I will sing to the Lord

Today is Sunday.  So the first part of Psalm 13:6 resonates (at least a little) with us:  “I will sing to the Lord.”  It’s fitting.  It’s right.  It’s what we should do.  It’s what we have to do.  We will sing.

But notice why David says he will sing:  “because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

As David examines his life, he can rejoice in God because of the evidences of God’s grace.  Now it might be worth looking at the context here as well.  David is not ignorant of the difficulties and pressures and inequities of life.  In the surrounding Psalms, he has noted:

• There do not seem to be any good men in the world (12:1).
• The world is filled with those who lie and deceive and are double-hearted — which means they have no heart for God (12:2).
• The prevailing philosophy is the sovereignty of man — “we are the captains of our fates,” they might have said (12:4).  In fact they do say, “there is no God” (14:1).
• The innocent and need are afflicted and abused by these ungodly people (12:5).
• The corruption in the world is pervasive — filled with abominable deeds by foolish and unrighteous men (14:1).
• God Himself examines the world and says, “They have all turned aside…there is no one who does good, not even one” (14:2-3).

But for David, it is even worse than this.  He not only sees the corruption of the world around him generally, but he feels the attacks of the world against him personally.

• He feels separation and distance from God — has God forgotten him (13:1)?
• He is sorrowful because of the onslaught of his enemies against him.  They stand over him (13:2).  They have overcome him, seemingly putting him on the brink of death (13:3-4).
• He is so hated that his enemies rejoice when he is saddened and shaken by their attacks (13:4).  The enemies seem victorious and he seems to have lost.

Where then will David turn, and how is it that he can say, “I will sing to the Lord” (13:6)?  What is the point of transformation for him?

He has considered his salvation (v. 5):

But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
    My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

When David considers the possession of his salvation, no matter what else he has lost, he has enough.  Though surrounded by an unrighteous world and feeling the attacks of that world against him, he can sing and rejoice because he has great bounty from the Lord.  He may suffer, he may be attacked, he may be ridiculed, he may suffer loss, but he has all he needs and more because he has the favor and salvation of the Lord.

This is a truth that will make the heart sing, even when it is tempted by despair.