Welcome to Day 2783 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Day 2783 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 108:1-5 – Daily Wisdom

Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2783 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day two thousand seven hundred eighty-three of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. The Title for Today’s Wisdom-Trek is: The Warrior Poet’s Remix – A Song of Cosmic Confidence Today, we are lacing up our boots to begin a new adventure in Psalm One Hundred Eight. We will be trekking through the first movement of this anthem, verses one through five, in the New Living Translation. In our previous journey, we stood at the summit of Psalm One Hundred Seven. We listened to the testimonies of the redeemed—the wanderers, the prisoners, the fools, and the sailors—who cried out to God in their trouble and were rescued by His Unfailing Love (Hesed). That psalm ended with a challenge to the "Wise": "Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord." Psalm One Hundred Eight is the response of the wise heart. It is the song of someone who has observed God’s history and has decided to move forward with absolute, unshakable confidence. But there is something unique about this psalm that we must understand before we take a single step. Psalm One Hundred Eight is a Remix. If you were to look closely at your Bible, you might notice something familiar. Verses one through five are almost identical to Psalm Fifty-seven, verses seven through eleven. And verses six through thirteen are almost identical to Psalm Sixty, verses five through twelve. King David, the master songwriter, took two of his previous songs—songs written during times of intense crisis and lament—and spliced them together. He cut out the parts about fear and crying for mercy, and he kept the parts about confidence and victory. He fused them to create a new, high-energy anthem for a new generation. This teaches us a profound lesson about wisdom and legacy. Sometimes, to face a new battle, you don't need a new revelation; you need to rearrange the truths you already know. You need to take the lessons learned in the caves of your past (Psalm Fifty-seven) and the battlefields of your history (Psalm Sixty) and combine them into a fresh declaration of faith. So, let us open our hearts to this "Greatest Hits" album of King David and learn how to sing with cosmic confidence. The first segment is: The Fixed Heart: Preparation for the Dawn. Psalm One Hundred Eight: verses one through two. My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!  Wake up, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. The psalm opens with a statement of internal stability: "My heart is confident in you, O God..." The Hebrew word for "confident" is nakon. It means "fixed," "steadfast," "firm," or "prepared." It is the same word used to describe a foundation that cannot be moved. In the original context of Psalm Fifty-seven, David wrote these words while hiding in a cave, running for his life from King Saul. In that context, his confidence was a desperate clinging to God in the dark. But here, in Psalm One Hundred Eight, the context of the cave is removed. The desperate plea for mercy is gone. What remains is the battle-tested steel of a heart that has been through the fire and has come out fixed on God. Because his heart is fixed, his worship is unleashed: "no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!" The NLT translates this dynamically, but the literal Hebrew is fascinating. It says, "I will sing and make melody with my Glory" (Kavod). Usually, "Glory" refers to God. But here, David refers to his own glory. What is the "glory" of a man? Some scholars say it is his soul or his spirit. Others say it is his tongue or his talent. In the Ancient Israelite worldview, a person's "glory" was their weightiness, their significance, their highest faculty. David is saying, "I am not holding anything back. I am putting my highest self, my best skill, and my deepest passion into this song." Worship is not a casual activity for the fixed heart; it is an expenditure of glory. Then, David issues a command to his instruments and to the sun itself: "Wake up, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song." This is poetic aggression. Usually, the dawn wakes us up. The sun rises, and we drag ourselves out of bed. But David says, "No. My praise is so urgent, my confidence is so high, that I am going to wake up the sun." He is anticipating the victory before the day even begins. He is grabbing his lyre and harp in the dark pre-dawn hours, determined that the first sound the universe hears today will be the sound of his confidence in God. This is the posture of Wisdom. Wisdom doesn't wait to see how the day goes before deciding to have faith. Wisdom wakes the dawn. It sets the spiritual atmosphere before the world has a chance to ruin it. The second segment is: The Missionary Singer: Invading the Nations with Praise. Psalm One Hundred Eight: verse three. I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. Now, the scope of the song expands. David is not just singing in his bedroom; he is singing on the international stage. "I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations." To understand the weight of this verse, we must put on our Divine Council worldview lenses. The word "people" (ammim) and "nations" (le-ummim) refer specifically to the Gentiles—the non-Israelite nations. Since the Tower of Babel (Genesis Eleven), the nations were disinherited by Yahweh and placed under the authority of lesser spiritual beings, the "sons of God" (Deuteronomy Thirty-two: eight). These nations were enemy-occupied territory. They worshipped foreign gods. For David to say, "I will sing your praises among the nations," is an act of spiritual warfare. He is declaring