Psalm 145

Psalms of Summer Series

Psalm 145

Psalm 145 NLT

A psalm of praise of David. 1 I will exalt you, my God and King, and praise your name forever and ever. 2 I will praise you every day; yes, I will praise you forever. 3 Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness. 4 Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. 5 I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles. 6 Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. 7 Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy about your righteousness. 8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation. 10 All of your works will thank you, Lord, and your faithful followers will praise you. 11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom; they will give examples of your power. 12 They will tell about your mighty deeds and about the majesty and glory of your reign. 13 For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You rule throughout all generations. The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does. 14 The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads. 15 The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it. 16 When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. 17 The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. 18 The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He grants the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. 20 The Lord protects all those who love him, but he destroys the wicked. 21 I will praise the Lord, and may everyone on earth bless his holy name forever and ever.

1. Introduction – Over the course of the summer, each week we are going to be studying characteristics of these psalms in general, and then we’ll study a particular psalm that falls within this category.

a. So this morning we’ll look at the characteristics of Praise Psalms in general, and then we’ll study what a prototypical Psalm of Praise – Psalm 145.

2. Praise Psalms – Generally speaking, there are 2 different types of Praise Psalms.

a. Scholars divide them this way. First there are psalms of declarative praise.

i. Theses psalms typically give praise to God for deliverance.

1. They describe a certain situation and praise God because of a particular act he performed on the psalmist’s behalf.

b. Secondly, there are psalms of descriptive praise. Unlike declarative praise psalms, there is no situation described. Deliverance is assumed. And unlike declarative praise psalms, descriptive praise psalms simply praise God because he is God.

i. These psalms lack the deep emotion of a Lament psalm, or the tension of a declarative praise psalm, but these psalms inspire readers to participate in the worship of God.

1. Psalm 145 is a psalm of descriptive praise – it simply praise God for who he is as God.

3. Similar Structure – Psalms of praise all follow a similar structure.

a. All praise psalms begin with a Call to praise.

i. They usually start in the singular – I will praise God…

1. But they move to the plural as the psalmist invites the community to join in.

ii. After a call to praise – praise psalms state the reason for praise.

1. Usually there is a statement “because God is...”

a. Praise God for his character, his nature, his attributes or his rescuing.

iii. And after spending time praising God, at the end…

1. The psalmist ends with a renewed call to praise.

a. The call to praise at the end balances the call at the beginning and forms a bracket around the entire psalm.

b. Everything that is contained with these brackets of praise, is bringing honour and glory to God.

4. Psalm 145’s Structure – And Psalm 145 follows this structure. In fact, it repeats this structure twice in its 21 verses.

a. But Psalm 145 actually has a fairly intricate structure. In the Hebrew text Psalm 145 is an acrostic poem. In the Hebrew text, each line starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

i. There are 8 such alphabetic acrostic poems in the Psalms and they aim at comprehensiveness. In his praise of God, David employs the use of the alphabet – the source of all words.

1. He couldn’t actually use all the words in the Hebrew language, but by using the alphabet as the source of his inspiration, he uses all potential words in the praise of God.

b. But a Hebrew alphabet acrostic poem doesn’t really help us who study the Bible in English. When translated it doesn’t make an English alphabet acrostic. So we have to see how Psalm 145 fits into the structure of other praise psalms. And as I said before, it does so twice.

i. Call to praise – vv.1-2,

1. Reasons for praise – God’s greatness, vv.3-6, God’s goodness, vv.7-9

a. Call to Praise…again – v.10

i. Reason for praise – God’s greatness, vv.11-13a, God’s goodness, vv.13b-20

1. Concluding Praise, v.21

c. When reading this psalm, there is no doubting the fact that it is a psalm of praise. Look at the accumulation of praise words…

i. Look at the synonyms used to praise God’s greatness…

1. Look at the words used to praise God’s goodness…

d. What David seeks to do, and accomplishes quite successfully, in this psalm is compose a multi-faceted, yet overlapping praise to God. David twice praises God for his greatness, for his might acts.

i. And David twice praises God for his goodness; for his daily provisions.

e. So instead of studying this psalm verse by verse starting in verse 1 and ending in verse 21, we are going to study Psalm 145 in terms of its main motifs.

i. We’ll study the calls to praise located in verses 1,2, 10 and 21

1. We’ll study God’s Greatness located in verses 3-6 and 11-13a

a. And we’ll study God’s Goodness located in verses 7-9 and 13b-20.

