Psalms 144:1

The Bible says in Psalm 144:1-2, “Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:[2] My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.” In these two verses David says a lot of good things about God. David said that God is his “strength.” David knew that his life was established by God. David was on a rock: a sure foundation. Human beings are extremely weak, especially compared to God. Do not ever take on the day without looking to the Lord and relying on Him. David was a warrior. He was king, and he was also a military man. And of course, David was spiritually wise, and so he knew to rely upon the Lord in his endeavors. That is why David said that God “teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” David went to battle with this confidence and assurance on his mind. We also have our occupations and our responsibilities. The best life is to have this kind of confidence in the Lord while you go about doing what the Lord has given you to do each day. Dedicate what you do to the Lord and He will give you the success that He chooses.

David said in verse two that God was his goodness. The word that is translated “goodness” comes from a word that means “steadfast love.” If you know, and believe, and rely upon the fact that God loves you, then you will believe that everything that God brings your way is part of His love for you. David said that God was his fortress. David knew that he could go to the Lord and be safe in His arms. David said that God was his “high tower.” When you are in a high tower, you can see all the land before you and therefore, be better prepared for what is coming. There is not better preparation for what is next in your life than trusting in the Lord Jesus. He will give you wisdom through the Spirit and through His Word.

David calls God his “shield.” On the battlefield arrows would be shot at him: David knew. On the battlefield of life arrows are also shot at us by the enemy. As long as we have a good shield we will be protected from the arrows of accusation or hatred or malice or anything else that comes at us. Jesus will protect us until He is done with our service to Him on this earth.

Notice that David said in verse two, “he in whom I trust.” This is the key in how we experience all these benefits from the Lord. Trust in the Lord Jesus every moment of every day. Trust in the Lord Jesus concerning your work and any tasks that you do. Trust in the Lord Jesus concerning your relationships and how people treat you and respond to you. Believe in Him. Believe that He is controlling and guiding and helping, and then He will be. David was king. All the people of the land were under his authority, and yet David knew that would not work out without God’s help. David said, “subdueth my people under me.” David saw the hand of God in everything that he was experiencing. That is faith.

The Bible says in Psalm 144:3-4, “LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him![4] Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.” After stating many wonderful things about God in the previous verses, King David turns his thoughts to mankind. It seems strange and too wonderful to imagine to think that the infinite almighty God would be interested in mere human beings. We are so small and so weak and so evil compared to the Mighty God. He is great and powerful and holy. He lives forever, and we die after a few short years: our “days are as a shadow that passeth away.” We are “like to vanity.” That means that our lives amount to nothing, especially compared to the eternal God. And yet God amazingly does take knowledge of us and His thoughts are towards us. That is why the Son of God came to the earth and took upon Himself the form of a man to die for our sins: so that we could live forever too.

The Bible says in Psalm 144:5-8, “Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.[6] Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.[7] Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;
[8] Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” David needs help from God. David is smart enough to realize that He needs to look to the Lord for his troubles. And David uses the imagery of two of the powerful forces in nature as examples of the power of God: volcanos and lightning. If there is so much power just in the forces of nature on this earth, then just think how powerful is the Lord. He can do anything. He can fix all of our problems in an instant. That means that God can handle our enemies also. Remember that His goal is to save their souls by accepting Christ as their Savior. That is why on a personal level we must not take vengeance against our enemies. As a matter of fact, Jesus gave the most difficult of all commandments on this subject: “love your enemies.” Jesus knows what they need at this point in their lives, and we do not know. Yes, they speak vanity, and yes, they lie. But God is over them, and God knows.

