19 Sep Meditations on the Psalms #255
Psalm 115 Part 3
A spiritual law is we become what we worship. When we worship vain idols, we become like them. If we worship the God of righteousness as revealed in Jesus, we become like Him. This is the Divine method: look and live; trust and be transfigured; abide in Him, and He shall abide in you.
Knowing the folly of idolatry should renew our trust in the true God and compel us to look to Him as our ‘help and shield.’ In this, we have something of Peter’s heart when he said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68).
Notice the singer’s exhortation to not merely trust the LORD, but to ‘trust in’ Him. This goes beyond regarding Him as trustworthy, and actually placing our trust, our confidence, our reliance in Him and not in self or any external source (idol.)
Vs9-18 is antiphonal, e.g. v9 is a solo, v10 is choral and it toggles this way to the end. Picture Jesus taking the solo role and the disciples the choral role. V16–18 is a full burst of praise that everyone sang together.
Guarantee in the promise of blessing (vs12-15,) and the confident assurance the people of God can have because God has done, therefore He will do! It is His nature to bless, it is His delight to bless, it is His covenant promise to bless and He will bless. We need to stop trusting in ourselves and other external sources (idols) and instead, trust God.
The psalmist recognized God’s authority as Creator and His continuing dominion over ‘the heaven and the heavens,’ (vs15-18) probably in all three realms (the blue sky, the starry sky, and the heaven where God dwells). He also acknowledged that God had given dominion over the earth to humanity.
When Jesus sang this psalm with His disciples, He sang knowing that He would not sing among His disciples on earth anymore. Consider the depth of feeling in Jesus that would bring! But we will praise God ‘From this time forth and forevermore’ There are only two times we should ‘praise the LORD’ – now and forever.
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