“But I will sing of your strength. I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been, to me, a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. Oh, my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you oh God are my fortress. The God who shows me steadfast love.”
– Psalm 59:16–17
I love Psalm 59:16–17 they come at the end of two chapters where there are all kinds of pictures of the Psalmist experiencing unjust attack in this world. And people coming after him from all sides in all kinds of ways and just relentless attack. And yet, over and over, and over again, the Psalmist is reminding himself to lift his eyes and look to God in all kinds of ways. For wisdom, for comfort, for protection, for deliverance.
But what I love most about Psalm 59:16–17 is the way after all these attacks and how tiring they were, the Psalmist praises God as his strength. Verse 17, he says, “Oh, my Strength.” And you’re probably not looking at the verse, but strength is a capital S in that verse. This is not just, “you are my strength.” This is calling upon God as if his name is Strength with a capital S.
Our God is perfect and infinite in His Strength.
These Verses Remind Us That God is Our Strength
And I just want to encourage you with these two verses today. So, certainly, if you are being attacked or opposed unjustly, if, if people are things are coming at you from all sides or, I would just add, if you feel weary today if you feel weary during these days. I think many of us feel weary on many, if not most days, I feel like it’s not uncommon. In my time with the Lord, just to write in my journal from the very beginning, “Oh God, I am tired.” But then I get to verse 16 in Psalm 59 and the Psalmist says, “But I will sing of your strength.” I’ll sing about it, Your strength and Your steadfast love, and the way You’re a fortress and a refuge to me in the days of distress. You are my Strength with a capital S.
God, we praise You. You are Strength. Your name is Strength. Your character is Strength. Lord, You are stronger than anyone, anything else in the world. To You belongs all strength. You are perfect and infinite in your Strength. And so, as we look to You as Strength, we praise You that You are our Strength. That You promise to give us Strength as we look to You.
Praying Psalm 59:16–17
God, I pray this, I pray Psalm 59:16–17, over every single person listening right now, who is weary. God, that they would know that Your Strength is available to them right now. And all day long today, that You are their Strength. God, bring them to seeing of Your Strength, to bring us to sing of Your Strength when we are weary. Those who wait on the Lord, Isaiah 40 says, “Will renew their strength. Mount up with wings like eagles and soar.”
Praying For Strength in Stressful Times
God, we pray for strength to soar in days of distress and hard and difficult days. We pray for your supernatural Strength to soar. God, I pray that over every single person listening right now. And particularly those who feel tired, and weary, and weak, which even as I say that, oh God, I know, we know that we are totally hopeless without Your Strength. That there’s nothing we can do without Your Strength. That even if we feel strong that strength only comes from You because You possess all Strength.
So, got so many other things my mind is going to in Philippians 4:13, “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” Maybe just to close this prayer of intercession for those who are listening right now, God may they know the Strength of Christ in them to do everything You’ve called them to do. God, we will sing of Your Strength. We will praise You as our Strength. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
