Psalm 145

A Song of Praise. Of David.

1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.

This is the final psalm attributed to David and it is a fitting exclamation of praise for the end of Book 5. The final five psalms are songs of doxology and may be seen in some sense as separate from Book 5, just as the previous four books of psalms all had doxologies at their conclusion. This is an acrostic psalm, meaning that David went through the Hebrew alphabet and wrote a verse starting with each letter in succession. The first two letters, aleph and beth, (from which we get the word alphabet) are the first letters of the first words in verses 1 and 2. Verse 1 is strictly synonymous parallelism while verse 2 is synonymous parallelism in a chiastic form: “Every day (a), I will bless you (b), and praise your name (b) forever and ever (a).”  The “forever and ever” at the end of each verse correspond to one another. The object of David’s worship is “my God-King”. The frequency of his worship is daily and the duration of his worship is without end. Following this declaration, David will begin to do an inventory of God’s attributes and actions that make him worthy of such wholehearted devotion. For now, this is a reminder that we are to live a life of worship. As consistently as we eat, work and sleep, we should also be acknowledging the reality and greatness of God. Worship should be one of the rhythms of the day, like that cup of coffee in the morning, something that we eagerly anticipate and can’t get by without. There are plenty of moments throughout the day when instead of picking up a phone and scrolling through content that I’ll soon forget, I should instead be taking stock of God’s incomparable greatness and goodness in my life. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons David wrote this psalm in acrostic form. He didn’t want to leave anything out, using every letter of the Hebrew alphabet to attempt to communicate the totality of God’s greatness. Use the gift of language today to exalt the God-King as preeminent in your heart and lifestyle. 

3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

The first word David uses to describe YHWH is “great”, and he’ll repeat it essentially two more times in the same verse. YHWH is great, He deserved to be praised a lot (greatly), and the extent of his greatness is beyond searching out and knowing. Like the depths of the sea or the breadth of the universe, all of the things of God are utterly beyond our ability to comprehend. And yet we must try. We must attempt to articulate what we do know of his greatness, and in fact we will do that, generation to generation. We’ll tell our children and they will grow up to know and worship him, and then they will tell their children. This is the way that it is meant to be. One generation will commend, promote, and share God’s works with the next. That generation will tell stories of God’s mighty acts in the Bible, in history, and in their lives. This is what the generations that follow need to hear. There is much conversation these days on the distinctiveness of generations: Baby Boomers, Gen X, Y and Z (and now alpha), probably in a way that didn’t exist until the most recent of times when the amount of societal change has accelerated. While these generations all have different experiences that have shaped them, our imperative is to declare to each of them the mighty works of God. None of them are exempt, so we must find ways to tell of the greatness of God to each of them, using the media that each of them consume. Talk to someone outside of your generation today and tell them about the mighty deeds of God. 

5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.

In verse 5 there are essentially two words in Hebrew and both are used here (hadar, cabod, howdeka). These are words that fail in their attempt to communicate the extent of God’s glory, but words are all we’ve got. Cabod brings with it the sense of heaviness and weight, the overwhelmingness of God, the crushing reality of his presence. Hadar and howdeka add the aspect of splendor, brightness, and majesty. These qualities of God are particularly visible throughout creation: the heavens, the sky, the sea, the mountains, all of this immense beauty giving even the most ardent skeptic pause and for at least a brief moment, the feeling of one’s smallness in the presence of greatness. The generational sharing described in verse 4 begins with David’s individual meditation in verse 5. He  pledges to meditate (see-ach) on God’s extraordinary works, and out of this will flow his worship. This is similar to the opening of Psalm 103 where David summons his soul to worship before inviting others to join him, saying “Bless the LORD O my soul.” The word see-ach is usually reserved for meditating on the Word of God (it’s used throughout Psalm 119), but here David is meditating on the works of God. These would include creation of course, but also His hand in history and in David’s life in particular. To meditate is to reflect, to muse, to consider and think about in a deep way, to turn something over and over in your mind, often speaking your thoughts out loud or writing them down for clarity. It is an internal conversation that only you and God are privy to. Yes, He is listening in and speaking to our hearts. Having meditated individually, David turns his thoughts to the community of faith, the generations that are declaring the truth of God to one another. This is the “they” of verse 6, 10 and 11. David is not unique or alone in his awe of God. Generations of other humans have experienced the same reality. Sometimes we feel the believers are few and far between. Like Elijah, we’re tempted to think that we alone believe in God while the rest of society has moved past. But we’d be wrong. We stand in a long line of people who’ve chosen faith over unbelief, vision over sight. Speak and declare God’s mighty deeds and greatness without hesitation. 

