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Central to this psalm is the theme of God’s personal favor to a given individual. In the Gospels, it says the sun shines on both the just and unjust and this shows how God’s favor comes to all men, deservedly or not. But this psalm is more about a direct confrontation with God’s favor that is hashed out, and discussed directly with God. Also, the psalm talks about avoidance or being spared as part of the favor. What you might not necessarily count as a favor is something you were spared from, in that you might not have know what it would have been. But this indeed is part of God’s favor. In verse 4 it says," Sing to the Lord you saints of his, praise his holy name." The difference it seems within this psalm is that it is addressing those who are already favored by God as his saints. But within this, there is still a struggle to find and secure God’s favor. Even being a saint doesn’t guarantee across the board God’s favor. Further seeking must be done to find and secure God’s individual favor. Verse 6 thru 7 says," When I felt secure I said, “ I will never be shaken, Oh Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm, but when you hid your face, I was dismayed." There was a time when the psalmist here felt God was favoring him. But either way, the psalmist David is calling what has happened a matter of God’s favor towards him. God’s favor was upon him and then it wasn’t and referred to this rather directly. Sometimes, that boldness in prayer is just not there. Secretly, I might be seeking God’s favor, or at least making an inquiry towards God’s favor in a matter, yet I might just behave in a way I believe is pleasing to God, hopefully obtaining his favor but never discussing it rather directly. Let’s not jinx my chances by talking about it. But this psalm is talking about approaching God and naming the situation as having God’s favor upon it or not. Because God’s favor comes with a lot. Verse 5 says, “ For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime, weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." One point here is that difficulties might remain, and it might be a question of having to bear them rather than God giving us relief. The favor though, might yet come in the morning, with rejoicing being a sign towards the presence of God’s favor showing it’s way, or making it’s appearance. This is something to ponder and consider in prayer as to what I might be praying for. What I want, the favor I want, if I look at it, is something indeed that I want to be long lasting, or was it to be a long standing favor and indeed it might be that way and if it is that way or can go that way, it is important to the paths I am choosing. For example, would someone say study for something for years, say in a field that requires particularly long periods of study in this era such as to be a physician, if they thought the whole process would come into favorable terms for say just a couple of years? More likely they are thinking of this as a potential multiyear commitment that might span decades. Or a healing can be a really big favor especially as it spans the distance of time, instead of walking with a limp for years, someone might be walking free and easy for years. And indeed, if someone is seeking healing from God, they hope it lasts. For example, logically if someone is deaf and wants to be healed supernaturally by God, they are thinking about hearing not just for a day or two but from this point on. Then God might have something for you that amounts to his personal favor, that you just haven’t tapped into partly because you just don’t believe it could be true or that it could be something that you could stay in. It would be like someone looking over favorable seas to chart across the Atlantic by boat, but figuring soon enough conditions will change. But here, in this psalm, it is talking about God’s favor that is so encompassing, so far reaching that conditions towards this favor will have staying power thru the grace of God’s visible presence within that favor, as indeed God is not hiding his face as David felt when he was now out of God’s favor. Indeed the grace of God’s favor will take into a form that has a level of visibility, where it can be actually seen in events in an individuals life. The verse number 6 and the first part of 7 implies that God’s favor was quite visible to David, his mountain was made to stand firm and a mountain symbolizing something that is visible and stands out visibly, and is not hidden and indeed has an overshadowing presence as a mountain does. In verse 11 and 12 is says," You turned my wailing into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent, O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever. Ultimately, this favor, or removing of the difficulties was actually done by God, and the purpose that was fulfilled is that God is creating the ideal space where the psalmist can again have his heart towards God in a fashion that is not silent. This psalm in particular cites the gift of voice and of singing to the Lord. But also overall going into God’s favor is not a matter of walking into a silence, but is something that we refer to in voice and in song. It is of no advantage to sit in silence and wait for God’s favor. It would be almost absurd to buy a lottery ticket and talk at length about what you are going to do when you win, given the extreme odds against ever winning. So, I might buy a lottery ticket and forget and not even check the numbers to see if I won. But you certainly want to check events of your life against Gods favor and see if any given event might be a sign of God’s favor coming to you and in seeking God’s favor we want to certainly keep on discussing it rather directly with God in prayer and acknowledging its presence as we experience the favor, and keeping silence between you and God with regards to praying about his favor is not the way to go. In the gospels we are admonished to watch and pray and you might add to pray and watch for God’s favor. We don’t look to the ground to see if the sun is in the sky and we also don’t keep silent to see if God’s favor can be discussed very specifically and on an ongoing basis. And again, his lasting favor is another reason for ongoing or perpetual prayer since the detail and specifics of the favor need to be discussed with God on an ongoing basis with an attitude of thanksgiving in recognizing the actual graces that are present. Extended favor is an invitation to extended prayer.
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