats..
David is acknowledging a past deliverance while in the need of a present one. In every trial, when we go to God for help, it is then that we remember the VOWS that WE MADE, when asking God for deliverance. David’s present trials made him think of the vows he made in the past. He says, “Thy vows are upon me, O God.” It is not “my vows, it is Thy vows.” Once one makes a vow to God, they become His vows and we can’t take them back. Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 says, “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; NEITHER SAY THOU BEFORE THE ANGEL, THAT IT WAS AN ERROR: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?” (Caps mine for emphasis). It isn’t wrong to make a vow. It is wrong to make one and not keep it.
It is common to make God promises (vows) when we are in serious trouble. It is not wrong to do that. However, one cannot say at a later time, “I was in a bad situation and I didn’t know what I was doing when I made that promise.” That is simply treating God like He didn’t really help, and like He is one that can be treated as if there is no consequence. David in his present distress is reminded of his vows and says, “I will render praises unto thee.”
VOWS ARE TO BE CARRIED OUT WHEN REMINDED
It was the present crisis that reminded David that he had vowed to praise God for his deliverances. It may be Thanksgiving Day that reminds us to praise Him. If we do not praise Him for the good things He has done for us, we will praise someone. It is usually self. Men brag on men for their accomplishments. This carries over into the family of God. When, as a Christian, you are advanced on the job, who do you give credit to? You say, “I have worked hard for this promotion. I advanced because I am better and better qualified than others. I deserve this promotion.” I would like to ask you a question. Does the following verse apply to you as a Christian? Jesus says in John 15:5: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Now which part of NOTHING do you not understand? The “n,” the “o,” the “t,” the “h,” the “i,” the “n,” or the “g?”
One of the quickest ways to get in trouble is to start taking personal credit for the victories that God gives.
Hebrews 13:15 is one of my favorite verses on this subject. It says, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” The words “By him” means that the things for which we praise God are never separated from Him.. God never sees a man before he is saved apart from the first Adam. He never sees a child of His after salvation apart from Christ. The words “let us offer” is an invitation to decide. A person who offers praise in thanksgiving is one who has decided to be a thankful person. It is a decision. One can either live life negatively or thankfully. We will be the ones who make the choice. You say, “Preacher, I just believe some people are born thankful. I wasn’t born that way. I just can’t go around praising God. To me that is silly. He knows I am thankful.” No, your problem is that you have made a bad decision in life that needs correction. You have chosen to live life in a continuous pity party and you are inviting everyone to it. This is a party that needs to be canceled. Then determine by the grace of God that you will spend the rest of your life praising Him regardless of the circumstances.
The words “sacrifice of praise” suggest that praise is a sacrifice. What kind of a sacrifice? It is a sacrifice of our desire to be negative. It is the sacrifice of the self life. It is the sacrifice of personal glory. It is a sacrifice of personal feeling as others criticise you for being happy! Yes, negative people will criticise you. They will accuse you of “putting on” and “being crazy.” It is a sacrifice. We need to ask ourselves the question, “Am I willing to make this sacrifice?” The word “continually” translates “diapantos” and means, “constantly, always, continually.” If you praise Him continually, you will praise Him a LOT OF TIMES during times of trouble. Why would the Holy Spirit use the word “continually?” Because there would be a very little praise if we chose the times ourselves. God wants us to acknowledge the truth of Romans 8:28 where He says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Then He explains how this is done in the words, “the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” It is audible praise of which He speaks. It is song and testimony. It is testifying with our mouth. It is letting people know that we praise God for His great gift of salvation and His providential care..
David said, “Thy vows are upon me, O God.” This should be the acknowledgment of every child of God. What about our promises? Do they include something like this verse describes. What will it take to get us to renew and fulfil our vows? I hope we do not wait until another crisis.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
