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Psalm 149:4-6  For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.  Let his faithful people rejoice in this honour and sing for joy on their beds.  May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, …

Do you take time to reflect on what it means to be saved by grace?

It means first that we have come to God with a humble and a contrite heart (Psalm 51:17; Isaiah 57:15), knowing that this is the only way a wretched sinner can approach a holy God.

Secondly, it means that we are given a new status before God: we are crowned with salvation; this new ‘headwear’ is also a helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6:17; Isaiah 59:17) that protects us and keeps us safe and secure.

Thirdly, it means that we are all saints, made holy by being clothed in the righteousness God himself supplies in Christ, and therefore it is not inappropriate to rejoice in this honour.

Fourthly, it means that our Lord who has brought us into a covenant relationship with him as his child, his Bride, his wife, delights in us in a way that is perfectly expressed in these relationships.

And lastly, it means that we can lie down and sleep at night, secure in his love, protected by his power, confident of being in his eternal presence, knowing that our conscience is clear because Jesus has taken on himself all our sin and guilt.  Hallelujah, what a Saviour.  Will you sing for joy on your bed tonight?

All of this should seamlessly lead on to ‘the praise of God [being constantly] in [our] mouths and a double-edged sword [being always] in [our] hands’!  At this point in the Psalm we need to jump to the New Testament.  The Psalmist will go on to say that God’s people will use this ‘sword’ for vengeance and military victory over all their enemies; but Hebrews 4:12 combined with Ephesians 6:17 tells ua that oue double-edged sword is God’s written Word, so that through it we will conquer the world, as it does its work in the hearts of individuals (and as it continues to do in us!).

– Bruce Christian