Praise the LORD! He Favors Us
Psalms 147
January 8, 2023
Well it’s been a few weeks
Since we’ve gathered together for a study of the Psalms,
But you can certainly see now that we are in the home stretch
Of a study that began back in June of 2018.
So it’s nearly a 5 year study that we are wrapping up.
And the final 5 Psalms end the way the book should end.
They are called the “HALLELUJAH PSALMS”
Each of these final 5 start and end the same way,
With the phrase “Praise the LORD!” or in the Hebrew, “Hallelujah!”
And TONIGHT we are going to talk about
What is one of the MOST PECULIAR REALITIES in all of eternity.
And it is that the God of the universe would care at all about us.
It is that famous reality mentioned by David in a couple of Psalms:
Psalms 8:3-4 “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?”
Psalms 144:3-4 “O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.”
It blew David’s mind, as it should blow our minds,
That the God of the universe who governs the stars
Would care at all about the insignificant lives of mortal man
Whose days are so transient and short.
It is mind-boggling that God would care for us.
As we talked about when we looked at Psalms 144:
• When is the last time you ever concerned yourself with a squabble between ants?
• When is the last time you ever wondered about the worries of a worm?
• When is the last time you ever took the request of a house fly?
It is stupid that you in your complex life of important decisions
Would belittle yourself to such an extent
As to even give the time of day to an ant or a worm or a fly.
And I promise you are closer to them in nature than God is to us.
It is mind-boggling that God would favor us.
I LOVE
Psalms 113:5-6 “Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?”
He has to humble Himself just to behold things in heaven,
How much more to behold things on earth?
AND YET HE DOES.
Jesus pointed out:
Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”
God cares even about the insignificant.
Now all of that is true in A PROVIDENTIAL SENSE
And we haven’t even discussed yet those truths in A SALVIFIC SENSE.
• That God, in His sovereign authority, would choose to save and adopt and grant
an inheritance to us!
• That God, would make us His sons and daughters and give us a future and a
hope!
To ponder any of this certainly results in a HALLELUJAH!
WELL, THAT IS THE FOCUS OF PSALMS 147.
That the infinite sovereign God of the universe
Would even give us the time of day, let us alone show us favor.
BUT HE DOES.
We’re going to break this Psalm into 3 points.
• They are easily recognizable when you read the Psalm for it naturally breaks
into 3 parts.
• Each part beginning with a call to praise.
What is also interesting in this Psalm is that
Each segment also does a magnificent comparison.
Each segment also describes God’s role in creation.
The Psalmist does this to make sure understand
Just how awesome and important God is.
And then the Psalmist will talk about God then humbles Himself
To do the exact same things in our lives.
And these are the reasons the Psalmist calls us to “Praise the LORD!”
So we’re going to discuss 3 roles that God fulfills for creation,
See how He also fulfills those for us,
And then praise Him accordingly.
#1 THE SUPREME ARCHITECT
Psalms 147:1-6
First we have to recognize the beginning of the stanza
And that it BEGINS WITH A CALL TO PRAISE.
(1) “Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.”
• The call to praise is obvious.
• The call to sing is clear.
We also notice that praise is given 3 adjectives to describe it.
“it is GOOD to sing praise to our God”
“good” there is TAWB
It is the word God used of creation before the fall.
We know it as a word that not only speaks of PERFECTION
But also a word of COMPLETION.
Creation was good indicating that it needed nothing.
It was completely finished and exactly as God intended.
You can throw praise in that category.
• It is intended, it is the chief goal and desire, it is flawless and perfect.
• Nothing more needs to be added.
God desires praise from His people and it is good when we do it.
We also see that “it is PLEASANT” to sing praises to God.
“pleasant” is the word NAW-EEM
It is also translated as “sweet”
Psalms 16:6 “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.”
It is fulfillment, it is satisfaction, it is to be totally pleased with something.
Picture it as though
We all appear before God and we bring Him gifts, like at Christmas.
And one approaches God and says, “I brought You praise”
God’s response would be NAW-EEM – “Sweet!”