7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

8 The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Verse 7 is literally, “the memory of your abundant goodness they will pour forth”. The word “pour forth” is used for a spring that bubbles up water continually. The parallel verb is “sing aloud”, a word that suggests a “ringing cry” (lest anyone who can’t sing might get the impression they are off the hook when it comes to public worship). Generations young and old continually bubble up words testifying to God’s never ending supply of goodness. They have memories of these acts of God in their lives and they never tire of telling the stories. When it comes to public worship, they are unashamed to cry out the truth, “God is just, righteous, and true.” Asserting God’s righteousness is unpopular in polite company, but declare it we must. We declare his righteousness law, moral and religious truth in the context of God’s grace, compassion, patience and steadfast love (hesed). In short, our message is grace and truth. If either one of those is missing, it’s not the gospel. While verse 7 focuses on the goodness and righteousness of God expressed in his actions (memories), verse 8 focuses on his essential character. In the ancient world the gods weren’t necessarily known for their grace, compassion, patience and faithful love. They tended to be vengeful, narcissistic, and temperamental. YHWH is the opposite of this, so it begs the question. Is there really a god such as YHWH, or is this merely wishful thinking on the part of an ancient poet? That was an open question until Jesus came along and answered it for us. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

9 The LORD is good to all and his mercy is over all that he has made.

10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you!

The Hebrew word order emphasizes the character of God (his goodness and compassion) by placing them at the beginning of each phrase, literally “Good is YHWH to all, and his compassions are over all he has made.” God’s goodness extends beyond humanity to include all that he has made, that is all of creation. God’s goodness is seen in nature, its beauty and wonder. All of the works of YHWH praise him, even if they do not have words or a voice (Psalm 19:1-6). Those who have the capacity to communicate with words are enjoined to bless YHWH as well, using all that they have -- words, music, art, actions. These are the “saints”, literally, “the faithful ones”, the word being rooted in hesed, the faithful love of God. We are faithful and devoted because He is faithful and devoted. We are made to be like him, and in Christ we are able to embody this through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we resist the idea of seeing ourselves as “saints”, as if we have to be super spiritual or have performed some amazing act of faith to be included in that category. The text merely says “faithful ones” so maybe we need to drop the “saint” label because of the associations and focus on the action inherent in the word “faithful one.” Faithful love for God is expressed in blessing him, declaring his goodness, compassion, and righteousness without hesitation.  

11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,

12 to make known to the children of man your [Hebrew his; also next line] mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

A literal translation of these verses is, “The glory of your kingdom they shall speak and of your power (mighty acts) talk | To make known to the sons of adam his power (mighty acts) and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.” This pair of verses is framed by “the glorious kingdom” recalling the opening verse of the psalm addressing YHWH as king. The kingdom is the way that YHWH works out his rule among men. The words describing this kingdom are “glorious” (cabod) and “splendor” (hadar), recalling verse 5. The Hebrew word for “men” here is adam, not the more common ish, but the word that reminds us of Genesis 1-3. Adam, who represents all of mankind, and we who are his sons and daughters, are the ones who receive this truth about God, his mighty deeds and his glorious kingdom. In verse 11, the psalmist is speaking to God, “your glory” and “your power” while in verse 12, he speaks about God, “his mighty deeds” and the glorious splendor of his kingdom”. This voice switching has been true throughout the psalm and suggests both intimacy (speaking to God) and reverence (speaking about God). The actor in these verses continues to be “one generation to another”. They are the ones telling these truths about God. Testifying to the reality of God seems to be a major preoccupation of the believer. One cannot believe in God and keep silent about his reality when this fact is central to all things. God’s kingdom is expressed today most visibly in the church, so we need to be champions of the church so that she can best display His glory. But God’s kingdom is also expressed through his working within the affairs of men, perhaps not so obviously, but He is at work ruling the nations. Recall Psalm 2 where God is enthroned, mocking the futile attempts of men to overthrow his kingdom. God is at work in history. Point this out and you are displaying his glorious kingdom. 

