A Gold Mine in Three Verses

The Word of God is a mine of wealth for our lives. If we dig, we will find gems and gold nuggets of truth for our life and eternity that far outweigh the monetary value of gems and nuggets of gold found in the earth. As I was studying Psalm 138 and began to dig, I came across what I believe to be valuable lessons for our journey with God and have decided to share them with you.

It is absolutely amazing to me that in just three verses, so much can be found and even more if we were to keep going.  If we are able to mine these gems and nuggets out of just three verses, think about how much more there is to be sought for and found in the Word of God. May our Father bless you richly with His truth and I hope you are encouraged to “go digging” for yourself.

A Psalm of David. I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You.  Psalm 138:1 NKJV

What a way to start a song!  What a declaration of intent and commitment as to the motive of the rest of the song.  Praising God with our whole heart may be easy to say, but requires something of us that most are not willing to give and that is 100% commitment to God alone.  Why is that difficult to give?  Because it will cost us something.  It may cost us fellowship with friends and family, it will cost us time that we could be doing something else, it may cause us to miss out on opportunities to make more money, it may lead to persecution, I mean the list of things it may cost us could go on forever.  Regardless, I have found the biggest obstacle we face in praising God with our whole heart is that it is a risk.  

I have come to learn that we as humans and even God’s people like to mitigate risk whenever possible.  It’s where the saying, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” comes from.  We like to diversify portfolios in case one or two investments don’t go well, we like to “keep our options open”, and we like to have a plan B, plan C, and Plan D.  Now, I am not suggesting it is wrong to do those things mentioned above when it comes to carnal things, but when it comes to who we serve and who we look to for security and hope we cannot “diversify” or have a plan B.  God is our salvation, He is our hope,  He is our source of life, and He alone is worthy of our praise.  And with that, the “risk” of praising Him alone and trusting Him alone is mitigated because the testimonies we read in the Word, the faithfulness He has shown to others we know today, and the testimony of His goodness in our own lives proves that we can safely give Him our whole heart.  To the point we can not only stand up and declare it in front of the world, and not just men, but even the host of heaven and the “gods” of this world.

Have you struggled to praise God with your whole heart? Have the cares of this world, the fear of man, or the lie that God will not be faithful to His Word caused you to have a divided heart in praising Him and looking to Him?  

If so, take a few minutes to repent to God before moving any further. His mercy, forgiveness, and longsuffering toward us are great in this matter. He knows we are dust, but when we recognize what separates us from giving him 100% of our heart we need to honor and fear Him by addressing what is standing in the way.  So just be quiet for a moment, and anything you know is hindering you from praising God with your whole heart, confess it to Him, asking to be forgiven and cleansed, and asking Him to show you a better way, His way, and to empower you to walk in it by the Holy Spirit. He will never reject a person wanting to address sin and iniquity that separates a person from Him.

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  John 6:37 NKJV

I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.  Psalm 138:2 NKJV

This verse is packed with eternal ways of thinking that will help us to overcome the temporal challenges of this life. Keep in mind that the author of this psalm is King David as he is moved on by the Holy Spirit.  But King David says, “I will worship toward your holy temple…”  Why is that an interesting statement? Well, in King David’s reign, there was no temple. The ark was still housed in a tabernacle (tent), and the first temple was not built until after King David’s death by his son King Solomon. So why would King David say this? My understanding is this is a statement of faith concerning his eternity and future. Remember it was in King David’s heart to build the LORD a temple, but the LORD would not allow him.

"Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 18 "But the LORD said to my father David, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19 'Nevertheless you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.'  1 Kings 8:17-19 NKJV (2 Samuel 7:1-13, 2 Chronicles 6:7-9)

What a great lesson and example of faith by King David. Even though there was no temple to worship toward, and even though he would never see it built in his lifetime, he was bold enough to say “I will worship toward your holy temple”.  I like to think that he declared this knowing that when this happens it may not be in his lifetime, but certainly into a future time of the Messianic Kingdom on earth, and then his faith will be sight. It fulfills what the writer in Hebrews said when speaking of the great cloud of witnesses to the faith.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.  Hebrews 11:13-16 NKJV

Since King David wrote this psalm, there have been two temples built in Jerusalem and both have since been destroyed.  But we know from Ezekiel 40-48 and many verses in Revelation that another temple is yet to come!  It’s not built yet, but the saints will worship toward the holy temple again and even be pillars in the temple of their God.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.  Revelation 3:12 NKJV

Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.  Revelation 7:15 NKJV

Why am I saying all this?  Because I don’t think we realize that we, in this time period, have the same opportunity to make the same statement of faith King David did!  In times past when there was a temple they did not have to make this statement by faith, they could worship toward the temple, and some tried to do this by facing east toward Jerusalem.  But that doesn’t change the fact there is no temple there right now. Would you be willing to set aside your current struggles, doubts, and worries about the future and join with me in the same statement of faith King David confessed 3,000 years ago?  One day the temple will be back in Jerusalem and Yeshua / Jesus will rule and reign from there and we will worship the Father and the Lamb!

