- September 30, 2020
To all the saints of Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, Oregon
Greetings to you in the matchless name of Jesus our Lord!
Last Sunday I spoke about four safeguards for your faith from Philippians 3:1-6. The first of which was that we are to Rejoice IN the Lord. This is more than rejoicing that we know the Lord or that we rejoice about the Lord. It calls for us to come before His throne and place ourselves at His feet and exult that we are in Him and He in us. It is to delight in our right relationship with Him, and what He has done to accomplish that through the cross. It is moving from our head knowledge and working it down into heart knowledge. I mentioned Sunday that when I’m having difficulty, like today, I often go to the Psalms and pray through Scripture. I did a little of that using Psalm 147 on Sunday. Today, it seems good to look at the whole Psalm that we might further inform our minds about our Great God. And then to work it down into our hearts through meditation and prayer.
There is good evidence to suggest that this Psalm was written after the return of the exiles from Babylon. After Nehemiah had finished rebuilding the walls and restoring the gates of Jerusalem, they held a great assembly to celebrate all that God had done. You might imagine how that might have been if you had finally been repatriated to your ancestral homeland, and now you see its capitol city once again safe and secure after 70 years of barrenness. We hear the joyful thoughts of building, hearing, binding, counting, and lifting up describing the great works of God. This Psalm has three movements: vs. 1-6 describes the people being restored; vs. 7-11 notes how the land had been refreshed; and vs. 12-20 declares the Word had been revealed—all to the glory of God. There is a lot of praising throughout as one might expect. And praise is key to getting our hearts right with God and taking our focus off ourselves.
Listen to Psalm 147:1-6
“1 Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. 5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. 6 The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. “
It is good to praise the LORD… and we are told why. God does stuff. If we will look we will see Him among the affairs of His people. The Lord builds up Jerusalem. One could object saying, “No, it was Nehemiah that did this.” But remember that Nehemiah prayed and God in essence commissioned him for this work. God granted favor so this could even happen. Also, the people didn’t have to go back to Jerusalem, after 70 years in captivity they could have said, “I think I will stay where I am. I don’t like change.” To which the Psalmist recognizes another work of God in gathering the exiles of Israel. You see it is God who has called out a people for Himself in the first place, and it is God who will draw people, gather people, and bring people together. And God does something else—God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He is the Great Healer of healers. Today it feels like many of the church are in exile due to Covid-19. We have been socially distanced practically out of our minds. Many are brokenhearted today and have wounds—but it is God who will gather, heal up, and bind up our wounds. We can’t get out of the predicament we find ourselves in by our own efforts. This takes God!
And God is big enough to do this. Never forget how great He is. The Psalmist says that God “determines the stars and calls them each by name.” He is great enough, wise enough, compassionate enough to do this. Naming the stars? Why would God care about the naming of stars? It doesn’t matter—the point is that God is great enough and personal enough to give names to the stars, and therefore we should consider how much more He is concerned about us who have been made in His image. Jesus says that His Father knows the number of hairs on our heads, (see Matt. 10:30). It is just another way to affirm the infinite knowledge of God—knowing and caring about all the little details of our lives. His understanding has no limit. Period! If you think that you are in a bind that you can’t get out of—God has a solution for that. Humble yourself before Him. Why? Because God casts the wicked to the ground. Praise the Lord for His mighty works in your life. The exiles of Nehemiah’s day did!
Now listen to the next section, vs. 7-11:
“7 Sing to the LORD with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. 8 He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. 9 He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. 10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; 11 the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”
The natural outflow of an informed heart is to praise the Lord. It says to “Sing to the Lord with grateful praise.” This is not duty praise, mechanical praise, joyless praise—but rather it is heartfelt grateful praise. So make some music and let God know about it. Why? Because God is not done with His people. Yes it is one thing to be gathered back into the land of your forefathers and have the City of David rebuilt. But now we have to live in the land. What are the people to eat day to day? When God brought the people into the promised land out of Egypt, He fed them manna. God sustained His people miraculously. People like to have stuff free and easy—but it is not the best. It is better to work with God. So, when the people of Israel entered the land the manna stopped and they were to eat of the fruit of the land from then on. Now if you are just returning, you have to re-engage in working the land for its bounty. And God helped this process.
