Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me,  
for You shall deal bountifully with me. 

Psalm 142:7 

David had abundant hope in the character of God and in how He would act on David’s behalf. The last sentence of Psalm 142 is an expression of confident hope. David knew his God, had evangelical hope in Christ, and expressed certainty about how God would fulfill His promises to him. Years before, God had instructed Samuel, the prophet, to anoint David as the next king of Israel. This would be the role God intended him to play in His providential plan. When David cried out from the cave, that destiny had not yet come to be. Thus, David had faith in God and the certain hope He would fulfill His promises. David was sure God would deal bountifully with him. Having given him Christ as his Shepherd, He would, without fail, give him all the other things He had promised. It is even so with us. Paul says, ‘He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?’ Having given us Christ, Who is Our Shepherd, as surely as He was David’s, He will deal bountifully with us in every other way. He will not withhold from us anything that is good for us. He has promised to do what is good for us in every way. This is true, even though we may not understand what He is doing or why He is doing it much of the time. Because our faith is in Christ, our hope is in the fact that He will deal bountifully with us. 

Our Wise and Glorious God, 
we rejoice that You do all things well. 
We praise You that You deal bountifully  
with us in every way. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me,  
for You shall deal bountifully with me. 

Psalm 142:7 

David’s hope was in Christ. Therefore he said, ‘The righteous shall surround me.’ An examination of the remarks David made in this Psalm lead us quickly to the fact that his hope was in Christ, his Shepherd. The New Testament identifies Christ as the Good, Great, and Chief Shepherd. Because as the Good Shepherd, Christ gathers His sheep, saves His sheep, leads His sheep and secures His sheep, they arrive together at one fold. These are those whom Christ has redeemed. They are righteous because He has purchased their redemption with His Own blood. These He gathers together from every kingdom, nation, tongue, and tribe. They are the great multitude which no one can number that John describes in Revelation. They surround the throne. David had faith in Christ and hope in His deliverance both from the cave and from the evil persecutors who surrounded him. His was beyond that, an eternal hope that he would be among those who would be gathered ‘in the house of the Lord forever.’ There the righteous would surround him. David’s Shepherd is our Shepherd; his hope, our hope; his people, our people. No matter how dire our situation may be today, Christ will not fail us. He delivered David, has delivered others, and will deliver us as well. The righteous shall surround us.  

O Great Shepherd of the Sheep, 
we rejoice that You are gathering Your flock unto You. 
We praise You that there will be one fold,
and one Shepherd.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me. 

Psalm 142:7 

Why do we praise God’s Name? David was in a hard situation. He describes his reality throughout the psalm. He speaks of his persecutors, his peril, his isolation and his anxiety. He declares his faith in God in clear terms with particular petitions that call for intervention. Our text is the conclusion of the psalm. In it David calls upon God to deliver him out of prison. To that he adds, ‘that I may praise Your Name.’ Again, why praise the Name of God? Although we may praise God for what He does, it is more important to praise God for Who He is. His Name reflects His character. It is out of His character His works come forth. He does what He does because He is Who He is. We especially see this in Christ. He is Jesus, ‘God is salvation.’ When the angel appeared to Joseph, his message included the instruction: ‘You shall call his name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Jesus is also, Christ, the Anointed One. He is the promised Messiah of the ancient prophecies, the fulfillment of the promise of God. When we praise the Name of God, we are magnifying the character of God. By doing so we are demonstrating our love for Who He is, not merely what He has done for us. We love the Host, not merely His table. David desired God’s intervention, but was keen to praise the Lord Who liberated Him. We praise the same God and the same Christ.  

Our Glorious Living God, 
we rejoice in Who You are. 
We praise You that You are utterly dependable, 
for all our circumstances. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me. 

Psalm 142:6-7 

Christ is the Great Liberator of His people. When He arrived at the synagogue in Nazareth, they gave Him the scroll for the Sabbath reading from Isaiah. Part of the passage reads, ‘To proclaim liberty to the captives…to set at liberty those who are oppressed….’ What follows is: ‘Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’  Christ came to set His people free. If we cast an eye back over history, we see He has been liberating His people in various situations for centuries. The exodus from Egypt; His liberation of the three Hebrew children from Nebuchadnezzar’s  furnace; and Daniel from the lion’s den, all serve as examples of Christ liberating those who trust in Him. David’s cry was ‘Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison.’ David’s Liberator is our Liberator. If we look to human leadership, it will consistently disappoint. While we may exercise respectful and responsible citizenship, our confidence is not in them. When we find ourselves in the most discouraging of situations, we look to Christ. He can bring our soul out of prison. He succeeds were all others fail. Whatever imprisons your soul today, look to Christ to deal with that. He was David’s hope, has been the hope of saints throughout history, and will be your hope today. 

Our Great God and our Savior, 
we rejoice that You make us free. 
We praise You that because You do, 
we are free indeed. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me. 

Psalm 142:6-7 

We are not our own saviors. So much of what we experience in life is out of our control. David articulated some of what he was experiencing. Because Saul, the king, was pursuing him he had become a fugitive, forced to hide in a cave. Discontented souls surrounded him, some of whom he could not trust not to turn on him. His enemies plotted against him. He felt rejected, isolated, and utterly alone. Where would he find hope and help? He found it in God. His hope was in the only One Who could deliver him and bring him out of the prison of his circumstances. Because his understanding was evangelical, we can say his hope was in Christ. He had said of Christ, ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.’ All the evil surrounding him was no match for Christ, his Shepherd. What was true for David is true for us. We cannot change the behavior of evil people who plot against us. We cannot control circumstances which adversely affect us because other forces have brought them to be. Where shall we find hope and help? We find it in Christ. He is Our Shepherd. He delivers as no one else can. What the arm of flesh cannot do, He can do and does for the sake of those who call upon Him. Our cry to Him is, ‘Deliver me.’  

Our Gracious God and our Savior, 
we rejoice that You are greater than our enemies. 
We praise You, that in our most desperate hours 
we can call upon You, and You will deliver us. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning