Grace Words

A Daily Bible Reader's Blog

Presented by Mike Tune and Amazing Grace International, Inc.

Category: Psalm 145

Wednesday, July 9. Psalms 146 – 148

Psalm 145 speaks to the comprehensive nature of God. God is good to all, faithful to all His promises, loving, near and watchful over all He has made. He upholds all who fall, and lifts up all who are bowed down.

Psalm 146 continues this description noting that the Lord even watches over the alien, one who is not a part of Israel.

It is true, in both Testaments, that God has a particular affinity for those who constitute His people. The promises of God belong to them. But that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care for anyone else. He cares for all His creation. If He does so, can we do any less?

It is precisely because God shows this care for His creation that the reader is urged to praise the Lord. In fact, beginning with Psalm 146, the rest of the chapters all end with the same phrase: “Praise the Lord.”

Friday, May 25. Psalms 145 – 147

Like many of the Psalms, psalm 145 is an acrostic (where each line of the psalm begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet).  In its Hebrew form, the acrostic is incomplete, lacking an “N” line, though the line is present in one of the Qumran scrolls and in the Greek translation.

This is a praise psalm.  The writer begins (vss.  1-9) and ends (vs.  21) with his own commitment to worship God.  In between (vss.  10-20), he calls on all creation to worship the Lord.

God is worthy of praise.

I remember asking my university students once whether, if God had never done anything specifically for them, He would be worthy of praise.  The answer was overwhelmingly “no.”  But that answer was the wrong one.  The Psalmist proclaims that God is worthy of praise simply because of His greatness and majesty.  His works – nevermind his grace, compassion and goodness (though those too are mentioned) – are mighty, wonderful and awesome.

God is worthy of everyone’s praise.

I’m struck by the word “all” in this psalm.  God is good and compassionate, faithful and loving to all He has made.  Once more we are reminded that while God reserves the highest of His regard for those who are His people, he has special and important regard for everyone.  And if God has demonstrated feelings of love and compassion for everyone, we should too.  While we may not all be His people, we are certainly all His creatures.

Friday, May 25. Psalms 145 – 147

Like many of the Psalms, psalm 145 is an acrostic (where each line of the psalm begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet).  In its Hebrew form, the acrostic is incomplete, lacking an “N” line, though the line is present in one of the Qumran scrolls and in the Greek translation.

This is a praise psalm.  The writer begins (vss.  1-9) and ends (vs.  21) with his own commitment to worship God.  In between (vss.  10-20), he calls on all creation to worship the Lord.

God is worthy of praise.

I remember asking my university students once whether, if God had never done anything specifically for them, He would be worthy of praise.  The answer was overwhelmingly “no.”  But that answer was the wrong one.  The Psalmist proclaims that God is worthy of praise simply because of His greatness and majesty.  His works – nevermind his grace, compassion and goodness (though those too are mentioned) – are mighty, wonderful and awesome.

God is worthy of everyone’s praise.

I’m struck by the word “all” in this psalm.  God is good and compassionate, faithful and loving to all He has made.  Once more we are reminded that while God reserves the highest of His regard for those who are His people, he has special and important regard for everyone.  And if God has demonstrated feelings of love and compassion for everyone, we should too.  While we may not all be His people, we are certainly all His creatures.