Summer Psalms: Psalms of praise
Readings. Psalm 8, Matthew 21: 12-17
Praying is sometimes hard. What words are we supposed to use?
One thing I love about the disciples is that they had many of the same questions we have. Luke 11: 1, we read:
‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’
Jesus responded with what we now know as “The Lord’s Prayer”. We recite it, but I think it has much to teach us as a pattern of prayer, rather than just a fixed set of words. His pattern is incorporated into what we know as the Lord’s Prayer.
It begins not with ourselves, but with God. Recognising who He is – our Father, whose name is to be recognised as holy, respected, revered... It puts us in the right place to start praying.
But the words can be difficult to find; any words a human can come up with will be inadequate to describe God, but that does not mean that we should not try and offer our best.
This is one way that the Psalms can help us; they can give us the words to say. In the fourth century, Athanasius said that ‘while most of Scripture speaks to us, the psalms of the Old Testament speak for us.’
Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at the Psalms.
What do we know about the Psalms?
· Many were probably written by King David, but not all.
· They were probably written over a long period from the time of Moses (1400BC) to the time of the Babylonian exile (around 500BC)
· They are poetic – ancient Hebrew poems encapsulating the heart of the Old Testament spirituality, faith and worship – yet they still capture the emotions and longings of people today.
· Luther said “The Psalms exhibit the mind of the saints; they express the hidden treasure of their hearts, the working of their thoughts and their most secret feelings”
· They are hymns and prayers used to worship God both by individuals and when God’s people come together.
Psalms are not all the same; they :
· express praise and complaint,
· trust and doubt,
· asking for things and giving thanks.
Over the next 4 weeks, we will be looking at 4 types:
· Starting today - Psalms of Praise (Hymns), then
· Psalms of Lament (expressing grief or sorrow)
· Psalms of Thanksgiving
· Psalms of Confidence / Trust
Today, we begin with Psalms of Praise (Hymns):
Psalms of Praise speak of God's character, showing how He acts. They generally break into 3 sections:
They open with a call to praise God.
Then they say why – “praise God because…” or “for…”
Then they end by repeating the call to praise God.
There are variations in this, but at its heart this is how to approach God in praise…
Are we commanded to praise God? Or ‘just encouraged to do so:
Psalm 148 is a call to praise:
1 Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.
Is this a command to praise? Or an encouragement to praise? Or an invitation to praise? I’m not sure; maybe all contain truth, but praise is certainly a good thing…
Psalm 92:1 says
It
is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
To decide, or determine, to praise him is a good thing. That means it is pleasant, valuable, and morally excellent.
Psalm 147: 1
How
good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
In Psalm 8, more reasons are given, centring on the theme of God’s lordship over creation, where the vastness of his creation evokes wonder. I am sure many of you watched the eclipse, even if on TV if you couldn’t get glasses. Some of the comments of TV commentators and people they interviewed seemed moved by the awesomeness of, what is, a small part of creation. Even if there was no faith, the response was still ‘wow’. Yet, the God who created the heavens and earth, the moon and stars, still cares for humans who seem insignificant by comparison…
For great is his steadfast love towards us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for
ever.
Using words from Psalm 117, which we used to open our service.
The Psalms are sometimes referred to in the New Testament. In our Gospel reading, Jesus himself refers to words from Psalm 8 to make his point – that the mighty God, whose glory is displayed across the face of the heavens, uses the praise of little children to silence dark powers – in this case, the dark powers plotting to kill Jesus.
Jesus grew up with the Psalms; he obviously knew them and what they meant, and was able to draw on them in his life. He could also apply them to himself, for He was, and is, God, as well as a man.
Why is praise important?
It puts us in the right place, whether it is in prayer or worship.
When we know who it is we are praying to, or worshipping, then we can come with confidence. The Psalms remind us of the reasons to do this: Psalm 8 talks about the majestic name of God. When we choose names for children, we sometimes just pick names we like. Sometimes family names. Sometimes names which have meaning for us. Sometimes names which express our hopes for the child.
When the Bible talks about the name of God –
Lord,
our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
(Psalm 8: 1) The name of God s the manifestation of His character; the name of the Lord is synonymous with the Lord Himself – the one who created the heavens and earth. This is the God whom we worship and praise.
We don’t need to look far to find a list of His attributes to know why, or what we can praise God for.
God is full of glory - Psalm 138: 4-5
May
all the kings of the earth praise you, Lord,
when they hear what you have decreed.
May they sing of the ways of the Lord,
for the glory of the Lord is great.
God is great – Psalm 145:3
Great
is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
God is good – Psalm 107: 8
Let
them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
God is loving and faithful - Psalm 89: 1 – 2
I
will sing of the Lord’s great love for ever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
through all generations.2 I will
declare that your love stands firm for ever,
that you have established your faithfulness in heaven
itself.
God is the One who saves us - Psalm 18: 46
The
Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Saviour!
God pardons sin – Psalm 103: 2-4
Praise
the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits –
who
forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
God gives us our daily food – Psalm 136: 25
He
gives food to every creature.
His love endures for ever.
I could have spent more time finding more verses to quote, but I think I have made my point: God has revealed himself to us and is worthy of our praise. They turn our thoughts and hearts back to Him and keep us mindful of how much we owe to Him.
It is good to consider whom we are praying to or worshipping before we jump in. If we don’t, then there is a danger it all becomes about us and what we want.
These characteristics of God do not change.
He does not change depending on how we feel. There will be times when we don’t feel like praying or worshipping. When life looks bleak. When we are facing challenges and feel we have no hope.
Matt Redman wrote a song, “Blessed Be Your Name “ that picks up this theme:
Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name
Sometimes the challenges and problems of our lives mean we lose this perspective; we get caught up in ourselves, our own problems… our view of God becomes so small… no wonder our prayers can become so weak. The Psalms of praise remind us again of the God we have, and then again call people to praise him because of who He is, regardless of how we feel.
Sometimes when we come to prayer, we don’t know the words to say. Or we come so full of our needs, our wants that we just jump straight in. The Psalms help. They remind us that we have a gracious God who invites us into his presence as we are.
They show us that we also have a God who has given us help to come before him in the best way. He has given us the Psalms to teach us how to worship and pray… to lead us in our prayers to, and praise of, Him.
To lead us to Him.
To give us words to use when our words fail.
Even, or especially, when we cannot find the words, we can use the words of the Psalms let the Psalms achieve their purpose – to speak for us, rather than to us. To help us put into words the things we find difficult to put into words.
It can be useful to look at the structure, to recognise the imagery, metaphor, wordplay… but as any English teacher will say, analysis can help understanding but should not replace just reading them – aloud if possible, or singing them- using them rather than just studying them…
So let’s do that now as we stand and worship God as we say Psalm 113: 1-6 together:
1 Praise the Lord.
Praise
the Lord, you his servants;
praise the name of the Lord.
2 Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and for evermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
4 The
Lord is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,
6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?
Revd Kevin
All Bible references are from New International Version - UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.