Praise (2)

Let us together praise God For he answers and rescues all those who fear Him and trust in their own inability to save themselves.

Intro

This is our last chapter in the book of the Psalms that we are going to go through. I have really enjoyed going through the different types of Psalms, maybe we will start it again next summer. We have gone through Psalms of Praise, Psalms pointing to the Messiah, Psalms that are angry and all for vengeance on God’s enemies and so on. I thought it fitting to end with a Psalm of Praise.

One of the questions that comes out of this for me after listening to some songs on this Psalm is what do we expect out of our praising God? What are we doing it for? This Psalm talks about not lacking anything good for those that praise God but what does that mean and how do people misconstrue it. The idea of praising God for what we can get out of it, or praising God because if we adore Him enough we will get what we want is becoming a more popular one. We tend to see this idea in some of the CCM coming out.

For example when I look to the song “What a beautiful Name”, I have always had an issue with some of the lyrics. I have never liked the lyrics of the second verse, saying God didnt want heaven without us so He brought heaven down. "I don't favor the lyric he quotes. It fits too easily into a theology of a God who created because he was lonely, and then saved people for the same reason. He just can't be happy without us." "God is not miserable and lonely without us. He's not motivated to sing over us because we have just made up for some poor deficiencies that God has - and now, at last, his weakening deity is strengthened by our presence, and he can be happy finally. That's not the picture of the Bible!” The idea is we praise God because He somehow needs us.

Another song called “Champion” says in one of the verses

When I lift my voice and shout Every wall comes crashing down I have the authority Jesus has given me When I open up my mouth Miracles start breaking out I have the authority Jesus has given me

It sounds like it is saying that because we open our mouths and say something God has to honor our words because when we open our mouths miracles start breaking out. again, it seems like a theology is centered on man and what we can d instead of what God can do. We do need to be wise and discerning with what we sing and what we watch and make sure that the focus is on who God is not on who we are.

But the praise in the Psalms says a different tail. Our praise to God is not about us and what we can do and the alleged miracles that flow from our mouths but rather tell the story of God, the glory of God How we will boast in our own inability to save ourselves but rather we will boast in the glory of God. Let us together praise God For he answers and rescues all those who fear Him and trust in their own inability to save themselves.

1-3

Psalm 34:1–3 CSB

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will boast in the Lord; the humble will hear and be glad. Proclaim the Lord’s greatness with me; let us exalt his name together.

We start out with an announcement of praise.

I will bless the Lord, I will praise the Lord is saying the same thing essentially. The word used here is a persistent thing. As well as saying that it will be at all times helps. Praising God needs to be a consistent way of life. A little background may help. T

his was written around the time that David was fleeing from the wrath of Saul. David had the heart of the people and Saul was trying to kill Him so David ran. Specifically this was written around the time of the events of 1 Sam 21 10:15. David fled to the city of Gath but the people recognized Him as a hero but their enemy. David feared them as well so He started to act like a madman drooling and writing on the walls. The kings reaction makes me laugh. 1 Sam 21:15

1 Samuel 21:15 CSB

Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?”

God was with David as he fled to a cave and was joined by his family and all those who where desperate and discontented.

The Psalm was written about the time David feared for His life and did whatever He could to get away and flee to safety. with this in mind we go back to the passage.

Psalm 34:1–3 CSB

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will boast in the Lord; the humble will hear and be glad. Proclaim the Lord’s greatness with me; let us exalt his name together.

David, desperate to stay alive goes to extreme, albeit funny, measures to keep His life while on the run from Saul. This was written about that time. Even in the depths of despair, when we are struggling to stay alive, when we have passed through the hard times even praising God will become a consistent way of life. Our response to this happening in our life needs to be to praise the Lord at all times.

I will boast in the Lord

We go from praising the Lord in all circumstances because He will deliver us (the deliverance may not be now, but to deliver us may happen in the future, but we need to trust the Lord that it is going to happen). To boast in the Lord is not saying that this person has God more on their side then anyone else does. Like a kid saying their dad loves them more then their siblings.

But rather it is acknowledging that the victory is due to God alone, boasting in our own inability to save ourselves. Praise God at all times in our life because our God saves! He does not save based on anything we have done but to give himself the Glory. This is why we seek refuge in God alone. He can and will save and because of that we will praise Him. Though He does it on His timeline to ours.

4-7

Psalm 34:4–5 CSB

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed.

