Psalms 144

Psalms 144THEME: Praise and prayer to God because of who He isThis is another one of the psalms written by David. Some of the contents are similar to those in Psalms 18, which began, “I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” (Psa_18:1-2). Further down in the psalm David said, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears” (Psa_18:6). This psalm was written out of one of David’s experiences when he was delivered out of the hand of King Saul. Also it is prophetic, looking forward to that coming day when the children of Israel will suffer during the Great Tribulation.

In this time of great distress they will turn to God in prayer. Also this psalm is applicable to all the saints during the centuries between David’s time and the Great Tribulation period.

Psalms 144:1

What does David mean? There will be those who will immediately jump at this and say, “Look, the God of the Old Testament is warlike.” My friend, if you had lived in David’s day, you would have been a lot more comfortable knowing that you were protected from the enemy surrounding you and knowing that you could defend yourself. It is entirely incorrect to say that the Lord Jesus Christ was a pacifist. He gives peace to the human heart, and peace with God through the forgiveness of sins; but He also said, “…a strong man armed keepeth his [house] palace …” (Luk_11:21), which is what David is saying in this psalm. It is true that our Lord is the Prince of Peace, but He has made it very clear that there will be no peace on this earth until He returns. In the meantime it is more comfortable to know that our nation has enough armaments to protect us. I only hope we don’t get some fanatic in power who will get rid of our protection, maintaining that we can depend on the goodness of human nature to take care of us. That type of thinking brought many a nation down into the dust.

Some of the Greek states tried it. They had an outstanding civilization, but they are in ruin and rubble today because they could not protect themselves.

Psalms 144:2

David says that God is his goodness. If you and I have any righteousness, it is Christ. David says that God is also his goodness, his protector, his fortress, his high tower, his deliverer, and his shield. Although it is comforting to know that our nation has an arsenal to protect us, I also want to make sure that God is my protector, that He is my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, and my shield. “Who subdueth my people under me” is David speaking as a commander.

Psalms 144:3

Why should God take note of little man? Frankly, man does not amount to very much.

Psalms 144:4

“Man is like to vanity” means that man is nothing without God, that life is purposeless without Him. When I was a pastor in Nashville, a man walked into my study one day holding a rusty old gunit looked like a .45 to me. He said, “If you can’t give me a reason to live, I am going to kill myself.” I replied, “Well, you sure are putting me on the spot; I can’t think of any reason why you shouldn’t kill yourself, but I do want to tell you that you are not going to solve your problem by taking your life. All you will be doing is removing your problem from earth and taking it to a place where there is no solution, because you will fix your eternal destiny. But here and now you can make a decision for God which will add purpose to your life, and you won’t be in such a hurry to end it. Then, when you do die, you will go home to be with Christ, your Savior.” Life without God is quite empty. I have a newspaper clipping which tells about a Swedish man who inherited what is said to be the largest fortune in the world, $5 billionthat is a lot of money! But that man took his own life. His $5 billion dollars didn’t keep him here. He found life rather purposeless. My friend, without Jesus Christ, without God, “man is like to vanity” and emptiness. Without God life has no purpose. Now listen to David plead with God.

Psalms 144:5

This is a call for God to break into human events, for God to intrude into human history. This is confirmed in Isa_64:1-2 which says, “Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!” God is going to intrude into human history one day. I don’t want to take a fanatical position and say that He is going to do it tomorrow, or even in this century, but the fact is that He is going to do it.

Psalms 144:6

When the Lord comes again, He is coming in judgment. The whole tenor of Scripture, including the New Testament, is that the Lord is coming in judgment one day. There is no more vivid and dramatic picture of this than the one given in Rev_19:11, where John saw heaven opened and beheld a white horse, “…and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” That is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ coming forth as a conqueror to conquer. Maybe you don’t like this picture, but it is the picture that the Word of God presents. At that time, the psalmist says:

Psalms 144:9

Not until after the Tribulation will the children of Israel be able to sing this new song unto their God.