the supremacy of Yahweh in the territory of the rival gods. He is acting as a herald, announcing that the True King has not forgotten the nations and that His renown is spreading beyond the borders of Israel. This connects back to the promise given to Abraham: "In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." David understands that his worship has a missionary purpose. When we praise God publicly, we are advertising His character to a watching world that is enslaved to lesser powers. We are inviting them to defect to the true King. The third segment is: The Geometry of Grace: Higher Than the Heavens. Psalm One Hundred Eight: verse four. For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Why is David so confident? Why is he waking the dawn and preaching to the nations? Because he has measured the character of God, and he has found it to be infinite. "For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens." Here is our covenant word again: Unfailing Love (Hesed). This is God's loyal, stubborn commitment to His promises. David says this love is "great above the heavens" (me-al shamayim). In the ancient mind, the "heavens" represented the highest limit of reality. It was the firmament, the dwelling place of the stars and the spiritual powers. For God’s love to be "higher than the heavens" means it breaks the container of the cosmos. It transcends the created order. This is a subtle polemic against the gods of the nations. The pagan gods were part of the heavens; they were identified with the stars and the planets. They were limited by the cosmic structure. But Yahweh’s love is above the heavens. It is uncreated and uncontainable. "Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds." The word for "faithfulness" is Emeth (Truth). It means stability, reliability, and reality. God’s Truth reaches the "clouds" (shehaqim—the skies or the dust of the clouds). This implies that the very atmosphere of the world is saturated with God’s reliability. Everywhere you look, from the ground to the stars, you encounter the stability of God’s character. This is the theological anchor for David’s "fixed heart" in verse one. His heart can be fixed (steady) because God’s love is infinite and His truth is omnipresent. You cannot build a fixed heart on a fluctuating God. But because Yahweh is "higher than the heavens," David can stand firm on the earth. The third segment is: The Call for Cosmic Exaltation: The Goal of History. Psalm One Hundred Eight: verse five. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth. The first section of the psalm concludes with a prayer that sums up the goal of all history. "Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens." The verb "Be exalted" (rumah) means "Rise up!" or "Lift Yourself up!" This is a call for God to assume His rightful position. In the Divine Council worldview, Yahweh is the Most High (Elyon). But the rebel gods and the rebellious nations often act as if He isn't. They usurp His authority. David is praying, "Lord, show them who is Boss. Rise up above the heavens. Demonstrate your supremacy over every spiritual power, every principality, and every demon that claims to rule." And the result of this rising is earthly transformation: "May your glory shine over all the earth." Literally, "Over all the earth be Your Glory" (Kavod). This is the prayer of the Kingdom. We pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." David is praying for the gap between heaven and earth to be closed. He wants the heavy, radiant, visible presence of God—His Glory—to cover not just the land of Israel, but "all the earth." This is the answer to the problem of the nations in verse three. How will the nations be reclaimed? By God exalting Himself and spreading His glory like a blanket over the globe. Psalm One Hundred Eight, verses one through five, is a masterclass in spiritual orientation. David takes us from the Internal ("My heart is confident") to the External ("Wake the dawn"), to the Missional ("Among the nations"), and finally to the Cosmic ("Above the heavens"). He teaches us that true confidence doesn't come from looking at our circumstances. Remember, David was mixing a psalm written in a cave with a psalm written after a battle defeat. His circumstances were often terrible. True confidence comes from looking at the size of God’s Love. If God’s love is higher than the heavens, then it is higher than your problem. If His faithfulness reaches the clouds, then it can reach you in your cave. David also teaches us the power of the Remix. He didn't let his past suffering (Psalm 57) go to waste. He repurposed it. He turned his old cries for help into new shouts of praise. So today, as you walk your trek, look at your own history. What "old songs" of struggle do you have in your repertoire? Maybe it's time to remix them. Maybe it's time to take the lessons you learned in the dark, cut out the fear, keep the faith, and use them to wake the dawn. Be the "fixed heart" in a shaky world. Pick up your harp—whatever that instrument may be for you—and declare that God’s glory is destined to cover the earth. Join us tomorrow as we move into the second half of this psalm, where the confident praise turns into a confident prayer for victory in battle. If you found this podcast insightful, please subscribe and leave us a review, then encourage your friends and family to join us and come along tomorrow for another day of, ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.   As we take this Trek of life together, let us always: Live Abundantly.   Love Unconditionally.   Listen Intentionally.   Learn Continuously.   Lend to others Generously.   Lead with Integrity.   Leave a Living Legacy Each Day. I am Guthrie Chamberlain, reminding you to’ Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday! See you next time for more daily wisdom!    

