Preparing for worship with Psalm 145

Psalm 145:1-21 (TNIV) -

I will exalt you, my God the King;

I will praise your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will praise you

and extol your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

his greatness no one can fathom.

One generation commends your works to another;

they tell of your mighty acts.

They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—

and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

They tell of the power of your awesome works—

and I will proclaim your great deeds.

They celebrate your abundant goodness

and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

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.

All your works praise you, Lord;

your faithful people extol you.

They tell of the glory of your kingdom

and speak of your might,

so that all people may know of your mighty acts

and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises

and faithful in all he does.

The Lord upholds all who fall

and lifts up all who are bowed down.

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.

The Lord is righteous in all his ways

and faithful in all he does.

The Lord is near to all who call on him,

to all who call on him in truth.

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.

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.

Let every creature praise his holy name

for ever and ever.

My thoughts -

One thing I love about this Psalm is the section beginning with verse 4 telling about how each generation tells about God's wonders to the next. Our faith has been handed down by word of mouth for literally thousands of years. I owe my faith in large part to the previous generation sharing theirs with me. Without some of the youth counsellors, Sunday school teachers, and parents of friends, not to mention my own family, I wonder if I would be in the church today. Without previous generations telling mine all about the wonders of God and modelling what the life of a believer should be for me I wonder who I would be. I would certainly not be who I am.

This is what we do when we worship. We have a story to tell. We tell the story of God. We tell of God's wonders. We tell how we have been redeemed. We tell how God is moving in our lives. We tell what God has done, is doing, and will do for all of us spanning the generations. We tell this story so that we affirm what we believe and so we give glory to God for who God is and what God does. We connect with the body of believers spanning the generations across space and time and worship that which is greater, that which is eternal, and that which we know that we need.

So what does the Psalmist here have to say about God? First, God is good. Let's look at verses 7-9 again:

They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. 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.

Do we aspire to be good like God? Do we aspire to be righteous, to be gracious, to be compassionate, to be slow to anger and to be rich in love? It is good to affirm these things about God and to give praise for them but we also want to be more godly.

What else does the Psalmist have to say about God? God is powerful. Let's look at verses 10-12 again:

All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you. They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

We don't like to think about God's power as much as God's goodness, I think. I know I don't, at least. God created all things. God governs the universe. God's power is beyond our comprehension. We often like to think of God as our friend or our helper but God is the Creator and Sustainer of life itself and beyond our ability to comprehend. I like C S Lewis's description of Aslan. He's not a tame lion. But he is good. We don't dictate who God is or what God does. It goes the other way.

What else does the Psalmist say? God is eternal. Look at verse 13 again:

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.

God is not a new thing, not the latest and greatest fad. God is not something our generation just discovered nor is God something that will pass away when we do. God is eternal. That is something that is difficult for us mortals to fathom. Ten years here is a pretty long time. 100 years is more than a lifetime. It is not really a very tangible amount of time for most of us. And yet in eternity these are less than an blink. Before any of us were, God is. After heaven and earth pass away, God is.

God is not ours to keep or to control. We are God's. We can not grasp the vastness of eternity. Our vision is obscured by time and mortality. God's power and God's goodness are beyond our ability to comprehend. When we worship we stand in awe before that which we need so desperately and is so much greater than us and we submit ourselves to God and offer up our lives as a living sacrifice.

Now what does the Psalmist say God does in response? Let's look at the last seven verses:

The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. 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. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 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. My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.

I look forward to joining with the body of believers this morning, past, present, and future, and singing God's praises, telling God's story, and asking God to save me. I know that I am not who I need to be. I need God's grace at all times. It is good to know that God provides it.

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