Psalm 113

Opening Frame: Praise the LORD.

You have heard the adage that “your attitude determines your altitude.” This is true in many spheres of life.

Purpose: The purpose of the sermon is to inspire the congregation to offer Yahweh the only response that befits his greatness and his goodness—praise!

Outline:

It is true in sport.

1. The name of the LORD deserves to be praised (vv. 1–3).

It is true in business.

It is also somewhat true in our relationship with the Lord. In particular, how we respond to God when the going get tough not only says a lot about our faith, it also determines the trajectory of our faith.

2. The LORD deserves praise because of his greatness (vv. 4–6).

3. The LORD deserves praise because of his goodness (vv. 7–9).

One thing God’s people in the OT did in the good times and in the tough times was that they composed and sang psalms. Some psalms were desperate cries for help, while others were faith-building reminders of God’s nature and works. This morning we are going to explore one of these faith-building psalms of praise.

READ PSALM 113

Did you notice that the psalm has the same opening and closing? It opens and closes with, “Praise the LORD!” This functions as a frame around it. Inside the frame we have three strophes—strophes are poetry’s paragraphs. The three strophes teach us three great truths. We will unpack them in a moment. Before we do, a little background about the psalm…

is part of a group of psalms known as the Egyptian hallel psalms, namely, 113–118. They are called hallel psalms because they either open or close with the Hebrew hallelujah, “praise the Lord.” When the temple was standing, God’s people use to sing them as they approached the temple for feasts and special services. These six psalms were also sung as part of the Passover meal. In fact, Jesus and the disciples sang them on the night he was arrested.

functions as a kind of heading or title for the psalm. Explain Egyptian hallel psalms? I need to discuss the “Praise the LORD” frame.

Egyptian hallel psalms? I need to discuss the “Praise the LORD” frame.

Transition. If Jesus was singing this psalm on the eve of his crucifixion, perhaps we can learn something from it. Let’s see what the three strophes teach us.

Strophe 1: The name of Yahweh deserves to be praised.

Psalm 113:1–3 NIV

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.

The focus of the strophe is on the name of Yahweh, and more specifically on the fact that his name deserves to be praised.

We have three lines of poetry. Each of the three mentions the name of Yahweh and tells us something about how his name is to be praised.

1.1. The name of Yahweh is to be praised by his servants (v. 1).

Psalm 113:1 NIV

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord.

Psalm

The verse calls upon the Lord’s servants to praise his name. It is most unusual for servants to praise their master. Servants are often resentful of their master, but with God it is different. In the Bible, being a servant of God is always voluntary servitude. His servants serve him by choice because they have realised that he is God and he is good, worthy of their worship.

Praise the LORD, you his servants. Praise the name of the LORD.

Praise the name of the LORD.

The task of a servant is to ensure that Yahweh’s name is known and honoured, recognised and revered. No matter how gifted a servant is, their task is never to make a name for themselves, but always to protect and promote the name of their lord.

1.2. The name of Yahweh is to be praised both now and forevermore (v. 2).

Psalm 113:2 NIV

Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.

The name of Yahweh deserves to be praised both now and forevermore. This is biblical language for saying that he is continually and perpetually deserving of our praise. There is no time or situation that undermines his worthiness.

Israel was the tail, not the head.

We do well to remember that post-exilic Israel was neither powerful nor prosperous. But Yahweh’s worthiness to be praised did not depend on his people’s circumstance. He was worthy of praise when they were flourishing, and he was worthy of praise when they were floundering.

“for better or for worse”

We praise

The same is true today. Jesus’s worthiness to be praised does not change with our changing circumstances. He is worthy! (QUOTE REVELATION?) He is worthy when your marriage is blessed, your heath is great, and your business is growing. BUT … he is still worthy when your wife is dying, when your strength is failing, and when your business goes closes.

1.3. The name of Yahweh is to be praised from the east to the west (v. 3).

Psalm 113:3 NIV

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.

Where does the sun rise? In the east! Where does it set? In the west. Verse 3 claims that the name of Yahweh deserves to be praised from the furthest point east to the furthest point west, and everywhere in-between.

If you are technically minded, this is a figure of speech called merism. In merism, one names two extreme points on a continuum to represent both extremes and everthing in-between.

“the heavens and the earth”: everything that exists

“the alpha and the omega”: Jesus is the first letter and the last letter … and he is everything in-between.

By the same token, the psalmist is saying that everywhere the sun shines, the name of Yahweh deserves to be praised.

Transition. Now we need to ask why the name of Yahweh deserves to be praised. Biblical praise psalms always tell you why. They start with a call to praise the Lord, but then they give you some good reasons to praise him. Our God does not call for irrational faith or for mindless worship. He calls us to worship him because of who he is and what he does. Biblical faith and worship are the most rational thing in the world—if the God of the Bible exists. Our psalm has two strophes about why the name of the Lord deserves to be praised.