Welcome to Day: 2783

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Day: 2783

dom-Trek Podcast Script - Day: 2783

Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day two thousand seven hundred eighty-three of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.  

The Title for Today’s Wisdom-Trek is: The Warrior Poet’s Remix – A Song of Cosmic Confidence

Today, we are lacing up our boots to begin a new adventure in Psalm One Hundred Eight. We will be trekking through the first movement of this anthem, verses one through five, in the New Living Translation.  

In our previous journey, we stood at the summit of Psalm One Hundred Seven. We listened to the testimonies of the redeemed—the wanderers, the prisoners, the fools, and the sailors—who cried out to God in their trouble and were rescued by His Unfailing Love (Hesed). That psalm ended with a challenge to the "Wise": "Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord."  

Psalm One Hundred Eight is the response of the wise heart. It is the song of someone who has observed God’s history and has decided to move forward with absolute, unshakable confidence.  

But there is something unique about this psalm that we must understand before we take a single step. Psalm One Hundred Eight is a Remix.  

If you were to look closely at your Bible, you might notice something familiar. Verses one through five are almost identical to Psalm Fifty-seven, verses seven through eleven. And verses six through thirteen are almost identical to Psalm Sixty, verses five through twelve.  

King David, the master songwriter, took two of his previous songs—songs written during times of intense crisis and lament—and spliced them together. He cut out the parts about fear and crying for mercy, and he kept the parts about confidence and victory. He fused them to create a new, high-energy anthem for a new generation.  

This teaches us a profound lesson about wisdom and legacy. Sometimes, to face a new battle, you don't need a new revelation; you need to rearrange the truths you already know. You need to take the lessons learned in the caves of your past (Psalm Fifty-seven) and the battlefields of your history (Psalm Sixty) and combine them into a fresh declaration of faith.  

So, let us open our hearts to this "Greatest Hits" album of King David and learn how to sing with cosmic confidence.  

The first segment is: The Fixed Heart: Preparation for the Dawn.  

Psalm One Hundred Eight: verses one through two.  

My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!  Wake up, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song.

The psalm opens with a statement of internal stability: "My heart is confident in you, O God..."  

The Hebrew word for "confident" is nakon. It means "fixed," "steadfast," "firm," or "prepared." It is the same word used to describe a foundation that cannot be moved.  

In the original context of Psalm Fifty-seven, David wrote these words while hiding in a cave, running for his life from King Saul. In that context, his confidence was a desperate clinging to God in the dark. But here, in Psalm One Hundred Eight, the context of the cave is removed. The desperate plea for mercy is gone. What remains is the battle-tested steel of a heart that has been through the fire and has come out fixed on God.  

Because his heart is fixed, his worship is unleashed: "no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!"  

The NLT translates this dynamically, but the literal Hebrew is fascinating. It says, "I will sing and make melody with my Glory" (Kavod).  

Usually, "Glory" refers to God. But here, David refers to his own glory. What is the "glory" of a man? Some scholars say it is his soul or his spirit. Others say it is his tongue or his talent. In the Ancient Israelite worldview, a person's "glory" was their weightiness, their significance, their highest faculty.  

David is saying, "I am not holding anything back. I am putting my highest self, my best skill, and my deepest passion into this song." Worship is not a casual activity for the fixed heart; it is an expenditure of glory.  

Then, David issues a command to his instruments and to the sun itself: "Wake up, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song."  

This is poetic aggression. Usually, the dawn wakes us up. The sun rises, and we drag ourselves out of bed. But David says, "No. My praise is so urgent, my confidence is so high, that I am going to wake up the sun."  

He is anticipating the victory before the day even begins. He is grabbing his lyre and harp in the dark pre-dawn hours, determined that the first sound the universe hears today will be the sound of his confidence in God.  

This is the posture of Wisdom. Wisdom doesn't wait to see how the day goes before deciding to have faith. Wisdom wakes the dawn. It sets the spiritual atmosphere before the world has a chance to ruin it.  

The second segment is: The Missionary Singer: Invading the Nations with Praise.  

Psalm One Hundred Eight: verse three.  

I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations.

Now, the scope of the song expands. David is not just singing in his bedroom; he is singing on the international stage.  

"I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations."  

To understand the weight of this verse, we must put on our Divine Council worldview lenses. The word "people" (ammim) and "nations" (le-ummim) refer specifically to the Gentiles—the non-Israelite nations.  

Since the Tower of Babel (Genesis Eleven), the nations were disinherited by Yahweh and placed under the authority of lesser spiritual beings, the "sons of God" (Deuteronomy Thirty-two: eight). These nations were enemy-occupied territory. They worshipped foreign gods.  

For David to say, "I will sing your praises among the nations," is an act of spiritual warfare. He is declaring the supremacy of Yahweh in the territory of the rival gods. He is acting as a herald, announcing that the True King has not forgotten the nations and that His renown is spreading beyond the borders of Israel.  

