Psalms of Praise
Delivered on January 22, 2006
By
The Rev. Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh
Senior Pastor
Mpittendreigh@goodshepherdpc.org
Ps 146:1-10
1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
2 I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-- the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.
(NIV)
I came across some interesting prayers last week – they were all prayers of children.
Here is one from Debbie – age 7: Dear God: Please send a new baby for Mommy. The baby you sent last week cries too much.
From Angela, age 8: Dear God, this is my prayer. Could you please give my brother some brains? So far he doesn’t have any.
From Lois, age 9: Dear God: Please help me in school. I need help in spelling, adding, subtracting, science, reading, history, geography and writing. I don’t need help in anything else.
Most of us delight in the prayers of children. They are not afraid to say what is on their mind; to God and to most people. They are very uninhibited when it comes to asking anything of God.
Have you noticed how often that most of our prayers are “asking” prayers? While it is true that we are encouraged to ask of God, there is more to prayer than just asking for things.
If you look at the Book of Psalms, many of these prayers and hymns are songs of praise.
The first words of the last psalm, Psalm 150, is “Praise the Lord.”
The first words of Psalm 149 are “Praise the Lord.”
The first words of Psalm 148 are “Praise the Lord.”
The first words of Psalm 147 are “Praise the Lord.”
The first words of Psalm 146 are “Praise the Lord.”
Well – you get the point.
We don’t spend enough time praising God – praising God is not like thanking God. When you thank God, it is a prayer of thanking God for the specific things he has done. Giving praise to God is more of an adoration for what makes God who He is.
Thanking God is somewhat self-centered – “Thank you, God, for what you did for ME.”
Praising God is more God-centered – “Praise you, God, for what you are.”
And praising God is something many of us forget to do.
Recently I read about a husband and wife who attended an outdoor performance by young violin students. After the concert, an instructor spoke briefly on how children as young as two, three and four years old are taught to play violin. The first thing the children learn, he said, is a proper stance. And the second thing the children learn--even before they pick up the violin--is how to take a bow. ‘If the children just play the violin and stop, people may forget to show their appreciation,’ the instructor said.
"‘But when the children bow, the audience invariably applauds. And applause is the best motivator we’ve found to make children feel good about performing and want to do it well.’"
It is sad, but true. People have to be reminded to show their appreciation.
When was the last time you thought about showing your appreciation to God for who He is?
A CALL TO PRAISE
When you look at the Praise Psalms in the Old Testament, everyone of them starts off with a Call to Praise. We have to be reminded to show our appreciation to God. All of these psalms start with the same words – “Praise the Lord.”
In fact, they all end with the same words – “Praise the Lord.”
If you are looking for a praise psalm in the Bible, they are easy to find. Just look for that opening and closing phrase.
This is something we have to be reminded to do, because praising God does not come naturally.
We have become so self-centered in our lives – and even in our worship.
Have you ever thought about how worship has become self-centered instead of God-centered?
We judge the quality of worship by how it blessed, or failed to bless US. We don’t think about whether or not God was blessed by our worship.
There was a time when we judged the music by whether or not it glorified God. Now we judge church music by how it entertains US.
Even our prayers focus on asking for things WE need, and they become self-centered.
Praising God keeps our worship and our lives focused on God rather than on self-centered themes.
REASONS FOR PRAISE
Every one of the Praise Psalms will include a collection of reasons as to why we should praise God.
In the Psalm we read responsively as our Old Testament lesson we are given a brief and poetic set of reasons as to why we should praise God.
First, we should praise him because God is someone we can trust. He will not fail us.
Psalm 146 says, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.”
The motto of our nation is, “In God we trust.” It says so on the money we carry in our wallets. But we don’t trust God. We’d rather trust the money those words are printed upon.
But money can’t save us. Just ask someone who has become unemployed and who finds the money disappearing from savings accounts.
We like to trust technology. All the gadgets we have are nice, but they are not dependable. Just ask someone whose computer has crashed.
We like to trust power and military might. But remember that our nation was formed by revolutionaries who fought what was at that time the greatest military might in the world – the British Empire. We won, and that should teach us that power and military might cannot always be trusted and can sometimes be overturned by perserverance and ingenuity.
What will you put your trust in?
Ultimately, it is God alone we should trust. Why? Because He alone is eternal. Everything else will someday disappear. But God existed before creation and He will always exist.
If you begin to develop an attitude of praising God, then you will find that you put your trust in God, not in things that will fail you.
Second, we should praise God because He gives us hope.
Psalm 146 says, “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.”
God has a track record.
There is reference here to Jacob – a reminder of the history of God and his people in the Old Testament. We know what God did for Jacob – and we know what God has done for his people through the centuries. In other words, God has a track record in which you can find hope.
The psalmist talks about God creating the heaven, the earth, the sea and everything in them. You can look around at the glories of the universe.
This past week, NASA has sent a probe to Pluto. I am an amateur astronomer and I like to follow the space program. Someone asked me what I thought we would learn from this space probe to Pluto, and I had to admit that I didn’t know, but I also don’t care. What we do learn will probably be beyond my understanding anyway. But I think it is really awesome that in my lifetime we are sending a probe to look at something God made that is so far away the most powerful telescopes can’t see anything.
God has made an awesome universe. I can see some of that wonderful universe and because I know about God’s track record in creating and maintaining the universe, I have hope.
People put their hope in things that have no track record. Or at best, a poor track record.
Last week, two people were sentenced to prison. It was a sad story. This man had a coworker who lost a finger in an accident. The man bought the finger for $100 and his wife put it in a cup of Wendy’s Chili. The couple tried to sue, claiming that the finger had been in the Chili when it had been bought. The hoax didn’t work, but it hurt a lot of people. The company lost money. People lost jobs. The young people behind the counter had nightmares because they worried about how they might have served contaminated food.
When the judge gave the sentences – which were about ten years each – the judge said, “This couple had put their hope in greed.”
Where do you find your sense of hope?
If you begin to develop an attitude of praising God, then you will find that you put your hope in God, not in things that will fail you.
Finally, we should praise him because God loves us.
In our Old Testament lesson, we read, “God upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.”
How many times have you praised your favorite musician, and that musician doesn’t even know you exist?
How many times have you praised your favorite movie or television star, and again, that person does not even know you?
Thinking again about that space probe that is being sent to Pluto – what can we learn from something like that? One thing that sort of thing teaches me is that God created an enormous universe.
Pluto is so far away, the most powerful telescopes can barely see it. One scientist said this week that all we know about that planet can be written on a postage stamp.
And yet God made that distant planet and he knows all there is to know about it.
This is a huge universe.
It amazes me that God – who made this universe and sustains this creation – pays attention to us at all.
In the grand scope of the universe, we are so insignificant.
And yet, in the heart of the creator, we are loved.
For that reason alone, we should have the attitude of praise for God.
Copyright 2006, The Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
Sermons are available online and can be found by visiting www.Pittendreigh.com
