Psalm 33:16-22 “Trust In His Holy Name”

Translation & Sermon By Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 25 Feb 2018

INTRO: An Untrustworthy Bough

· When my brother and I were boys, we spent a lot of time playing in the trees around my parent’s house. One of the coolest stunts we ever pulled was when we discovered that a tree in the back corner of the yard had a bough about fifteen feet off the ground that had just enough spring in it to launch us about ten feet out of tree in the direction of a nearby telephone pole. Now, that ten feet of clearance was just enough to reach a steel support cable that angled from the top of the telephone pole down to an anchor point in the ground another dozen feet away. We decided it would be great fun to leap out of the tree, grab the support cable and take an exhilarating slide on the 20 foot diagonal to the ground. My brother and I each took turns climbing up on the bough and bouncing on it to test if it would really be able to sling us all the way out to the cable, and, after a certain amount of discussion, we were convinced it would do the trick. So, like a good big brother, I suggest my little brother go first. Up the tree he went, off the bough he went, right to the cable, and, that’s when the first unexpected thing happened. Instead of gliding down the cable like we had expected, my brother found that the friction between his hands and the cable was a little too much to slide, so he had to swing himself hand over hand down the cable until his feet touched the ground. I quickly came up with a solution for that problem, though. Wearing a pair of my dad’s old work gloves, I ascended the tree for the ride of my life. This was going to be awesome! That’s when the next unexpected thing happened: As I jumped, instead of springing me forward like it was supposed to, the bough instead cracked under my weight, absorbing just enough of my upward thrust to leave me grabbing at air as I sailed just short of the diagonal cable some twenty feet above the ground. That’s when I realized that we had made yet another poor judgment: We had not taken into account the fence which lay just inches beyond and below the cable. I remember crashing down on the ridge of the fence on my stomach and face, all those steel tips poking into my body, then bouncing off the fence and landing on my back on the ground. You might say that painful experience was just the result of stupid thrillseeking, but I say the problem was that I entrusted my full weight to a branch that was not strong enough to bear my weight.

· Pretty much everybody gets experiences in life like that, where we trusted something or somebody, and they let us down: whether it’s an investment that went bad or a business that flopped, or something you built that fell apart, or a company that laid you off work, or a co-worker or a family member that you trusted and then they didn’t fulfill their promise, or they betrayed you, and you were left to pick up the pieces. That can make it hard to ever trust anybody again, and we project that upon God too. We’re afraid to trust Him because He is unpredictable. We start protecting ourselves and putting up walls so that we don’t get hurt by other people again, and then we crash into more trouble and realize that we don’t even have the power and the smarts to protect ourselves from hurt. Well, God has a message waiting for you at the end of Psalm 33!

· As we’ve meditated upon Psalm 33 these last couple of weeks, we’ve seen that God is worthy to make praise music to, and His word and His works are particularly worthy of praise.

o His work of creation by means of His word was highlighted in v. 8-9 Let all the earth be respectful of Yahweh! Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him! For He is [the one who] spoke and it began to exist; He is [the one who] commanded and it stood.

o And then His works of providence, in ordering all things according to His will, were highlighted in v.11 “It is the plan of Yahweh that will stand for ever - the deliberations of His heart for generation after generation!” – and we saw last week from the whole of scripture that God’s plan is to choose and save and sanctify us to be with Himself forever.

o Now, in verses 16 and following, the psalm closes with an application of what to do with such a powerful God: You trust Him!

· Now, just because someone is powerful doesn’t mean you can trust them, so David begins by comparing the trustworthiness of other creature-ly powers to the trustworthiness of God:

v.16 The king does not exist who is secured by a lot of power; a champion does not deliver himself by a lot of strength. 17 Disappointing is the horse when it comes to security; even with a lot of power, it will not escape.

· The Hebrew word chiyl occurrs at the beginning of v.16 and the end of v.17. Most English versions translate it “army” in v.16 and then translate it “strength” in v.17. It has a wide range of meaning, from monetary wealth to human resources to muscle-power.

· Then there’s the Hebrew synonym coch “strength/power” at the end of v.16.