Strophe 2: The LORD deserves praise because of his greatness.

Psalm 113:4–6 NIV

The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?

For the most part, poetry works by paining pictures with words. For the poetry to achieve its desired effect, we have have see the scene and feel the emotion. Nowhere is this more true than in .

You need to picture the earth. In your mind’s eye, can you see planet earth? Now you need to picture God as a Giant towering over the earth. He is so immense that he is high over all the nations. In your mind’s eye, you see the earth growing smaller and smaller in contrast to the immense Giant towering over it, until the earth is about the size of a marble on the ground at his feet. Now imagine that the picture zooms out so that not only the earth but the entire cosmos is a marble at his feet. He squints to see the heavens and the earth, but but he has to bend down (or stoop down) to see it.

PLAY THE VIDEO ...

PLAY THE VIDEO.

After the video, wrap up the point by reciting strophes 1-2 again for the dramatic effect—Yahweh deserves praise because he is incomparably great.

Transition. Strophe 1 told us that the name of the Lord deserves to be praised. Strophe 2 tells us that his name deserves to be praised because of his greatness. Strophe 3 gives us a second reason why his name is to be praised, a reason that is incredibly surprising in the light of his immensity and greatness.

Strophe 3: The LORD deserves praise because of his goodness.

Psalm 113:7–9 NIV

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people. He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord.

The Lord does not only stoop down to look on the cosmos, the heavens and the earth. He stoops all the way down to enter the lives of the microscopic organisms who live on one of the specs of dust in the Milky Way—the spec of does is the earth and the microscopic organisms who live there are called human beings.

Transition. But this immense and awesome God not only looks on the specs called humanity as a whole. He goes much further. He enters into the lives of individual specs, feeling compassion for their needs and caring for them. The psalmist gives us two examples:

3.1. The Lord cares for the homeless (vv. 7–8).

Psalm 113:7–8 NIV

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people.

The poor are living in “the dust,” suggesting that they are homeless and hopeless. The word translated “ash heap” in Hebrew is, quite amusingly, ashpot. The best Hebrew lexicon defines it as “heaps of garbage and manure.” The picture is of someone so dirt poor that they are living at and off a garbage dump. The immeasurable Creator, who sits on a throne billions of light years above the cosmos, sees and cares. He stoops down into their world and, with his immense and mighty hand, gently lifts them out of the dirt and filth. He wipes away their shame, washes them white as snow, and lovingly grants them seats of honour amongst his people.

The symbol applies to Israel as a people

The symbol applies to believers in Christ

The symbol applies to believers in Christ

3.2. The Lord cares for the barren (v. 9).

3.2. The Lord cares for the barren (v. 9).

Psalm 113:9 NIV

He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord.

The second portrait of God stooping down to help the needy involves “the childless woman.” In our culture, childlessness is sometimes a choice, a preferred lifestyle. Even if it is not a choice, couples who want to have children but cannot would often be viewed with deep compassion and empathy (e.g. Carlos and Paula). We know that the cause is likely a biological or medical limitation beyond their control, so we have sympathy.

In Bible times, as indeed in many cultures still today, it was very different. [e.g. My taxi driver who married a second wife because his first could not give him sons.] We know, medically, that if a couple cannot have children, the wife or the husband, may be infertile. They believed the woman was always and solely to blame. They thought she was being punished by God. Barrenness was a divine curse, a symbol of God’s displeasure.

The deep shame society cast upon a childless woman was almost unbearable for her. She was a disgrace even in her own home. But God sees her invisible suffering. He comes to her aid and blesses her with children. He grants her children, thus restoring her honour and her hope and transforming her into a happy (understand honoured) mother of children.

(Even today, friend, how often do you hear about a couple trying for years to have children, perhaps even being told by doctors that it is impossible because of one of their genetic defects, and then suddenly God turns it all around? Raise your hand if this is your story.)

Both stories are about Yahweh removing people’s shame and restoring their honour!

The man living on the garbage dump has no hope and no honour. The woman without children has no hope and no honour. The awesome and almighty God sees them and cares about them. He stoops down, enters their little worlds, and restores their honour.

Jesus still does this today.

Jesus still does this today. [examples?] We can see that this is what Jesus did when he was on earth and it is what he continues to do through the Spirit and the gospel.

Closing Frame: Praise the LORD.

The psalmist closes with the same exhortation that opened the psalm: “Praise the LORD.”

The name of the Lord deserves to be praised.

The Lord deserves praise because of his greatness.

The Lord deserves praise because of his goodness.

Since he deserves to be praise, we are now going to praise him.