Praise the Lord! Psalm 145
What picture comes to your mind when you think of Christians praising God? Do you think of a music loving people lustily or fervently singing in church. Do you think of individuals who are constantly smiling and say, “Praise the Lord” almost as frequently as they exhale!
Psalm 145 has much to say on the subject, telling us God’s views. It is the last of eight acrostic psalms, which use the letters of the Hebrew alphabet at the beginning of each verse to help to memorise it. This is a good reminder that it is important for Christians to work at memorising scripture. An astute reader will notice however that there are only 21 verses whereas there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The reason for this was that one verse, beginning with the letter ‘nûn’, was left out of some early manuscripts and was not included in early translations. However as more ancient manuscripts came to light, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was clear that verse 13b should be included and it appears in all more modern translations.
There is no doubt what the psalm is about. It is a ‘Psalm of Praise’ composed by King David. The Hebrew for ‘praise’ in the title, ‘tehillah’, is the only time this word appears in the singular in the Old Testament, although the plural ‘tehillim’ is the traditional Hebrew word for the psalter.
The first three verses emphasise that praising God is the emphasis of this psalm, by repeating the word 3 times.
Verse 1 “I will praise your name”
Verse 2 “I will praise you”
Verse 3 “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise”
WHY DO WE PRAISE GOD?
If we are praising someone then there must be one or more reasons for this. David goes through the reasons that he has. His praise comes from an ‘attitude of gratitude’ for these.
A powerful God who done great things (verses 4-6)
David’s God is not an impotent weakling whose activities need to be exaggerated by his followers because he appears to be ‘dead’. No, David has no ambivalence about God. ‘Great is the Lord’, ‘His greatness no-one can fathom’.
Verse 4 talks of ‘your mighty acts’
Verse 5 ‘your wonderful works’
Verse 6 ‘your awesome works’ and ‘your great deeds’
What do these refer to? Reading Psalm 104, which is a similar psalm of praise, makes it clear that the creation of the universe and the world we live in is a central idea. For a Jew in early Israel, the miraculous way God freed them from slavery in Egypt and established the country of Israel would undoubtedly be included. For us Christians the same is true. God is still the creator and sustainer of this world. Recent discoveries in science prove that there must be a supernatural creator to explain our existence. This creator has also miraculously freed us from the grip of sin to be a people for himself.
A God of Character (verses 7-9)
The character of the God David describes is remarkable. It differs markedly from the gods of the ancient world with their foibles and selfishness. This is a remarkably noble God.
Verse 7 talks of his ‘abundant goodness’ and ‘righteousness’
Verse 8 describes him as ‘gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love’
Verse 9 says that He is ‘good to all’, he is a compassionate God.
How did David discover these characteristics of God? Primarily it must have been from the Old Jewish Scriptures that he was meant to read and study every day (see Deuteronomy 17 v 18-20). It is striking that David’s description of God fits Jesus exactly. He also was a good man who was patient, gracious and loving. The reason they are the same is simple, Jesus is God and so shares God’s character. At the beginning of Matthew’s gospel Jesus is given the title ‘Emmanuel’ which simply means ‘God with us’.
What is more surprising is that David’s description is also given in Galations 5 v. 22 as the character of Christians who have the Spirit of Jesus. They are filled with ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control’. How dependent we are on this patient, loving and self-giving heavenly Father. We could have no hope without this. No wonder David wants to praise God for his character!
A God with a Kingdom (verses 11-13)
The establishment of the kingdom of Israel obviously meant a great deal to David. In spite of impossible odds God had taken some slaves in Egypt, overcome many powerful nations, and had established His kingdom in Israel. His people’s responsibility was to cherish and establish this kingdom.
The concept of the kingdom of God is central for us Christians too. Jesus went around preaching, ‘The kingdom of God is near’ (Mark 1 v. 15). We can all be part of God’s kingdom if we put ourselves under the authority of Christ, the king. That has always been the Christian gospel. The early apostles taught the same. When Paul was speaking to the Ephesian church elders he reminded them that, ‘I have gone around preaching the kingdom’ (Acts 20 v. 25). When imprisoned in Rome Paul called together the leaders of the Jews and “from morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God” (Acts 28 v. 23). The last verse in Acts summarises what Paul did when under house arrest for two years in Rome, “Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28 v. 31).
Do we praise God that he has established this kingdom and that we have been privileged beyond measure to be members of it?
A God who loves everyone (verse 13 –17)
There is one word that keeps being repeated in this section. It is the word ‘all’, which appears 8 times. David is emphasisng that God loves all his creation and everyone in it whatever they are like. God is like that. He ‘so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son’. Jesus emphasised that the good shepherd goes after the one lost sheep. God loves all our neighbours and work mates, even the dreadful ones, and longs that they should have the privilege of being in his kingdom also. What a reason to praise God, he loves those that we find impossible to love.
