How Precious Is Your Steadfast Love

Psalm 36

With brief commentary from the Crossway Devotional Psalter following the psalm

To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD.

Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O LORD.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.

Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
There the evildoers lie fallen;
they are thrust down, unable to rise.

The burden of this psalm is to present a stark contrast between the empty deceitfulness of the wicked on one hand and the enduring, solid, soul-satisfying faithfulness of the Lord on the other.

David’s prayer in this psalm, then, is for the Lord’s faithfulness, not the evildoer’s treachery, to determine his life and rule (v. 11). The wicked are set against him. The Lord is set for him. Who will prevail? With this psalm David brings us with him into a renewed, settled confidence that it is the Lord who will triumph in our lives. He will care for us. He will get the last word.

And in the meantime, it is in Him that believers find their deepest satisfaction. Consider the imagery of this song: “The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings” (v. 7) — strong, shaded protection. “They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights” (v. 8) — nourishing, overflowing sustenance. “With you is the fountain of life” (v. 9) — endless, inexhaustible vitality. “In your light do we see light” (v. 9) — shining, radiant illumination.

And where do we today discover these benefits? To be sure, as David did — in God Himself. Yet, for us there is an even deeper, sharper awareness of how to access these benefits in God — we do so in union with Christ. He Himself is our protection: “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11). He is our sustenance: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). He is our vitality: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). He is our illumination: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).