Ps. 57.7(on the verge of liturgy)

Firmly fixed / is my heart
O God
firmly fixed / is my heart
I am ready / to sing and chant praise.

The psalm is now completing its transition to morning and the rising Dawn. In order for this transition to occur, however, two things need to occur: the wicked need to be ‘made low’ and the righteous made firm; in short, judgment needs to occur. The previous verse detailed the destruction of the wicked. Here, we begin to enter into the ‘moment of the righteous’. Whereas the wicked’s plot have been utterly foiled, the righteous are ‘made firm’. It is an important word and it tracks the sense of the psalm. Again, the psalm, although a lament asking for deliverance, only focuses on the wicked’s judgment for a single verse. The remaining body of the psalm is full of this sense of confidence in God’s deliverance. It is, in this way, rather markedly different from other psalms. In this verse this comes out very clearly both through the words employed “firmly fixed is my heart” and through its formal arrangement. Through repetition, the ‘firmness’ of the psalmist is felt. This is not repetition due to insecurity. Rather, the opposite: it is repetition of security and assurance. We know this because the psalm is now ‘building’ toward a climax: the rising Dawn. We see here the need to grasp the dramatic nature of the psalm and its transition from Night to Day. Vs. 4 had us looking at the psalmist engaged in a dialogue with himself (not God) wherein he lamented the fact that he must “lie down among lions”. Vs. 5 then emerged into an appeal that God would “Rise up!”. Vs. 6 began the transition as the ‘soul’ is bowed down; however, because God is going to respond to the call, a confidence begins to emerge—“but they will fall in it!”. Now, in vs. 7, the darkness is moving fully into the background as now the psalmist no longer says “O my soul…” (vs. 4) but, in dialogue to God, now says “Firmly fixed is my heart, O God…”.  Now, at this point, liturgy to God is on the verge of breaking forth: “I am ready to sing and chant praise.”