D. Scott Meadows
1 Blessed be the Lord,
2 Who daily loadeth us with benefits,
3 Even the God of our salvation. Selah.
4 He that is our God is the God of salvation;
5 And unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.
The psalms are the Church’s hymnbook of praise to the true and living God, not only as He is in Himself, but as He is in His relationship with us who are His chosen people, united with Him in a covenant of salvation.
The end of God’s redemptive work is His own glory. This glory is especially manifested in the salvation of His people, and in the resulting praises from us toward Him in gratitude for mercies we have received. The greatest end of salvation is not our comfort, but His glory, as He is more important than we are.
The Holy Spirit through the prophets has given us suitable words for the heavenly service of praise, and our text is a choice example. These are words for reading in public and private, for memorization, for meditation, for quiet chanting, and for singing in private, in families, and in the gathered church.
Consider the substance of these five lines in the psalter. “Blessed be the Lord” (v. 19a) is a communal call to communal praise. As we sing this together, we are stirring each other to hearty, true worship. Adonai (“Lord”) is a title of the true God with a focus on the authority and majesty of a ruler.”1 Providence,2 particularly His salvific activity, is in view.
Line 2 starts listing reasons for our praise toward Him. He “daily loadeth us with benefits” (v. 19b, italicized phrase added by translators). The original Hebrew could be translated very literally, “day [by] day He carries a burden for us,” or, “burdens us.” The AV may give the intended sense. Alternatively, Albert Barnes offers this: “Blessed be the Lord God even if he lays a burden on us, and if he does this daily, for he is the God of our salvation.” Another possibility is, “who daily bears us up” (ESV), as when a shepherd carries a weak lamb in his arms. At the very least, the point is that God is working in our lives every day, our daily experience is His doing, and He is engaged in saving us, ultimately, from all ills, and to perfect blessedness in the eschaton.3
“The God of our salvation” (line 3, v. 19c) further identifies Him in His relationship with us. “Salvation” is a very broad term encompassing deliverances from all physical and spiritual harm. This is the Christian’s God, the ultimate Savior, of whom all other heroic deliverers are but faint shadows.
Line 4 (v. 20a) stresses the truth that the particular God (identified as the “GOD the Lord” or “Yahweh Adonai,” line 5) of the chosen people, in contrast with all the false “gods” worshipped by the heathen, is “the God of salvation,” the only God who truly saves. Looking anywhere else leads to frustration and disappointment, not to mention utter ruin and catastrophe. Nothing is more important for our well-being, here and hereafter, than worshiping the true God to the absolute exclusion of all rivals (Exod 20.2-5; 34.14; Deut 11.16;
Matt 4.10; Acts 14.15). Judgment Day will expose the truth that all religions in the world today are false and evil except biblical Christianity. Only the glorified Lord Jesus Christ shall be seated upon the throne of judgment.
We may find line 5 (v. 20b) to be a somewhat curious construction. It is a poetical Hebraism—that is, as expressed by an artful and ancient Jew. To say that “deliverances from death” (ESV) belong to this God is to say that His is the exclusive prerogative whether and when and whom to save or not, and that His is the exclusive credit when He does. “Deliverances from death” is an extremity that includes all His lesser gracious benevolences (cf. Jas 1.17). The plural form of “issues” or “deliverances” points to countless saving acts of the Lord that His people experience. Every happy Providence, whether healings, narrow misses, or even daily ordinariness without catastrophes, is the Lord’s gracious gift to us that should stimulate our ardent praises of Him.
Historically, Psalm 68 has in mind Israel’s national safety and rescue by Yahweh the divine warrior. Prophetically, it points to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Church’s Savior (see how v. 18 is used by Eph 4.8). The gospel is the ultimate fuel for worship! As the hymn aptly teaches us,
For the grandeur of Thy nature, / Grand beyond a seraph’s thought; / For
the wonders of creation, / Works with skill and kindness wrought. / For
Thy providence, that governs, / Through Thine empire’s wide domain,
/ Wings an angel, guides a sparrow, / Blessed be Thy gentle reign.
For Thy rich, Thy free redemption, / Bright, though veiled in darkness
long, / Thought is poor, and poor expression; / Who can sing that
wondrous song? / Brightness of the Father’s glory, / Shall Thy praise
unuttered lie? / Break, my tongue, such guilty silence! / Sing the Lord
Who came to die.4
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Shall His praise unuttered lie? Let us own Him by faith in our souls, and boast of Him by praise in our songs! Ω
Notes:
1 Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
2 “The continuing act of divine power, subsequent to the act of creation, by means of which God preserves all things in being, supports their actions, governs them according to his established order, and directs them toward their ordained ends” (under providentia in Muller, R. A. (1985). Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms: Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House).
3 The new and glorious age to come (Rev 21-22 and many other places).
4 From “Mighty God, While Angels Bless Thee,” Trinity Hymnal #5.