Psa 56:13 | KingComments | STEP | David is full of admiration for God. He has just expressed twice his trust in Him with the implication that he no longer fears any man ( ; ). He turns to God and says to Him: “O God” ( ). In this we hear his amazement at what God has done. He immediately links the vows he has made to this. He will have made these during the time he was in trouble. Now that he has found rest in God and His word and the knowledge that God is with him, he has not forgotten those vows. On the contrary, it is an incentive for him to keep those vows and to do so with rendering thank offerings to God. He trusts that God will help him and that he will bring the vow offering as a thank offering as a result. God has delivered his soul from death ( ). Therefore, he can and will keep his vows. His enemies have always been out to kill him, but they have not succeeded because of God’s protection. They have watched his footsteps because they lurked for his life ( ). But God has kept his “feet from stumbling”. He gives God full credit for his deliverance. The result is that he will “walk before God in the light of the living”. It means that he knows himself to be in God’s presence and is safe there. There he also walks in the light and not in the darkness. He walks there together with all the living, which are those who are also in God’s light. The New Testament makes it clear that the light of life is the Lord Jesus ( ). Walking in the light of the living comes down to what the Lord Jesus says: “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” ( ).

‏ Psalms 56:13

Thanksgiving

David is full of admiration for God. He has just expressed twice his trust in Him with the implication that he no longer fears any man (Psa 56:11; Psa 56:4). He turns to God and says to Him: “O God” (Psa 56:12). In this we hear his amazement at what God has done. He immediately links the vows he has made to this. He will have made these during the time he was in trouble.

Now that he has found rest in God and His word and the knowledge that God is with him, he has not forgotten those vows. On the contrary, it is an incentive for him to keep those vows and to do so with rendering thank offerings to God. He trusts that God will help him and that he will bring the vow offering as a thank offering as a result.

God has delivered his soul from death (Psa 56:13). Therefore, he can and will keep his vows. His enemies have always been out to kill him, but they have not succeeded because of God’s protection. They have watched his footsteps because they lurked for his life (Psa 56:6). But God has kept his “feet from stumbling”. He gives God full credit for his deliverance.

The result is that he will “walk before God in the light of the living”. It means that he knows himself to be in God’s presence and is safe there. There he also walks in the light and not in the darkness. He walks there together with all the living, which are those who are also in God’s light.

The New Testament makes it clear that the light of life is the Lord Jesus (Jn 1:4). Walking in the light of the living comes down to what the Lord Jesus says: “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (Jn 8:12).