Seven times a day do I praise thee
Because of thy righteous judgments (Psa 119.164).

The Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650 alters the wording of our text only slightly for singing, and with beautiful effect:

Sev’n times a-day it is my care
to give due praise to thee;
Because of all thy judgments, Lord,
which righteous ever be.

As everyone raised upon the Shorter Catechism knows, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” (#1). Toward the fulfillment of this, the very purpose for our existence, the Lord has given us Holy Scripture, indispensable for our spiritual recovery. Our original fitness and inclination to worship the Lord as creatures in his image was horribly degraded by the fall, but the gospel of Jesus Christ, that biblical evangel, becomes a word of quickening and renewal to God’s elect when it pleases him to recreate his sacred host for eternal service. And when we have been saved by means of God’s Word, we come to appreciate, being illumined by the Spirit of light, that the Bible is one of his greatest gifts to us, besides being the sphere where his glory shines brightest.

ABOUNDING ADORATION

“Seven times a day do I praise thee.” This is a testimony to abounding adoration of the Lord by a soul obsessed with God’s glory and responding joyfully to it. We should probably not take the number seven too literally, as if there was a Jewish counterpart, better by two, of the five daily times of prayer in Islam. Seven in Scripture is sometimes used more symbolically to indicate fullness and abundance. Seven occurs so frequently in Scripture that it has been called “the representative symbolic number.”¹ As it means essentially “very much” in Leviticus 26.24 and 28, so here. “I praise you frequently each day,” David tells the Lord, or, perhaps better, “I praise you continually” (Psa 34.1; 71.8, 14-15; 145.1-2; Eph 5.20; 1 Thess 5.17-18, etc.). On this Matthew Henry gets very specific:

Many think that once a week will serve, or once or twice a day, but David would praise God seven times a day at least. Praising God is a duty which we should very much abound in. We must praise God at every meal, praise him upon all occasions, in every thing give thanks. We should praise God seven times a day, for the subject can never be exhausted and our affections should never be tired (in loc.).

David’s praise was not only perpetual, but also personal, for he said “I praise thee,” and private, suggested by the use of “I” rather than “we,” and public, since the psalm itself was composed for and used in public worship, to be sung by the holy congregation.

Each of these traits should pass before our consciences in self-examination. Do I call the Lord to mind, many times a day, each day, and offer up my heartfelt praises to him, sometimes silently in my mind, and often aloud, whether in prayer or song? Is this my own personal ministry in which I truly delight, and not just when I am with other Christians? Do I dread formalism worse than death, that is, going through the mere motions of worship without heart, as offensive to the God who searches each spirit and knows all? Is the sincerity of my adoration demonstrated by a devotion heard by God when no one else is within earshot? Have I foolishly imagined that private worship makes public unnecessary, and then forsaken frequent holy assembly with other believers so that God might have his glory more openly manifested in the world (Psa 57.9; 119.46; Heb 10.25)?

If only all professing Christians would take to heart our divine calling to give ourselves this devotedly to such abounding adoration, the churches would blaze as golden lampstands in the world, and the prevalent spiritual darkness would be driven back!

But the Christian sometimes feels, that he has no heart, and—he almost fears—no right to praise. Having no sensible token of love to call him forth, his harp “hangs upon the willows;” nor does he care to take it down, even to “sing one of the Lord’s songs in this strange land” (Psa 137.2, 4.) But how many have found with Bunyan—“When I believe and sing, my doubting ceases!” “Meat cometh out of the eater,”—cheering rays out of the darkest cloud. Endeavour therefore to bring to mind some spiritual, or even temporal, mercies.²

In the second line, David testifies of the perennial reason for his praise.

ETHICAL EXCITATION

“Because of thy righteous judgments.” Yes, this is another reference to Holy Scripture in Psalm 119, and we do well to note how God’s Word is here characterized. It belongs to God and comes forth from God (“thy”). It has the quality of “judgments,” what the divine Judge has ruled to be right, and his rulings either overturn or affirm all others, for these are “righteous,” just, and true.

Without such a foundation for truth and ethics, we inevitably sink in the quicksand of human speculation and prejudice, whatever struggles we may make to free ourselves from relativism. David must have been particularly grateful as a king to have this righteous standard by which his administration could be guided. God’s wisdom boasts with all justification, “Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth” (Prov 8.14-16). Walking with God and serving him according to his revealed will, David’s kingdom prospered! Israel’s borders were greatly expanded and even the idolatrous Moabites became his servants, bringing him gifts (1 Chron 18.2).

David’s righteous reign by the standard of Holy Scripture foreshadowed that of his greater Son, even our Lord Jesus Christ. By faith Isaiah gloried in it, though afar off.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this (Isa 9.6-7, emphasis mine).

God’s righteous judgments are embodied in his righteous Son and the works of redemption and reward he accomplishes. That perfect standard written in Scripture which is according to God’s own truth and holiness is not impotent. It is the declaration of his firm purpose that shall be accomplished by the exercise of his sovereign will and power.

All violations shall be punished—each one with perfect equity—either in Christ the Lamb of God for his people or in the persons of his enemies themselves through all eternity. Every wrong shall be made right, the rough places smooth, the crooked ways straight, and the glory of the Lord shall overspread the earth as the waters cover the sea. God’s faithful sons, slandered and abused in this world, shall be vindicated and honored in the age to come, assuming their places of exalted service forever and ever, where they will shine like the sun to God’s praise.

Every mourner of the misery of this world’s injustice should look with adoring wonder upon God’s righteous judgments, and abound in praise to the God who gave them. The Bible heralds the approach of his eternal kingdom, and though it tarry, it shall come. This biblical testimony and invincible hope furnishes ample matter for constant praise to the King of kings and Lord of lords. Let us join the ranks of his noble ones while the darkness recedes. Amen.

Notes:

1. Smith’s Bible Dictionary, “Seven.”
2. These wonderful words are found in Charles Bridges’ commentary upon Psalm 119 which is the very best of its kind—eminent, profitable, heavenly.