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MEDITATIONS IN NEHEMIAH

IN GOD�S SERVICE
Meditations in Nehemiah
Number 15
PRAISING GOD FOR WHO HE IS

Nehemiah 9:5-6

IT is a characteristic of God�s people that as they grow in sanctification, they grow in the desire to praise God more. The closer our relationship is with God, the more we appreciate God and love him, and so the more we want to praise him and find great joy in such activity. Praising God is the purpose of our being. Our whole life should be an act of praise, but we will find, as did the Israelites here in Nehemiah�s day, that praise will become a natural outcome of holiness and a closer walk with God. Praise follows sanctification.

All the rest of this chapter is engaged in praise. I seem to be hearing quite often at the moment, how poor the understanding was, of the people of God in the Old Testament, and that we know better than they did, now that we have the New Testament. I do not accept this myself. It is true that the light we have in the New Testament is greater than the light the Old Testament saints had; but with regard to spirituality the people of God at their best did not fall short of us today in spirituality, and often surpassed us. Here is an example. This ascription of praise to God is exalting, and full of example to us for our praising. There is more in this example of praise for one sermon. This month we are going to look just at the first two verses.

These two verses are concerned with God himself, and who he is. Praise to God should start here. The Israelites here give us a wonderful example of how to engage in such praise. Our business now is to seek to understand what these two verses show us about praising God.

Why is praising God so important, and the purpose of our being? The reason is given to us in verse 5. The Israelites are told to stand up and praise, because God is �the Lord�, and he is �our God�, and he is �from everlasting to everlasting�. Let us look at each of these three statements in turn.

a. The Lord.

God is �The Lord�. He is the Lord of heaven and earth, but in a special way he is the Lord of all who believe on him, because we own him and believe on him as God.

It is the very essence of God that he is the Lord. God, by very nature and definition, is the one supreme being who is over all. He is over all because all things derive their being from God. The natural human being does not recognise or accept this, and finds many ways of denying the authority and Lordship of God. They are nonetheless under the Lordship of God, and they will find this out to their cost on the day of judgement. Even though people deny God�s lordship over them, in the end they will be compelled to submit to it.

Those of us who believe, acknowledge God as the Lord, and bow before his authority over us, and rejoice in it, because under God�s Lordship we are secure and safe, and as we obey we find purpose and satisfaction in our living. So the Lordship of God is a joy for us, and because of this we want to praise God because he is our Lord, and his will obeyed brings blessing. We long to obey because God is our Lord.

b. Our God.

Further we praise God because he is our God. God is God of all his creation, but creation, or at least fallen humanity, deny that God is their God and do not worship him. It is different for those who believe. It is a wonderful thing that God says to us that he will be a God to us, for this means that he promises to care for us, protect us, love us, and own us as his people. In this personal relationship is our joy and privilege, and so we want to praise God for claiming us as his own, and bestowing this privilege of making us his people.

c. Eternal.

God is eternal. He is from everlasting to everlasting. Our minds cannot grapple with the concept. It is too big for us. God is. He has had no beginning and will have no end. This is beyond our finite minds to grasp, but we acknowledge the truth expressed, and what we do understand fills us with praise, because we see in this eternity of God such majesty and greatness and power and glory. We see further that because this eternal God is our God and Lord, that he will cause us to partake of his eternity, and though we have a beginning, from him we receive eternal life.

Unbelief can�t grapple with the idea of an eternal God, and so denies or ignores him, and conjures up theories to explain the world and life, but all it comes up with in the end is impersonal chance, which explains nothing in the end.

How much the very fact that God is God and his very nature is a source of praise.

God is worthy of all praise because of who he is in his person. This example of praise given us in this chapter gives us the essence of this reason for praise. This praise is as great as any in the Bible.

a. His glorious name.

We bless God and praise him for his glorious name. This sounds strange to us because we simply use a name to identify ourselves as individuals. In the Bible, and the Old Testament in particular, a name has much deeper significance. As far as God is concerned, the name is expressive of the character of God. Because of this throughout the Old Testament we find God being revealed under different names, as God gave further revelations of himself.

