Praise Be To God / Alabado Sea Dios
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Introduction
Introduction
Why should God be praised?
This is a fundamental question. It is as a fundamental as - “What is man?” or “What is the purpose of man”.
The answer to this question gives purpose to our lives.
Religion is not as Karl Marx declared:
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people".
“La religión es el alivio de la criatura oprimida, el sentimiento de un mundo sin corazón y el espíritu de un estado de cosas desalmado. Es el opio del pueblo.
is a powerful psalm that reminds us of two reasons why God should be praised:
God’s creation
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Humanity
I. The God that is worthy to be praised
I. The God that is worthy to be praised
I. El Dios que es digno de alabanza
I. El Dios que es digno de alabanza
We know this psalm is intended to lead men to worship God.
Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
Notice how it begins and ends: “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
Not only is God “the Lord” - he is our Lord.
God is Lord over all creation whether people believe in him or not. God is Lord over all creation even though people may not believe in him or rebel against his most holy will.
God is the sovereign ruler of the entire universe.
How wonderful it is to consider God “the Lord” but also “our Lord”.
When we call God our Lord we truly acknowledge his rule over our lives.
When we call God our Lord we submit to his will and surrender our lives entirely to him.
There are three things that describe the God that is to be praised:
His glory is manifested upon earth.
H
His glory is manifested in the heavens.
II. Reason to praise God - God’s creation
II. Reason to praise God - God’s creation
II. Razón para adorar a Dios - La creación de Dios
II. Razón para adorar a Dios - La creación de Dios
God, the only God, is worthy to be praised because he has manifested his glory upon earth and above the heavens.
The God that is to be praised is not silent. He has manifested his most glorious splendor in his creation.
There must be an explanation to everything that exists. Here are a few facts about God’s marvelous creation:
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has at least 100 billions stars.
Light travels at 186,000 miles per second whereas most airplanes fly at 500 miles per hour.
The sun is about 93 millions miles from earth. It would take us 21 years to reach the sun. Light from the sun only takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach earth.
How about the following breath taking photos?
We see God’s wonderful handiwork in the heavens and upon earth.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
Psalm 8:
Cuando veo tus cielos, obra de tus dedos,
la luna y las estrellas que tú has establecido,
Notice how God created: with his fingers. It is almost as if the Bible wants us to realize how small, how insignificant, how tiny creation is in comparison to its all powerful creator.
God has also ordained the moon and the stars.
We depend upon the moon for:
Tides
Light of night
6-8 hour days
Stability of earth’s axis
We depend upon the stars for:
Light, heat, energy (sun)
Direction
Notice how throughout history many civilizations have made such an effort to focus on the observation of the sun, moon, and stars.
Mayans, Aztecs, Egyptians, and many Asian peoples have recorded the movement of the heavenly bodies and observed their precision, their dependability, their ability to tell us about future events (drought, bad weather)
Unfortunately, many of these civilizations have worshipped these heavenly bodies instead of worshipping the creator.
Instead of worshipping the creator they worshipped the creation.
Moon gods:
Instead of worshipping him who sustains creation they worshipped the creation that depends upon God for its existence.
Then, in verse 7 and 8 the psalmist focuses on God’s hand in creating the animal kingdom:
All sheep and oxen,
And also the beasts of the field,
The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
ovejas y bueyes, todos ellos,
y también las bestias del campo,
las aves de los cielos y los peces del mar,
cuanto atraviesa las sendas de los mares.
One simply cannot look at the animal kingdom with all its immensity and diversity and think that there is not a creator behind its existence.
It is amazing to think that God created the entire animal kingdom in the span of a single day (day 4).
III. Reason to praise God - Humanity
III. Reason to praise God - Humanity
III. Razón para adorar a Dios - La humanidad
III. Razón para adorar a Dios - La humanidad
The psalmist gives us one more reason to praise the name of God. This second reason directs our attention to the creation of humanity.
The Bible declares that on the sixth day of creation God created man and woman in his image and likeness.
God set the creation of humanity apart from the rest of creation.
It is incorrect to think that we are simply evolved animals or that we are part of the animal kingdom. Where it so…we would have been created on the same day.
The fact that God created man on day 6 as opposed to day 4 tells us about the uniqueness of humanity’s creation.
Gods is worthy to be praised in the creation of children and infants.
From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength
Because of Your adversaries,
To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
Por boca de los infantes y de los niños de pecho has establecido tu fortaleza,
por causa de tus adversarios,
para hacer cesar al enemigo y al vengativo.
Notice how children must be taught to be atheists.
Children by nature believe in a higher power, a superior being. Children to not find it impossible to believe in the existence of a god.
Notice how dependent children are utterly dependent on those who care for them. This is contrasted to those how are enemies, foes, and avengers.
Children depend on their caregivers for food, shelter, and protection. They cannot care for themselves.
It is incredible to realize how many animals are able to fend for themselves, whereas humans must be cared for.
In light of man’s utter dependance upon the protection of others the psalmist declares:
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
digo: ¿Qué es el hombre para que de él te acuerdes,
y el hijo del hombre para que lo cuides?
Why would an all powerful God remember us?
Why would an all powerful God take the time to consider his human creation.
We have nothing to offer God. We are utterly dependent. Why would God stoop to intervene in the lives of fragile sinful human beings?
The reason why God has chosen to intervene in the lives of us mere mortals is - the plan of redemption.
Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
¡Sin embargo, lo has hecho un poco menor que los ángeles,
y lo coronas de gloria y majestad!
Tú le haces señorear sobre las obras de tus manos;
todo lo has puesto bajo sus pies:
We are not angels. The angels are powerful beings that can overpower entire armies.
We have been created lower than the angels and yet, God has crowned us with glory and majesty!
What is this crown? What does this mean?
It means that out of all the created order - humans are able to respond to God.
Dogs respond to treats.
Birds respond to sounds.
Humans are able to respond to God’s acts of creation in worship, praise, obedience, humility, and gratitude! No other thing in the created order has such a capacity.
What a beautiful reality that we can have such a relationship with the creator of the universe.
Although we are lesser beings than the angels God has chosen humanity for a special purpose:
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
Tú le haces señorear sobre las obras de tus manos;
todo lo has puesto bajo sus pies:
In one sense we can see the fulfillment of this verse. Man has been able to tame animals, the land, the sea, space, and many other things.
Many has used his God-given intelligence to discover medicine, surgery, agricultural methods, water purification, etc. And yet, man has not been able to fully eradicate pain, disease, death, and sin.
We continue to struggle in this life. Why should we continue to praise God if there is pain, disease, death and sin in this world? Why would we continue to gather here week after week to declare how wonderful God is if there’s continues to be suffering in the world?
The reality is that this verse was pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came as a human being.
He did not come as a super human.
He came as a fragile human being - utterly dependent on his parents during his first years of life.
He came to live a life of obedience to God. He came to fulfill God’s law. He came to suffer in our place for one purpose:
But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
Hebrews 2:9-
Pero vemos a aquel que fue hecho un poco inferior a los ángeles, es decir, a Jesús, coronado de gloria y honor a causa del padecimiento de la muerte, para que por la gracia de Dios probara la muerte por todos.
Porque convenía que aquel para quien son todas las cosas y por quien son todas las cosas, llevando muchos hijos a la gloria, hiciera perfecto por medio de los padecimientos al autor de la salvación de ellos.
Ultimately, we praise God not only because of creation, not only because of God creating humanity - ultimately we praise God for his son Jesus Christ who gave up his life to rescue ours.