This charming Hymn is addressed to the Chief Musician.
CHRIST is our chief, our commander-in-chief, our chief everything, everywhere and all the time. We should sing for him and unto him. Despite his many sorrows, this sweet singer sings unto the LORD. The Psalm may be called a Psalm of Enlargement.
The writer thanks his God for enlargement despite the daily distresses and everlasting pin pricks and persecutions of life. To experience enlargment even in the midst of distress and misery we must:
(1) be separated from sin,
(2) hate sin,
(3) be meditative,
(4) be righteous,
(5) be trustful,
(6) be faithful,
(7) be obedient.
To be a growing, glowing, and glad believer we must avoid all sin and live holily and righteously in this present evil world.
Note also, that this enlargement is to be an inward enlargement. It is to be an increase in holiness and power within. The word "increase" is from the Latin incresere, which means to grow from within.
Justification and sanctification are just the beginning of the Christian life. Growth, development, or increase is the work of a lifetime.
A Quaker congregation had been sitting in silence for a long time, when a little boy between five and six years of age stood up, and, with a childish lisp, gave utterance to the following: "My friends, I wish the LORD would make us all gooder and gooder and gooder, till there is no bad left!"