Psalm 35:7-Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” NKJV
Have you ever had some exciting news that you just wanted to shout out loud to everyone who passed by? Maybe you were in love, and you wanted the whole world to know! Or maybe you finally got that dream job with a nice salary, and you wanted to scream at the top of your lungs because you were more than thrilled! I remember feeling exactly like that at various times in my life! Some news is so wonderful; you just have to share your joy at the top of your lungs because you want to burst!!
That’s the feeling that David’s words evoke in my mind! He wrote:
Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause;
Psalm 35:27a NKJV
The 35th Psalm covers people attacking David, even betraying him. He couldn’t understand why they were coming after him:
For without cause, they have hidden their net for me in a pit, which they have dug without cause for my life.
Psalm 35:7 NKJV
What reason did they have to come against him, David asked? What did he ever do to them but bless them, pray for them, and try to help them? Have you ever felt like this? Read his words:
They reward me evil for good,
Psalm 35:12 NKJV
Been there! And,
when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; and my prayer would return to my own heart.
Psalm 35:13 NKJV
Have you prayed for people like you were praying for yourself? Has your heart ever hurt over their situation so much so, that it was as if you were going through the problem instead of them? I know David, and I aren’t the only ones to experience this!
So from David’s point of view, what could he have possibly done that would cause others to come at him in this manner? We know of a couple of times in his life when this psalm could have been constructed. He fought Saul’s battles, and Saul hunted him down to kill him. He loved Absalom, and Absalom, his son, hunted him down to overthrow his kingdom. That’s too much! He just had a hard time with other people in his life!
David wasn’t perfect, but David’s problem was that he was favored by God! He couldn’t help all of the great things that were happening to him. It wasn’t his fault that while he was tending the sheep, the lion and the bear came, and he was victorious over them. God protected him! It wasn’t his fault that he took Goliath down with a stone! God guided that stone! And it wasn’t his fault that he was a warrior, a great leader, and a great king! It was the Lord! And the favor that was on David’s life, caused others to hate him and to fear him!
But David said:
Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause;
Psalm 35:27a
Everybody who is for me, who is on my side, shout for joy and be glad! David’s cause was righteous! He was doing what God told him to do! So instead of focusing on all of the things that hurt him, and he had been hurt, David knew that his cause was a righteous cause!
As the people of God, we are favored by God. Sometimes, the blessings flow in such a way that it seems almost unfair! We have difficult times, and tough situations in life like everybody else, but we know that we are blessed and favored by God! His hand is on us! We have overcome great obstacles! We have seen Him move on our behalf! He has been faithful! Because we have stayed the course, even in hard times! Our cause is His cause, a righteous cause!
Then David said:
And let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
Psalm 35:27b NKJV
Say it continually! Say it over and over again! Say it night and day! Whatever you do, don’t stop saying,
“Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
Psalm 35:27b NKJV
God delights to bless us! He takes pleasure when we prosper! Prosperity isn’t always about money, although I believe money is included. Prosperity happens when we are healthy, or when our children are all doing well, or when our family is strong! Prosperity happens when our ministry is still going and growing, or doors of opportunities are opening up for us that we didn’t knock on! There are all kinds of ways to be prosperous, and David said that the Lord has pleasure in prospering us! And most of the time, we keep silent, but there comes a time when we have a need to shout out that He has been so good to us!!
That’s where I am at tonight! The Lord has been so absolutely, positively, good to me, that I had to take some time and shout it out! “Let the Lord be magnified because He has taken great pleasure in prospering me!”
And I have found that the more that I say it (continually), the more that He just keeps blessing me! Maybe that’s the point of the psalm! We will all have difficult days. But if in those times when we feel like we have given people our all, we have done more than should be required of us, and they are still not grateful, or worst, they attack us; it’s time to give God some praise!
Right there, in the midst of all of that, we should just keep saying, and maybe even shouting it out, that God is not only good to us, but it gives Him pleasure to be good to us! Wonderful Jesus!
Wonderful Jesus! 