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Psalm 147

1 Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! 2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. 5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. 6 The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. 7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. 8 He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.

9 He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. 10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; 11 the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. 12 Extol the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion. 13 He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. 14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. 15 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? 18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws.

Praise the Lord.

How good it is to sing praises to our God

In the very beginning of this Psalm (verse 1), we see how pleasant and fitting it is to sing praises to our God. In a world where we often believe that “misery loves company” and that complaining brings satisfaction, how refreshing is this truth?

Praising God is good! How good is it that the psalmist writes and I can say in return how good it is! Because when life happens and your kids are screaming and your spouse is in the restroom and you cannot breathe for the stress that is pressing down on you at all side, how good is it that we can praise God and how fitting to take our eyes off of the trouble we face and like David fix our hearts on worshiping God instead (Psalm 42:9-11).

His power is amazing

In verses 8, 9, 13-18 of this Psalm, we see the continued theme of God’s might and greatness revealed in nature. In storms, in snow, in wind, in rain, in providing for the plants and animals, and in building up His people.

When we look at creation, how can we not agree with the psalmist in saying that “our God is mighty and His understanding no one can fathom“?

When’s the last time you looked at a thunderstorm and thought “Wow, my God is powerful.” He controls the wind and the rains (Job 28:25-27) and is gracious to give His good gift of rain to us Psalm 147:8 (This is something many of us take for granted in our modern age, but something we still desperately need for survival. Without rain to water our crops we would have no food.) Not because of something we did, but because of who He is. For this alone, He is worthy of our praise.

The Lord delights in those who fear Him

In verses 10 and 11, we read that: It’s not the strong that impress God, it’s not the rich or even the pious, no, the person that God delights in is the one who fears Him, those who fall not into the shackles of a dead religion but into the arms of “His unfailing love”.

Even in the Old Testament, God’s desire was for His people to have a relationship with Him, and out of that obedience will follow—not the other way around. We can see this here as well as verses like Hosea (Hosea 6:6 AMP).

God’s gift to Israel

And at the end of this psalm in verses 19 and 20 we read how God revealed His law to Israel alone.

Our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and what a blessing He is to them. He gave them first the way to know Him, He delivered them out of exile and into the promised land when they rebelled (Promise and beginning of exile found in Jeremiah 29:10-14 and the fulfillment found in Ezra 1:1-4). God was the one with stubborn love that gathered those who remained faithful back to the land He had promised.

Yes, God has done many of these things for us as well. He showed us the way to have a relationship with Him, He delivered us from the exile of our separation from Him and slavery to sin and the demonic powers (Romans 6:6), and when we were yet sinners, in rebellion against Him (Romans 5:7-9), He called us unto Himself.

But He did it first for them 🙂 and that only goes to show the length of love He has for those who would call on His Name.

Michael Lundy, in his Desiring God article, reminds us of how God’s love lifts up our heavy heart:

“Remembering and recounting God’s wondrous works is one antidote to such an attitude. Asaph, that marvelous counselor for the discouraged, speaks from his own discouragement. He worries, “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased?” (Psalm 77:7–8). But then he determines to reflect on the past goodness of the Lord: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds” (Psalm 77:11–12). This is a very intentional act on the part of Asaph: he wills himself to remember, and thus does so. And, immediately, the tone of this psalm changes to a hopeful one (Psalm 77:13–20). We can and should do likewise, and expect to recover hope in a similar fashion.”

What a majestic and praiseworthy God He is!

Our Praiseworthy God

Although we are not Israel, we are God’s people and we can still see His wonderful power at work in nature and be reminded that He is strong enough to take care of us.

Let’s praise Him for who He is as we look around at the world He has created and realize His goodness to us! 🙂


For more from Tom, check out his book Logic Sanctity Deity

Is it rational to believe in God? Do we even need a God? If so, who is that God and where does Jesus fit into the picture?

It’s no use in denying that we as people are broken and that’s a problem we can’t fix on our own. However, a man named Jesus said He was God, claimed he came here to make things right again between us and Him; thus, mending what was broken inside us.

 

 

Tom Wilcox

Tom has been a follower of Christ since 2012 and has developed a hunger to learn more and teach others about Jesus, Christianity, and The Bible. With that, he has finished his Bachelor's Degree in Ministry and Church Business Administration, one Masters of Ministry specializing in Biblical Counseling, and another specialising in Religious Education. Tom lives in the Philippines and is married to Pia; they are blessed with two wonderful kids Naomi & Hezekiah

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