5. Calls to Praise – Instead of having the normal 2 calls to praise bracketing the entire psalm – Psalm 145 is interrupted by almost a spontaneous call to praise in the middle.

a. After reflecting on God’s greatness and goodness, David can’t help but break out into a spontaneous invitation to others to join him.

i. At first, the circle of praise is very small, contained to David himself. “I will extol you, my God and King.”

1. But look at what David says, “I will praise you…” Not, whenever I feel like, or just on the Sabbath Day when I’m in church. No, David writes, “I will bless you every day, and praise you forever and ever.”

a. Now is he being literal, or writing hyperbolically? I believe it is somewhere in between.

i. I don’t think David is being literal, but we can’t simply write this off as hyperbole either. David, is so captivated by God’s actions and dealings in his life that he meditates on them frequently.

1. He is so in awe of who God is that he recognizes that God deserves and is worthy of continual and unceasing praise and worship.

b. But not only from his mouth, but from all of creation. Verse 10 returns to a call to worship, but notice that this time the circle of praise expands.

i. Verses 1 and 2 started with David singularly praising God, but after spending time reflecting on God’s greatness and goodness, David writes in verse 10…

1. All your works give thanks, all creation, everything you have made, O God, praises you.

a. Like the great hymn Holy, Holy, Holy says, “All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea.”

i. David writes, “All your saints, all your people – all your faithful followers will praise you.”

c. David expands the circle of praise and invites all creatures, all people to praise God simply because he is God. All creatures of our God and King…

i. And in case there was any doubt as to what kind of psalm this is and what the purpose of this composition is – David once again returns to a call to praise at the end.

1. Because he has explored the twin themes of God’s greatness and goodness, David has resolved himself that he will praise God’s name, so that others will join in and praise God’s name with him.

a. And the repetition of the phrase “Forever and ever” brackets the whole Psalm – bracketing the praise of God’s greatness and goodness in the theme of everlasting and ongoing praise.

6. Reasons for Praise – But what’s the reason for David’s continual praise? Why will creation and God’s faithful followers praise and thank him?

a. David spells out 2 very specific reasons for his praise. First, he praises God for his greatness.

i. David twice refers to this theme in verses 3-6 and 11-13a.

ii. Why does God deserve unending praise?

1. Because his greatness is unsearchable, his deeds are awe-inspiring, and because his acts are mighty.

a. David writes about declaring God’s mighty acts, meditating on God’s mighty acts, and speaking about God’s acts, from one generation to another.

b. Now think about that phrase. Could David had possibly known that his generation would still be speaking ours today? Probably not. When he wrote these psalms, it wasn’t with the intention of them being collected and organized into a book called Psalms, and into a greater book called “The Bible.”

i. No, these writings were simply his outlet of praise. But, note that we are the fulfillment of these words.

1. Not even David could fathom the fact that his words would still be inspiring us to praise some 3000 years after he wrote them – but they still speak to us today.

a. And it is our responsibility to make sure that these words of praise, these words of God’s greatness get passed down to future generations.

c. And because we’ve witnessed and experienced the mightiest act of God, salvation through the blood of Jesus, we too should live our lives in continual praise.

i. Like David, we should meditate on God’s wondrous deeds. Whether we meditate and reflect on the mighty acts of deliverance we read in the Bible, or the deliverance and mighty acts that we’ve experienced personally, our lives should be lived in continual praise to God’s greatness.

d. And in verses 11-13, David returns to the theme of God’s greatness, this time focusing on God’s kingdom and God’s royal reign over all creation.

i. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this because I want to get to God’s goodness.

