The Power Of Awe Series

Now Psalm 145 is the only psalm in all of the book of Psalms that is called A Song of David.

Other psalms are called A Prayer of David or Of David. There are a lot of psalms written by

David and have his name on it, but there's only one that says A Psalm of David. It is also one of

the nine acrostic psalms. Now an acrostic psalm is one where you have the letters of the

alphabet, the Hebrew alphabet, and each verse (we have it divided into verses) starts with a new

Hebrew letter. So alef is your first letter and bet is your second letter. So each verse starts with

those letters. It's an acrostic psalm. But this psalm in particular is talking about how awesome

God is. The power of awe is what we're going to look at today as we read this particular passage.

You know, I think that people who just got saved have a little bit up on us when it comes to this

power of awe. Because everything is just new. It's like putting on spiritual glasses and seeing the

world for the first time in this new way. They go, “Whoa, that is so cool. Oh, wow, there's God

again.” Whereas some of us who've been Christians for a long time, we kind of get used to the

holy things. Sometimes we take the holy things for granted. The prayer, the healing that happens

in a person's life, or the miracle that takes place over here. It sometimes can become

commonplace in our thinking. It's especially important for you as a young person not to allow the

awesomeness of God to become commonplace. Any of us can do it. But if you grow up in the

church, sometimes you feel like oh, well, this is just common, and we lose this awesome power

that comes with the awe of seeing God.

That's what we're going to see today in this passage. I'm actually going to read all twenty-one

verses while you stand, if you would please. It says at the beginning of this psalm, Psalm 145 – A

Song of Praise, but it's a Psalm of David. Verse 1 starts with alef. We won't go through the

whole Hebrew alphabet here. But verse 1 says – I will extol you, my God and King, and bless

your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation

shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious

splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the

might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame

of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and

merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy

is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints

shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make

known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

[The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.] The Lord upholds all who are

falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them

their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The

Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on

him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears

their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and

ever.

Amen. You may be seated.

The awesomeness of God. It's interesting when we talk about being awestruck of God, it's not

just having a feeling that's tied into ourself, “Oh, I just feel good today.” It's somehow this

feeling that we have, this awesome feeling that we have when we get in contact with God in a

very specific way. Particularly when we see God's glory.

We're going to see the word glory mentioned several times in this passage. This word glory is