God Should be Praised

God Should Be Praised

Psalm 135

This Psalm is bracketed by commands to praise the Lord.

Look at verses 1 & 21

Between those commands are all sorts of reasons why Israel should praise their God. There is application for the Christian as well. In this Psalm we will see that the God of Israel deserves the worship of all the world.  

Our outline will look like this:

1-4 God is to be praised

19-21- A Call to all to praise God

Between the first and last stanza we have the reasons God is to be praised:

5-7 He is the God of creation

8-14 He is the God of history

15-18- He is the God of gods.

1. God is to be praised (1-4).

The command is given to the servants of the Temple. These would be temple workers including priests.

“who stand in the house of the Lord”

“in the courts of the house of our God”

 In verse 3 they are told to praise Him because He is good.

“for it is pleasant” Is this referring to His Name or worship? Both are beautiful.

“for” (4) because He has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel as His own possession.

The sovereign grace of God over the nation of Israel ought to inspire praise in the priests.

The salvation of the people was not the result of the priests. It was the result of God’s grace.

A point of application: those who have the privilege of leading God’s people in spiritual matters ought to worship the Lord with great passion.

Every pastor is a worship leader. Nothing can take the place of worship. We cannot say:

I study

I preach

I visit

I lead

I serve

None of that matters if we do not worship. God is to be praised. Every person is obligated to worship the Lord. We will see that at the end of the psalm.  The leaders are singled out here because they are to model worship before the people. Three times they are told to praise God in verse 1.

“Praise the Name of the Lord” This refers to the character of the Lord. It implies that the leaders know the character of God.  Knowing God comes through the study of the Scripture. The more the leader knows about God the greater His worship may be and the more reasons he can give the congregation to worship the Lord.

2. He is the God of creation (5-7).

He is not limited to certain parts of creation like it was believed of some gods.

“the Lord is great” “our Lord is above all gods”

I love verse 6- Whatever the Lord pleases He does

In heaven

On the earth

In the seas

In the deep

The Egyptians worshipped a pantheon of gods who they believed each ruled over certain aspects of creation.

Ra- the sun god

Osiris- god of the underworld

Isis- agriculture

Etc., etc.

The Lord created the universe, and He rules over all of creation.

Not only is He Creator, but He is sustainer (7):

He makes the clouds rise

He makes the lightning

He brings the rain

He has control of the wind

Water is a powerful force. Whether it s in the rivers, the seas or falling from the sky. It can be refreshing or devastating. We know at times the Lord will bring:

Sheets of rain

Hurricanes on the oceans

Floods in the rivers

In his goodness He most of the time warns us when the storms are coming: thunder, lightning, clouds.

He has also given us eyes to see where the rivers are. Perhaps we should take this into consideration when building homes. Some get angry at God because of the destruction water causes. Perhaps they lose their home or even a life.

We know that God will bring storms and floods.

These storms and floods normally follow a pattern that is predictable.

We should not blame God when we choose to ignore  these predictable patterns.

Sadly, our infatuation with leisure sometimes clouds our judgment. Recently there has been a mass exodus of insurance providers in Florida because the risk outweighs the profit.

God sends sunshine and we love it.

God sends a cool wind and we love it.

God sends Spring weather and we love it.

God makes the leaves change colors and we love it.

God sends a beautiful blanket of snow and we love it.

Remember, he does as He pleases. Sometimes He brings storms. He is the God of creation and that ought to invoke our praise.

3. He is the God of history (8-14).

The events of the exodus (8-9)

He killed the firstborn of Egypt

He brought nine other plagues upon that nation “sent signs…”

One might wonder why God is to be praised when these events caused so much death. God’s judgment on Egypt brought salvation to Israel. It is a foolish though to believe the salvation of the righteous can happen without the destruction of the wicked.

If the wicked remain they will always attack the righteous. Salvation always includes judgment. The wicked are not allowed into heaven for this reason.   

The same Christ who says, “Enter in into the joy of the Lord” says “Depart from Me I never knew you.”

When we praise God for our salvation we are also praising Him for His judgment on the ungodly.

More enemies of Israel are mentioned:

v. 10 a general statement “struck down many nations and killed mighty kings”

v. 11 Specific names are mentioned:

Sihon, King of the Amorites and Og, King of Bashan (Num. 21:21-35)

The taking of Canaan (Josh. 1-21).

v. 12 The history of Israel included wars. God was faithful to conquer the land for Israel.

Israel was to look back at how the hand of God had been on the nation and praise Him for it.

Application: It is not by chance that you live in the nation you live in. We ought to praise God for His sovereign hand. We live in a land of prosperity. It is not because we are any better than any other people. God in His goodness put us here.

Those who do not live in a land of prosperity can rejoice as well. Just as God delivered Israel from a wicked king, He will deliver all His people. He is working all things together to a determined end. The meek will inherit the earth. Jesus Himself will take the scroll from the Ancient of Days and fulfill everything written on it (Rev. 5). He alone can execute God’s plan in redemptive history.  

v. 13 God will not be forgotten. His Name endures forever. There are those who say man will outgrow a need for religion. They believe mankind will evolve and God will be a thing of the past. They are wrong. Man will be forgotten. God will be remembered.

v. 14 This verse probably looks to a time when through the discipline of the Lord God’s people are brought beneath the rule of another nation. That happened many times in history. Even though this happens the Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion for them. He will restore them.

It is good to know that although God disciplines His people, He does not cast us away. Our story would not end well if it depended upon us. God knows the end from the beginning. He will be sure that all who belong to him will be with him.

This reminds us that we ought to praise God even when He disciples us. He disciplines us a Father. His intention is restoration and prosperity.  

4. He is the God of gods (15-18).

These verses describe idols.

They are of much earthly value- silver and gold

They are made by man- Man knows what man desires. This is why he makes idols of silver and gold.

They have mouths but cannot speak

They have eyes but do not see

They have ears but do not hear

There is no breath in their mouth (They don’t breathe)

They cannot give you instruction- they have no mouth

They cannot see your circumstances- no eyes

They cannot hear your prayers- no ears

They cannot resurrect you- they are not alive

v. 18  Both those who create and worship the gods become like the gods they worship. They are:

Spiritually dead

Spiritually cold

Spiritually hardened

Spiritually ignorant

Spiritually impotent 

If we were willing to do away with superstition in general we would all come to the same conclusion. If there is a Supreme being known as God, there can only be One. It is foolish to believe there is more than one God. To do so is to essentially believe there is no God at all. Polytheism is no different than atheism. The difference is the polytheist is certainly pretending.

The contrast is obvious. Idols are false gods, the Lord is the One True God. Because of this He deserves our praise.

5. A call to all (19-21).

We are back to where we started. There is a command to praise the Lord.

The house of Israel is to praise the Lord- the nation.

The house of Aaron- the High Priest

The house of Levi- the priesthood

You who fear the Lord- the people of God. Whether Jew or Gentile.

v. 21 “From Zion”

“He who dwells in Jerusalem”

This refers to the temple. God was worshipped by the nation in Jerusalem. It was there that the sacrifices took place. It would from there that the gospel was launched.

We know so much more of God than Israel did. Through Christ our eyes have been opened to the depth of God’s goodness. For that reason, we ought to praise God all the more.

We know much more about creation than they did.

We have seen much more history than they had seen.

We have a far greater understanding of the silliness of idols than they did.

Do we praise Him as we should? In light f the gospel, do we praise God as we should? Let us take the commands of Psalm 135 seriously and praise Him.