God is about making everything work for His people. He is Lord of His environment. He covers the sky with clouds and brings the rain. This in turns grows the grass that also feeds the cattle. He even provides for the young ravens. God told Moses that if the people obeyed the Lord that their fields would yield their harvests and that the people would be blessed. So it is fitting to acknowledge that God supplies for His people. Jesus told us to pray “give us this day… our daily bread.” And I think the reason is so that we don’t take His provisions for granted thinking that we did it without God. An attitude of gratitude is vital in our relationship with God. Paul tells the Thessalonians to “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” 1 Thess. 5:18.
Then we are told something about God in verses 10 and 11 that once again illustrates the upside-down-ness of the kingdom of God. The world would take great delight in the strength of a horse and the legs of a warrior. In the world it is all about power! Might makes right and all of that. But in the kingdom of God, the thing that really counts is our fear of the Lord, in other words do we really revere our God? Do we literally believe and act as if the Lord God is our Lord, and that we are not our own but have been bought at a price? Furthermore, have we put our hope in His unfailing love? Why is this important? Because God delights in these things. In God’s kingdom, it is not about us; but all about God. And if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness—all of these other things will be added unto us. Jesus told us this is true in Matt. 6:33. So let’s praise Him for all His provisions for us. He can restore our land and provide for us.
The last section is verses 12-20:
“12 Extol the LORD, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion. 13 He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. 14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. 15 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? 18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. 19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.
Again the people are called to extol the Lord and praise God. It recounts verses 1-6 on how God rebuilt the city and then grants peace to the borders. There was safety and security in the land. Then recounting a bit from verses 7-11 we see again how God has provided their needs with the finest of wheat. But then we see another revelation here where we are told that God “sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.” You see, in the Bible, God’s word is powerful. It does stuff. In Genesis 1 God speaks and things are formed, created, and fashioned. God speaks and it happens. Much like we think about scratching our nose and instantly our hands move to obey. Such is the creation. He spreads snow and frost. He melts them and stirs up breezes; and waters flow. It is easy as speaking for God. He says something… and the elements obey.
But now in verse 19 the Psalmist is reminding the people of God of another truth. The truth is, “God had revealed His word to Jacob, His laws and decrees to Israel.” They were to obey them the way the snow and frost; breezes and waters did. God’s word is not simply a bunch of information that we can amuse ourselves with. Rather, God’s word is what it is… powerful. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” And then verse 13 reminds us that “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Surely if all the stars have names, and the hairs of our heads are numbered, and if a sparrow doesn’t fall to the ground without our Father’s notice—we can be sure that what God says will come about. We cannot take God for granted and get away with it. God didn’t do this for any other nation—they do not have His laws. God’s people do. We need to remember this and continue to praise Him. Peter tells us that we are that people today. He says, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light,” 1 Peter 2:9. It is time to praise the Lord!
And so… my good friend. When we look back at all that God has done and is still doing; when we are grateful and respectful of God’s provision and compassion for us—we will be drawn to Him and built up in Him. Then our heart will burst forth with praise and out of our inner most being will flow rivers of living water that satisfy our soul. Will you rejoice IN Him today? I hope you will. He is worthy of our praise today.
“O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” by Charles Wesley
O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace!
My gracious Master and my God, Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad The honors of Thy name.
Jesus! The name that charms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease,
‘Tis music in the sinners ears, ‘Tis life and health and peace.
He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.
Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb, Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come; And leap, ye lame, for joy! Amen.
Benediction:
“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NIV2011)
Pastor Russ Hilsinger
Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, OR
P.S. I believe the Lord will be healing us and gathering His children back to worship. I’m looking forward to seeing some more of you this coming Lord ’s Day. Stay safe and seek first His kingdom. Until then, may God bless on you all.