Hallelujah!

Scripture

Praise the LORD! Yes, give praise, O servants of the LORD. Praise the name of the LORD.

~Psalm 113:1, NLT

Quote

“Man’s chief work is the praise of God.”

~Augustine

Psalm 113 is a Hallelujah Psalm, the first and last word of the Psalm is hä·lal’ which is Hebrew for ‘praise’ and the second word is ‘Ya’ which is LORD. Most folks probably do not realize they are speaking Hebrew when they say hallelujah. The Jews sang Psalm 113-114 before their Passover meal. There is more in this Psalm than meets the eye. Dr. Wiersbe says this Psalm gives us three wonderful reasons to Praise The LORD and I concur.

1. God’s Name {יְהֹוָה} is the greatest. There is no name like Yahweh. Yahweh comes from the Hebrew verb for being [hä·yä]. Hebrew is a verbal language and Hebrew verbs have seven stems and eight tenses. If you begin conjugating the verb hä·yä you get an infinite array of meanings and they are all true of God’s character and attributes. Let me give you one example: Yahweh can mean:
   • I AM THAT I AM…I AM WHAT I AM…I AM SINCE I AM…I AM BECAUSE I AM
   • I AM BECAUSE I WAS…I WAS BECAUSE I AM
   • I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WHAT I AM…I AM WHAT I WILL ALWAYS BE [understand that this is just a sample: I can go on for pages when parsing this verb, it is a name above all names]
2. God’s Throne is the highest. God is transcendent, He is above all. No one is higher than God. He is greater than His creation. He is above and beyond all things. He is untouchable, unreachable, incomparable and He has no rivals. God cannot be in danger; He cannot be threatened. God haters are fools who waste their lives and energy trying to hurt the transcendent One. He is a Rock that is higher than any man or demon can reach. No one will assault HIM, He is too high.
3. God’s Love is the deepest. You cannot stop reading after the second point because that is only half of the gospel and taken out of context would be wrong. God is transcendent but He is also condescending. His condescension may be harder to fathom than his transcendence. In order to save us from sin and destruction, God stooped in Christ. God became man in order to redeem us from the power of sin. Jesus became like us so we could by grace could become like Him. Would you become a rat to save all the rats? I wouldn’t because I don’t like rats. The gap between God’s glory and our sin and shame is greater than the gap between men and the mice. In other words: His love for us is unbelievable, unexplainable, unrelenting, unconditional and of course, totally unmerited. There is only one reason why God loves us: He choose to love us. He wills to love us; it is His sovereign choice and that is worth many hallelujah’s.

One other note: The Psalmist uses two example of God condescending love: [1] the poor and the [2] barren woman. Verse 7-8…He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, even the princes of his own people! The poor gathered at the garbage or ash dump for several reasons. They found warmt for the cool nights in the ashes and they rumaged through the garbage for food. The barren woman in verse 9…He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother… The barren woman represents the hopeless and those who feel no significance or joy. God, the highest, so loved the lowest, that He gave His only begotten Son. Dr. Wierbe says that Israel is the barren woman. The nation like Sarah, Rebekkah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth has never been as fruitful as hoped. They have labored desperately for a few children. This is alluded to in Isaiah 54. It is not going to stay this way. In Christ, there is hope for the hopeless. 

How low do you feel today? Sin and shame can make us feel pretty low but no one is too low to recieve the mercy and grace found only in Christ. The words of one of my favorites comes to mind….

Judgement and wrath He poured out on Sodom 
Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross 
I hope that we have not 
Too quickly forgotten that 
Our God is an awesome God

• Good services yesterday. I enjoyed both. It was good to be home. The listening devices are nice. I heard every word of the message. I could also tell a difference in over all sound. During Praise and Worship, I took one ear piece out so I could listen to the congregation.
• I’m not positive about today’s schedule but I think I will go to Pastor’s conference and work on DIGEST this evening at the office.
• Just one month until we decorate for CHRISTMAS. Unbelievable!
• I am a dinosaur, a relic of the past. I am an 8-track player in a Smart Phone world. There is no need for me to be upset with those who do not share my views, which happens to be everyone in my family. It is what it is. I take no credit for my lose of interest in the NFL. I simply see it as a work of GRACE. Thirty years ago, I preached short sermons to insure that I didn’t miss the 12:00 kick off but it just doesn’t appeal to me anymore. Matter of fact, this world becomes less attractive everyday. Last week would have ended perfectly if we had gotten good news with Larry’s PET scan. I have a deep burden for my friend and I feel totally helpless. Every time I sit to read, I begin with a prayer for Larry and I am asking you to join me. I hate cancer. Every time I see Chip’s grand children, my hate for cancer hits the boiling stage. All I can do is love them in Chip’s stead. Holly sent me this pic from AWANA, aren’t they precious. Every time I see them, I greet them with a song and they look at me like I am crazy. Please Pray for Larry and his family. Pray for all our friends who are battling cancer.