Psalms 57:7

“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.”

The word for ‘fixed’ can also be translated as ‘prepared’ or ‘made ready’. If anything, probably conveys the Psalmist’s words better in English. It fits neatly with Hosea 10:12 where the Lord directs His people to break up their fallow ground, that is, to prepare their hearts.

The Psalmist here declares in essence, ‘My heart is prepared! I will sing and give praise to God.’

Oh how oft do we wait for the feeling to fall upon us so that we ‘feel’ like giving praise and worship to our God. If only we could learn to be like David who had learnt to ‘prepare’ his heart to sing and praise.

David understood something important – the heart must be led. In a world where we often are told to follow and listen to our heart, we need to understand that we should be leading our heart, preparing it, establishing, making it ready.

This verse and its sentiment becomes even more powerful when one understands the context of when this was written and the previous verses.

This Psalm was written when David was fleeing from Saul in the caves. The previous verses outline how he is surrounded by enemies, men setting traps to catch him. He ends the first half in verse 6 by stating, ‘they have fallen in the pit they dug themselves’.

I believe this tells us a bit about David’s mindset. David was by no means out of the wilderness. He was still a fugitive. He understood, however, what God desired, how to please Him, and finally, that God would rescue His own. To that extent, it appears to be with this eye to the future that causes him to say, “They have fallen into the pit they dug”.

It’s this end conclusion, the understanding that God would intervene, that causes him after pausing to declare, “My heart is fixed!”
The understanding that God was in control allowed for David to focus on that which mattered most – his role as a worshipper. He was ready to sing and give praise.

Oh that we could grasp the importance of such a heart and mindset! Oh that we would prepare ourselves to sing and give praise to our God!