To do Valiantly

With God We Shall Do Valiantly
A Song. A Psalm of David.
1 My heart is steadfast, O God!
I will sing and make melody with all my being!
2 Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
3 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4 For your steadfast love is great above the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
6 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
give salvation by your right hand and answer me!

7 God has promised in his holiness:
“With exultation I will divide up Shechem
and portion out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I cast my shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 Oh grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!
13 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.

- Psalm 108

Psalm 108 features a reprise of two previous Davidic Psalms. Verse 1-5 were first seen in Psalm 57:7-11. Verses 6-13 are from Psalm 60:5-12.

Matthew Henry suggests the repetition is a model for us that “we may in prayer use the same words that we have formerly used, provided it be with new affections.” With little historical context it is difficult to determine what David’s “new affections” might be, but, compared to the source Psalms, there is a noteworthy lack of lament in Psalm 108. Psalm 57 featured David lying down amid fiery beasts! Here, David wakes the dawn with jubilant music of praise.

What follows is smack talk of the highest order. Did you catch the part about mopping the floor with Moab?! For a people maligned by so many enemies who were so close, these verses about trust in God must have been a comfort like no other.

At verse 10 the declaration of trust in God becomes an appeal to God and a reminder that we must never get ahead of the God who is infinitely trustworthy. When we do, He might not go out with our armies. For us, the battle might not be literal, but the admonition is no less relevant. Especially in times when we have no reason to lament, we must never get ahead of God, or we might find ourselves feeling strangely alone. When we remain in lockstep with our Savior, we can proclaim the great battle cry of verse 13: “With God we shall do valiantly.”