Verse 10: "For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."
Now David gives the reason why he will "praise [the] Lord among the nations [and] among the peoples." The reason is 2-fold: (1) "For great is your love, reaching to the heavens" and (2) "your faithfulness reaches to the skies."
Lamentations 3:22-23: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (NIV).
Eugene Peterson paraphrases verse 10: "The deeper your love, the higher it goes; every cloud is a flag to your faithfulness."
Wyrtzen prays: "Father, I am moved, not only by Your vigilant protection, but by Your tenderness. Not a whisper goes unheard! What can I do but praise Your Name?"
Robert Fulghum has written a book called True Love that records stories of human love and devotion. He shares this story. On their 59th wedding anniversary the wife and mother had a stroke. The husband and father became a permanent resident of the nursing home:
And so has my father - not as a resident there, but as a daily, without fail, visitor. Most of every day he is there - feeding her, massaging her wasted muscles, reading to her, telling her of any news from distant friends and family, giving her back rubs, singing little songs, showing her family photo albums watching over her in every way he can to help her be more comfortable...
So, this is what my Dad, Raymond Doyen, has taught me about devotion and caring and compassion and love and duty - and he has never been one to give advice...only the example of his life. (Anne Joeri Doyen Perrin)
John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (NASB).
Verse 11: "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth."
This wonderful outburst of praise is similar to what we had back in verse 5.
It is that because David is taking time to pray and to lay things before the Lord. So many times when you leave the Lord's presence from your time of prayer, there is this certainty that God is going to intervene and work and you have confidence of a certain victory.
Wiersbe asks: "Do your circumstances have you under siege? Do you find yourself in a 'cave'? Be encouraged that God will protect you and intervene for you. Be concerned about His glory, not your own. Take time today to praise Him for His care."
Wiersbe says further: "When you are in a tight place, your great concern should not be how you can get out of it but how God will be glorified because of it."
Fenelon said: "Remember that you are not called to be well-served, but to serve Him well. Learn to be gentle and patient with all that disturbs you."
My lips are singing your praise, even in the midst of these unexplainable difficult circumstances.
Wyrtzen prays: "My prayer, O God Most High, is that Your purpose will be fulfilled in my life and that Your glory may shine through my personality."
