EXTOLLING GOD

Meditations on Psalm 138

PRAISE FROM ALL THE WORLD

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"May all the kings of the earth praise you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth. May they sing of the ways of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord is great."
Psalm 138:4,5

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THE PSALMIST in these two verses is concerned that the whole of creation may give glory and praise to God. Having been filled with praise to God himself as he contemplates and experiences God as he is, and God as he has acted in his life, he feels it is not enough and not worthy of God that praise should only emanate from one person. He feels, and rightly, that the Lord of all creation should receive the praise of all his creation.

HALLOWED BE THY NAME

In the Lord's Prayer, the first petition that Jesus puts in the mouth of the Christian is 'hallowed be thy name'. It is a wish and it is also a petition. The first concern of every believer is the glory of God and that God's name should be glorified and honoured and revered by all people. We have tasted the greatness of God in his action towards us. We have had new life created within us so that we can see God and his heavenly realm. We have been privileged to behold the beauty of the Lord. Thus we have seen that he is Lord of all creation and one whom all creation should honour.

The Psalmist expresses this in the first clause of verse 4. If kings praise God, then their subjects will be encouraged to do so also. This idea may seem strange to us today when monarchy is not particularly revered, and those monarchs that there are, are simply figureheads, and have little influence over the nation they purport to rule. In biblical days kings were different. They had real power. They issued decrees and the people obeyed. Thus for the king to praise God in spirit and truth would mean that he would desire that his subjects would do so also. The people, seeing their king honour God, would understand that the king saw God as his king and the one to whom he must give honour and allegiance. Thus the people would be moved to praise God too and trust him. Even today the example of the Queen and the Royal Family in our land have a powerful influence by example. Where the Royal Family lead others in one way or another will take their lead.

As no person can give true praise to God unless they know God and have received new life through the saving work of the Lord Jesus, this petition that all the kings should praise God, together with the petition in the Lord's prayer of hallowed be the Name of God, represent a deep desire for the conversion of the world. It is a evangelistic prayer, and thus includes the desire that the preaching of the Gospel may be effective to bringing people to God, so causing them to give true praise to God. In this we see how comprehensive this Psalm is in its concentration on praise, for in it there is great concern that all the earth may be converted and the world may return to the creation purpose of God, that all creation may give God praise.

PREACHING THE WORD

The Psalmist sees that it is through the kings hearing God's word that they will be brought to praise God. They must hear and believe the truth about God as he is in his person, and they must hear the truth of what God has done for sinful humanity in his love and grace. It is only those who know God who are moved as a result to praise him.

Paul in Romans 10:14 points out that people can not believe on whom they have never heard. If we do not believe there will be no praise.

How very important is the preaching and proclaiming of the truth and of the gospel of God. This is the means by which God has appointed that the world may know his love and greatness. So preaching is the means by which people are brought to the praise of God. It is because of this the apostles, and through them the whole church, were given the commission to go and preach the gospel to all creatures. Just as the apostles had to start in Jerusalem, so must we be ready to communicate the truth where we live. This places upon us the concern to pray that all ministers may have knowledge of the truth and that they may faithfully preach it. This places on us the concern in prayer that every congregation within the visible church may be places where the pure word of God is set forth, and that each church is a vehicle of proclaiming God and his saving love, so that all the earth may praise God.

This also places upon us the responsibility to earnestly beseech the Lord to make us ones who are engaged in this work of spreading the good news of the gospel of Jesus. If we are one with the Psalmist that the whole earth should praise God, then it must move us to beseech God to make us sharers of his love and truth, and cause us to pray earnestly that God would each day, open up avenues whereby we may have opportunities to speak to people of Jesus. Included in this desire is the earnest prayer that God would increase our knowledge of himself and his love, so that we may have the clear and full truth to share. Further we will be praying for the increase of grace and ability, that when we are given the opportunity to speak for Jesus, we may be able to do so in the best way possible, and so win the hearts and minds of those to whom we speak, to faith and obedience to Jesus.

If we are to be those who praise God, and if we are to be those who share God with others so that they may praise God too, it is essential that we should have our experience of God's greatness and of the greatness of God in redeeming us ever deepening in our minds and hearts. Praise comes from a living and ever increasing experience of the wonder of God and of his faithfulness and his goodness towards us. There is much preaching today on Christian duty, and there is not so much preaching on the excellencies of Jesus. This is wrong. We will not be praising God or giving ourselves in devotion to God, by being told our duty, or by being exhorted to ever-more greater obedience and service. There is no power in this, for there is no power in ourselves. Rather increase of praise and increase in praise expressed in devotion to Jesus, will come according to the measure we are filled with Christ and what he has done for us - the power and completeness of his saving righteousness imputed to us, and the tremendous joys and blessings there are in living in him.

