Difference between revisions of "Sermon for August 15th, 2021"

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Psalm 147:1-20

Today's scripture reading is incorporated into the sermon.

Psummer of Psalms IV - Psalm 147, A Psalm of Praise

Back in the days of the circuit riding preacher--the preacher who would ride on horseback across the plains to preach at several different churches each Sunday--a certain preacher wanted to train his horse, and, being a preacher he thought it would be clever to use biblical phrases as commands. So he taught the horse to giddy up and go whenever he said the word, "Praise the Lord." And he taught his horse to stop whenever he said the word "Hallelujah."

This worked out great, and really impressed the people when he rode into town, loudly shouting "Hallelujah," and bringing his horse to a stop. Then after the service, he'd mount his horse as the people gathered on the steps of the church, shout "Praise the Lord," and horse and rider would gallop off into the horizon.

One day, in between towns, the preacher fell asleep in the saddle. When he woke up, he found his horse had veered off course and was headed at a fast trot straight towards the edge of a cliff. Flustered, he tried hard to remember which command made the horse stop. He shouted, "Jubilation" and "God Almighty!" and even "transubstantiation" but nothing worked. Just as the horse was about to go over the edge, he remembered and cried out "Hallelujah" and the horse came to an abrupt stop two inches from certain death. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the preacher breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Whew! That was close, but we made it, praise the Lord!" He was never heard from again.

Hallelujah is simply a Hebrew word that, when literally translated, means "Praise the Lord." It's the very first word at the beginning of Psalm 147, and the very last word as well. In fact, the last five Psalms in the Book of Psalms all begin and end with "Hallelujah" or "Praise the Lord" and so they are known as the "Hillel" or "Praise" psalms.

It's fitting that today we end our summer sermon series on the Psalms with one of the very last Psalms--the third from the end, in fact. Let's jump right in.

1 Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
    for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.

But wait a minute, God. The past year was really tough! I can think of more reasons to be angry with you than to praise you right now. Why is a song of praise "fitting" when things in my life...and in my world...are so messed up right now? That's a great question, and one that would be familiar to the people of ancient Jerusalem. In the year 587 BC, the Babylonian army invaded their city, breaking through its walls and razing all of its buildings to the ground. Entire families were slaughtered, and those few who survived were carted away into slavery in a foreign land. With their sacred temple destroyed, singing praises to God wasn't even an option anymore--at least not in any familiar or recognizable way.

70 years later, after a regime change in Babylon, a remnant of those exiles were allowed to return and rebuild the city of Jerusalem, its homes, its walls, and its temple. Psalm 147, beginning in verse 2, recognizes this event:

2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted,
    and binds up their wounds.

Why do we praise the Lord, in bad years as well as good one? Because we trust in his ultimate trajectory--that even when all that we love and hold dear is lost, God still has a plan and a future for us. Broken hearts heal in time, and old wounds give way to new horizons.

4 He determines the number of the stars;
    he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
    his understanding is beyond measure.
6 The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
    he casts the wicked to the ground.

When the psalmist speaks of stars--every single one named, numbered, and remembered--I think this is also a poetic way of saying that God remembers all of his children: Those whom we have lost, as well as those who are yet to come. We may never understand why people come and go into our lives, in the blink of an eye, but it's enough to know that our lives are in God's just and capable hands.

In the next section, having addressed the sorrow and the loss of his people, the Psalmist calls them once more to praise:

7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
    make melody to our God on the lyre.

But wait a minute, God--what exactly do we have to give thanks for? We're starting all over again from scratch here. We haven't rebuilt anything yet, and our city, our temple, our homes, our lives are just a pale shadow of what they used to be!

It's funny how we tend to measure our success--and therefore our gratitude--in terms of what we build or achieve. We build houses, cars, skyscrapers, careers, empires, and 401k plans, and we fall into the trap of thinking these are the only things to be proud of, and thus thankful for. But Psalm 147 points us to simpler things:

8 He covers the heavens with clouds,
    prepares rain for the earth,
    makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He gives to the animals their food,
    and to the young ravens when they cry.

For what it's worth, ravens are my favorite bird--and they show up in just about every mythology, every sacred text in every major religion. They often symbolize people, and I think here is no exception. Jesus, in Luke 12 says "Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!" I think his point (and the point of the Psalmist, too) is that God doesn't care what you build, how hard you work, how much you have saved up--he's still going to make the rain fall and the grass grow. He's still going to provide the basis for life and nourishment, every day. Give thanks for these things.

The Psalmist continues in verse 10:

10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Once again, the things we use to establish value are not the things most important to God. We care about strength and speed, among other things. God cares about people and relationships, hope and love. Give thanks for these things.

In the final section, the Psalmist calls the people to praise for yet a third time--and this time the call is wider, to the entire city:

12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
    Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
    he blesses your children within you.
14 He grants peace within your borders;
    he fills you with the finest of wheat.

Even as the people begin to rebuild, there is a sense of collaboration between God and people. We build gates, but God strengthens them. We produce children, but God blesses them. We establish borders, but God makes peace within them. We plant the wheat, but God makes the harvest plentiful. If you are building (or rebuilding) your life in the wake of a difficult season--have you invited God to be part of that process?

In the next verses, the Psalmist returns to the imagery of nature:

15 He sends out his command to the earth;
    his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
    he scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down hail like crumbs—
    who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them;
    he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.

There's a lot of chaos in these verses--God sends snow, but then scatters it. God sends hail, but then melts it. He sends the winds and the waters--and after last week, most of us can identify with the chaos that can create! Chaos and unpredictability are simply a part of life in this world. God doesn't promise that the weather (or any other circumstances) will always be to our liking, or to our benefit. Life is full of ups and downs, joy and sorrow, triumph and tragedy. If we center our gratitude and thankfulness around the events of the day (or month, or year), we are like tumbleweeds blown around in the wind. But there is something far more stable, far more lasting for us to center our gratitude, and our lives upon:

19 He declares his word to Jacob,
    his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
    they do not know his ordinances.
Praise the Lord!

In the same way that the name Jacob is a poetic synonym for Israel, "statues and ordinances" are a poetic synonym for God's word, God's teaching, and the life-long wisdom that it conveys to all who study it. In the time of the Psalmist, this wisdom was given specifically to Israel, but in the millennia that have followed, God's word has found its way to all nations and peoples.

There's a reason the Bible is the number one best-selling book of all time, in every language. There's a reason that Psalms like this one, written 3,000 years ago half a world away, still connect with us, and inspire us, and speak powerfully to our hearts.

They give us hope and confidence that we, too, can start over again, rebuilding our lives and our communities on the ruins of yesterday or yesteryear.

We too, can take joy and delight in simple things--all the things that change, and all the things that never change.

To paraphrase a man I didn't know but whom I admire greatly, we too can "look at the moon, appreciate what God gives us on earth and be grateful for the beautiful things he provides for us." (Zollie Steakley)

Hallelujah. Praise the Lord!