The Divine Guarantee: God Finishes What He Starts Text: Psalm 138:7-8
Introduction: The Christian's Security Detail
We live in a world that is shot through with anxiety. Men are anxious about their health, their finances, their jobs, and the unraveling of the civic order. And Christians are not immune to this. We walk in the midst of distress. We have enemies, both spiritual and mundane. We have adversaries who rage against the lordship of Christ, and we have our own internal adversaries, the remnants of our sin, that dog our steps and threaten to undo us. The question that confronts every believer, when the lights are out and the house is quiet, is this: will I make it? Will I persevere to the end? Is my salvation secure, or is it contingent upon my own grit and ability to hang on?
The world offers two equally bankrupt answers. The first is a brittle, self-confident stoicism. "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You are the master of your fate." This is the answer of the proud, and the Scriptures tell us that God knows the proud from afar. He wants nothing to do with them. The second answer is a despairing nihilism. "There is no hope. The universe is a cold, empty place, and your struggles are meaningless." Both of these are lies from the pit.
The psalmist, David, provides us with the true and only anchor for the soul in times of trouble. The Christian's confidence is not located in himself, in his own strength, or in his own faithfulness. Our confidence is located entirely in the character and promises of God. Our security is not based on the firmness of our grip on Him, but on the firmness of His grip on us. These two verses in Psalm 138 are a dense, potent summary of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. It is a declaration that God does not have any abandoned projects. He finishes what He starts.
This is not a call to quietism or passivity. David is a man of action, a warrior. But his action is always grounded in a profound trust in God's action. He walks, he fights, he strives, but he knows that the ultimate power, the reviving, the stretching forth, the saving, and the accomplishing, all belong to Yahweh. This is the confidence that straightens the spine and enables a man to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil. It is the knowledge that you are the work of God's hands, and He does not forsake His own handiwork.
The Text
Though I walk in the midst of distress, You will revive me;
You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
Yahweh will accomplish what concerns me;
O Yahweh, Your lovingkindness endures forever;
Do not fail the works of Your hands.
(Psalm 138:7-8 LSB)
God's Intervention in Our Trouble (v. 7)
We begin with the reality of the Christian life, and the promise of divine intervention.
"Though I walk in the midst of distress, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me." (Psalm 138:7)
Notice the psalmist's realism. He says, "Though I walk in the midst of distress." He does not say, "If I walk in the midst of distress." The Christian life is not a playground; it is a battlefield. To be a follower of Christ is to be enlisted in a war. Jesus promised us that in this world we would have tribulation. So the presence of trouble, enemies, and distress is not a sign that God has abandoned you. Often, it is a sign that you are exactly where you are supposed to be, squarely in the middle of the fight.
The promise is not that we will be spared from trouble, but that we will be preserved through it. "You will revive me." This word for revive means to preserve or give life. When our strength fails, when our spirits sag, when the battle seems lost, God breathes new life into us. He reinforces the strength of our souls, as David says earlier in the psalm. This is not a one-time event at conversion; it is the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit to the beleaguered saint. He is our constant source of spiritual resuscitation.
And how does He do this? He acts decisively against our enemies. "You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies." God is not a neutral observer in our conflicts. He is not a referee. He takes our side. The wrath of our enemies is ultimately directed at Him and His anointed King, and He takes it personally. He stretches out His hand, an image of deliberate, focused power. This is not a haphazard slap; it is a targeted strike.
And the result is certain. "And Your right hand will save me." The right hand in Scripture is the hand of power, authority, and blessing. This is the hand of ultimate victory. This is a promise of deliverance. It may not come on our timetable, and it may not come in the way we expect, but it will come. God's right hand never fails. For the Christian, this points directly to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Our salvation is in His hand, and no one can snatch us out of it.
God's Purpose for Our Lives (v. 8)
Verse 8 moves from the immediate context of trouble to the ultimate purpose of God for His people. It contains a declaration, a foundation, and a prayer.
"Yahweh will accomplish what concerns me; O Yahweh, Your lovingkindness endures forever; Do not fail the works of Your hands." (Psalm 138:8)
First, the declaration of sovereign confidence: "Yahweh will accomplish what concerns me." The old King James says He will "perfect that which concerneth me." This is a staggering promise. It means that everything that is a matter of concern to you, as a child of God, is a matter of purpose for Him. Your life is not a series of random events. It is a divinely authored story, and God is bringing it to its appointed conclusion. He is working all things together for your good. This is the biblical doctrine of providence. God is not just in charge of the big things, the rise and fall of nations. He is in charge of the little things, the things that concern you. Nothing is too trivial for His attention. If it concerns you, it concerns Him. And He will bring His purposes for you to completion.
What is the foundation for such a bold claim? It is this: "O Yahweh, Your lovingkindness endures forever." The word here is chesed. This is one of the most important words in the Old Testament. It is not just kindness or affection. It is covenant loyalty. It is steadfast, unbreakable, unrelenting, covenantal love. God's commitment to His people is not based on their performance, but on His promise. His love is not a fickle emotion; it is an eternal attribute. Because His chesed endures forever, His purpose for you cannot be derailed.
This leads to the final, concluding prayer: "Do not fail the works of Your hands." At first glance, this might seem like a strange prayer. Is David worried that God might actually forsake him? No. This is not a prayer of doubt; it is a prayer of faith. It is what we call praying God's promises back to Him. David is taking God at His word. He is saying, in effect, "Lord, I am your project. You made me. You redeemed me. You started a good work in me. Therefore, I am confident that You will see it through to the end."
We are the work of His hands, twice over. We are His by creation, and we are His by redemption. As Paul says in Ephesians, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Eph. 2:10). And again in Philippians, "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). This is the same truth. You are not your own. You are a masterpiece in progress, and the Divine Artist never abandons His work. This prayer is an expression of humble dependence. It is the creature looking to the Creator and saying, "Finish what you started. I am yours."
The Unforsaken Workmanship
So what does this mean for us, as we walk in the midst of our own distresses? It means our security is objective. It rests outside of us, in the character and work of God.
When you are tempted to despair because of the wrath of your enemies, whether they be hostile colleagues, a godless culture, or demonic powers, you must remember that God stretches forth His hand against them. The battle is the Lord's. Your job is to be faithful in your station, to stand your ground, and to trust that His right hand will save you.
When you are tempted to despair because of your own sin and weakness, when you feel that you are not making progress, you must remember that Yahweh will accomplish what concerns you. Your sanctification is His project. He is more committed to your holiness than you are. He will perfect it. He will bring it to completion.
And when you are tempted to doubt God's love for you, when the circumstances are dark and His face seems hidden, you must anchor your soul in His everlasting chesed. His covenant loyalty does not waver. It is the foundation upon which all His promises rest. It is demonstrated supremely at the cross, where God did not forsake the ultimate work of His hands, His only begotten Son, but delivered Him up for us all.
Therefore, we can pray with confidence, "Do not fail the works of Your hands." This is not a plea for God to start loving us. It is a plea that arises from the sure knowledge that He already does. It is the cry of a beloved child, who knows that his Father's grip is sure, His purpose is fixed, and His love is forever.