But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13:5-6)
When God has allowed His people to suffer, even be expelled from the land due to sin, their enemies have looked down upon them as defeated and destroyed. There are passages of Scripture that say some of these enemies suggest God has abandoned them, or worse, they go so far as to believe that Israel has no God and no hope of salvation. To that position, and to counter his own bouts of uncertainty, David acknowledges that God’s mercy, compassion and loving kindness will prevail over all — over his doubts and over his enemies.
To say that we trust in God’s mercy is to concede that our own actions and sense of righteousness will never be enough to meet God’s standards of holiness and truth. In other words, God’s kindness is extended to us even though we are undeserving of it. So then, when in the gloom of “exile” (that sense that God is nowhere to be found), we must hold fast to the fact that He is abundant in goodness and truth; that He is merciful to the thousandth generation of those who love Him and strive to obey His Word. Even in the midst of hardship and suffering, if we look for it, we can discern God’s beneficent Hand and His acts of kindness to us. In other words, it can always be much worse and probably would be were it not for His mercy.
Though he began the psalm asking, “How long?” he concludes with the profession that, one day, salvation would be realized, not just longed for. Looking ahead to the time when deliverance would come, David said, “my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.” Take notice of the fact that he does not say, “my salvation” but “your salvation.” David doesn’t place confidence in himself for a resolution to his plight but understands that God alone provides salvation for him and for all of Israel. Interestingly, the Hebrew word translated as salvation is yeshua, thus implying that David placed his hope in Yeshua as his deliverer. That is our hope and confidence as well — the Messiah of Israel, Yeshua (Jesus) will deliver us all from our “exile” and will gather us unto Himself. One day it will be a reality — we shall see Him as He is — and what a day of great rejoicing that will be.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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