· Now, maybe horses and kings are not part of your life much, but the quest for power and strength is very much a part of our lives:

o That’s why we exercise and even get gym memberships. We want to be strong. It makes us look good and enables us to do impressive things.

o That’s why we like horsepower too. Not all of us can afford a big truck or a muscle car, but we can sure admire them when they pass us – and not many of us can avoid having a covetous thought when we are admiring that kind of power.

o That’s also why a lot of people buy guns. We want to be able to blow our enemies to kingdom come – or at least have the fun of using that kind of power to blow a tin can to smithereens.

o And physical power isn’t the only kind of power that we appropriate:

§ There’s brainpower – having the smartest people to get advice from,

§ computer processing power with bigger and better mainframes,

§ and social power to be able to influence other people to do what you want them to do.

What do we want to do with all these kinds of power? Note the 3 related verbs in vs.16-17:

o נוֹשָׁע “saved/secured” (The noun form of ysh’ “salvation/deliverance/victory/safety” also occurs in v.17),

o יִנָּצֵל “delivered/escapes,”

o and in v.17 יְמַלֵּט “escape/save/deliver.”

o We want to use power to get free of anything that controls or limits us so that we can live free of the fear of other people hurting us.

· Natural man assumes that more chiyl-power/wealth and more coch-strength are all it takes to be secure, but such is not the case. Only God gives security; only God can keep us safe.

o Verse 17 starts out with the word sheqer emphasizing that trust in creature-ly strength is “vain, false, disappointing.”

o “Thus says Jehovah, who gives a way in the sea, a path in the strong waters, who pitches out chariot and horse, army and strongman. They will lie down, they will never get up, they have been extinguished, burned out like a wick.” (Isa.43:16-17, NAW) Pharaoh’s reliance on an army to force his slave-labor force to stay and work for him - at cross-purposes to God’s plan to free the Israelites to start their own country - was a dreadful disappointment to the Egyptians, to say the least. It was a vain hope.

o But trust in God will not be in vain: Psalm 18:30-39 This God has integrity in His ways; the speech of Yahweh is pure. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him. Because who is God apart from Yahweh alone? And who is a landmark-rock except our God! This God really equips me with resource[s] and gives integrity to my way, making my feet even like the deer. And he causes me to stand upon my high places, training my hands for the battle... You also give me the shield of Your salvation. With Your right hand You sustain me, and Your lowliness makes me great. You lengthened my stride under me and my ankles will not give out. I hunt down my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn back until their defeat... 39 So You really equip me with resource[s] for the battle; You cause him who rises up against me to kneel under me. And as for my enemies You give to me [their bowed] neck...” (NAW) It didn’t matter how big and strong Goliath was and how small and weak David was; when God wanted to deliver Israel from the Philistines, that was that. David trusted God, and God delivered. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

· No amount of wealth and strength and power can deliver security. Only God delivers. How does that work?

v.18 Look, the eye of Yahweh is on those who respect Him (because they are hoping for His lovingkindness) 19 in order to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive during the famine.

· Does it mean the kind of suspicious watching to catch you doing something wrong? (“I’m watching you; always watching you!” ~Monsters Inc.).

o No, God watches us like we watch our adorable grandchild or nephew, thoroughly enjoying him and his antics. That’s what it says in Psalm 147:11, “The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.” (NKJV)

o Comment on the fun Brian and the rest of us had with the meme of Baby Thomas.

· So it is those who fear/respect the Lord who have the eye of the Lord on them to enjoy them and to look out for them.

· God’s plan in v.19 is to “keep His people alive and well during famine.” This is not a mere figure of speech, God has literally done this throughout history:

o for instance this verb for “keep alive” (chayyot) is also used in Gen. 19:19 to describe the Lord rescuing Lot from the fiery destruction of Sodom,

o in Genesis 45:7 to describe God rescuing the family of Israel from starving to death in a famine by bringing them under Joseph’s protection in Egypt,

o in Exodus 1 of the Hebrew children (like Moses), who were kept alive despite Pharaoh’s command that they be put to death.

o God also kept Abraham alive during a famine (Gen. 12:10), and later Isaac (Gen. 26:1), Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 1:1), and later even David and the nation of Israel (2 Sam. 21:1).

o God preserved the children of Israel in the dessert under “famine” conditions by sending them manna and quail and water (Ex. 16).

o He also kept His people alive through the famine caused by the Aramean siege of Samaria and delivered them from the seige in 2 Kings 6-7.

o The books of the prophets in the Bible make it clear that God also used famine and enemies to discipline His people for their rebellion against Him, but He promised to preserve alive His remnant through even those times of discipline (Ezekiel 36:29).

