Psalm 113
Notes
Transcript
Psalm 113
This is the first in a series of psalms called the “Egyptian Hallel” which were 5 psalms traditionally used during the Passover celebration.
The first two (113-114) were sung prior to the meal and the last four were sung following the meal.
It’s likely one of these that Jesus and His disciples sang following the meal before leaving for the Garden of Gethsemane.
1 Hallelujah!
Give praise, servants of the Lord;
praise the name of the Lord.
“Give praise, servants of the Lord.”
I love how Derek Kidner explains it: True worship is “is loving homage of the committed to the Revealed.”
For a Christian, the psalmist call should be the most unnecessary statement ever made. To know where you were going, and what Jesus did, and where you’re going because of it, there’s no reason we should be told to praise, is there?
But, do we?
Do we have to be reminded? Do we need to someone to tell us to praise the Lord?
Not if we’re really servants of the Lord – meaning He’s our Master. He calls the shots. He’s the One we worship and follow.
Only a bad servant would hold back praise from a good master, right?
A worthy master deserves praise for his good character and good works.
The only other reason for not giving a good master the praise he deserves for his goodness is that the servant has taken it for granted or forgotten what a good master he is and how he has been blessed by him.
King David certainly understood: 1 Chronicles 29:10-20
Then David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly. David said,
May you be blessed, Lord God of our father Israel, from eternity to eternity. 11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to you. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and you are exalted as head over all. 12 Riches and honor come from you, and you are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in your hand, and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all.13 Now therefore, our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name.
14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your own hand.[j] 15 For we are aliens and temporary residents in your presence as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 16 Lord our God, all this wealth that we’ve provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand; everything belongs to you. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and that you are pleased with what is right. I have willingly given all these things with an upright heart, and now I have seen your people who are present[k] here giving joyfully and[l] willingly to you. 18 Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep this desire forever in the thoughts of the hearts of your people, and confirm their hearts toward you. 19 Give my son Solomon an undivided heart to keep and to carry out all your commands, your decrees, and your statutes, and to build the building for which I have made provision.
20 Then David said to the whole assembly, “Blessed be the Lord your God.” So the whole assembly praised the Lord God of their ancestors. They knelt low and paid homage to the Lord and the king.
God is the highest above whom there is no other, He owns everything and from his hand everything comes.
To withhold praise that he is due means we are either short sighted, forgetting all that God is and has done, or we never knew in the 1st place.
It could be we let the cares of the world block out the glory of God that would be evident if we could see.
We may need to pray, “open the eyes of my heart, Lord!”
The call to “Praise!” 3x in (1) sets the tone for worship. Absence of praise by default means absence of worship. Singing a song without heart worship isn't worship. “all” servants - regardless of “status” or position or “importance”.
God is no respecter of persons and he raises the status of the lowly, calling all to worship from every nation tongue and tribe. All are made in his image and he cares for the lowest of the low and He deserves the praise of all!
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the trash heap
8 in order to seat them with nobles—
with the nobles of his people.
So, the Lord is worthy to be praised by all people, most certainly, those who have been redeemed, and…
The Lord is to be praised at all times
2 Let the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and forever.
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
let the name of the Lord be praised.
In good times and bad times.
This means in all circumstances.
Why? Because…
· His peace shows up unexpectedly
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
· His power is made perfect in weakness
7 especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”
Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
· His purpose is fulfilled without fail
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Starting and ending a day breathing a prayer of praise and gratitude sets the tone for everything in the middle, helping to remind us to “look for God” in all the events and circumstances of the day.
· It's easy to praise God when we get great news.
· It's easy to forget God when we get no news.
· It's difficult to praise God when the bad news comes.
Will you praise him from the rising of the sun until its setting from now and forever more?
Will you “praise him in the storm”? (Casting crown reference - our miscarriage story).
· God showed up when I needed him most.
· This became my declaration.
It was Job’s, and he experienced more heart ache then I can even imagine.
18 He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house. 19 Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people so that they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, 21 saying:
Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will leave this life.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
22 Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.
We can praise him in the storm because he's…
1. Transcendent – Psalm 113:4
4 The Lord is exalted above all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.
hHe is bigger than our problems and he rules over all.
He is capable of dealing with our worst.
2. Immanent – Psalm 113:5-6 – expounded on in 7-8)
5 Who is like the Lord our God—
the one enthroned on high,
6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?
He lowers himself and acts on behalf of the needy, no matter how low or how great the need.
· He cares.
· He hears.
· He heals.
· He reverses! Not His promise orHis purpose but the course of our lives:
9 He gives the childless woman a household,
making her the joyful mother of children.
Hallelujah!
God has the power to reverse your situation. To do the impossible. To overcome the hopeless.
This verse is reflective on the account of Hannah as she cried to the Lord. The Lord did the impossible.
The Lord also did it in the life of another barren woman named Sarah, fulfilling a promise of redemption that he had made to her husband, Abraham.
Through that son born to that woman came another woman who bore a son through whom God reversed the curse of death.
I don’t know why God works the way he does in this life, sometimes reversing the course of our fortune or misfortune, and sometimes not.
Sometimes like Paul we have to endure the pain, but we can know that it is a pain with purpose.
Regardless, I do know that in the end all will be made new and will be made right, and because of the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross, we can praise Him “both now and forevermore” because He has reversed the course of our eternal destiny!
We can praise him in the storms!
Conclusion:
“Who is like the Lord?”
Who in this life can be compared to him? Who can know your deepest hurt and have the power to overwhelm it; To use the worst in this life for your benefit?
There are plenty of people who will help you, who will mourn with you, who will try to help you as they can, but there is no one who has both the power and the depth of knowledge to know what you need when you need it, even when you don't know that yourself, and to make it happen!