A God whose friendship is conditional (verse 18-20)
On the radio and television, and in our pulpits God is all too often simply described as a God of love. He is much more than that. He is a God who demands that we each respond to his love, giving our lives over to him. Our new life begins when we,
Verse 18 ‘Call on him’. This response must be genuine and not just a passing emotional whim. He is near ‘to all who call on him in truth’.
Verse 19 It is only those who ‘fear him’, who cry out to him for his salvation that he will save and admit to his kingdom. ‘He hears their cry and saves them.’
Verse 20 This again stresses the special relationship that we can have with God if we love him. ‘The Lord watches over those who love him.’
It is one of the disasters of our time that so few clearly understand the Christian gospel. Some now teach that the gospel consists of people ‘loving their neighbours’ and ‘turning the other cheek’. This is not the gospel! It is simply a response to it. The gospel is the story about what God has done for us in Christ. This demands a response if we are to be members of his kingdom. This response, called ‘repentance’, is the beginning of a new life with Jesus Christ in charge.
This response demanded by the gospel is a major theme in the psalms as it is in the rest of the Bible. (For example read Psalm 103 v. 17-18.) Let us praise God for the close friendship those who respond to Him have.
HOW SHOULD WE PRAISE GOD?
This psalm has some very interesting things to say on this subject. Verse 1 begins with David saying,
“I will exalt you, my God the King.”
At first this sounds strange. How can a man exalt, or raise the status of God. He already is as great as he can be. What we can do is to raise other people’s appreciation of God’s status.
When should we praise him?
Verse 2 suggests that we should be seeking to do this on a daily basis and on for eternity. Does this mean that we need to meet up in church to corporately express this praise every day? Church history is full of examples of people from both catholic and charismatic wings of the church who seem to stress this manner of praise, but this psalm gives a much wider definition of the praise God wants from us.
How can we praise God?
Tell others
If you study the verbs of verses 4 to 6 they are mostly about speech.
Verse 4 ‘One generation will commend your works to another. They will tell of your mighty acts.’
This suggests that when we teach our children in our homes or Sunday schools this is a means of praising God.
Verse 5 ‘They will speak’
Verse 6 ‘They will tell’, ‘I will proclaim’. When we are sharing the gospel with a friend or even preaching the Bible truths we are praising God.
God wants us to praise him daily and this psalm emphasises that sharing the Christian good news does this. Yet how uncommon this happens today, possibly because of fear or because of uncertainty. Can each of us succinctly explain the gospel to someone when the opportunity appears? It is vital that all Christians can do this.
I was recently sitting in the lounge at home, preparing a talk. My Bible, commentaries and some other books were lying about. The doorbell went and there stood a representative for cable telephones and television. He came into the lounge, sat down and discussed what he had to offer. He noticed the books and said,
“I see you are religious. Do you know that you can have the Christian channel free?”
“Oh,” I replied, “I didn’t know that. Are you interested in Christian things yourself?”
“Well, sort of. I would call myself a Christian but I don’t go to church. I feel such things are personal and private.” I took this to be an opportunity and not a brush off.
“Yes, I do understand - but there is a major problem with that view, it means that such people do not discuss these things much, so it is difficult to be sure that they understand them correctly.”
I then asked him,
“Are you sure yourself that you have got these things clear?”
“I hope so,” was his rather uncertain response.
It seemed obvious from this reply that he was not clear, so I then asked,
“Would you be offended if I briefly summarise what Jesus taught so that you can check out your ideas?”
Whether it was because he was keen to keep in with me, or because deep down he wanted to know, I am not sure, but he replied,
“That would be interesting.”
So I started to explain the very fundamentals.
“The God who created this world did so through Jesus, and God gave all authority in this world to Jesus. He is our eternal King.”
I lifted up my left hand to stand for God in Christ.
“The problem comes with us when we decide that we don’t want Jesus to be God, we want to live independently of Him. In fact we all naturally want to put ourselves in His place. We want to put ourselves at the centre and not have Jesus there. We want to decide what is right or wrong and we want to live as if God doesn’t matter.”
My right hand, depicting us moved away and down from the left.
At this point the salesman interjected,
“Yes, that is true.”
He continued to listen intently as the story continued,
“The Christian good news in summary is that God has decreed that anyone who returns to live under the authority of Jesus, is regarded by God as if he or she has never rebelled. They are given a complete pardon and, even more, are accepted as part of God’s personal family, with all the benefits that that involves.”
My right hand standing for us then moved to under the left hand.
