Connecting With God

David wrote a beautiful psalm – psalm 145.

• It is an acrostic psalm, with each line starting with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in alphabetical order. There should be 22 and the psalm has 21 because the second half of verse 13 is a new alphabet.

• We have 8 psalms written this way. Psalm 119 (longest) is a famous one, where each group of eight sentences start with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Some regard this as his crown jewel of praise, because it’s the last in the Psalms that has David’s name on it, and it’s titled “A psalm of praise” (once).

• David praises God and acknowledges His role in his life. This psalm expresses in 7 different ways God’s role in our lives today.

(1) David acknowledges GOD’S POSITION in life (vv.1-2)

1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.

2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.

David is a king but He exalts the Lord as “my God the King”.

• The king calling another King. God is the King of kings. No one is above David but God is.

• This is God’s rightful place in our lives. And it places us in the rightful place, recognizing Him as the Lord of our lives.

He is worthy to be praised, every day and forever, David says.

• “Every day I will praise you” shows that David spent time with the Lord daily.

• And this is the only activity that we are doing today that will last forever, in eternity to come.

• It is the most natural thing to do, if we truly know Him.

• C.S. Lewis: “We praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”

True fulfillment comes in worshipping God. Apart from that, we struggle with the frustrations and emptiness of life.

• Let’s give Him a thought every day, and honour His role in our lives.

(2) David acknowledges GOD’S POWER (vv.3-6)

3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.

4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.

5 They will speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.

God is not dormant. He is actively working.

• Paul says in Eph 3:20 that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.”

• If that is the case, then His works must be noticeable. We are to meditate on God’s wonderful works, to observe and think about His works.

Just read from Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations about the marvels of God’s creation:

• One Second of Sun’s Energy - The sun radiates more energy in one second than man has used since the beginning of civilization. In one second, a typical quasar throws out enough energy to supply all the earth’s electrical needs for billions of years.

• No Scale Model of the Universe - Anything may be reproduced on scale model except the universe. The impossibility of making such a model accurately is shown by the fact that, if the earth were represented by a ball only one inch in diameter, the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, would have to be placed nearly 82,000km away. (The circumference of the earth at the equator is 40,075.16 km).

Give a thought, and you will be amazed. David says, “His greatness no one can fathom.”

This is only part of David’s emphasis. Note what he says further.

• “One generation will COMMEND God’s works to another, they will TELL of God’s mighty acts. They will SPEAK of the glorious splendor of God’s majesty… they will TELL of the power of God’s awesome works, and I will PROCLAIM God’s great deeds.”

• It must be communicated; they must be passed on. Let the next generation see the attractiveness of God! How? Through us!

J. I. Packer: “This is where most of us go astray. Our thoughts of God are not great enough; we fail to reckon with the reality of His limitless wisdom and power. Because we ourselves are limited and weak, we imagine that at some points God is too, and find it hard to believe that He is not. We think of God as too much like we are.”

Bill Hybels has this wooden block “God Is Able” placed at the place where he prays. He says, “I value the reminder, because it’s an exercise in futility to pray if I don’t think God is able to answer.”