Who is like our God?

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There are six Psalms that the Jews still sing toadying during the Passover. Psalms 113-114 are sung before the Passover meal. Psalms 115-118 are sung after the Passover meal. After Jesus ate the Passover with his disciples, He sang with them. Most likely this is the group of Psalms He sang from.

Psalms 113-118 are called The Egyptian Hallel. Hallel means “Praise the Lord”. Psalm 114 directly references the deliverance from Egypt while the other Psalms allude to it in a more generic sense. Before we get started I want to point out a few things:

The Jews studied their salvation- They memorized portions of the Law, taught it, etc.

The Jesus sang about their salvation- Many Psalms reference it

The Jews celebrated their salvation- festivals, Hoy Days

The Jews salvation led to our salvation. God saved the Jews so that a Savior could come. He brought Jesus to us through Israel. If it were not for the national salvation of Israel, we would not be saved today. Their salvation, however, was a lesser one. It was not a spiritual salvation as ours is. When we consider how much emphasis they placed on national salvation, how much more should we emphasize our salvation?

We should study our salvation.

We should sing about our salvation.

We should celebrate our salvation.

The title for our message comes from verse 5 of this Psalm. That verse summarizes the Psalm. The writer is exalting the God of Israel to His proper place. The answer to the question ‘Who is like our God? Is obvious. No one is like our God. He proves that with this Psalm.

1. His name is above every name (1-3).

Notice how many times the covenant name of God is used in verses 1-3. Five times in three verses. Also notice the emphasis on the name of the Lord.

The end of verse 1

The beginning of verse 2

The second part of verse 3.

I’ve mentioned many times that when you see LORD in all capitals letters that is a reference to the covenant name of God. I’m going to explain that a little deeper now. The truth is we don’t know how to pronounce that name. The reason why is the ancient Jews thought the name too holy to pronounce. When they wrote it down, they did not use vowels. They only used consonants.

We are left with YHWH. These four letters are known as the tetragrammaton. That’s a big word that means “four letters”.

Some attempts have been made to pronounce the name by inserting vowels. We get pronunciations like Yahweh or Jehovah. The truth is we don’t know how to pronounce the name of God. What does seem clear is the letters YHWH are some form of the verb “to be”. This makes sense when we consider Exodus 3:14. God told Moses His name was “I am”.

There are a couple of things I want to point out in verses 1-3 concerning the name of our God.

His servants praise His name (1). That is not a common thing in the Master/Servant relationship. Perhaps to their face the servant will bless the Master. But not to his back! Our God is good to his servants. He is a loving Master. His servants know this. They praise Him.

His name is to be praised across the globe (3). It says from the rising to the setting of the sun. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. God has revealed His name to all the earth, not just the Jews. He is not the God of the Middle East. He is the God of all the earth.

His name is to be praised forever (2). Hardley a generation will pass before you and I are forgotten. That’s okay because we are not worthy of that much attention. God is. He has a name that will be proclaimed for all of eternity.

2. His glory is greater than all of creation (4-6).

He is above all nations (4). The reason God is to be praised by all nations is because He is above all nations. A nation may worship a false god like Allah. In doing that they should understand Allah is not above them. In fact, Allah is not even beside them. Allah is under them. He is of less value and worth than they are. There is only one God and He is the God above all nations.

He is above the heavens (4). To us the heavens appear more glorious than the earth. The sky, the starts, the planets. The more we see the more intriguing it becomes. Our universe itself is filled with wonder. God is not only more glorious than anything on earth. He is more glorious than anything in the heavens.

He is above our understanding (5). That’s the point of the question in verse 5. Who would we suggest is close in comparison to our God? Do you know anyone like Him? To be like Him they would have to be seated as He is. he is seated on high. Who else is seated above the nations and above the heavens?

We find it difficult to even explain God.

We use analogies found in Scripture:

God is like a loving Father

God is like a mother hen

God is like a consuming fire

God is like a great King

We can say God is like these things. But we can never say those things fully explain God. God is incomprehensible. There is nothing created that can fully explain God. He is far greater than anything we know or can know.

We describe what God has done. This is another way Scripture tells us who God is. Verse 7 is a good example of this.

He is beyond our sight (6). It says He looks far down on the heavens and the earth. Notice first that He is so highly exalted that He must look far down to see the heavens. We must look far up to see the heavens. That shows you how much higher He is than we are.

God is not a little greater than His creation. He is far greater! Let’s point out something else. One seated so high could easily forget about those under him. In fact, that is what usually happens. Those in places of power and esteem often do not concern themselves with what is going on beneath them. The good news is our great God looks down. When we look up, we cannot see Him. He is too far. He can see us. He wants to us. He looks upon us.

There’s a gospel song that says:

There's the wonder of sunset at evening, The wonder as sunrise I see; But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul Is the wonder that God loves me.

His glory is greater than all of creation, but He still stoops to look upon us.

3. His grace is immeasurable (7-9).

Without these final verses we would not know that God looks upon His creation with grace. Verse 6 could have just as much been a threat as it is a promise. Because of verses 7-9 we know that the look the Psalmist mentions is a look of grace. God looks down to save His people.

Verses 7-8 are found in a song sung by Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:8. Hannah was a woman who was barren and berated. She cast herself upon the mercy of the Lord and the Lord heard her prayer. He gave her a son that became a great man of God.

In verse 7 we see God’s grace extended to the poor and needy.

“From the dust” symbolizes humility as does the ash heap. The poor in spirit are always the delight of God. He reaches down to them. They are lying in the dust. They are as low as they can get. God raises them from the dust and from the ash heap.

This is where God looks. He looks in the dust and ash heaps of this world for His children.

If you were looking for arrowheads, you would find a riverbed where flint is.

If you were looking for sharks’ teeth you would find a beach with the tide going out.

Picture God, if you will, going through the ash heaps and dust piles of this world looking for His people. There is beauty in the humbling circumstances of life. When we find ourselves broken, humble, weak, hopeless we can be sure the Lord will find us.

Look what He does when He finds us. Verse 8 says He makes us sit with princes. He takes us from ruin to royalty. He does not pick us up to drop us in the pile again. He picks us up and puts us in a place of exaltation.

We’re going to heaven folks. Heaven is a wonderful place. It is a place of exaltation. It is a place where royalty belongs. Common people are going to heaven.

Those who were dirty are made clean.

Those who were nobody are made somebody.

One of my favorite verses about heaven is Matthew 8:11:

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

I’m going to sit with Abraham. I’m going to sit with Moses. Listen to me now. This is important. Moses will find it just as great that he is sitting with me. That’s how God’s grace is. We know that God picked all of us up out of the same ash heap.

v. 9 He gives the barren woman a home. That means He gives her children. He gives her a household. In ancient Jewish culture a woman without children had a rough life. She would have no one to care for her. She was considered cursed by God. I think verse 9 is written this way because of the reference to Hannah in verses 7-8.

Not everyone will have children. God doesn’t promise that.

But every Christian belongs to a family. There are none who are left out. We all have an inheritance. We all have a Father. We all have brothers and sisters.

Christiann, God has given you a home. You belong to the family of God. You should be filled with joy.