“However if people persist in rejecting their creator, in that they won’t allow Jesus to be their Lord, they will face eternal rejection by God himself. The stakes are high.”
“I have never heard it talked in terms like that, but it does make sense,” he exclaimed.
Then for about thirty minutes we discussed these things. Before he left I asked him if I could give him a copy of my book ‘Cure For Life’ which he willingly accepted. Only time will tell how that man will respond to the claims of Jesus, but he will make a decision about Him, everybody has to. There are really only two possible paths to take, either accept what Jesus says and go along with him, or reject him. There are of course some that put on pretence of accepting the Christian faith, but Jesus is very aware whether people are trying to live under his authority and do God’s will or whether it is a sham.
There is however one verb in this section of Psalm 145 that is different. Verse 5b infers that meditation on God’s wonderful works is praise also. To spend time understanding the mind of God by studying his word is a way to praise God also. How the church needs to re-emphasise that God wants each of us to spend some time every day reading the Bible, thinking about it what it is teaching and praying with our Lord. Such is praise!
Today many think that praise is a feeling about God that is expressed in music, and that this is primarily what God wants.
A little while ago I was invited by a university Christian Union to speak at an evangelistic supper. I was asked if I could come a little early so that we could pray together. About 10 key Christian Union members joined us. As soon as the leader began, he was interrupted by someone ‘humming in the Spirit’. This seemed to be a cue for most people present to do their own thing, humming or speaking strange noises or ‘singing in the spirit’, all concurrently. No intelligible words were used. None of the expected guests were prayed for. This continued for about 20 minutes. As we left the room one of those present turned to me and said, ‘Wasn’t that a wonderful time of praise’. It was notable that there were very few guests at the supper. It left me wondering which form of praise means more to the Lord. There is little doubt that Jesus emphasised to his disciples that they should “Go and make disciples of all men”. He taught them about intercessory prayer but very little about singing. He taught them about an inner integrity, not about sales techniques.
We Christians are called on to major in communicating the gospel to others. I Corinthians 14 is a chapter about the role of unintelligible tongues in church services. It is stressed that God prefers us to communicate the gospel meaningfully when we meet together in case outsiders are present.
“In the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.” (1 Cor 14 v. 19)
The context for this statement is given in verse 16. These Corinthian Christians also thought that their ‘praise meetings’, with unintelligible tongues were what God primarily wanted.
“If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand (i.e. enquirers) say ‘Amen’ to your thanksgiving.”
This is not to say that singing and corporate praise are unimportant. Back in Psalm 145, God’s people will ‘celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness’. This comes at the end of the section on telling others about God. Beautiful music and singing is lovely and may move us emotionally. There is nothing wrong with that. However Christian corporate praise is more than that, it is a group of Christians acknowledging their Lord and Saviour and expressing a determination to live in the way he has taught us in Scripture. It is an overflow of a life of praise.
Billy Graham recognised this problem in our churches.
‘We are guilty of spiritual lethargy. Sometimes we sit about like overstuffed toads and we croak and grunt at the right place with a sleepy “Amen” and a weak “Allelujah”.
We have too often come to rely on church services and structures to praise God. This can only bring atrophy. Growth comes when individuals are outspokenly committed to their Saviour during the whole week.
2) Live like Jesus (v. 7-9)
It is a disaster if Christians are ‘all lip and no life’. Just as Jesus had the nature of God, so we Christians have all been given something of His nature in the form of the Holy Spirit. He is the potential energy we need to both motivate and empower us to keep working at being Christ-like.
We praise God by becoming like Jesus in the same way that a student most praises his master by emulating him.
Conclusion
As if to emphasise that speaking to others about God is a major way that we worship him, David returns to it in verse 11.
“They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might.”
If you are one of God’s people, will you pray that every day we may accept the opportunities to praise God to those who do not recognise his authority, and explain to them the gospel about Jesus Christ. Will you do that? It will not be easy as it can mean sacrificing your good reputation. Are we willing to risk that?
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews understood this very clearly. He recognised how much easier it is for Christians to stay in their little groups, enjoying Christian friendship, singing to their Saviour rather than go to those outside. He reminded them that Christ was also outside.
“Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.” (Hebrews 13 v. 13)
He then reminds them that this is real praise, a form of praise that can be costly,
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name.” (Hebrews 13 v. 15)
Then, like David, the writer goes on to remind them that it is not only by what we say that we praise God, but also by how we live.
“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13 v. 16)
Let us pray with David that,
“Your saints will extol you, they will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of your mighty acts (including your death for all of us on that cross) and the glorious splendour of your kingdom (the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ). (Ps 145 v. 10-12)
Please help us to praise you in the way you want Lord.
BVP
