Psalm 22:25-31 - My praise [shall be] of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever! All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For the kingdom [is] the LORD's, and He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship; all those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep himself alive. A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the [next] generation, they will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done [this].
History shows that people have an internal drive and desire to praise and worship. We don’t always praise and worship the right things in the right ways, but it still comes as a natural habit. We cheer for our favorite sports teams. We speak well of our favorite role models. We boast about and speak well of our favorite shows. We evangelize our favorite recipes on social media. It goes on and on. The chief motivator to praise everything that excites us is based on how we value things. We praise the things we value most. We take joy in the things we cherish and respond accordingly. We rave about the things that excite us. We promote the things we feel bring us the most benefit and advantage. Right?
This is why the Bible calls for the people of God to praise HIM above ALL other things. Since we all have this internalized natural habit of praising something, we’re supposed to seek the LORD to know Him, and when we know Him, we favor Him, cherish Him, and value Him above all other things. When we learn about His purposes and promises, we’re supposed to get excited about His work and find supreme joy in anticipating God’s works according to His Word. When we enjoy, value, and love God THIS way, we should be compelled to speak highly about Him; promote Him, rave about Him, cheer for Him, evangelize Him, and rejoice in the One we call our Father in heaven and our Savior.
The testimony of Psalm 22 shows that King David understood this principle. The testimony of Psalm 22 begins by showing that David was undergoing exceptional hardships at the time. How the psalm begins and how it ends are TOTALLY different! David started this psalm writing in panic. David ended Psalm 22 not only with words of praise to God, but his words were communicated loudly, shamelessly, and confidently. Remember, Psalm 22:1 said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” The testimony of Psalm 22:25-31 shows that, while David might have felt neglected or distant from God for a moment, that moment passed quickly because he remembered who God is and the eternal nature of His character, purposes, and promises. David’s understanding of God’s eternal nature caused him to value God and His promises so supremely that he soon forgot about the issues that originally plagued him. This is how to praise God!
First, David expressed that he would praise the LORD in such a way, that it would be shamelessly public. Psalm 22:25 says:
“My praise [shall be] of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.”
So, even though David’s difficult circumstances hadn’t passed, he was prepared to praise the LORD anyway. David still had issues but was ready to praise the LORD in front of anyone and everyone, no matter how foolish he could have looked. It doesn’t seem to make sense that David would rejoice about the goodness of God during a trial. David didn’t care. He anticipated the manifestation of God’s faithfulness to produce a good result despite his circumstances and knew that the ultimate fulfillment of God’s ETERNAL promises would make the issues of his life seem simple and small. David looked WAY into the future – into eternity – for motivation to praise the LORD. He expressed confidence in the LORD in front of everyone. David was sure that God would do good things in his life as promised, no matter what because that’s who God is!
David said he would praise God in the great assembly and pay vows before those who fear God. This shows that David would praise God without shame and would do so according to the righteous standards of the Law. David wasn’t going to praise God by his own means, according to his own creativity. David’s difficulties didn’t give him the liberty to change how he should recognize God or thank him. David would praise God in the manner that God commanded His people to praise Him, and David found joy in that. David would praise God by “paying his vows” among the people. This means that David was going to express the same quality of faithfulness that he had received from God. David would also be a man of integrity. He would be a man of his word like God is.
He would also do the things God said were “righteous.” David would pay his vows by fulfilling his promise to worship God according to the statutes and ordinances of the Law and would not be dissuaded by other people or his circumstances. David valued God to the degree that he didn’t let his circumstances or the people who surrounded him, keep him from praising the LORD in the holy manner that God’s Word commands. God’s Word commands God’s people to honor their vows – especially to Him – which includes a lot of things, financially and otherwise. David was going to do what God’s Word said, even though it was hard.
David praised the LORD because he knew who God was. David wrote that God is the One that establishes the poor, referring to those who suffer loss and live pitifully because of their faith in the LORD – a lot like David. Verse 26 says:
“The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever!”