· But this is not just talking about having enough to eat. Other passages throughout the Bible clearly teach that this deliverance from death and provision against starvation is ultimately a picture of the gift of eternal life, rescue from hell through the provision of Jesus Christ, the bread that came down from heaven and was broken for us on the cross and who compared trusting in Him to feeding on Him:

o When the Jews mentioned to Jesus that God gave manna-bread from heaven when the nation was starving in the desert, Jesus replied, “…My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst... And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day… Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world... Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day... As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever." These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. (John 6:31-59, NKJV)

o This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 57:15, where God said, …“High and holy I dwell – but… also with the lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of lowly ones … 18. I have seen his [sinful] ways, yet I will heal him…” (NAW)

· But note that it is not merely “fearing/respecting” Him that results in His eye being on you to enjoy relationship with you and to give you eternal life.

o When Jesus comes to judge the world, “every knee will bow” in respect to him, and everyone will be afraid of Him because He has the final say on whether we spend eternity in heaven or hell.

o Rev. 6:15-17 “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every [one] … says, “…hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (NKJV) But they will not be saved simply because they are afraid.

o The next phrase in Psalm 33:18 is a very important qualifier: “who hope in His mercy.”

o I think that the Lamed prefix in front of this phrase actually indicates purpose, in other words, they “respect Him because/to the end that they hope in His lovingkindness.”

o Those who are right with God are those who – not only fear Him because He holds the power of hell, but who – trust that He can also grant the blessing of heaven to them.

o This is the essence of saving faith, it is going to Jesus, trusting that He will make you right with God, even as the New Testament book of Romans states: “to him who does not work but trusts the One who makes right the ungodly, his trust is counted as righteousness…” (Romans 4:5-8, NAW) We are not saved by mustering up faith; we are not saved by meeting some standard of genuineness to our expression of faith; we are saved when we say, “I’m a sinner deserving hell, but I’m hoping Jesus will have mercy on me instead. I don’t know if I’m doing it all right, and I don’t know how all God is going to fix my problems, but I am counting on You to save me, Jesus, because the Bible tells me that you are ‘the one who makes right the ungodly.’”

· This “hoping” (יחל yachal) in v.18 also involves patient waiting.

o Job mentions it in Job 14:14 “If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes.” (NKJV) Job didn’t get a quick deliverance from his uncomfortable situation. God took His time with Job, but in time, Job’s change came, and God gave him an abundant life again.

o Psalm 130:5-7 uses yachal interchangeably with the synonym qavah “to wait”: “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning—Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption.” (NKJV) How many years did David have to spend sleepless nights at a watchpost in his camp in the Judean desert, hunted like an outlaw until God fulfilled His promise to make him the blessed King of Israel whose kingdom would never cease? It took time for God’s purpose to ripen in David’s life.

o Later on, Micah, bless his heart, had to wait 700 years before the God of his salvation showed up in Jerusalem, but he knew that the Lord was his only hope; there was no point in trusting rulers or judges or friends or companions when it came to being truly secure. Micah 7:2-8 “The faithful man has perished from the earth, And there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; Every man hunts his brother with a net. That they may successfully do evil with both hands—The prince asks for gifts, The judge seeks a bribe, And the great man utters his evil desire; So they scheme together. The best of them is like a brier... Do not trust in a friend; Do not put your confidence in a companion... Therefore I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The LORD will be a light to me.” (NKJV)

· Will you come to the same conclusion Micah and David did that all the things you have thought would give you security and power over whatever is unpleasant in your life are vain and bound to disappoint, and that your only hope is to wait for the Lord Jesus to share His lovingkindness with you?

v.20 Our soul waits for Yahweh; He is our helper and our shield,

David introduces a synonym for “hope” here; this Hebrew verb חִכְּתָה indicates to “hang around, linger, wait.”

