David begins Psalm 108 by audaciously declaring that “My heart is confident in You, O God; no wonder I can sing Your praises with all my heart!” As I read this just now, I had to pause and reflect on times when I’ve been “worshiping the Lord” or leading others in worship while my heart was less than confident in God, and thus inhibited in praising Him with all of my heart.
Our sincerest worship of God makes a bold statement just like David’s:
“My heart is confident in You, O God! Not in myself! My hope is in YOU, Lord, the maker of heaven and earth! I trust and worship you with all of my heart!”
Does this mean we should not praise Him if our hearts aren’t confident in Him? No. Our practice of worshiping God — declaring who He is and His mighty acts of loving-kindness toward all mankind — encourages and deepens our confidence in God. As we declare the truth about Him our hearts and minds will grow more confident in His steadfast love and faithfulness, and His Spirit will help us worship Him in Spirit and in truth with all of our hearts.
If we’re struggling to have confidence in God as we worship with songs that declare the truth of who He is, we should:
- Stop and reflect on the words we’re singing rather than go through the motions.
- Take time to consider the character and the works of God, and all the other reasons that He’s worthy of all of our praise.
- Ask and rely upon the Holy Spirit to teach us as we sing and confidently trust the Lord.
- Preach the gospel to ourselves and remember how and why we are saved from sin and death!
And if our hearts are truly confident in God, let us all the more boldly declare His praises with all of our hearts! Why should we hold back? Remember that when we sing aloud and worship together, we are simultaneously encouraging ourselves and others around us—we’re edifying each other even as we worship the Lord declaring His greatness (Colossians 3:16). We all need this encouragement.
The second half of Psalm 108 is David’s prayer for the Lord to rescue His beloved people—to answer and save them by His power from their enemies. This plea follows David’s declaration of his confidence in the Most High God—his prayer comes on the heels of his praise to the only One who is mighty to save.
Like David, we can have confidence in the character, the power, the saving name and grace of God even when our enemies are fast approaching, even when our hearts condemn us. We can praise Him at all times for what He has done and for what He has promised to do because He cannot lie and will never fail us. The writer of Hebrews echo’s the bold statement of David and exhorts us to likewise boldly approach God’s throne in worship and prayer:
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. (Hebrews 10:19-23)
May God, by His grace and power, equip the hearts of His children with unswerving, extreme confidence in Him as He enables us by His Spirit to praise Him at all times with all of our hearts. He is always worthy of all praise.
“Confidence” photo from Flickr, used via Creative Commons license