David knew that even though the circumstances of his life were hard because of his faith in the LORD, God would make up for the difficulty. He knew that God would feed the mouths of the poor for His namesake. David knew that God would satisfy those who suffered great loss trying to obey God’s Word. David knew that God would do the things that needed to be done to restore His people. The Bible teaches that this restoration energizes God’s people through His merciful goodness, to sing songs about His name and speak highly of His grace. David knew that God was faithful and able to do the things that He promised, and was excited by the quality of wisdom, power, mercy, and grace God WOULD display to make things right and good, for ALL the people who suffer for the sake of God’s Word.
David praised God with confidence because he understood the eternal nature of these promises. He explained that the hearts of “the poor” would live forever. He explained that those who died in faith, who had gone “down to the dust,” would be raised up again. Those who weren’t able to keep themselves alive and fell victim to the difficulties of their suffering would be raised by God, restored by God, and equipped by God to praise the immeasurable glory of His power and faithfulness in the resurrection. David knew that personal circumstances were NOT a hindrance to God. David knew that even if God’s people died, He could raise them up and STILL fulfill His promises. Is there anything more valuable than that? Is there any promise more praiseworthy than that?
How did David know that the nature of God’s promises was eternal? Psalm 22:25-31 shows that David knew God’s promises, knew of God’s people, and had an understanding that the Holy Spirit provided. For example, when David wrote about God’s restorative power to fulfill and satisfy the poor, he also wrote this in Verses 27-28:
“All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For the kingdom [is] the LORD's, and He rules over the nations.”
This description of God’s promises matches the promises that God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, also known as “the Abrahamic Covenant.” Think about the parallels that are communicated in the first mention of God’s covenant with Abraham. Genesis 12:1-3 says:
“Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”
In both passages, God addressed “the ends of the earth,” saying that all the families of the world would be blessed by God to remember who He is. That remembrance comes from God’s glorious revelation, which provokes our worship of Him in response to His majestic works. God promised Abraham a “blessing,” ultimately referring to the Messiah. The whole world would be blessed by THE Blessing that comes from Israel, referring to the Messiah Himself as that Blessing. Only the Messiah can bless the entire world as it is written. God promised that Israel would be a great nation because of the connection the Messiah has to Israel as their king.
David wrote that God would enable the families of the world to worship God by the LORD taking control of the world’s circumstances. God takes control to govern the whole world from Israel. This describes the Messiah. David knew about this because God promised David that the Messiah would sit on the very throne that David had established in Jerusalem.
David knew the nature of these promises was eternal and that God would raise the dead to fulfill them. How? God hadn’t fulfilled His promises yet, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all dead. How could God fulfill His promise if the beneficiaries of His promises were dead? God must use His power to raise the dead to fulfill the promises He made so long ago. Just as Abraham believed that God could raise the dead when he was commanded to offer Isaac as a burnt offering, David understood the principle of the resurrection for God to fulfill His promises concerning Israel, the throne, and the Messiah – the One whom this Psalm ultimately points to.
David didn’t just speak about God’s benefits being poured out to his generation or past generations, but ALSO to future generations. Verses 29-31 say:
“All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship; all those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep himself alive. A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the [next] generation, they will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done [this].”
The eternal nature of God’s promises transcends time in all ways! The goodness of His mercy, grace, righteousness, and redemption is such that ALL of God’s people will be delivered and satisfied, no matter the circumstances, whether rich, poor, strong, weak, dead, or alive! David spoke confidently about these things during his trials because the weight of these promises was far heavier than the weight of his problems. When thinking about God and the coming fulfillment of these eternal blessings, he couldn’t help but thank God, speak well of God, and be excited by God. He was learning about how exciting the ETERNAL majesty and goodness of God are. Then, when connecting the full testimony of Psalm 22 to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as a Messianic prophecy, it becomes even clearer to see the awesomeness of God’s faithfulness, mercy, grace, and glory. Psalm 22 indeed describes the events of the crucifixion of Jesus, but Jesus didn’t stay dead, proving that God is INDEED able to raise the dead – even Himself –to do ALL of the things He promised, unto His glory AND ours! That’s why David praised God.
And, THAT’S what the Bible teaches about the One, WE know, as God.
Comments