Isaiah really picks up on this same synonym in describing a relationship with God: 8.17 “I will wait for Yahweh, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look eagerly for Him.” 30:18 “Yahweh will wait to show grace to you, and therefore He go up to show mercy to you. Since Jehovah is a God of justice, happy are all who wait for Him.” 64:4b “…eye has not seen a god besides you who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.”
Often, God’s blessing doesn’t come as fast as you’d want it. It is His nature to “wait to show grace to you,” as Isaiah put it, and this gives us time to grow in our hope and expectation toward Him. Be careful not to jump the gun when He has you in a time of waiting.
I heard about a church that was starting a building program. New construction is expensive, and as they calculated the costs, it got pretty overwhelming. The pastor and the elders compared the cost with what they estimated their congregation could provide, and they said, “There’s no way we can do this without going to a bank for help.” So they took out a loan, which required them to pay back over years at least three times as much as they borrowed, and they proceeded with the building program. What they didn’t know was that God had anticipated their need and had already provided that whole sum of money to one of the members who would have gladly donated it to build the extension, but since the leaders assumed God wouldn’t provide and didn’t wait on the Lord but rushed to the bank right away, the man with the means God had provided didn’t find out about the need until after the loan had been set up. He ended up giving it all to another ministry instead. Don’t jump too quickly on human plans to fix your problems; take time to wait on the Lord when you have a need; He is a helper; wait and let Him help!

We’ve already seen a couple of Psalms which speak of God as a “helper and a shield:”

Psalm 18:2 “Yahweh is… my deliverer, my God, my landmark-rock. I will take refuge in Him, my shield and horn of my salvation, my high tower… 30 This God has integrity in His ways; the speech of Yahweh is pure. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him… 35 You give me the shield of Your salvation. With Your right hand You sustain me, and Your lowliness makes me great.” (NAW)
Psalm 28:7-9 “Yahweh is my strength and my shield; it is in Him that my heart has trusted, so I will be helped out, and my heart will rejoice, and through my song I will respond to Him. Yahweh is the strength of His people, and He is the source of strength behind the salvations of His anointed one. Cause Your people to be safe, and bless Your inheritance, and provide for them, and carry them unto eternity.” (NAW)
Psalm 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.” (NKJV)

Did you know that, although God isn’t called a “shield” in the New Testament, He is called our “helper”?

John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper [which means that Jesus is considering Himself the first “helper”], that He may abide with you forever” (NKJV)
And who is that “other helper”? Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (NKJV)

v.21 for it is in Him that our heart is happy, because we have trusted in His holy name.

You want to be happy? Trust in the name – the reputation and person of – the Lord Jesus!
Philippians 3:8-10 “I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord… that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection…” (NKJV)
Col. 2:6 “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (NKJV)
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is arriving and He has given to us insight so that we may recognize the True One, and we are in the True One--in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the True God and eternal life. (NAW)
Not only is Jesus the only one powerful enough to give you security, He is the only one who can truly make your heart happy. Oh, brothers and sisters, trust Him to do this! Put all your confidence in Him and don’t try to split it up between all the other things in life that promise security and happiness. When you need comfort, go to Him first and ask Him for it. This is how the earth is filled with His lovingkindness!
Now David closes with a benediction-prayer of sorts:

v.22 Let Your lovingkindness be upon us, Yahweh in accordance to [the way in] which we have hoped for You.

Just as God’s eye is “on/toward” (אֶל) those who hope in Him, so our heart and hope is “in/for/toward” Him (לָךְ). “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me,” so my eye is also on Him hoping for and anticipating His mercy.
Is your relationship with God reciprocal enough that you could, like David here, ask God to show lovingkindness to the extent that you demonstrate trust in Him?
I don’t think this is intended to put limits on God’s love (God loves us more than we are able to love Him or trust Him, and we can’t ask God to love us only as much as we let Him, because, as God, He is free to do whatever He wants), rather I think it is intended to express the idea that Our love relationship with God is reciprocal. His love for us feeds our love for Him, which in turn delights Him to show further lovingkindness to us in a positive feedback loop.
It also expresses the idea that it is righteous to expect to experience more of God’s love in the future. As Romans 8:24 says, “Who hopes for what he already has?” (NIV) Hope is about something you don’t have yet, therefore we can expect that, the more we wait and trust and hope in God, the more lovingkindness we’re going to experience from Him. He’s not a vending machine that only dispenses one treat for each dollar you put in; He is a generous person who gives more gifts the longer you hang out with Him.