1. But listen to vv.11-13 again, do they remind you of anything? Another famous ‘kingdom saying’, perhaps? Our Father…your kingdom come, Thine is the kingdom…

e. This is something that is easy for us to forget. It’s easy to believe that the earthly leaders we see and hear about are in control. It’s easy to forget sometimes that God is indeed on his throne.

i. Because his kingdom is an unseen kingdom it’s easy for us to forget that it is an everlasting kingdom.

1. But maybe, just maybe, if we, like David, meditate and dwell on the mighty acts of God’s greatness, we too would realize on a continual basis that God reigns.

a. His dominion endures throughout all generations and his kingdom has been established on earth and is currently awaiting its final consummation.

7. God’s Goodness – But David praises God, not only for his greatness, for his mighty acts,

a. But he also praises God for his goodness – for his compassion, mercy, faithfulness and nearness.

i. God’s greatness causes people to fear and respect him, while his goodness causes people to love him.

1. Verses 7-9 describe characteristics of God. These words are taken from Exodus 34:6 where God describes himself to Moses. God is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

2. These are the attributes of God’s goodness and vv.13-20 share concrete actions that display God’s goodness.

a. He helps the fallen, lifts up those who are burdened, gives food to the needy

i. He satisfies the hungry and thirsty.

b. Think about it…doesn’t this remind you again of the Lord’s Prayer? This Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer remind us of the fact that the God who is the cosmic ruler of the universe is also our daily provider.

i. The God whose kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting, is also intimately involved in human activities. Give us this day our daily bread.

1. God is to be praised, not only because of his glorious splendor, his wondrous, awe-inspiring, majestic greatness, but God is to be praised for the ordinary, everyday acts that he performs on our behalf.

a. He is to be praised, not only because he is the ruler of all, not only because he is big and powerful,

i. But because he is near, because he hears us when we call, and because he rescues and protects us.

c. But notice that there are stipulations. There is a stipulation to having God near, having him hear us and rescue and protect us.

i. He is close to those... who call on him in truth, grants the desires of those… who fear him, and protects those… who love him.

1. Just in case we were tempted to think these actions were universal in nature, David reminds us that that isn’t the case.

a. There are serious ramifications for NOT – calling on God in truth, fearing him, or loving him.

d. The wicked, those who do not fear or love God, God will destroy. And that is well within the bounds of God’s character. God is righteous in all that he does.

i. And since we live on this side of the cross, we must recognize that the only way to come to God is through the cross of Christ.

1. We come to God by having the blood of Jesus cover our sins. We come to him, call on him in truth when to come to God through our one Mediator, Jesus.

e. Aren’t those amazing acts of goodness?

i. Helps the fallen, lifts the burdensome load, gives food, and he satisfies the hungry and thirsty.

1. There is nothing you can go through, no experience you can have where God can’t help you.

a. God is near to you, he hears you and will rescue you, if you call on him in truth, fear him and love him.

i. The greatness of God, the goodness of God really is unsearchable.

8. Conclusion – We’ve spent like half an hour exploring God’s greatness and goodness this morning. What a great God our God is. What a good God he is.

a. He is majestic, wonderful, mighty, and awe-inspiring.

i. But he is also compassionate, and merciful, full of unfailing love.

1. Is it any wonder that upon reflecting on the greatness and goodness of God that David twice returned to statements of praise?

a. Perhaps this is where Psalm 145 intersects with our lives today. Like David, let’s meditate on God’s greatness, specifically reflect and meditate on God’s sending of Jesus.

b. But also, reflect on God’s goodness

i. Meditate and reflect on all the little things he does for us that we sometimes take for granted.

c. If we do that, like David, I believe we will live lives of continual praise.

i. Exalting and blessing God’s name

1. Giving thanks to him for what he does for us

a. Praising his holy name, every day of our lives so that our generation will speak to future generations and future voices can join with ours in the everlasting praise of our great and good God.