Down on Your Knees, Up with Your Hands (Psalm 118:5-8)
- Candice Watters
- Nov 2
- 4 min read
Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free. ⁶The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? ⁷The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. ⁸It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. —Psalm 118:5-8
Recently a friend was telling me about a political meeting he attended. When I asked him what he learned, he said, “that I’m on the right side.” It reminded me of bumper stickers that claim to know who Jesus would vote for or what political party He would join. What might the author of Psalm 118 make of us moderns? We’re tempted to use verses like these to affirm our views. But we must read more carefully. The Lord is on the psalmist’s side, but not in the way we often use that wording.
In the psalmist’s view, what mattered more than having God join him in his beliefs was knowing that “the Lord is on my side as my helper.” This is far from a slogan to justify a person’s perspective. Verse 7 isn’t about God choosing sides in a debate or election, but about Him being present beside those He loves. Even more, it’s about the help he provides to those He saves. The support he describes receiving from the Lord in this psalm is remarkable: Yahweh’s unfailing love, His answer to cries for help, strength and protection from his enemies and, ultimately, salvation.
Martin Luther called Psalm 118 “the golden Psalm” and said it “often revived and comforted [him] in [his] temptations” (W. S. Plumer, Psalms Commentary, 1014). Psalm 118 was his favorite.
As I was thinking about what it means that the Lord is on our side, Luther’s hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God came to mind–a fitting song coming off of Reformation Day. Verse two includes the lyric, “our striving would be losing, were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing.” And in verse four we sing, “the Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth.”
Though Luther’s hymn was based on Psalm 46, his love for Psalm 118 could not have been far from his mind as he wrote about the Man on his side, and the God who “sideth” with him. Luther knew the fear of fleeing for his life and the prospect of death from the plague, as well as the agony of guilt over his own sin. He relished the comfort of God’s strong presence with him.
For all his troubles, he was no weakling. Luther exhorted his followers, in much the way the psalmist does, to cry out to God with vigor. He wrote,
Thou must learn to call and not to sit there by thyself, and lie on the bench, hang and shake the head, and bite and devour thyself with thy thoughts, but come on, thou indolent knave, down upon thy knees, up with thy hands and eyes to heaven, take a Psalm or a prayer, and set forth thy distress with tears before God. (Plumer, 1040)
It’s a posture Luther knew well. Despite all of his enemies, and ours, there is no greater distress than being enslaved to sin. That enemy is closest to us and is what separates us from God. It is also the enemy God has promised to help us defeat. Our sin created a debt we could never repay, but God in mercy and love became our salvation (verse 14).
Peter quoted this psalm when he identified Jesus as the cornerstone (v. 22) saying, “there is salvation in no one else” (Acts 4:11). Jesus bore our sin and the penalty we deserved on the cross. He was abandoned by God so that we might be with Him forever. This is why we can say with confidence, “He will never leave me nor forsake me” (see Hebrews 13:5-6).
The psalmist urges us to take refuge in the Lord (vv. 8, 9). This is only possible because God Himself has “become [our] salvation” (vv. 14, 21). We know from the gospels what that cost Him. Apart from Christ’s work on the cross, we would remain under God’s wrath. That would be the most fearsome thing of all. Thanks be to God that because of Christ, we can enter God’s presence with thanksgiving, not terror. In Christ, God is on our side to help us. This is why we are able to “not fear” (v. 6). Whatever you’re facing, this is the greatest comfort of all.
For Reflection
What tempts you to fear?
What does it look like in your life to call on the Lord when you’re in distress?
Ask God in prayer to help you put off fear and take refuge in Him.
Candice Watters is the editor of Fighter Verses and contributor to Truth78's webinars. She and her husband, Steve, teach My Purpose Will Stand for 5th grade Sunday school at their church in Louisville, KY. The Watterses are the parents of four young adults.
