What makes you Glad?

I could tell you about countless good luck stories where people are blessed with good fortune, or a win in the lottery. They are so happy and glad to have won a fortune, like a man from West Virginia, America, Jack Whittaker who won over one hundred million in the lottery. Did it last? No, the joy of winning subsided to misery and loss due to greed, this man lost family, friends, happiness, and ended up with no money at all. Where can true joy be found? The answer we know is to be found in God and not the world or its inhabitants. Psalm 145 lets us know that God is “The King” and this has implications for all people. We can be truly glad because God is king. The concept of God as king is a major theme in not just the psalms but the whole of scripture.

We see three things in this psalm:

1. God is king because of his greatness and goodness.

2. God’s kingship is based on his grace and power.

3. What is the result of God being the King?

To help with some context this psalm is an acrostic, that means in the Hebrew it makes each stanza start with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, but we don’t always see this in our English Bibles. The psalm’s title, a Song of Praise of David gives us the name we use for the entire book, and was likely written after the exile period, when the hope of David’s dynasty was considered lost. The people were like us, living with trouble and strife, lost dreams, and broken hearts. In this series on the psalms, we have looked at the Bad, Mad, and the Sad. Now, today we are looking at the Glad. We should be Glad because God is our king. The psalm starts and finishes with a call to praise or bless God and leads to the final psalms of 146 to 150 that raise up the praise of God to an ever-increasing crescendo of praise.

1stPoint

Why is God King would be a great question and as we go through this psalm, we will see that is because God is great and that he shows goodness due to his nature. In verse 1 we are encouraged to exalt God, that is to praise his name or bless him.

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever

And this is repeated in the next verse just phrased differently using similar words, where that praise in both verses is “forever and ever”. It starts off as praise from the psalmist but moves on to the next generation in verse 4, there is a flow of praise in this psalm from individual to community and ultimately to all creation praising God in verse 21. The praise of God is bigger than just the psalmist, so then all generations will praise him.

In verse 3, Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. This brings forth the unsearchable breadth and width of God, his greatness is unmeasurable. God is a great king who is worthy of paise. Verse 4 tells us that his works, for example him bringing his people out of Egypt (the Exodus event) are great - they express his might and power.

Verse 5 expands on this to say that these acts are based on the splendour of God’s majesty,:

They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.”

The correct response of the psalmist is to meditate and ponder the greatness of God. The works of God in verse 6, They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds, is a rephrasing of verse 5 that tells of God’s great deeds. Here we have a remembering of what God has done for his people.

The community in verse 7, “They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness”, now celebrate God’s goodness and righteousness. They celebrate the nature of God, that he is good, that he is righteous. This describes who God is and gives his people great confidence that they can sing of such goodness and righteousness. God in the past looked after his people and by his nature will continue to do so which leads the people no choice but to sing God’s song – it is a form of worship.

2ndPoint

The second point I wish to make is the basis for God’s Kingship – it is on the covenant relationship that he has made – it is tied in with God’s nature as demonstrated in the grace given at Exodus. In verses 8-9 we read this: “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.” This is a rephrasing of what God said in Exodus 34:6 about himself – it describes his nature and shows us that he is a God of grace. This phrase was repeated at various points in Israel’s history to remind the people of God that they are greatly loved. Exodus 34:6 often is rephrased in the context of the failures of God’s people, in calling them back to God as in 2 Chr 30:9; Neh 9:17, 31; and Joel 2:13, demonstrating that God’s goodness is not something earned, but genuine grace given to a sinful people. He truly wants none to perish.

In verse 9 we are told of God’s compassion on all -God does not show favour but is concerned for all his creation, with the next verse showing that out of that compassion all creation will praise him but more importantly the response of the saints is to praise God enthusiastically which is the meaning behind the word extol in verse 10, All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you.

Verse 11 and 12 show forth the power of God,

They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might,

so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

This gives us an idea of the power and might of God, his Kingdom just doesn’t happen, it comes about by his mighty acts. The kingdom of God is big – it is glorious and full of splendour. It shows forth the power of God in creation and his saving works in history along with his self-revelation to his people.

In verse 13 we read this, Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

The concept of this verse is very similar to that found in Daniel 4:3. For it states in Daniel,

How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders!

His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.

This verse from Daniel shows that God’s kingdom is great because of what he has done. Verse 13 of psalm 145 tells us that God’s kingdom is eternal and without end and will last for all generations.

The second half of verse 13, The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made, tells us something more of God – that is that he is faithful and in the Hebrew language it is expressed as God’s loyal love to us. God is intimately concerned with us. This is shown in the next verse, The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down, where God states that he will keep those that have fallen, he will lift them up. God will be with those who belong to him. We see this in the fact that they are bowed down, so God will support those that belong to him.

3rd Point

In verses 15-16 we read, the eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing, this gives us more of a picture of God as king – he is concerned with all creation here, what we call common grace. God graciously provides for all. But what does it mean to us that God is King? The next series of verse move to that perspective.

In verse 17, the Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. This lets us know more about God and his character, he is righteous in everything he does and shows his love to all. This is a love that is offered to all people, for the Jewish people it would have been hard to understand why God would love others besides his chosen. Yet, we know from Scripture that God doesn’t just choose the Israelite. Verse 18, The Lordis near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth, makes it clear that any who call on God can find him for as it says, “he is near”. By what basis do we come – truth we are told. The truth of the gospel of grace, defined in the law but fulfilled in Christ.

Verse 19 and 20 are as follows,

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

These verses just overflow with the love and devotion of God our king. We are told that he fulfills the desires of those who fear him. Who are those that fear God? – believers – the faithful Jews of the day and us now who belong to Christ. The fact that he hears their prayers is a clear sign that God is indeed a God of relationship. Since God is King, he hears and answers the prayers of his people. God is the God who saves his people. We are told that he watches over those he loves. This should give us great comfort. Life may not always go to plan but in the end, God will reign supreme as the king. At the end of verse 20 is both good and bad news – God will make all things right as the judge of all the earth but for the wicked this means judgment – destruction as opposed to vindication for us.

In verse 21 the psalm ends with the author again restating his desire to praise God, My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever. But there is even more – that all creation will praise God.

Ultimately this psalm shows us that God will triumph – all that it stated in Psalm 145 will come to pass but be culminated in all creation worshipping and blessing him forever as the King. Rev 5:6 tells us that Jesus is the king who fulfilled it all so that he can take the scroll and open it - he is worthy of all worship but glorifies God, and this was because he was willing to die, and accomplished the saving work of God.

Application.

We can trust in God’s faithfulness; we acknowledge God’s kingdom and its power in these verses. We respond by praising God, and by proclaiming his greatness. How we do all this is by our words and actions. Out of this we see that God’s people are prayerful people in relationship with him who is their king. We are encouraged by the words of this psalm that God hears his people and will answer them, that in the end all things will be made right, and where we are forever praising God. All creation will praise him, but we are called to start now and be part of the worship of our great king. We can be glad eternally for we are united in Christ, and even as we share in his suffering we will also share in his resurrection, Romans 6:5, If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. How we live for God is of great importance and our glad hearts are so because of our king and this has nothing to do with ourselves – it is all of God from start to finish.