13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

[The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.] [These two lines are supplied by one Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint, Syriac (compare Dead Sea Scroll)]

The additional verse (13b) makes a lot of sense because this is an acrostic, meaning each verse starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Without this verse the psalm would be missing a verse that starts with the letter “n”, nun. Perhaps the original verse was lost and this one was supplied later to complete the acrostic. In any case, the truth contained in the verse is consistent with the rest of scripture and it serves to transition from the language about God’s kingdom to a description of God’s faithfulness to all. YHWH’s kingdom is glorious and splendid, and verse 13 makes the point that it is also everlasting, God’s rule enduring from generation to generation. Just as the stories of God’s works are passed on generationally, so the reality of his reign is experienced by succeeding generations. The dominion of God is a fundamental theme of the Psalms, stated clearly in Psalm 2 -- YHWH is enthroned in heaven and He scoffs at the futile attempts of mankind to usurp his authority. YHWH has established his king in Zion, and his name is Jesus. Whether elected, inherited, or seized, those who wield earthly power are still acting under God’s authority. Nothing happens without his knowledge or permission. This gives us tremendous comfort when the authorities seem to be coming for believers, at least it should. It energized the early church to pray and witness boldly, knowing that God’s everlasting kingdom had been established and they were citizens of that kingdom. Civilizations will continue to rise and fall, but the church will remain through it all until the end of time. The church is the visible expression of God’s reign on the earth, and she will not fall. “YHWH is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.” The church must stay faithful to those words and kind in how she interacts with the world. The themes of grace and truth are woven throughout this psalm, the truth of his word and the grace of his works. May we be both people of the Book and people of kindness. 

14 The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.

This is such good news from an all-powerful king. The everlasting king of the everlasting kingdom upholds all who are falling. That metaphor is strikingly personal. We all fall in different ways, both literally and figuratively. Physical ailments and accidents bring us down, and they can bring us to the end of life in old age. Sin and moral failure can bring us down every day, and if it is grave enough, it can change the trajectory of our lives. But YHWH upholds all who are falling. We do not fall without his hand there to catch and hold us. It reminds me of the description of Jesus, relayed to us by Matthew using the words of Isaiah, “a bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering flame he will not snuff out.” He will support the weak stem until it is healed, and he will breathe oxygen into the embers giving them fuel and bringing them to life again. YHWH raises up all who are bowed down, those who have fallen under the weight of it all - sin, disease, death. Just as we fall into his hands, he also lifts us back up with those same hands. We know this is true because He raised Jesus from the dead. If that is true, everything else that God says is true. And even when we face the most humbling of all things, death itself, we have the promise of resurrection. If God can raise the dead, there is nothing that he cannot do. So lift up your eyes. You are held in his hand, and it’s only a matter of time until He raises you up to everlasting life. 

15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.

