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Weds 13 January - Psalm 135

Psalm 135

Praise the Lord.

Praise the name of the Lord;
    praise him, you servants of the Lord,
you who minister in the house of the Lord,
    in the courts of the house of our God.

Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
    sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.
For the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own,
    Israel to be his treasured possession.

I know that the Lord is great,
    that our Lord is greater than all gods.
The Lord does whatever pleases him,
    in the heavens and on the earth,
    in the seas and all their depths.
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
    he sends lightning with the rain
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
    the firstborn of people and animals.
He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt,
    against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He struck down many nations
    and killed mighty kings—
11 Sihon king of the Amorites,
    Og king of Bashan,
    and all the kings of Canaan—
12 and he gave their land as an inheritance,
    an inheritance to his people Israel.

13 Your name, Lord, endures forever,
    your renown, Lord, through all generations.
14 For the Lord will vindicate his people
    and have compassion on his servants.

15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
    made by human hands.
16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
    eyes, but cannot see.
17 They have ears, but cannot hear,
    nor is there breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them will be like them,
    and so will all who trust in them.

19 All you Israelites, praise the Lord;
    house of Aaron, praise the Lord;
20 house of Levi, praise the Lord;
    you who fear him, praise the Lord.
21 Praise be to the Lord from Zion,
    to him who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord.

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Meditation on Psalm 135

Here is another of the salvation-history Psalms calling Israel to praise the LORD.
We, too, have a salvation-history story to tell for which we praise the LORD.

Verses 1-2  We are ALL involved in praising the LORD.

 

  • ‘…you servants of the LORD.’  For us, today, we are ALL servants of the LORD.  
  • ‘you who minister in the house of the LORD…’ In those days, this would have meant the priests and Levites but for us, praising the LORD is not just for church leaders to engage with – it’s for ALL.
  • ‘in the courts of the house of our God.’  Remember only the High Priest could go into the very presence of God but now, through the blood of Jesus, we ALL the right of way into the very presence of God.

 

Verses 3-14  The reasons why we should praise the LORD.

1 ‘the LORD is GOOD’  Ex 33:18-19 Moses asked God to show him His glory. How did God respond – “I will make all my GOODNESS pass before you…”

Genesis 50:20 reminds us that Joseph, having made himself known to his brothers, challenges them to think about God – “you intended to harm me but God intended it for GOOD…”

Acts 10:38 remind us that Jesus showed the goodness of God in every aspect of His ministry – ‘He went about DOING GOOD, healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with Him.’

2 ‘the LORD is GREAT’  Deuteronomy 10:17  ‘the LORD your God is God of gods and LORD of lords, the GREAT GOD, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

Psalm 86:10  ‘you are GREAT and do marvellous deeds; you alone are God.’

3 ‘the LORD is SOVEREIGN’  ‘The LORD does whatever pleases Him’  This was a lesson that Nebuchadnezzar had to learn – Daniel 4:35  ‘He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No-one can hold back His hand or say to Him, “What have you done?”’

4 ‘the LORD is the REDEEMER’  The Psalmist reminds us of the great rescue act of His people when He brought them out of Egypt into the promised land. 

5 ‘the LORD is ETERNAL’  Read these verses: Isaiah 40:28; Psalm 90:2; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 1:8 and be encouraged that our God is eternal and unchanging and unchangeable.

6 ‘the LORD is COMPASSIONATE.’  On the ‘Compassion’ website, they have this opening sentence: ‘The origin of the word helps us to grasp the true breadth and significance of compassion. In Latin, compatimeans ‘suffer with.’ Compassion means someone else’s heartbreak becomes your heartbreak. Another’s suffering becomes your suffering.‘

The Bible points us to a compassionate God and a compassionate Saviour.

For example – Isaiah 54:10  Though the mountains be shaken   and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken  nor my covenant of peace be removed,”   says the Lord, WHO HAS COMPASSSION ON YOU.’

Luke 7:12-15  ‘when Jesus landed and saw a parge crowd, He HAD COMPASSION on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.’

Verses 15-18  God is the ONE and ONLY TRUE GOD. There is a powerlessness to all other gods and also to those who put their trust in them. What a contrast with our God. He is not made; He IS: He speaks; He sees; He hears. And we who know Him belong to Him and one day we will see Him. 

Verses 19-21  There’s not much  left to say, except, PRAISE THE LORD.

(Roger Purdom)

Daily Readings

Thursday 14 January - Psalm 36

Friday 15 January - Psalm 137

Saturday 16 January - Psalm 138

Sunday 17 January - Psalm 139

Monday 18 January - Psalm 140

Tuesday 19 January- Psalm 141

 

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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