“The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” [Psalm 138:8 NKJV] “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 1:6 NASB]
In Psalm 138, David praises the Lord with his whole heart in worship for the Lord’s lovingkindness and mercy. David remembers the saving help of his Lord. In David’s time of trial, the Lord answered with strength and boldness needful to walk through the midst of trouble. The Lord did not forsake David for he humbled himself before his God. David boasts that his confidence is wholly and completely in the Lord. The Lord went before him with His right hand to save.
“I will praise You with
my whole heart. …
I will worship … And praise Your name
For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
In the day when I cried out, You
answered me,
And made
me bold with strength in my soul. …
For great is the glory of the LORD.
Though the LORD is on high,
Yet He regards the lowly….
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand
Against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.”
[Psalm 138:1-7 NKJV]
David basks in the glory of his Lord to save him through the battles with his enemies. David also glories in the goodness of his Lord for he knows He will also save in that final eternal rest promised in God’s everlasting covenant of life.
“He has made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation.” [2 Samuel 23:5 NKJV]
Then in climatic summation, David embraces the marvelous truth that the LORD will perfect, complete, mature all that concerns his readiness, his salvation, for that final day! His prayer rings out to the Lord, “Do not forsake the works of Your hands!” David is in effect crying out to the Lord, “Do not to stop the shaping, chiseling, and molding of my life in the midst of the trials and troubles of my life.” David’s desire is that the hands of God will work His goodness through every circumstance of life to make him a holy vessel that will forever rest in the glory of his Lord.
“The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” [Psalm 138:8 NKJV]
The same is true for all believers today. The Lord our God comes to us in His lovingkindness and mercy to save our souls from the enemy of death.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” [Ephesians 2:4-5 NKJV]
This same God transforms us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ’s likeness.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” [2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV]
He shapes us, molds us, and tests us through the trials and troubles of our life.
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” [James 1:2-4 NKJV]
So we too, as David, may have the confidence that our Lord and God will work the salvation He has begun in us until we are completely transformed into the glory of Christ’s likeness. Our Lord God will not forsake the work of His hands. In His enduring mercy He will bring us into eternal life in the glorious image of our Savior!
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 1:6 NASB]
Has the Lord done a good work of salvation in you? Then He will not forsake you. He will complete, He will perfect, the work of salvation in you: conforming you in holiness into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” [Psalm 138:8 NKJV] “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 1:6 NASB]
Valerie Graham 