16 You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

One aspect of the “upholding” and “raising up” mentioned in verse 14 is highlighted in these verses, and that is the way that YHWH takes care of the daily needs of his creation. The “eyes of all” and “every living thing” are pretty all-encompassing terms that signify the totality of the biological realm of creation. Animals all have eyes (of some kind), and “every living thing” would include the domain of plants. God has set up creation in such a way that it is self-sustaining. Plants have what they need (nutrients, water, sunlight, and a method of pollination) and animals have what they need (plants and other sources of nutrients, water, sunlight, habitat). This is all understood as part of the genius of God in designing an interdependent biosphere. Thus far we have found nothing like it in our solar system or galaxy, and cosmologists describe our world as a  “goldilocks” situation, all the conditions are just right for life to flourish. Either we got incredibly lucky or as distinguished cosmologist Fred Hoyle said, it seems as if "a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics". Jesus taught us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread” to remind us that we are utterly and ultimately dependent on God for our very existence. We take the daily abundance of food for granted in much of the modern world, but it has not always been so. The struggle to survive, to stave off hunger and starvation, has been the real story of human history, in spite of our more recent experience with abundance. Still it is fascinating to see that as the human population has exceeded 8 billion people, the number of hungry people as a percentage of that population has steadily decreased. God has designed a world with the capacity to satisfy the physical needs of every living thing. Sin gets in the way of that, but that’s a man made problem, not a God made one. Give thanks today and every day for every bite of food you take. It is a gift from God and should be received as such.

17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. (verse 17 is similar to 13b, of uncertain origin)

18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

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

“Righteous” is the LORD and “near” is the LORD. This is the word order in Hebrew of verses 17 and 18, following the acrostic pattern, accenting these primary aspects of God’s character and deeds while using the tzade and quoph characters. The use of all the letters of the alphabet successively reinforces the “all” in verses 17 and 18 -- “all his ways”, “all his works”, “all who call on him” and “all who call on him in truth.” There is a kind of completeness about God and when we are in Him, we find that completeness as well. His justice and his mercy, which would seem to be in tension, are equal in their totality. When we call on him in truth (or faithfulness), He is near. This suggests that our calling on him needs to be rooted in the truth revealed in scripture and in reality. If we call on him for things that He cannot or will not do because his character and wisdom will not allow it, we shouldn’t expect to experience his nearness (or the answer we want from our prayer). The New Testament says that we are “in Christ”, both a position and a posture of seeing reality and living consistently with it. Verse 19 begins with the word “desire”, the same word found in verse 16 for the “desires of every living thing”. YHWH completes those desires. He satisfies them in a way that nothing else can. He hears the cries of those who call on him faithfully and in truth, in accordance with his will and character. He also saves them. Sometimes this is quite literal -- bodies are healed, relationships are restored, and material blessings come. Sometimes it is spiritual -- bodies return to dust and souls return to God and we learn to live with joy in this broken world in spite of the pain and poverty. In any case, God meets our deepest needs in the midst of it all. This is true of those who “fear” him, that is, to worship and respect him as ultimate. 

20 The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Following the acrostic pattern, the first word of verse 20 is shamar “keep”, “Keeps YHWH all who love him.” The final word of the verse sounds similar, shamad “destroy”. Just one Hebrew letter separates the two and it’s a narrow one in sound and orthography, the difference between a resh and a daleth. The two verbs could not be more opposite and yet YHWH is responsible for both of them. Your experience of God depends on your posture toward him: love or disobedience. The wicked are destroyed by God, and it is not because He is mean and wants to destroy them. Rather they destroy themselves by living contrary to their design. We were designed for relationship with God, and those who spurn that God will face natural consequences. So much of what destroys people could be termed “self-destruction.” This is often the way that God’s wrath is revealed: humans receiving the due consequences for their wickedness, the natural result of using something outside of its purpose and design. In contrast to the destruction of the wicked, David vows to speak the praise of YHWH and invite all flesh to bless his holy name through the end of time and beyond. Similar to the first verse, the last verse returns to the image of David offering limitless personal verbal praise.This is the appropriate response of all that God has made as we respond back to him: we speak his praise and bless his holy name. It should never get old, this going to church every week, this getting up in the morning to listen for his voice, mealtime and bedtime prayers, moments throughout the day where we acknowledge his presence and goodness. Our days should be wrapped in His praise and if we ever need any help remembering why He is worthy, this psalm is there to help.