Living Understanding Pt 25: Praise
Psalm 147:1-20 1Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! 2The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. 3He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. 5Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. 6The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. 7Sing to the LORD with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. 8He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. 9He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. 10His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; 11the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. 12Extol the LORD, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion. 13He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. 14He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. 15He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. 17He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? 18He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. 19He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws, and decrees to Israel. 20He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.
For thousands of years nations have risen and railed against Israel. She has been scattered, exiled, and overwhelmed yet she exists today as a reconstituted nation. We who have the perspective of time can see that the God of the universe has protected and ensured her existence, but to the people in the moment of exile or destruction it must have seemed as if God had abandoned her.
Praise the Lord.
God is Sovereign, and more than that, He is fully aware of His people’s needs. If He knows the hundreds of billions of stars in hundreds of millions of galaxies by name, He certainly knows the names of a puny 8 billion of the people on the earth and the names and needs of His own people. We are reminded that God gathers the outcasts of his people (v2b), that He heals the brokenhearted and dresses their wounds (v3), that He lifts the humble and casts down the wicked (v6). God is aware of every one of our hurts, dreams, hopes and fears, but more importantly, we are reminded that no other nation has been so blessed as has Israel to receive God’s Word or entrusted to spread His message throughout the world. As God’s grafted in children this applies to us also, and certainly we are to understand that if God has so entrusted us, He will also protect, encourage, and enable us to do so. Certainly, this means that in the darkest hour of oppression and opposition, God will intercede on our behalf.
Great is his power.
This passage cautions us against dependence upon our own abilities. God is most concerned that his children turn toward Him and depend on Him in all situations weather good or bad. These verses remind us that God doesn’t need anything (in the human sense) but is looking for a humble response rather than a showing of our prowess. He is looking for trust, not self-sufficiency. We often talk a good line when things are going well: We go to our secret place and name the Name in public places. We are not being hypocritical, mind you, just routine. But when times turn hard, we tend to trust in our own strengths—just what is it I can do differently, etc. Psalm 147 cautions against that. God loves those who love Him. He’s not impressed with the things we do; after all He’s the One who made those hundreds of millions of galaxies with hundreds of billions of stars. At the End of Days times will be the hardest they have ever been and it will be more important than ever to trust in Him and listen to Him for guidance. Those who survive will most likely be the ones who have placed their ‘hope in his unfailing love.’
Great is his love.
Let’s remember not to depend upon our own abilities. We are reminded that God is most concerned that his children turn toward Him and depend on Him in all situations weather good or bad. These verses remind us that God doesn’t need anything (in the human sense) but is looking for a humble response rather than a showing of our prowess. He is looking for trust, not self-sufficiency. We often talk a good line when things are going well: We go to our secret place and name the Name in public places. We are not being hypocritical, mind you, just routine. But when times turn hard, we tend to trust in our own strengths—just what is it I can do differently, etc. God loves those who love Him. He’s not impressed with the things we do, after all He’s the One who made those hundreds of millions of galaxies with hundreds of billions of stars. Times are becoming harder than they have ever been and it will be more important than ever to trust in Him and listen to Him for guidance. Those who survive will most likely be the ones who have placed their ‘hope in his unfailing love.’
What about me?
We are God’s children and as Romans 8 teaches we have been saved from the Law of Sin and Death. We are tempted by our sin nature and the world itself to veer off course away from God. Psalm 147 reminds us of what pleases him; what it is in our nature that most connects us to him. It’s not marching armies, or horses, or tanks, or warplanes that impress God. Equally, what does impress Him is our willingness and consistency in turning to Him during our struggles. In our present-day struggles with a family member or friend who has wronged us, do we plot revenge, or do we seek the LORD for nurture and affirmation? When we become aware of a sin, do we justify or defend it, or do we repent and turn to Him for forgiveness? And the encouraging thing is this: We were not created as robots; we are not programmed. In these verses God shows that He seeks relationship, not programmed response. He wants abundant intimacy, not actions carried out by rote. In the end we should remember that God’s word, His Scripture, is revelation, not just direction. He is seeking a meeting of the minds, not mindless, robotic, obedience.
God so loves us that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us. Let’s take that to heart, change our ways, and turn to Him.