God is known as Elohim. This name expresses God as the Deity. It expresses the greatness of his majesty and glory. It expresses the greatness of his power. It expresses all the characteristics of God such as almighty, all knowing, present everywhere. It expresses God as the supreme Lord.

God also revealed himself as Jehovah. This is a revelation of God as a personal redeemer, and was specially revealed in this way to Moses. God revealed himself as Jehovah and redeemer to Abraham, and to the name Jehovah was added an addition to the name. So Abraham had God revealed to him as Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides. This was when God provided a ram for sacrifice so that Isaac was spared, and speaks of the provision of redemption through sacrifice, a sacrifice provided by God, even Jesus Christ.

Then Moses came to know God as Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah my banner. This was on the occasion when the Israelites were given victory over the forces of Amalek under Joshua. This reveals God as the God who redeems in a continuing way. Having redeemed us in Christ so that we are his people, forgiven eternally, he keeps us in his love so that we will never be lost, and will persevere to eternal life.

Gideon has God revealed to him as Jehovah-Shalom, Jehovah is our peace. Gideon had been called to be a judge in Israel and be the deliverer of Israel, but he sees God in the flame, and knows fear of judgement in the presence of God. God speaks the peace of redemption to him, assuring him that he has peace with God, which is through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Judges 6)

We can not help praising God, and blessing his name, because of all that God is to us as a sovereign and redeeming God. As we remember who God is we find praise naturally coming into our minds and upon our lips.

b. A sovereign God.

"You alone are the Lord" is the expression of praise uttered here. We praise God because there are no other God but the Lord, and so God is sovereign over all and none can take that sovereignty away, or in the end deny his authority. All enemies will final fall at the feet of the Lord. We cannot but praise God for his sovereign power, because this expresses his majesty and his glory, but also assures us that as his people we are secure under his almighty protection. The forces of unbelief and evil seem to be triumphing now, but finally they will all go down under the authority of God. This is the message of the book of Revelation. Jesus tells us that evil can hurt the body, but has no power over the soul when we are under the sovereign care of God. What assurance this brings in this frighteningly uncertain world we are in, and the global wickedness we are experiencing. How we want to praise God for he is the Lord.

This praise offered by the Israelites here praises God because he made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is in it, the seas and all that is in them. We praise God because he created all things.

In these times we are exploring the seeming infinity of space, but God created even this supposed infinity, which is finite compared to the infinity of God who placed all the stars and planets, etc. in their place, and orders their goings and comings, and the length of their existence. Coming down to earth, everything down to the finest detail has been made and created by God, and all expresses the power, wisdom and goodness of God.

Unbelief can postulate a big bang as the reason for the creation, but this requires more faith than believing in God who creates all things, for it is a faith in a chance which is beyond computation in the chances of it being able to come up with anything approaching a coherent creation.

God is worthy of all our praise, worship and adoration for the wonder of creation in all its immensity and complexity and perfection. If there seems to be much imperfection, this is not the product of creation, but the product of evil that has come into the world and spoilt it.

The Big Bang has little chance of causing coherent creation, but it is impossible that it should provide life. Life does not just occur out of inanimate stuff, however much speculation scientists may produce. Only God can create and give life, and we owe all life, and specially human life, to him. So what we are, and are able to be and do, comes from God alone. He is the creator of this precious gift of life, and each sort of life is by his creative design alone. Such a gift demands that we praise the giver.

Lastly, we are taken beyond our universe to the heavenly realm which is the true reality, and are told, quite rightly, that all the multitudes of heaven worship you. Heaven here surely takes us beyond the idea of space and stars, and such like. It must take us into that spiritual realm which is the habitation of God, and the spiritual beings that serve him continually. If these exalted beings praise God eternally, how much more should we.

Isaiah sees the praise of these heavenly beings in Isaiah 6. The Serahs cry one to the other "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty: the whole earth is full of his glory". We are told of this praise in the heavenlies again in Revelation chapter 4.

In the light of all this revelation of God, we are truly moved as the 24 elders in Revelation 4, who represent the church in all ages, to praise God, bowing in worship saying -

You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honour and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created and have their being.