We should praise God publicly as those who are not ashamed of our obligations to Him and our thankful sense of His favors,
but desire that others also may be affected with a realization of His goodness and the value of leaning upon His promises.
Psalm 1
1 O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
3 I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
4 For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.
5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;
6 That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.
7 God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;
9 Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.
10 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
11 Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts?
12 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
13 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 108 – Victorious through God
Two fragments of Davidic psalms are here joined together with very slight alterations. In Psalm 108:1-5 are from Psalm 57:7-11, and Psalm 108:6-13 from Psalm 60:5-12. We need the fixed heart, ever constant to God, as is the needle to the pole. When we are right with God we go through the world, awakening song and hope in forlorn hearts. Note the themes for constant adoration, Psalm 108:3-5.
Apparently David stood in imagination at the beginning of those conquests which made Israel great and extended her frontiers to the great river Euphrates. He felt that God had spoken in His holiness, and had already given him the territories here enumerated. All that remained for him to do was to occupy and possess what the Almighty had allotted. There is a close analogy here to our appropriation of those heavenly blessings which are ours in the risen Lord. It is not we who can tread down our adversaries. They are too strong and insidious. But when our heart is fixed, God goes before us, vanquishing our foes, and we have but to follow after, gathering in the spoils. In our inner conflicts, vain is human help, even the best. Go before us, Great Shepherd, with thy rod and staff! —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 108:13—He it is that shall tread down our enemies.
This is the best way to fight. Keep quietly in fellowship with God; and when the enemy draws nigh, look up to your ever-present Friend, and say, “Now, Lord, now tread down this adversary.” When we are observing the conditions which the psalmist enumerates in this psalm, it is easy to do this. Notice what they are.
The heart must be fixed in an attitude of consecration and devotion. We must be awake right early, for fellowship with God, putting on the armour before entering into the battle. We must exalt God in our life and by our lips. Then God will speak in his holiness in our behalf; and when He is for us, who can be against us? Hark to the exultation of the saint. Shechem, Gilead, Manasseh, were famous for their luxuriant fertility, and typify the heavenly graces appropriated by faith. Moab, Edom, Philistia, are synonyms for fierce hostility, and recall our besetting sins, our virulent foes, which fall before us when we are in alliance with the Almighty.
Micah caught sight of this truth, when he said (Micah 2:13), “The breaker is come up before them… their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.” Yes, the Shepherd goes before his flock, but the flock must follow Him. We must not be content with the knowledge that all things are ours in Christ, but must enter on their possession and enjoyment. Of what use is it to know that mines of precious ore lie under the broad acres of an estate, unless they are brought to the surface and prepared for the service of man f And we must not let ourselves be robbed of our heritage in Christ, through the hatred of our spiritual foes, when He waits to tread them under his feet and ours. —Our Daily Homily