The Bible says in Psalm 144:9-11, “I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.[10] It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.[11] Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:” Verse nine is a great verse about singing unto the Lord. One of the blessings about being a Christian is that God will give you “a new song.” The book of Psalms is one song after another. David kept writing Psalms, and then Christians are told in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:19, “Speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” One of the important activities of a true Bible church is to sing the Gospel songs and hymns that have been written over the centuries by people who were close to the Lord Jesus. Remember that when you sing, you are not singing to the congregation, but you are singing to the Lord from your heart. As you learn these Gospel songs and hymns, you can also sing them throughout the day in your heart to the Lord. It is one of the ways to be joyful in your heart and to tell the Lord how much you love Him. Verse nine speaks of a new song. One of the wonderful things about Christian music is that there are always new songs that can be written and played to bless the hearts of Christians and to spread the Gospel of Christ. There will be new songs in heaven also. If the Lord gives you the ability and the opportunity, use music to serve Him.

One of the reasons to praise God in song is because He “giveth salvation unto kings” as it says in verse ten. David was king, and so he was aware of that. The Lord gives salvation to you whatever is your occupation. The Lord Jesus is an expert at saving. He will save your soul if you receive Him into your heart, and He will save you from whatever challenges and difficulties you face in life. Jesus will provide, and He will protect, and He will bless.

In verse eleven David calls the unbelievers “strange children.” That is translated from a word that means “foreigners.” They are not citizens of the Kingdom of God because they do not know Jesus the King. If you believe in Jesus, there are a lot of things that you do not have in common with those who do not believe in Jesus. That is why they can so easily be filled with hatred: they do not have the love of God in their hearts. Verse eleven speaks of the mouth and the right hand of the strange children. There are severe problems with what they say and what they do. Their words are worthless. That is the meaning of the word that is translated “vanity” in this verse. That is one of the reasons that public schools can be so dangerous for your children: the ideas that the children are being taught are often worthless ideas. They will be taught ideas of a secular view of life instead of a God-centered view of life. Sometimes they will be taught to accept immorality such as with the LGBTQ agenda. Often the true history of our great country will be neglected or twisted in some negative or hateful way. The Christian values of many of our fore-fathers will not be mentioned. If there is any way possible for you, by the grace of God get your children out of the public school system.

The Bible says in Psalm 144:12, “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace.” One important goal in life is to raise children so that when they become adults, they already know the Lord Jesus, and they are a prepared person for a prepared place. Parents and teachers both have a role in this. Of course, that means that there must be parents and teachers who are themselves prepared servants of the Lord. That is the great potential of a Christian school, assuming that the Christian school has teachers that are close to the Lord. Previous to this verse David was asking the Lord to deliver them from “strange children.” That implies the doctrine of separation. Do you really have separation from the world if you are sending your children each day to be taught by the world and to be intermixed all day long with students and teachers who are “strange children?” I remember when in 1969 I was twenty years old and a new Christian, and I met a young woman in Pensacola, Florida who told me that she was a Christian school teacher and she told me about the Christian school where she worked. Her name was Rosann. I was amazed and astounded because that was the first time that I learned that there was such a thing as a Christian school. Of course, that is the answer: a Christian school or Christian home schooling. By the grace of God, we will all be led to raise the children properly so that we will see in our generations the same thing that David prayed for: “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace.”

The Bible says in Psalm 144:13-14, “That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:[14] That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.” These verses are about material substance. God owns everything. God loves the poor, but it is better to be well supplied than to be poor, but only if you have wisdom on how to use your material substance. “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Jesus owns everything and He can put into our hands whatever He wants us to use for Him. The last part of verse fourteen uses the word “complaining.” That is translated from a word that simply means “to cry out.” People cry out in the streets when they are in great misery. Poverty is a great suffering. In these verses David prayed for material blessings. Jesus gave the formula for having one’s basic needs met. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” In other words, have your priorities right: put God first. God has definitely blessed our country with great prosperity. One question for you at your judgment will be, “How did you use your prosperity for the glory of God?”

The Bible says in Psalms 144:15, “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.” This verse gives the key to happiness: both individual happiness and happiness for a people, in other words for a country. Happiness is to know the Lord Jesus and serve Him. No one will find lasting joy by seeking the pleasures of the world. Come to Christ and He will give you everything that your soul needs. The happiest people on the earth are those who know Jesus as Savior and who walk in fellowship with Him. And then when they leave this earth, they will go to heaven and have even more happiness.

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