REJOICE IN HIS SALVATION

“And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD; it shall rejoice in His salvation”” – Psalm 35: 9

Having been saved from sin, it is your responsibility by grace to begin to REJOICE in HIS SALVATION: “And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD; it shall rejoice in His salvation” (v.9). The Joy of salvation is already within you, waiting to erupt. Now, the onus is on you to trigger the fountain. Habakkuk said, “Yet I WILL REJOICE in the LORD, I WILL JOY in the God of my salvation” (Hab.3:18). Rejoicing is by choice, not by compulsion. You can choose to rejoice, knowing that the grace is within you: “And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your menservants and your maidservants…” (Deut. 12:12). Joy is our conscious choice, not a response to situations or circumstances.

Psalm 35 appears to have been composed in those trying times when Saul hunted David over hill and vale; or it may have been the turbulent days of frequent insurrections in David's old age. In summary, the Psalm is the appeal to heaven of a bold heart and a clear conscience, irritated beyond measure by oppression and cruelty. Having pleaded before the LORD, to fight against his adversaries and contend with his contenders, to stand up for his help, and to stop the way against his persecutors, David then requested that the Lord calm his mind by express assurance of his salvation: “Say to my soul, “I am your salvation”” (vv.1-3). David went on to petition for justice, and also foretold the shameful disappointment, everlasting confusion, pulverisation, and expulsion of all the haters of the righteous (v.4-5). He pronounced the doom appointed for every unrepentant enemy of God: dark and slippery ways; swift and sure destruction; no light, no foothold, and a fierce avenger at their heels (v.6).

Next, David presented the crux of his charge against the emissaries of evil: “For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit” (v.7). Twice in one verse, he asserts that his adversaries plotted against him without cause. Net making and pit digging require time and effort, both of which the wicked expend cheerfully all in a bid to overthrow God’s people! But, we must be on our guard, for gins and pitfalls are still the favourite weapons of the powers of evil. Nonetheless, we know that those who set traps shall catch their own fingers; and the stones they throw shall fall upon their own heads (v.8). In the wisdom of God, Satan will outwit himself and burn his fingers with his own coals!

Now rescued, David ascribed all the honour to the Judge of the right: “And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD” (v.9a). He offered no sacrifice of boasting to his own arm of valour. He took his eyes from his adversaries to his God, and found a deep unbroken joy in Jehovah, and in that joy his spirit revelled: “It shall rejoice in His salvation” (v.9b). Although the wicked shall be brought to swift and sure judgement, we do not rejoice in the destruction of others, but in the salvation given to us of God.

Prayer heard should always produce praise! As though the tongue were not enough to bless God with, David commanded his bones to vocalise God’s praise: “All my bones shall say, “LORD, who is like You…?” (v.10) He longed for his whole anatomy to resonate with gratitude. Those bones which were to have been broken by his enemies shall now praise God; every one of them shall bring its tribute, ascribing unrivalled excellence to the Lord and Saviour of His people. Imagine David musing: “Even if worn to skin and bone, yet my very skeleton shall magnify the Lord, who delivers “the poor from him who is too strong for him, Yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him” (v.10). Beloved, if truly you have been delivered from sin, Satan, and death, rise up to bless the Champion of your Redemption! O magnify the Lord today, and speak well of His name. Let your soul rejoice in His Salvation!