It is “good” and it is “pleasant”
It is the goal and it is what is desired.
We also see that “praise is BECOMING”
“becoming” translates NAW-VEH
Which is also translated as “fitting” or “lovely”
Solomon’s Shunamite in the Song of Solomon is so often referred to as NAW-VEH or “lovely”
And this is the word used of our praise.
• It is a beautiful thing when God’s people stop to praise Him.
• It is a good thing, it is a desired thing, and it is a beautiful thing when God’s
people sing God’s praises.
THAT’S HOW THE PSALM STARTS.
But we move quickly into WHY it is such a “good” and “pleasant” and “becoming” thing to “Praise the LORD”
(2-3) “The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.”
Even without any context or comparison this is a remarkable fact.
• That God “builds”
• That God “gathers”
• That God “heals”
• That God “binds up”
Those are remarkable truths.
When we think of God as BUILDER,
Such verses come to mind as:
Matthew 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
Or we think of:
1 Corinthians 3:9 “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
We think of the church and we see here
Not what man has built, but what God has built.
• It is NOT US who add to the church, it is Jesus who does it.
• It is NOT US who renovate the church, it is Jesus who does it.
• We work and we strive and we labor, but God is the One who does it.
The very existence of the people of God is a testimony to God as Builder.
Everyone that is part of the church is there because God has done it.
AND EVEN MORE REMARKABLE THAN THAT
Is THE MATERIAL God used to build His church.
He didn’t select the biggest and bravest and smartest and best.
“He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.”
• When God looks for citizens of His kingdom, He looks in the gutter.
• When God fields an army of soldiers He starts in the infirmary.
• When God adopts people into His family He selects the broken.
We think of that parable of the wedding banquet and the King commanding:
Matthew 22:9 “‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’”
It is the Lord’s prerogative to seek out the “least of these” as His own.
Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;”
AND THIS IS WHO GOD IS.
I’m reminded of the foolish shepherds of Israel.
Ezekiel 34:1-6 “Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? “You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. “Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. “They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. “My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.”’”
And in response to their failure God later says:
Ezekiel 34:11-16 “For thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. “As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. “I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. “I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. “I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord GOD. “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment.”
God cares for the least.
God chooses and saves the broken.
He is a Redeemer.
And so we learn that
He is building “Jerusalem”
He is building His church
And He is building out of the weak and outcast and broken and afflicted.
AND THAT IS REMARKABLE.
But it is not unprecedented
That someone build with less than desired building materials.
• There is many a builder who uses cheap materials or cheap tools to build a project.
What makes God’s choice to build His church with the least of these so praise worthy is that God doesn’t have to.
And this is where the Psalmist begins to appeal to
Exactly who God is in respect to creation.
(4-5) “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”
Here we see God as “The Supreme Architect”
• God is not just some builder of an average doghouse.
• God is the designer and builder of the entire galaxy of stars!
• God “counts the number of the stars”
• God “gives names to all of them”
Isaiah 40:26 “Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.”
He is the designer of all creation.
No wonder the Psalmist goes on to say “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”
• Who can build something like the galaxy?
• Who can design something like the heavens?
• Who can draw plans and create something like this universe?
How powerful and how smart do you have to be
To make the Grand Canyon or Victoria Falls or the sun?
When we talk about God as “The Supreme Architect” we mean it.
There’s no one even close.
And the remarkable thing is that
• This Supreme Architect is the One who is building Jerusalem.
• He is the One who is building the church.
• And He’s doing it with the broken and outcast.
(6) “The LORD supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground.”
He’s building incredible furniture out of particle board.
And this is why the Psalmist wants you to praise the LORD.
• Imagine if Michelangelo volunteered to paint your house.
• Of if the greens keepers from August National volunteered to maintain your lawn.
You’d be grateful.
You’d sing their praises.
You’d be ecstatic.
WELL
• The One who built the oceans is the One who is building Jerusalem.
• The One who constructed the rain forest is the One who is building the church,
• The One who made the mountains is the One designing His holy city.
And He is doing it with you!
