Year 2, Day 282: Psalm 145

Psalm 145

Psalm 145 is called a Psalm of Praise.  This is the only psalm in the whole book with this official title.  Of course, there have been plenty of psalms that praised God.  But this is the only one with this specific title.  By definition, praise is something given by God’s follower to Him, out of joy for our communion with Him, and for the purpose of exalting Him.  Therefore, we should expect this psalm to be about God, to be about joy, and to exalt Him.

The first thing that we hear about is God’s greatness and its inability to be fathomed.  To be fathomed means to be understood.  It seems strange to lift up something that cannot be understood as being worthy of praise.  After all, how many people in High School lifted up their Geometry books as worthy of being praised?  Or how many people lift up our nit-picky IRS codes as something to be praised?  Yes, I confess to having a little fun with the prior examples – so don’t take them with too much meaning.  But in all seriousness, how often do we as human beings lift up that which is unable to be understood as worthy of praise?

Yet, this is precisely what we do with God.  But it should be this way.  God is bigger than us.  He is better than us.  He is holy – that is, He is “different” or “set apart.”  How many of us would accept God as God if we truly did understand Him completely?  Think about that for a second.  If you understood everything there was to understand about God, would you really feel like He was God?  Isn’t His inability to be fathomed merely evidence of how He really is God?

Then we get to the next section, which speaks of one generation declaring His works to the next.  In these verses we understand another dimension of praise.  Yes, praise is directed from us to God.  However, praise also can serve as a testimonial.  Praise can serve as our testimony to others about God.  When God works in our life and we give public praise to God, we are testifying to those who hear our praise just how glorious God really is.  We should not underestimate the function of praise in our communities.

The next few verses that we get are about God’s mercy.  I love what is said in verse 9.  God’s mercy is all over His creation.  I am reminded of a camp song that I learned a decade ago: the Hippopotamus Song.  In the middle of the song is the line “His fingerprints are everywhere, just to show how much He cares.”  God’s mercy is everywhere!  God mercy is upon us.  It is upon our children.  It is upon our parents.  It is upon our life.  Everywhere we look we can see evidence of His mercy.  Even the fact that we are alive at all is really evidence of His mercy!

Then we turn to a section of this psalm on the kingdom of God.  His kingdom is a glorious kingdom, enduring throughout all generations.  That’s a really comforting and praiseworthy thought.  His kingdom was here before I came.  His kingdom is here now.  His kingdom will remain even after I’m gone.  His kingdom remains unchanged even though the generations pass before Him.  Even though the world changes, even though the methods needed to reach the world take different shapes, and even though the way we speak about God may change with our vernacular – God’s kingdom does not change.  God’s kingdom is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Then we get a long list of reasons to give God praise.  He is faithful.  He upholds the fallen.  He raises up those who are bowed down in submission.  He provides for our needs.  He is the only genuine satisfaction for our desire.  He is righteous and kind.  The Lord is near to those who call upon Him in truth.  He fulfills those who desire Him.  He preserves all those who are in Him.

Isn’t that a really cool list of attributes?  Is there anything in that list that is not worthy of praise?  What is really cool about God is that not just one of those things is true – they’re all true!  We would be happy if a single person could display any one of those characteristics consistently, but God is all of those all of the time!

Then we reach the last line.  The psalmist declares his desire to praise God.  The psalmist declares the hope that all flesh would praise the Lord.  I think this is an admirable goal and we should all do our part today to make that possible.

<><