Theme: The Psalmist’s Picture of God
Text: Psalm 146:1-10
Intro.
A. I’d like to thank God for His sufficient grace that sustained us amidst the increasing political and economic crisis that we are experiencing in our country(Philippines). I know we all feel these pressing circumstances. But thank God, He has promised not to leave us nor forsake us.
B. In the wall of the manager’s lounge of PHILBEST(where I pastored) is hanged a magic frame. In it you can see a very wonderful view: an island, seawaters, and underwater creatures. Someone has told me that a great whale can be seen if I would intently fix my eyes on the frame.
C. Many times I looked at the frame to find the semi-invisible whale until I was successful to find it. I learned that focus and concentration were needed. But I learned one more lesson. The moment I focus my eyes and concentrate on the big whale, I realize that the images of the smaller creatures at the surface are fading. Then I remembered Hebrews 12:2 which says, “Fix your eyes on Jesus the Author and the Finisher of faith.” The moment we focus our eyes on Jesus, the images of the circumstances surrounding us will come to fade. The image of our seemingly engulfing challenges pales upon the image of our big God.
D. Being God’s children, we should therefore not be worried of what is going on in this world, for we have a God bigger than the world. We just need to focus our eyes on Him, believing that His eye is on us too.
E. Who is this Big God? According to the Psalmist of Psalm 146, He is the God of Jacob, He’s the God of Creation, and, He’s the Living and Personal God. In other words, He is the Powerful God of History, the Present Personal God, and the Creative God of the Coming Things!
F. This Psalmist may have personal predicaments and distresses. He said, “Do not trust in man.” He might have been double-crossed or being betrayed by a friend. Whatever it is, his circumstances would have dragged him down to the pit of despair. But he refused to live in the life of defeat and despondency. Instead, he rose up to a life of hope and rejoicing. He encouraged himself; he strengthened himself in the Lord, and said, “Bless the Lord O my soul”. Then He exclaimed, “I will sing praises to God while I have my being!”
G. What revolutionized his spirit?
a) His hindsight of God’s acts in the past.
1) The particular history that he’d been looking at was the life of their patriarch Jacob and the establishment of their nation. The wonders that God had wrought in the life of Jacob and to his descendants were innumerable.
2) The hand of the Almighty God was upon this patriarch, in his life in Haran, in his entire journey, and in his sojourn in the land of Egypt. God had blessed him wherever he went. Of course, not all experiences were good. There were times that Jacob went through the refining fire of God. There were times that Jacob went through painful chastisements. But God helped and upheld him so that those bad experiences would turn to good, and so that what God had promised to him would ultimately be fulfilled. God’s favor and mercy was upon Jacob also because he kept himself humble before and put his hope in Him.
3) Now, what did the Psalmist learn from the history of his patriarch?
v Behind every detail of life is the Mighty hand of God. It upholds, guides, protects, preserves, provides and molds. Everything that happens to one’s life is an act, either directly or indirectly, of God.
v God chooses to show His special favor to His chosen people. Though God showed His goodness to all without discrimination, He chooses to bestow His special blessings to his chosen ones. But behind this generous act of God is a humble spirit. Nothing can move the hand of God most to do wondrous things than a humble spirit.
4) The Establishment of Israel was also a great miracle. No one would expect that these oppressed slaves of Egypt become a great nation. Egypt was the most powerful empire of the time. Israel was her slave. Who would expect the exodus of Jacob’s descendants from that land of cruelty and slavery to happen? But God emancipated them and brought them to the Promised Land with great wonders and miracles.
5) The Psalmist here realized that God is the God of miracles. The most despised group of people, of which he belonged, became the medium through which God manifested His Omnipotence! Having realized this he exclaimed exuberantly, “Blessed is he whose hope is in the God of Jacob!”
6) Should we not rejoice with him? Would our hearts not be filled with exuberance and our spirits revolutionized?
v Imagine the security & assurance we have in His hands.
v Imagine His special favors on us
v Imagine how great God could do in us and through us.
v Think:
1. Out of these cruelly oppressed people came the great kingdom of Israel, David the greatest king, and Solomon the wisest king.
2. Through these uneducated slaves God showed His glorious power throughout the world
3. And from these most despised, hated race came the Savior!
v What do you want God to do with CCFC? Think of something. Desire and put it in prayer.
v Now, let’s allow the apostle Paul to speak about it. Open your Bible in Eph. 3:20. May this verse turn to be prophetic for the ministry of God here in CCFC!
b) His insight of God’s act at present.
1) Blackaby said: “your perspective on God is vital when your present circumstances are confusing.”
2) He was on the verge of despondency, yet he mounted up himself on the victory plane. This because of his proper perspective on God.
3) In verses 7-9 we can find this psalmist’s understanding on God’s activity. The verbs he used for God’s activities here were in the present tense and in personal form. What does it imply? What did he understand that his heart leaped in joy to praise God?
v God is a Personal God. He is an Individual, a Person, a Being. He is not an impersonal force, thought or principle asserted by some. He is Someone that feels, thinks, and responds. We can speak to Him; we can relate to Him. He listens, He cares, He understands, and He sympathizes. He’s a loving Father, a faithful Friend, and a very Wonderful Companion. Isn’t this truth revolutionary? Yes it is. The One you love, trust and serve has a burning love for you!
v Illustration: I Suffered chicken fox. I grieved in spirit to see my face. I wrote my gf –my wife now, and told her about my situation. She wrote me back and reassured me of her love. I was revolutionized!
v God is available to all. He’s not only the God of Jacob. He is also the God of the oppressed, the blind, the prisoners and the outcasts. He is never bound with place, time or situation. One doesn’t need an appointment to talk with God. One doesn’t have to worry that God is busy with other things and could not attend to his concerns. I think, the amount of time that we have spent to come to Him have not depleted His availability for us. The problem is not of His availability to attend to our concerns, but our availability to come to Him.
v God is presently active. He works. Blackaby says, “God is always at work around you.” One doesn’t need to have a seminary training to understand the working of God. He just needs to look around with eyes of faith and spiritual insight. God is at work! This is very encouraging. This means He never leaves you alone. He’s not just watching at a distance! He’s working, perhaps, in, with or through your hands!
c) His foresight of God’s act in the future.
1) In verse 10 he says, “The Lord shall reign forever…” He’s thinking of the consummation of all things when God shall reign and put all troubles to an end.
2) Now having his mind focused on the future glory, he had no time to hang around despondently about his present predicaments. All he had to do was expressing his praises to God, rejoicing in the hope of God’s coming reign.
3) The most wonderful thing of this man is that he is optimistic. His mind was filled not only with the reign of God, but he’s thinking of the wonderful things that God would do in the days ahead out of his present circumstances. He based his hope in the creative work of God. In verse 6 he mentioned God’s act of creation. God is the Creator. Every wonderful thing is His handiwork. He may have thought of the creation story in Genesis one. “The world was void and full of darkness. Then God filled the world with everything that is needed to make it pleasant and wonderful.” In His own time, God can do that too in our lives, in our ministry, in our family, in our country, and once again in our sin-stricken world.
4) He had that hope, so he rejoiced.
CONCLUSION:
We are not guaranteed to always experience good circumstances. Life is not always wonderful. But we are guaranteed to enjoy the presence of our wonderful God. Like the Psalmist we can live in joy and victory because our God is:
1. The God of History
2. The Present Personal and Active God
3. And the God of Creation.