He’s doing it with a bunch of broken, afflicted, wounded outcasts.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
• Why should He care about using us to build His church?
• Why should He be willing to include us in what He builds?
There is no reason, but we certainly see that He deserves praise for it.
And so we praise God for building the church.
• We praise God for building it out of broken outcasts like you and me.
• We praise Him for building a kingdom that cannot be shaken and allowing me to be a part of it.
PRAISE THE LORD!
He is the Supreme Architect and He is building the church.
#2 THE SOLE PROVIDER
Psalms 147:7-11
In verse 7 we come across our second stanza
Which is also introduced with a call to praise.
(7) “Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises to our God on the lyre,”
• Still we see the call to sing.
• Still we see the call to praise.
• This time with the notable addition of the words “with thanksgiving”
Here we uncover the MOTIVE of praise in this stanza.
Certainly God’s nature is enough to deserve our praise.
But always added to that should be our thanksgiving
Because this awesome God does for us
What He does not have to do.
Again, to see this, the Psalmist appeals to God’s role in creation.
And in creation God holds the role of “THE SOLE PROVIDER”
(8-9) “Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who provides rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains. He gives to the beast its food, And to the young ravens which cry.”
We think of that remarkable 104th Psalm which outlines
God’s magnificent and thorough provision for the earth.
Psalms 104:14-23 “He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the earth, And wine which makes man’s heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which sustains man’s heart. The trees of the LORD drink their fill, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted, Where the birds build their nests, And the stork, whose home is the fir trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for the shephanim. He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting. You appoint darkness and it becomes night, In which all the beasts of the forest prowl about. The young lions roar after their prey And seek their food from God. When the sun rises they withdraw And lie down in their dens. Man goes forth to his work And to his labor until evening.”
God is certainly the Provider.
And He provides for everything.
• Who feeds the wild goats?
• Who does the lion look to for food?
• Where does the grass look for water?
It all comes from God.
He is the provider for all things.
And incidentally He is the only one.
(10) “He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man.”
That is to say God doesn’t need any help.
Acts 17:25 “nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;”
God even asked Job:
Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,”
And again:
Job 38:12 “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place,”
And again:
Job 38:16-18 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea Or walked in the recesses of the deep? “Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? “Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.”
And again:
Job 38:22-23 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, Which I have reserved for the time of distress, For the day of war and battle?”
And again:
Job 38:31-33 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion? “Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites? “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth?”
And again:
Job 38:34-35 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of water will cover you? “Can you send forth lightnings that they may go And say to you, ‘Here we are’?”
And again:
Job 38:39-40 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, When they crouch in their dens And lie in wait in their lair?”
You get the point.
God does all those things and He doesn’t need any help.
HE IS THE SOLE PROVIDER.
And we stop and think of all that God has on His plate.
• At my house we have 2 cats and 8 chickens to feed.
• And there are days when my kids don’t even want to do that.
• Some of you have quite a few more animals than that and you think of all the labor that goes in to just feeding your cows.
• And there are days of extreme cold when feeding livestock can literally be an all-day affair.
It is a heavy burden.
God’s burden is to care for all of creation.
But then we find something remarkable:
(11) “The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.”
He doesn’t just care for us, He delights in it!
• He “favors those who fear Him”
• He favors “those who wait for His lovingkindness”
Those who fear and trust in God
Are those whom God delights to provide for.
Isaiah 40:31 “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
Psalms 33:18-22 “Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name. Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in You.”
God, despite His responsibility as the sole provider of all creation,
Has chosen to delight in providing especially for
Those who fear Him and for those who trust Him.
And we read:
Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Or we read:
Psalms 37:23-26 “The steps of a man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand. I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread. All day long he is gracious and lends, And his descendants are a blessing.”
It does not seem right with all that God has on His plate
That He should concern Himself with us, BUT HE DOES.
And the call of the Psalmist is that we should thank Him for it!
We praise God with thanksgiving
Because even though He carries the burden of caring for all things,
He has sovereignly chosen to care for us.
• What if I told you that some billionaire like Donald Trump had volunteered to take over your bills and debts?
