The Lord is Great

I wonder - do you like making discoveries? It may be finding a new recipe or pattern; or discovering a teashop; or a place to visit on holiday. One of my passions is finding second-hand bookshops! Not the ones that are scented with pot pouri and play classical music and sell over-priced books. But the smaller shops in unpromising locations. I found one recently where there was no classical music. Inside the books were double stacked - from floor to ceiling - and in boxes on the floor. And the shop had that special sort of musty smell - the combination of old trainers and warm camel droppings! And there I made one or two discoveries that you wouldn’t find in Waterstones!

Making discoveries ... now isn’t that exactly like reading the Bible? Making discoveries - finding new truths - delighting afresh in the Word of God. Being surprised - and being surprised that you find yourself saying, ‘I’ve never noticed that before’. For me Psalm 135 has been one of those discoveries. Over the years I’ve read the Psalter - preached on the Psalms - led Bible studies on the Psalms and have been delighted to discover this Psalm! On the face of it isn’t particularly original. Most of it is found elsewhere in the OT. It echoes Psalms 115 and 136. It is material that is recast and recycled. It is what one commentator has called ‘a mosaic of borrowings’ (M. Wilcock, The Message of Psalms 73-150, p248).

Borrowings it may be - but in them we encounter the living God - God the Creator and God the Redeemer. The God who is to be the object of our worship and praise and adoration!

1 - PRAISE THE CREATOR!

The Psalmist invites us to ‘Praise the Lord’. To praise the living God for all that he has done; and to ignore the dead and inactive idols.

a) The living God

In vv5-7 the Psalmist speaks in the first person on behalf of the community. Echoing the words of Jethro in Exodus, he says ‘I know that the Lord is great’. (Exodus 18:11). I wonder - can you say those words with any degree of confidence? ‘I know that the Lord is great’. Or has your faith become stale and dry and routine? If it has, then look afresh to the Lord and reflect afresh on all that he has done for you in Christ. Return again to the Psalms.

The creator God and the sustaining God: from the act of creation - and including the works of nature - God is the active and all-powerful creator - the one who controls the heavens and the earth and the sea. The seasons and the weather are not controlled by Michael Fish - but by our God! The creator God, the sustaining God, is the one who should be the object of our wonder and awe and praise. He is to be the focus of our worship!

b) The dead idols

By way of contrast, look at vv15-18. TV programmes like ‘Dead Ringers’ and ‘Little Britain’ make fun of pompous politicians and the foolish and the gullible. And the Bible writers do that too! They make fun of those who place their trust in man-made idols. They are cutting in their criticism of idol makers and idol worshippers. The Psalmist contrasts the living God with man-made idols. The living God is to be worshipped and adored. The dead idols are to be ignored and dismissed.

Why is this? The Psalmist makes clear that the living God is the one who speaks and acts and saves. He draws us to himself with the bonds of love. He reconciles us to himself through the Lord Jesus Christ. But the man-made idols remain inactive and powerless. They remain silent, unable to evoke our wonder and our worship.

The may have mouthsbut they cannot speak. They may have eyesbut they cannot see. They may have earsbut they cannot hear.

And Psalm 115 adds other features too:

They may have nosesbut they cannot smell They may have handsbut they cannot feel. They may have feetbut they cannot walk.

In other words man-made idols are useless!! And so we are challenged afresh. Why worship dead idols when the living God is close at hand? Why live in sin when the Saviour is near? Why be fearful and afraid when the Holy Spirit will comfort you.

Of course today our idols may not be made of metal or wood or stone. They are more sophisticated. There are more likely to be mental or material gods of our invention. The test is simple. Who or what has the first place in your life? The idols (which represent sin and death and judgment) or the living God who evokes our wonder and our worship and our praise.

2 - PRAISE THE REDEEMER!

Psalm 135 speaks of the redeemed as those who are chosen (v4) and those who are saved (vv.8-12). As an individual Jacob was chosen by God. He was the father of the chosen people who were once enslaved but then set free. Freed to enjoy new life in the Promised Land.

Psalm 135 (like Psalms 78, 105, 106 and 136) gives us a potted history of the people of God. Here is a précis of the Old Testament.

Verses 8-12 refer to the last of the plagues and of the conquest of the Promised Land. Those defeated included Sihon and Og - the ‘Mr Big’ of the OT. In other words the history of the people of God is in the hands of the living God. He has chosen them and he has saved them. Chosen not because they were strong and powerful - but simply because God loved them and freed them from slavery. And God and people were bound together in a covenant relationship. Now if this was true BC - how much more is it true AD! God’s love has been expressed generously and wonderfully in Christ. In Christ we have been chosen and redeemed - saved by the blood of the Lamb, called into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Consider ... God chose you before the creation of the world; he has called you to himself through Christ; he has drawn you to respond to his love and mercy and grace. Through his word he has made clear your guilt and sin and shame. By his Spirit you have been moved in obedience and faith to know Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

John Calvin rightly calls the Psalms ‘An anatomy of all parts of the soul’. Why? Because the Psalms reveal truths about God and truths about the human condition. Here is a book, which speaks to our hearts and our minds. Read the Psalms at home. Meditate upon the Psalms as you prepare for worship. Sing the Psalms as your response to God in Christ. Delight in the work of the Holy Spirit in pointing out to you in the Psalms knowledge and experience of God. In other words use them and become familiar with them. Delight yourself in them. Discover afresh the living God.

3 - PRAISE THE LORD!

Many of the Psalms - like Psalm 135 - begin and end with ‘Hallelujah’ that is ‘Praise the Lord’! Notice in v2 he is ‘Our God’ and in v3 we are to praise his name. And that name ‘Yahweh’ (printed as ‘the LORD’) is repeated again and again throughout the Psalm. The thrust of Psalm 135 is that all people are to ‘Praise the Lord’.

In Psalm 134 the Temple officials - those who ministered in the sanctuary - were directed to worship the Lord. But in Psalm 135 this includes all people - clergy and people alike - both Temple officials and people in the courtyards. Without exception all are to praise the Lord (again this echoes words from Psalm 115). What a wonderful cacophony of praise and adoration!

A looking back to all that God has done - in history, in creation and in deliverance from Egypt - in the settlement in the promised land. A looking forward to all that he would do. And with knowledge and hindsight we can see that this was our salvation and our redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the OT the people of God enjoyed the blessings of knowing God the Creator and God the Redeemer. And we too can know that same Creator and Redeemer in and through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Psalmist was overjoyed and repeated ‘Hallelujah’ - ‘Praise the Lord’ (vv1 and 21). May those words be on our lips and written in our hearts so that our response today may be the same ‘Hallelujah’ - ‘Praise the Lord’!