This is what Paul expresses in Philippians 3 when he says "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ". This is praise of Jesus indeed. It was praise in the fact that he was extolling the excellence of the saving love of Jesus and the blessings that come thereby. It was praise also because Paul gave testimony that there was great power for him in the experiences and knowledge of Jesus and his salvation, because these excellencies expelled for him the previous interest that he had in all the things that the earth offered, and caused him to sacrifice them for Jesus.

THE FOOD OF PRAISE

The Psalmist then says "May they sing of the WAYS of the Lord". Do you notice how each clause in these two verses follow each other and depend on each other. We have been considering the need of preaching so people hear, because when they hear they will know God and want to praise him. Here the Psalmist follows on from this. It is the knowledge of the ways of God that promotes praise, so it is the ways of God that are the food and subject of praise to God.

We all, no doubt, have the experience that when we find praise filling our hearts, we run out of words and ways to praise God. Here the Psalmist gives us the answer to this problem. The food for praise is the ways of God. We must think of all the ways of God, and taking them in turn praise God for each.

All the ways of God should prompt praise within our hearts, but it is when the ways of God touch our hearts that praise becomes spontaneous. Thus the more we can meditate on the ways of God in redemption, the more will we be filled with praise.

How awesome and glorious is the ways of God in redemption. The way of God you would expect is for God to have given us rebellious humanity over to our rebellion and let us stew in the consequences of our rebellion, but the way of God is totally unexpected. Far from an angry reaction against such rebellion, God looks with pity on humanity, and says I will love them with an everlasting love. The way of God was to take upon himself the responsibility of redeeming sinners completely from their own folly. The way of God was take the just desert of sinners upon himself and bear the pain and punishment they deserve in the person of his dear Son. Knowing that we are totally unable to contribute anything to our redemption, and that if any part is left to us we would make a mess of it, the way of God was to provide by his power, wisdom, love, grace and mercy, a redemption that meets every need of sinners, and looks after their whole salvation until it is complete in glory. This is why there is no room for pride and vain glory in us, only praise to our gracious God for his ways of love.

It is when we contemplate God's ways personally with ourselves, that praise deepens to an infinite degree. Why was the way of God to us one of mercy, grace and love? When we look out on the world and behold the millions who are without hope, and without God, in the world, why was it the way of God to call us to salvation and into his love, when so many so much better in every way than ourselves still languish outside the saving love of God. We praise God for this way of sovereign grace towards us, and praise him that with irresistible grace he called us out of the world into his marvellous kingdom of light.

Then when we look honestly into our life since we believed, and the way of God which never ceased to love us, our praise must know no bounds. The way of God which hears all our complaining, and sometimes harsh thoughts towards him, and yet never ceases in unremitting love towards us. The way of God which holds us and keeps, guides and protects us, when we do such foolish things, and when we are so forgetful of him and his love, and act in so ungrateful a way to his ways of grace to us. The way of God that has promised never to leave us or forsake us and is always there for us so that we can come and pour out our need to him. The way of God which loves us in an unfailing way and never lets us down or will ever let us go.

When we remember before God his ways of grace and love towards us, we can't help but sing praises to him, and as we praise, like the Psalmist we long and pray that others may also so appreciate the ways of God, so that their mouths will sing his praise.

THE GLORY OF GOD

The last clause of these two verses lead us the essential factor for praise, and that is the glory of God. It is the glory of God that deserves our praise and the praise of all the earth.

The glory of God is no ordinary glory. Kings of the earth have their glory, and we have our own little examples of glory, but these are a very poor reflection, and so dim and discoloured, to the glory of God. The Psalmist again expresses the truth so rightly when he says the glory of the Lord is great.

We need to pray to the Lord from the depth of our hearts, crying with Moses in Exodus 33:18 - Lord, Oh! show me your glory. It is the unfailing testimony of God's revelation in the Bible, that those who hunger and thirst after God and to see his glory, are the ones who have their longing granted.

Every day, when we come into the presence of the Lord as we read his Word and pray, let it be the longing of our hearts that we may see more and more of the great glory of God. How much greater will be the praise rising to God from the hearts of his people, as God ever more graciously and fully answers this prayer to see his glory.