The ending verses from psalms Fifty-seven and Sixty have been joined together to compose Psalm One Hundred and Eight. One of my commentators merely refers his readers back to these earlier psalms. A second commentator notes that this combination should encourage us to new initiatives and ventures of faith without going into any studied detail. Again, we are referred back to comments on the earlier psalms. Spurgeon will have none of this, he believes that the intention and arrangement here have a specific purpose and urges us to seek an understanding behind the double praise arrangement here.

Of course, we all have favorite books that we read over and over. I have been through J.R.R. Tolkien's series on Middle Earth at least four times and each year as I work through my history and government lectures, I return to the same essential sources to clarify my mind as I trudge through familiar territory. I also have in my possession the seven Bibles that I read through in different versions. The New King James Version is the eighth in the series.

After my father passed away, my sister and I discovered a set of notebooks recording the weather clear back to 1939 - no wonder he could tell the boys what the weather had been like over the years on whatever day they were wondering what to expect! There were also lists of all the books he had ever read. He always had fun with Mom when she picked up a book to read again and didn't remember having done so!

Is this a good enough reason to worship one day in seven - to remind ourselves of the means of grace and our need to praise the God who gives mercy and blessings? How easily we might forget if we did not plough the same spiritual ground again and again. Back in the thirties Dad lost his grandfather's watch in a plowed field, only to see it turn up thirty years later when the ground which had been plowed all of those years turned it up again - rusty and frozen in time - but a keepsake never-the-less. Somehow it was almost more precious having the second time around! We might almost echo the Doublemint jingle from our Media advertisements: Double your pleasure, double your fun, but in a more spiritual sense for our purposes today: double your praise!

To understand the call of this psalm, let us remember that both of the previous psalms began under stress with David being hunted in the fifty-seventh and being defeated in the sixtieth. The strong praises of both for God's providence are united here in this double song of praise. Spurgeon notes that whereas the these poems of praise earlier grew out of prayer, here these poems of praise end with a growing confidence in the closing prayer. The confidence expressed here by David has been accomplished through many earlier prayers which led from victory unto victory! So many prayers in David's life have been answered on his way to Kingship, that David here begins to realize his kingship. Our psalm celebrates King David's right to the secular rule over his people and his enemies. Today, let us take a close at this celebration and then let us apply the confidence of David to our own life and witness as a Church.

The first five verses contains David's thanksgiving and promise of praise. Throughout the psalter David has remained steadfast in prayer and praise. This much he claims in verse one. Note that he will give his prayer and praise "even with my glory" as the New King James translation has it. "With all his soul" the New International Version has it.

If he could David would use his orchestra to awaken the dawn. Such enthusiasm for singing the praises of our God. How few times will us moderns gather at sunrise to celebrate the dawn of a new Lord's Day? May we be so inspired to sing in our souls as we praise Him in our worship. David would praise the Lord publicly before the nations and among the peoples. This is also our calling and our pleasure to celebrate the goodness of our King before a watching world.

In verse four David gives us the reason for our praise. Great is the mercy of God and His faithfulness. They are higher and greater than we can ever know. Therefore, David prays that God might be exalted above all of creation and further that His glory might be known over the entire earth.

Verse six is a prayer for preservation on behalf of all who are loved by our Almighty Father in heaven. Please take note that David prays that the Gospel might be applied to those who are loved. "That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and hear me." This spiritual action on our behalf is the heart of the Gospel. God has accomplished all that we could not through His son Jesus Christ. God has indeed spoken and done for us so much more than gathering the twelve tribes to David's crown. The sons and tribes of God are more numerous in our age. However, as we look at the list of tribes mentioned here, we know full well that in time even loyal Judah departed from the true faith.

So it has been with various groups within the New Covenant Church as well. Sadly, we must always remember that the glorious churches founded by the Puritans in New England became Unitarian Universalist congregations a short three and a half centuries later! And so it is within many denominations in our age, the love for Christ and His word has grown cold. At least in David's time portions of Israel were loyal to their earthly king. However, Solomon was barely in his tomb when the Kingdom of Israel was divided.

May God truthfully say that we here assembled today are His! And as long as we uphold Jesus as Lord and humbly offer Him our lives, our souls and our treasure, we may honestly pray that He will hold us fast to Himself. Well should we learn that not only God's people are under His kind care, but also the enemies outside of the Church. All people who dwell on earth receive the common grace of living within His created order. Just as David conquered the neighboring tribes of Moab, Edom and Philistia, so too will David's greater Son shout the triumph of victory at the end of this present age. God does indeed triumph over both friend and foe alike David tells us in this psalm. But that triumph is not the result of David's skill or faithfulness.

No indeed, in verses ten and eleven we see whose strong hand goes before David and also before Christ's own Church. Now the original setting of this half of the psalm may have been one of the several occasions when the Edomites attacked Judea while the King's armies were busy elsewhere. The same thing happened to King Harold of England. Conqueror William chose his time for invasion while Harold was far to the north defeating other enemies. Now we know that Harold and his House Carls were mighty warriors and had they not been exhausted from a grueling forced march of several hundred miles, the battle of Hastings in 1066 might well have turned out very differently. And so David shows his utter need here for Divine aid. And this he prays for in verse twelve. This need for prayer is the mark of a King who has matured, who is ready to rule in the Name of God. In a like manner, such prayer should always be the mark of God's people.

Several years ago in one of our Presbytery's smaller churches, a third pastor in as many years settled in for ministry. He began to make a prayer the major focus of the session and the people. Things began to settle down and within time the group began to outgrow its worship facilities. Quite a few people have come into saving relationships with Jesus Christ. Prayer does change things! Certainly, we ought to use all of our God given skills and our considerable energy to serve the Kingdom of Christ. However, like David, we must learn that it is only God who grants the victory. Only God will trample the enemies of Christ and His Church!

Once I saw a cartoon of a man who was paying a mechanic for fixing his car. The mechanic was carefully studying the bill. And the words printed were these: "Gee, you're right, I should have added when I multiplied!" Now, I know very many of us are thinking that something like that when we pay our bills today. But, let us apply this observation to our spiritual life as we learn a lesson from this psalm. King David does more than just double his praise by reusing portions of earlier psalms. It is not addition we see at work here, it is in fact multiplication. And the multiplication factor of David's praise is his life of prayer. It is true from David's experience just as we ought to learn as well that God will help us and God will gain the victory. May I humbly ask if each of you will give yourself over more to prayer for our times of praise together on each Lord's Day, I believe you will see valid evidence of God's work in our midst.

May this double praise multiply your practice. Amen.