Psalm 108 Mar. 4 A Song. A Psalm by David.  1My heart is steadfast, God. I will sing and I will make music with my soul. 2Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn. 3I will give thanks to You, Yahweh, among the nations, I will sing praises to You among the peoples. 4For Your grace is great above the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 5Be exalted, God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth. 6That Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and answer us. 7God has spoken from His sanctuary: In triumph I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth. 8Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is my helmet. Judah is my sceptre. 9Moab is my wash pot, I will toss my sandal on Edom, I will shout over Philistia. 10Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who has led me to Edom? 11Haven’t You rejected us, God? You don’t go forth, God, with our armies. 12Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain. 13Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who will tread down our enemies.   

Commentary

108:13 The structure of the Psalm is significant in that it begins with praise and then goes on to desperately plead for God’s action. There is an intentional double meaning in the Hebrew word translated “hear”; it is also translated “answer”. There should be real comfort for us in knowing that prayer really is ‘heard’; the hearing is, in a sense, the answer / response, with which a man should be content. Therefore David desired to praise God even before the answer was received; the knowledge God was really hearing him gave such confidence (see too 109:30). We aren’t to hide behind the excuse that unanswered prayer just means that God has heard but not answered.