Thanksgiving, Praise, Prophecy
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Intro
Intro
Tell me something very specific that God has done for you
I’m not looking for the generic type of answers; I want to know one specific thing in your life which God has done for you which you give Him thanks for.
Mine is that He has delivered me from my death at least twice — once in a near car accident that could have killed my friend and I, and when I was laying in the ICU in Palmer, Alaska merely hours from dying. Had God not been for me at those moments, the fact is that I would be dead and long gone.
The psalm we are looking at today is one which, in part, is very familiar to us. The New Testament references it quite a bit. It is all about praising God for what He has done for His people, and rejoicing in the victory which He grants to His people.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever. Let Israel say, “His faithful love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say, “His faithful love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say, “His faithful love endures forever.”
This is a call to all of God’s people to give thanks and praise God in the proclamation, “His faithful love endures forever!”
God is faithful, isn’t He? Have we not experienced that truth in our lives?
There are poetic parts to this opening of the psalm as well:
The author starts with Israel
This is a call to the nation to praise God for His faithfulness
Then he moves on to the Priests, “house of Aaron” who were the ones who had no inheritance in the land but worked in the temple
Lastly, he calls to all the ones faithful to the LORD. This implies an awareness on the part of the author that there were those outside of the national borders of Israel who were faithful to the Lord God.
Then there is another poetic device which the author employs. In the culture of the ancient Jews, numbers were very significant and added meaning and value to something being written.
3 was a number representing completeness, wholeness. Also, when something is repeated three times it adds a lot of emphasis. In Revelation, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty,” really teaches us a great deal of theology, that God is completely and perfectly holy — and it stands out as emphatic. Here in the Psalm, the call 4 times rings out to say, “His faithful love endures forever!” 4 also represents completeness, but it represents Creation and the completeness of God’s works therein — all people everywhere must recognize how good God is, and that His perfect goodness never runs dry.
I called to the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and put me in a spacious place. The Lord is for me; I will not be afraid. What can a mere mortal do to me? The Lord is my helper; therefore, I will look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humanity. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in nobles.
Have you ever cried out to the Lord of the Universe for help, and been able to watch Him affirmatively answer your prayers?
I myself have been in, at least, similar situations to this wherein I was crying out for an end to the pain I was experiencing. God, in His own perfect timing, delivered me from that circumstance — He, “answered me with freedom” in a sense.
What else has God answered us “with freedom” (freed us from)? SIN
If God has saved us, and we are held in His own hand from which no one can snatch us according to Jesus — “what can man do to us?” What have we to be really afraid of? This existence as set free from the bonds we were under, and moved into freedom should be a cause in all of God’s people to praise Him and proclaim “His faithful love endures forever!”
Granted, the author did not have the knowledge of who Jesus is, and the situation that he is describing is likely a much more physical one. However, it still applies in the sense which we have spoken here.
Many people all over the world trust in their governments, their communities, their families even to save them — they think that by men all their needs will be met.
But the psalmist here reminds us that this isn’t so. It is the Lord answers our calls, and “it is better to trust in the LORD than to trust in humanity…in nobles.”
All the nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I destroyed them. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I destroyed them. They surrounded me like bees; they were extinguished like a fire among thorns; in the name of the Lord I destroyed them. They pushed me hard to make me fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
Here we find something that, at least I, can easily get stuck on. It’s these moments of the author talking about “In the name of the LORD I destroyed them!” I was not exactly sure what he was talking about for a bit.
What do you think He means?
v. 13-14, I believe, give us the answer here in telling us that the LORD has helped him to defeat and overcome his enemies.
See, it’s not about what the author did. It isn’t about the strength that he had, nor his struggle, nor even really the conclusion. It is all about the fact that the LORD stepped in, and because of Him, the enemies have been defeated.
The Lord Jesus has Himself defeated all our enemies, has He not? Even so far as having defeated death itself — we have nothing whatsoever in this life or the next to be afraid of when we are walking with the King.
There are shouts of joy and victory in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly! The Lord’s right hand is raised. The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!” I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord disciplined me severely but did not give me over to death.
These verses go on to make that very point, that the LORD is the one responsible for the author’s victory, very emphatically.
The righteous, to whom victory has been given, are rejoicing and praising in their homes as God has given them the victory.
v. 15b-17, the psalm (a song itself) gives an image of the righteous who are singing to God themselves and this is what they have to say. And all in thanks to God for everything that He has done for us!
“I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done.”
Here I am reminded of the woman at the well, and even more specifically the demon possessed man in the graveyard. What did they do immediately after they were met by Jesus? Told their story!
Lou Guiglielmoni
Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the Lord’s gate; the righteous will enter through it. I will give thanks to you because you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This came from the Lord; it is wondrous in our sight. This is the day the Lord has made; let’s rejoice and be glad in it.
Here is the image of the people of God coming into His presence full of thanksgiving.
The righteous are let in through the gate and they come with joy and thankfulness on their tongues.
I’m challenged by this because I know that I need to remember thankfulness, and genuine thankfulness, when I am in His presence...
“the stone the builders rejected...”
Does this sound familiar?
If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
This moment in the psalm is prophetic of the coming Christ! I’m wondering if this whole psalm is not prophetic of the reality that the Church would live in, and now does, under Christ who has given that eternal victory. The One whom the officials and authorities neglected and threw out has now become our salvation and the very cornerstone of our faith and identity.
Cornerstones are what masons would use as a point by which the whole of the house was oriented… what does that mean for us? Everything we are is oriented on the Lord Jesus.
Lord, save us! Lord, please grant us success! He who comes in the name of the Lord is blessed. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God and has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give you thanks. You are my God; I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.
And here we have the glimpse of Palm Sunday.
Those whom we read of in John quoted from this part of the psalm. There is reason to believe that when a Jew would quote a portion of a psalm, they were actually pointing back to the whole thing — what is this psalm about? VICTORY!!!!
What did the elements of Palm Sunday represent? VICTORY!!!!!
What i want us to be able to glean from this psalm, is that we are fully victorious in the LORD — and we ought not take that for granted! We, the people to whom God has given victory, should be continually giving thanks to Him and proclaiming what He has done!
Both in our personal lives and in the Gospel!
Take Inventory
Take Inventory
Every day, when you wake up, when you go to bed, give thanks to the Lord for the way He has saved you, and let that thankfulness pour over into the way we live our lives!