Join your heart and faith in this statement no matter what you are facing right now, and state this knowing that it may not, and probably will not happen in this life, but in the one to come when we have a resurrected body.

“I WILL worship toward your holy temple”

By doing this you and I are now thinking and acting in faith with an eternal perspective that looks well past death and into the eternal plan of God!

Now, getting to the second part of this verse.  It is the second part of this verse that I believe gives King David the strength and faith to believe the first part.  When it says that God magnifies His Word above His name, it means that He will be more faithful to accomplish what He has said and more concerned about that happening than He is with His reputation among men, that being His name.  He is going to accomplish and stay faithful to His Word even if His name is sullied and slandered for it. It means God does not change His Word for the sake of His reputation. The question then becomes, where do we fall into that way of thinking? Do we sacrifice the truth and the integrity of God’s Word so that our reputation is only a good one among men? Listen, I want a good reputation among men so do not get me wrong, but I have also learned that if all speak well of me, then I am probably compromising God’s Word at some level.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.  Luke 6:26 NKJV

Our ability to trust God and His Word is very dependent on this concept that God is more concerned with faithfulness to His Word than He is with His reputation.  Let’s bring this down to a human relationship to understand how it works.

Let’s say you have a friend whom you confide in and share some confidential things with, and they gave you their word they would not disclose it to anyone else.  But this friend has an issue… The issue is he is more concerned with his reputation than keeping his word.  So at some point, your name comes up in conversation as he speaks with another person, and by disclosing what you entrusted to him he felt his reputation would be exalted because he was “in the know”.  Would you trust that friend again?  Would you be able to take them to the bank and believe other things they would say in the future?  Certainly not!

But with God, He has revealed that He is more concerned about being faithful to His Word than His name and His reputation. This in turn gives us the confidence that He will not change His Word based on the actions of others but will fulfill His Word so that we may find boldness and confidence in our lives according to His Word.  

But make no mistake, His reputation and name are still very important and by His Word, He has promised to make it great and His glory will fill the earth.

Later in Psalm 138, just a couple of verses later, look at what it says:

4 All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD, When they hear the words of Your mouth. 5 Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, For great is the glory of the LORD.  Psalm 138:4-5 NKJV

In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul.  Psalm 138:3 NKJV

This statement by King David is a fulfillment of what I said concerning the previous verse,

“But with God, He has revealed that He is more concerned about being faithful to His Word than His name, His reputation. This in turn gives us the confidence that He will not change His Word based on the actions of others but will fulfill His Word so that we may find boldness and confidence in our lives according to His Word.”

I think it can be easy just to read verses like this and take somewhat of a mystical application toward it.  For example, we may read this verse and conclude that if we cry out to God, He will somehow just make us feel more bold.  But let’s read it a little closer.  King David said in the day he cried out, God answered him.  To me, an answer involves words and possibly actions.  So, as I understand it, when King David cried out to God, God gave King David His Word concerning the issue. It was these words that King David joined his faith to and that is what brought boldness and strength to his soul and life.  

This is an important concept to understand because it may be the difference between the Word of God being an effectual strength in your life or just being words on a page.  In my own life, I have found that what happens most often when I cry out to God is either a scripture comes to my memory that answers what I am seeking help for, or another person shares the truth with me in casual conversation that correlates to what I am seeking answers for, or I come across a Scripture while reading the Word that is the answer to what I was looking for.  Initially, this always brings hope and peace, but I must embrace the answer and implement it to be fruitful. To be totally honest, I am not a very bold person by nature. I have always kind of related to Gideon when the Angel of the Lord found him hiding from the Mideonites. But when the Word of the Lord came to him and he embraced it, Gideon became one of the boldest leaders Israel has ever had.  As for me, I know the areas I am bold in are the areas that I know God’s Word is true and effectual and He has spoken to me in a personal way by the Holy Spirit.

What is your take on this? When you cry out to God for help are you waiting for an answer according to His Word or are you waiting for a feeling?  Are we ready to implement the answer when it comes or do we hope it automatically works?  These may seem like silly questions, but remember we are dust and we can fall into some silly thinking, myself included.  

I want to encourage you to take some time to answer these questions for yourself. I have found over the years that if we allow the Word of God to not just encourage us, but confront our ways of thinking and processing, it helps to guide us and keep us on the path of life. Perhaps you will need to take some time with the Lord and repent for not doing your part in working with Him and His Word.  But ultimately I want the Holy Spirit to communicate to you what He wants you to see and respond to in these three verses.  

It is just amazing to me that the Word of God is so rich and so deep that in just three verses we are able to learn so much.  There truly is no other book like the Bible and the truth contained in it and its answers for life that go so contrary to the way the world thinks and processes is proof that it was not just written by men, but by God Himself through the Holy Spirit. I hope this little study in Psalm 138:1-3 is a blessing to you and will continue to be and not only that but that it will continue to help you be a pillar (ammudim) of truth that will endure until the end.

Blessings,