When we face fears and trials our natural default tends to be to become stone faced, or at least put on a mask and pretend everything is okay. Maybe we do not know where to look. But again as we praise God continually for all He has done, we seek Him, we bring our cares and concerns to Him.

I sought the Lord and He answered me. The Lord will listen and respond to our cares and concerns. He will save, He will rescue. but again it is in His timing and we need to trust in that.

Because of this we can look to Him in Joy knowing what He has done or will do. We will have no need to put on a poker face but we will be free to wear joy openly on our faces.

Psalm 34:6–7 CSB

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them.

This continues with that same thought that all those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, that we can look with Joy to the Lord because of His plans. But enter in a caveat of sorts. Where we get the idea that praising God is not about us, it is not man centered worship but rather God centered. The Lord saves those who fear Him.

protection and deliverance are not automatic, God expects allegiance to Him. We may wonder Why, this seems like such a huge step, but based on what He has done and will do for those who fear Him and live for Him what better response should we have.

But back to the fear of the Lord I found a good definition of it.

The Book of Psalms Psalm 34: The Nearness of a Personal God

paradoxical awareness that one is fragile, mortal, and sinfulness, on the one hand, and that the Lord is rock-solid, immortal, and gracious, on the other. To fear the Lord is therefore simultaneously both to tremble in dread anticipation and to tremble in joyous anticipation

This awareness of who we are and who God is, is not just a one time thing but needs to be a way of life for us. The dread of who we are and the joy of what God has done for us. This needs to dictate how we fear the Lord, How we approach the Lord, in all things that we do this needs to be our mindset.

8-10

Psalm 34:8–10 CSB

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him! 9 You who are his holy ones, fear the Lord, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.

The Lord is a good God And we are called here to experience the Lord, see that He is good, experience what the Lord has done for you. Though we are called to fear the Lord and what that means we look to the Lord with Joy. Our refuge in Him is one of Joy.

Though we kneel in awe of the Lord God, we can find joy in doing it. Experience what it means to praise God with your whole being, our God is a God who saves, who will establish His kingdom, who save us from our sins.

Verse 9 and 10 can be confusing. The running theme is praising God together for all He has done for He is the God who saves. Here we read that as His followers we will not lack any good thing.

The man centered gospel would say that if we adore God enough He will give us what we ask for. But that is not what this is saying. We need to remember what is said before that. This is based on the knowledge that we will live our lives in the fear of the Lord. If we truly fear the Lord (again not being scared, we go back to our definition) we will not be asking for our own desires, our own greeds but rather for the will of the Lord.

The good things that we will never lack is what God sees as Good, what is in His will to give us. It will not be for our pride but for His glory. This is part of what it means to praise the Lord. The any good thing we will not lack s what the Lord wants for us, not what we want for ourselves.

11-14

Psalm 34:11–13 CSB

11 Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who is someone who desires life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.

again we continue the theme that it is not about you or your glory but about God and His glory. We fear the Lord by living for Him, keeping from evil pursuing God and what is good.

15-18

Psalm 34:15–16 CSB

15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry for help. 16 The face of the Lord is set against those who do what is evil, to remove all memory of them from the earth.

The Lord hears those who are striving to be righteous, who want out of their sin and want more. Not that we are always living for God but the striving to be like God is there. But those who seek to do evil and do not want to change, the Lord will not hear them.

19-22

Psalm 34:21–22 CSB

21 Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished. 22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants, and all who take refuge in him will not be punished.

So What?

For lack of time I am getting to the end which for preachers means I am half done. we end the Psalms for now with a fitting message. A Message of what it means to praise the Lord.

Let us praise the Lord together.

we start with praising the Lord, let u together as the Body of Christ praise the Lord. Praise needs to be as a body, we all need to praise the Lord together and it needs to be a way of life as well. it needs to be a continual thing. Let us boast in Him and our own inability to save ourselves. He alone is worthy of worship.

Let us fear the Lord

We need to praise the Lord in fear of Him we are told. That is having a knowledge of who we are and who the Lord is and what He has done for us. We need to approach the Lord in praise in anticipation of what we have done, How we have failed and How the Lord will save us for we serve a God who saves.

This should give us the proper perspective for the last point I want to make.

Praising God is not about you

We need to remember that we praise God because of who He is and what He has done. We do it to glorify the Lord God and live our lives for Him. We are promised that we will not lack any good thing but it is not us that determines what that is. God determines what it is that is good that we will not lack.

Let us continue to live lives of praise as we glorify the Lord God for what He has done and is going to do.