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Weds 27 January - Psalm 149

Psalm 149

1 Praise the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.

2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
    let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
    and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;
    he crowns the humble with victory.
5 Let his faithful people rejoice in this honour
    and sing for joy on their beds.

6 May the praise of God be in their mouths
    and a double-edged sword in their hands,
7 to inflict vengeance on the nations
    and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters,
    their nobles with shackles of iron,
9 to carry out the sentence written against them—
    this is the glory of all his faithful people.

Praise the Lord.

- - -

Meditation on Psalm 149

As we draw to the end of this cycle of Psalms, it seems that Psalm 149 picks up on the encouragement of Psalm 148, as well as many other Psalms of praise.

Come back to verses 7-13 of Psalm 148 and see how the whole of creation is encouraged to praise the LORD.

*Great sea creatures; *all ocean depths; * lightning and hail; * snow and clouds; *stormy winds; mountains and all hills; * fruit trees and all cedars; * wild animals and all cattle; * small creatures and flying birds; * kings of the earth and all nations; * princes and rulers; * young men and women; * old men and children.

As Psalm 150:6 says – ‘Let EVERYTHING that has breath praise the LORD.’

Verses 1-6

Why should we ‘praise the LORD?’

  1. He is our Maker
  2. He is our King
  3. We are His ‘faithful people’

The word often used for ‘faithful people’ is ‘saints’ or ‘holy ones’.

In the OT the word ‘saint’ comes from two Hebrew words – Qados (belonging to God) and ‘Hasid’ (loved by God and being devoted to Him).

These two words come together in the NT – ‘hegios’ is the equivalent Greek word.

Does that mean that only certain ‘saints’ / ‘holy ones’ / ‘faithful people’ can praise Him?

NO – all God’s people are ‘saints’ / ‘holy ones’ / ‘faithful people’.

All of us can and should praise the LORD.

We are called to ‘sing a new song’ – the song of the redeemed now and we look forward to more new songs when we get to heaven.

We celebrate and why not?

  • He takes DELIGHT in His people.  The Psalmist often encourages us to ‘delight in the LORD’ but here we are told that He delights in us. He is glorified when we praise Him, when we take time to be with Him and when we serve Him in our homes, in our communities and in the church.
  • He crowns the humble with victory. This is not some false humility but a genuine recognition that we have no-one else to turn to in our need.

Therefore, we rejoice wherever we are.

We praise God and we have His Word as our authority and weapon.
This ‘double-edged sword’ is part of the armoury of the people of God.
Hebrews 4:12 reminds us that ‘the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing sold and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’

Ephesians 6:17 reminds us to ‘take the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God’.

Verses 7-9a

Why should we need such a weapon?

The answer is that we, the people of God, are in a battlefield situation.

God is going to call to account …

  • the nations
  • the peoples
  • the kings
  • the nobles

This is to bring His judgment on all those who have turned their backs on God; those who have persecuted the people of God.

When Jesus opened the scroll and read from Isaiah’s prophecy – Luke 4:18-19 - He stopped at ‘the year of the Lord’s favour’ – these are the days we are now living in.

But go back to Isaiah 61:2  ‘to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour AND the vengeance of our God…’ This day of vengeance is yet to come when Jesus returns to bring in a new kingdom where righteousness will dwell.
And the people of God will be on the victory side.

PRAISE THE LORD.

(Roger Purdom)

Daily Readings

Thursday 28 January - Psalm 150

Friday 29 January - Psalm 1

Saturday 30 January - Psalm 2

Sunday 31 January - break

Monday 1 February - break

Tuesday 2 February - break

 

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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