“In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.”
On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul. God's responsiveness to prayer (answering on the day called) establishes divine accessibility and attentiveness to human need. The increased strength of soul suggests inner fortification and courage flowing from divine response; prayer itself produces transformation. This verse illustrates the grounds for thanksgiving announced in verse 1; God has acted on behalf of the psalmist. The specificity (the day I called) suggests a particular crisis or need; God's intervention in that moment becomes the occasion for this entire psalm of thanksgiving.
Church Fathers on Psalms 138:3
1. The title of this Psalm is brief and simple, and need not detain us; since we know whose resemblance David wore, and since in him we recognise ourselves also, for we too are members of that Body. The whole title is, “To David himself.” Let us see then, what is to David himself. The title of the Psalm is wont to tell us what is treated of within it: but in this, since the title informs us not of this, but tells us only to Whom it is chanted, the first verse tells us what is…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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