This connects back to the promise given to Abraham: "In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." David understands that his worship has a missionary purpose. When we praise God publicly, we are advertising His character to a watching world that is enslaved to lesser powers. We are inviting them to defect to the true King.  

The third segment is: The Geometry of Grace: Higher Than the Heavens.  

Psalm One Hundred Eight: verse four.  

For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Why is David so confident? Why is he waking the dawn and preaching to the nations? Because he has measured the character of God, and he has found it to be infinite.  

"For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens."  

Here is our covenant word again: Unfailing Love (Hesed). This is God's loyal, stubborn commitment to His promises.  

David says this love is "great above the heavens" (me-al shamayim).  

In the ancient mind, the "heavens" represented the highest limit of reality. It was the firmament, the dwelling place of the stars and the spiritual powers. For God’s love to be "higher than the heavens" means it breaks the container of the cosmos. It transcends the created order.  

This is a subtle polemic against the gods of the nations. The pagan gods were part of the heavens; they were identified with the stars and the planets. They were limited by the cosmic structure. But Yahweh’s love is above the heavens. It is uncreated and uncontainable.  

"Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds."  

The word for "faithfulness" is Emeth (Truth). It means stability, reliability, and reality.  

God’s Truth reaches the "clouds" (shehaqim—the skies or the dust of the clouds). This implies that the very atmosphere of the world is saturated with God’s reliability. Everywhere you look, from the ground to the stars, you encounter the stability of God’s character.  

This is the theological anchor for David’s "fixed heart" in verse one. His heart can be fixed (steady) because God’s love is infinite and His truth is omnipresent. You cannot build a fixed heart on a fluctuating God. But because Yahweh is "higher than the heavens," David can stand firm on the earth.  

The third segment is: The Call for Cosmic Exaltation: The Goal of History.  

Psalm One Hundred Eight: verse five.  

Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth.

The first section of the psalm concludes with a prayer that sums up the goal of all history.  

"Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens."  

The verb "Be exalted" (rumah) means "Rise up!" or "Lift Yourself up!"  

This is a call for God to assume His rightful position. In the Divine Council worldview, Yahweh is the Most High (Elyon). But the rebel gods and the rebellious nations often act as if He isn't. They usurp His authority.  

David is praying, "Lord, show them who is Boss. Rise up above the heavens. Demonstrate your supremacy over every spiritual power, every principality, and every demon that claims to rule."  

And the result of this rising is earthly transformation: "May your glory shine over all the earth."  

Literally, "Over all the earth be Your Glory" (Kavod).  

This is the prayer of the Kingdom. We pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." David is praying for the gap between heaven and earth to be closed. He wants the heavy, radiant, visible presence of God—His Glory—to cover not just the land of Israel, but "all the earth."  

This is the answer to the problem of the nations in verse three. How will the nations be reclaimed? By God exalting Himself and spreading His glory like a blanket over the globe.  

Psalm One Hundred Eight, verses one through five, is a masterclass in spiritual orientation.  

David takes us from the Internal ("My heart is confident") to the External ("Wake the dawn"), to the Missional ("Among the nations"), and finally to the Cosmic ("Above the heavens").  

He teaches us that true confidence doesn't come from looking at our circumstances. Remember, David was mixing a psalm written in a cave with a psalm written after a battle defeat. His circumstances were often terrible.  

True confidence comes from looking at the size of God’s Love.  

If God’s love is higher than the heavens, then it is higher than your problem. If His faithfulness reaches the clouds, then it can reach you in your cave.  

David also teaches us the power of the Remix. He didn't let his past suffering (Psalm 57) go to waste. He repurposed it. He turned his old cries for help into new shouts of praise.  

So today, as you walk your trek, look at your own history. What "old songs" of struggle do you have in your repertoire? Maybe it's time to remix them. Maybe it's time to take the lessons you learned in the dark, cut out the fear, keep the faith, and use them to wake the dawn.  

Be the "fixed heart" in a shaky world. Pick up your harp—whatever that instrument may be for you—and declare that God’s glory is destined to cover the earth.  

Join us tomorrow as we move into the second half of this psalm, where the confident praise turns into a confident prayer for victory in battle.  

If you found this podcast insightful, please subscribe and leave us a review, then encourage your friends and family to join us and come along tomorrow for another day of, ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’  

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.   As we take this Trek of life together, let us always: Live Abundantly.   Love Unconditionally.   Listen Intentionally.   Learn Continuously.   Lend to others Generously.   Lead with Integrity.   Leave a Living Legacy Each Day.  

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, reminding you to’ Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday! See you next time for more daily wisdom!