Would you be grateful to have such a capable provider?
Well Donald Trump has nothing on God.
God is the sole provider.
And yet God has promised to provide for you.
• God has told you not to worry about what you will eat or wear or drink.
• God has told you to cast your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
• God has promised to work all things out for your good.
IS THAT NOT PRAISEWORTHY?
We praise Him!
We thank Him!
He is the Supreme Architect yet He builds the church.
He is the Sole Provider yet He favors His own.
#3 THE SOVEREIGN DIRECTOR
Psalms 147:12-20
Again the segment distinguishes itself as beginning with a call for praise.
(12) “Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!”
Again it is a call for praise and yet again it is unique.
This call distinguishes itself by reminding you that
We praise God because He is OUR GOD.
I’ve always loved Psalms 95
Psalms 95:1-7 “O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.”
God deserves worship simply as God.
But He deserves even more worship as our God.
And just look at some of the things He does for us as our God.
(13-14) “For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your sons within you. He makes peace in your borders; He satisfies you with the finest of the wheat.”
• You see protection.
• You see blessing of progeny
• You see peace
• You see satisfaction
He is God to us and a great one at that.
But have you considered what else God has under His charge beside just being God to you?
The Psalmist would have you focus upon
God as “The Sovereign Director” of all things.
Look again at God’s role in creation.
(15-18) “He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly. He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes. He casts forth His ice as fragments; Who can stand before His cold? He sends forth His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow.”
The obvious point is that God is sovereignly controlling all things.
• He must decide when snow should fall.
• He must decide when snow should melt.
• It is under His control to send the cold or to send the wind.
• It is by His decision that water should flow.
GOD DIRECTS ALL THINGS.
And we can certainly see that He is flawless in His command.
• He never makes a mistake.
• His direction of the course of this world and of human history is flawless.
• His wisdom is beyond comprehension and He never does the wrong thing.
• Oh, it is true, that we might not understand why He does what He does, but that’s only because His thoughts are infinitely higher than ours.
• He never has to retract.
• He never has to ask for a mulligan.
• He never has to fix a mistake.
God directs all things flawlessly with precision and perfection.
HE IS THE SOVEREIGN DIRECTOR OF ALL THINGS.
And yet, as if this were not a big enough responsibility,
Look at what He does for us.
(19-20) “He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His ordinances, they have not known them. Praise the LORD!”
We call it special revelation.
That God has seen fit to give His word and His direction to men.
• What if you wanted to pitch a baseball and Nolan Ryan agreed to give you advice?
• What if you wanted to invest in the stock market and Warren Buffet wanted to guide your investments?
• You’d be thrilled that someone so successful would take time out of their day to instruct you in your life.
Well church, the sovereign director of all time
Has freely spoken to you regarding how to live your life.
“He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.”
Paul said:
Romans 9:4-5 “who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
• What a blessing that God spoke to them!
• That God gave them more than their own conscience to guide them.
• God actually told them the way in which to walk.
And certainly He has done the same for His church.
Ephesians 1:7-10 “In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.”
• He told us the mystery!
• He gave us the revelation!
And notice what the Psalmist says:
(20) “He has not done thus with any nation; And as for His ordinances, they have not known them.”
Do you suppose that all men have the special revelation of God?
No, they don’t.
It is pure grace that God has chosen to allow you to HEAR His word.
And even more than that it is pure grace
That God has chosen to allow you to UNDERSTAND it.
1 Corinthians 2:14-16 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”
Look at what God has done for you!
And the simple response is this:
“PRAISE THE LORD!”
• Praise Him that even though He is the SUPREME ARCHITECT He has decided to build the church.
• Praise Him that even though He is the SOLE PROVIDER He has decided to favor you.
• Praise Him that even though He is the SOVEREIGN DIRECTOR He has seen fit to instruct your life.
Why would such a big and important God
Be so willing to do so much for such insignificant people as us?
I HAVE NO IDEA,
But I do know what such an expression of favor deserves.
It deserves praise and thanksgiving and submission.
Praise Him!
