In more than a dozen places in this song, David asks God to grant Him certain blessings. He makes these requests, in part, because of His personal devotion to the Lord. However, perhaps the strongest reason for Him to petition God for blessing is because of what he knows of God’s own character.

From this psalm alone we see that God is a saving God. He is loving, gracious, and worthy of praise. And, His works are wondrous and glorious for all people to see. All the blessings David petitions for might be summarized by the statement, “God, hear me, be merciful to me, and deliver me from this trial and distress.” To know that God, the creator and sustainer of everything, hears my weak and pathetic voice, is an overwhelming truth.

To experience God’s infinite grace and mercy, should make me gracious and merciful. So, why doesn’t it. As James Boice puts it, “Nothing is more important to sinful men and women than finding mercy with God… Yet we do not appeal to mercy naturally, and we do not show it to others very often.”[1]

This is a song I wrote asking that the graciousness of God would make me gracious.

---

[1] James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 42–106: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 702.