Psalm 17:7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them
Names tell a story. Not long ago, I was driving through west Texas and I crossed the Pecos River. I thought of Judge Roy Bean, “The Only Law West of the Pecos.” He was also called The Hanging Judge. There was a reason for that. That name tells a story. How about Calamity Jane? I forget what her real name was, but her famous name tells a story. What about Ivan the Terrible? I don’t know much about him, but his name tells a story. Even the names of the horses here on the Bill Rice Ranch tell a story. I was recently joking with some people who were new to the Ranch that you could tell a lot about a horse by his name. If you are put on a horse named Widow Maker, you might want to get off before you get going. If you are put on a horse named Sweetheart, it was probably at one point someone’s pet and had been given as a gift to the Ranch. God’s names also tell us something about His nature.
Psalm 65:2 says, “O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.” John Rice writes about this verse and makes the point that this is a name of God, O thou that hearest prayer. God’s very nature is to hear and answer prayer. In the church of some friends in Florida, there is a beautiful mural behind their pulpit with many of God’s names on it. Those names all say something about God; they tell a story.
In Psalm 17:7 we find what may be the longest name of God in the Bible. I don’t know what the Hebrew looks like, but the English says, “Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.” That appears to all be one name. That is a name of God. God’s longest name reveals His most comforting traits. People could argue about what God’s most comforting trait is. I’m glad that God is eternal and holy. I can find secondary comfort and conviction in those traits, but what traits are directly relevant to me? Psalm 16:2 and 5 indicate that we have no good beside God and God is all I need. So, what I am comforted by is not just God’s character, but how that relates to me as a finite being. God’s longest name reveals His most comforting traits.
This name reveals His nature. Verse 7 says, “O thou that savest.” It is my nature to be in trouble, but it is God’s nature to save. So many times, I get up and think about yesterday and what I want to do better today. I wake up in the morning with the best of intentions, then the next morning I think, “I failed on all of those. I thought I would do better, but I did not.” I didn’t have the willpower, character, knowledge, or whatever. I am just a person who is prone to trouble, and God is a God who hears when I call.
This name reveals God’s power. Psalm 17:1 says, “Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer.” Again, verse 6 says, “I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.” This name reveals God’s power, “O thou that savest by thy right hand.” It says, “By thy right hand.” God does not have physical hands, eyes, ears, or mouth. These pictures are used in the Bible to help us understand what God does and how He does it. God does not have two hands, but if He did have two hands, His more powerful hand would be on your behalf, towards your help. I’m quite sure God is ambidextrous. He can use either hand equally well, but the point is that it is personifying the infinite, “O thou that savest by thy right hand.” God is stronger with His left hand than all of my enemies are with all their power. So, this name is comforting because it reveals His power.
Finally, God’s longest name reveals His most comforting traits because it reveals His inclination. “O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.” There is a contrast between those who put their trust in God and those who rise up against those to put their trust in God. This reveals God’s inclination to help those who look to Him. The psalmist David talks about his sentence in verse 2, “Let my sentence come forth from thy presence.” He is saying, “Let your verdict come from You, the perfect Judge who sees everything.”
David mentions his heart in verse 3, “Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” David had a clear conscience and he knew that God knew his heart. Regarding his path he says, “Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.”
So, God’s longest name reveals His most comforting traits. It reveals His nature, He saves. It reveals His power, His right hand. It reveals His inclination, to help those who put their trust in Him.