The Magnified Word

Psalms 138:1-2,8
(1)  A Psalm of David. I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.
(2)  I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
(8)  The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

The Context of Psalm 138

Psalm 138 is David's worship response to the great promise God made to him regarding his lineage. The promise regarded the kingship and the temple (see 2 Sam 7:12-16). God promised that the kingship over the covenant people would forever be associated with David's lineage, and that David's Son would build God a temple. This is expressed in terms of God building David a house, and the Son of David reciprocating and building God's house.
We who have the benefit of the New Testament revelation understand that Christ, not Solomon, was the greater Son of David. Jesus Christ is the one who has inherited the throne of David forever, and He is the one who is building God's house (Eph 2:19-22).

The Reputation of God

Psalm 138:2 states that God has exalted His word above His name. In this context, His name is His reputation. We say that a person has made a name for themselves when they have done some exploit. In this verse, God's name speaks of the reputation He earned in His mighty acts of redemption toward Israel in the story of the Exodus.
When Moses initially went to Pharoah and demanded in the name of Jehovah that he let Israel go, Pharoah responded that he did not know the God of whom Moses spoke (Ex 5:2). Unknown to Pharoah, God had selected him for the very purpose of showing His power of judgment and making His divine name known throughout all the earth (Ex 9:16). After the plagues, you can be sure Pharoah knew very well who God was, as did the inhabitants of Canaan and the rest of the world.

The Word Magnified Above the Name

When David stated that God has magnified the word above all His name, David was expressing that the things God had promised to do for him would exceed the great acts of redemption God had performed for Israel during the Exodus. In this context, God's word is His promise. And the fulfillment of His promise to David would be greater than anything God had ever done before in the history or redemption.

David's Response to the Promise of God

David's response was first that of worship and thanksgiving, although he didn't live to see the promise fulfilled. As the other great men of faith in the Old Testament, David died in faith, God having reserved the fulfillment of the promise for Christ and the Church. Psalm 138:2 says that David worshiped and gave thanks as if the promise was already fulfilled.
His response also included the response of humility and confession. David recognized that despite being called a man after God's own heart, he and his household did not live up to the lofty calling he had been given. Some of his last words include the confession that he and his household were not perfect before God (2 Sam 23:5). But David prayed in Psalm 138:8, the LORD will perfect that which concerneth me,...

Praying the Will of God

When David wrote the LORD will perfect that which concerneth me, we can consider this first of all a prayer for God to fulfill the personal promises He had given David. Many of us have our own destinies that have been revealed to us by God, and while we wait for their fulfillment, the Spirit sometimes prompts us to pray and ask for them to be fulfilled. We can sympathize and relate to David in this.
But I should also note that not only was David asking God to fulfill the things that had been promised, he was also asking God to perfect his own human character. The last part of Psalm 138:8 reads thy mercy, O LORD, endureth forever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. David recognized that God's promise always comes with the contingency that our character is to be changed and formed by God's own hands.
Sometimes, our destiny is held from us because we resist the hand of the Divine Potter who intends to mold and fit us to the destiny He has for us. David recognized that he was a work in progress, and he asked God to continue with the man-building process and ultimately perfect David into the man God foresaw. David knew that his prophetic destiny was tied to his conversion into the Divine Image, and prayed for his own spiritual growth.

Called According to His Purpose

Romans 8:28-29
(28)  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
(29)  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

We can relate to David, because all believers in the New Testament Church are also given great prophetic promises, although very few people know or understand this. We are called according to his purpose--not our own purposes. This purpose was foreordained in Christ before the world was created! And the scripture tells us that all things work together for good,...to them who are the called according to his purpose. Do not be so shallow and self-oriented to think that all things work for the good of our human conceived purposes. Rather, the things that come to pass in your life are used by God for the good of the eternal, prophetic calling that He has placed on your life.
And like David, we can relate to not being worthy of the calling. But God's promise has the provision of our own transformation into the image of Christ. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,...
As we long for and groan for the promises of God in our own lives, we should recognize that we need to humbly submit to the hand of the Great Potter. The plans God has for his children are beyond our minds to comprehend--but they require our being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
With David, we are thankful for what has been promised, even while we confess that we are still a work in progress. Thy mercy, O LORD endureth forever: Forsake not the works of thine own hands!