Conclusion

Oh brothers and sisters, trust in the Holy name of the Lord. Everything else is a vain hope, like that tree branch that broke when I put my weight on it. Keep your eye on Jesus with anticipation! He alone can make you happy. He alone has the power to make you secure. Wait for His lovingkindness with good hope!

Psalm 33:16-22[A]

Vaticanus	Brenton (LXX)	Douay-Rheims (Vulgate)	KJV	NAW	MT
32:16 οὐ σῴζεται βασιλεύς διά πολλὴν δύναμιν, [καὶ] γίγας[B] οὐ σωθήσεται ἐν πλήθει ἰσχύος [αὐτοῦ·]	16 A king is not saved by reason of a great host; [and] a giant shall not be delivered by the greatness of [his] strength.	16 The king is not saved by a great army: [nor] shall the giant be saved by [his own] great strength.	16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.	16 The king does not exist who is secured by a lot of power; a champion does not deliver himself by a lot of strength.	טז אֵין הַמֶּלֶךְ נוֹשָׁע בְּרָב חָיִל גִּבּוֹר לֹא יִנָּצֵל בְּרָב כֹּחַ.
32:17 ψευδὴς ἵππος εἰς σωτηρίαν, ἐν δὲ πλήθει δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ οὐ σωθήσ~~εται~~[C].	17 A horse is vain for safety; neither shall he be delivered by the greatness of his power.	17 Vain is the horse for safety: neither shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength.	17 An horse is a vain thing for safety^{^[D]}: neither shall he deliver^{^[E]} any by his great strength.	17 A disappointment is the horse when it comes to security; even with a lot of power, it will not escape.	יז שֶׁקֶר הַסּוּס לִתְשׁוּעָה וּבְרֹב חֵילוֹ לֹא יְמַלֵּט.
32:18 ἰδοὺ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ κυρίου ἐπὶ τοὺς φοβουμένους αὐτὸν τοὺς ἐλπίζοντας ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ	18 Behold, the eye[s] of the Lord are on them that fear him, those that hope in his mercy;	18 Behold the eye[s] of the Lord are on them that fear him: and on them that hope in his mercy.	18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;	18 Look, the eye of Yahweh is on those who respect Him (because they are hoping for His lovingkindness)	יח הִנֵּה עֵין יְהוָה אֶל יְרֵאָיו לַמְיַחֲלִים לְחַסְדּוֹ.
32:19 ῥύσασθαι ἐκ θανάτου τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν καὶ διαθρέψαι[F] αὐτοὺς ἐν λιμῷ.	19 to deliver their souls from death, and to keep them alive in famine.	19 To deliver their souls from death; and feed them in famine.	19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.	19 in order to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive during the famine.	יט לְהַצִּיל מִמָּוֶת נַפְשָׁם וּלְחַיּוֹתָם בָּרָעָב.
32:20 ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν ὑπομένει τῷ κυρίῳ, [ὅτι] βοηθὸς καὶ ὑπερασπιστὴς ἡμῶν ἐστιν·	20 Our soul waits on the Lord; [for] he is our helper and defender.	20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord: [for] he is our helper and protector.	20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.	20 Our soul waits for Yahweh; He is our helper and our shield,	כ נַפְשֵׁנוּ חִכְּתָה לַיהוָה עֶזְרֵנוּ וּמָגִנֵּנוּ הוּא.
32:21 ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ εὐφρανθήσεται ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν, ~~καὶ~~ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ ἠλπίσαμεν[G].	21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, ~~and~~ we have hoped in his holy name.	21 For in him our heart shall rejoice: ~~and~~ in his holy name we have trusted.	21 For our heart shall rejoice^{^[H]} in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.	21 for it is in Him that our heart is happy, because we have trusted in His holy name.	כא כִּי בוֹ יִשְׂמַח לִבֵּנוּ כִּי בְשֵׁם קָדְשׁוֹ בָטָחְנוּ.
32:22 γένοιτο τὸ ἔλεός σου, κύριε, ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς, καθάπερ ἠλπίσαμεν[I] ἐπὶ σέ.	22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in thee.	22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as X we have hoped in thee.	22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.	22 Let Your lovingkindness be upon us, Yahweh, just as we have hoped for You.	כב יְהִי חַסְדְּךָ יְהוָה עָלֵינוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר יִחַלְנוּ לָךְ.