Sermon for July 23rd, 2023

Psalm 145:1-21

Praise. Of David.
1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall extol your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 They will recount the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works I will meditate.
6 They will proclaim the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.
10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your faithful shall bless you.
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,
12 to make known to all people your mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
The Lord is faithful in all his words and gracious in all his deeds.
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is just in all his ways and kind in all his doings.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.

Psalm 145: An Alphabet of Praise

Psalm 145 is all about praising God.

Which reminds me of the story about a woman who bought a female parrot from the pet store, with the assurance that it was a "talking parrot." But the woman quickly learned that her parrot was silent most of the time, except for when she had guests come over to her house, at which point the parrot, in a sexy, seductive voice, would say, "Hey cutie, wanna have some fun?"

Embarrassed and dismayed, the woman consulted with her pastor, who happened to be the owner of a talking male parrot. Her pastor reassured her, saying, "My parrot is very religious and spends all of his time praying and reading the bible. Bring your parrot over for a visit, and I'm sure he'll be a good influence on her.

On the day of the arranged visit, sure enough, the pastor's parrot was deeply immersed in reading the Bible and praying. When the female parrot was placed in his cage, he all but ignored her. And then she said, in her most seductive voice, "Hey cutie, wanna have some fun?" At which point the pastor's parrot slammed his little Bible shut, raised his wings to heaven, and said, "Praise God! My prayers have been answered!"

There are all sorts of reasons we give praise to God, and many (if not most) of those reasons have to do with answered prayers. Of course, anyone who has ever prayed knows that God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the exactly the way, or the timing, we might hope for.

The people of Ancient Israel, after the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the first temple, and the Babylonian exile, prayed desperately for a King who might return them to their homeland, restore the temple, and lead them to renewed days of glory, just like King David did so long ago. The Psalms leading up to this one reflect those desperate prayers, that sense of abandonment, and that yearning for a new leader, a new King David.

Many of those Psalms are “Psalms of David” not in the sense that they are written BY David, but that they are written TO David, FOR David, or in memory OF David. And this Psalm, Psalm 145, is the last one in the book of Psalms to be labeled “A Psalm of David.” But there’s another part to the inscription, right before David’s name: It’s the Hebrew word תְּהִלָּ֗ה (tehilah), which simply means… “praise.” And Psalm 145 is a transitional psalm—it’s the last Psalm of David, but the first of the “Hallel” psalms, the last five psalms which all begin and end with the words “Praise God” (or Hallelujah, in Hebrew). This is the grand finale of the Book of Psalms, where all of the lament, all of the angst, all of the cries for help are finally subsumed in a triumphant crescendo of confident praise, offered to a good and loving God who cares for all people and all creatures, and who in the end lifts up his people and makes all the wrongs right again.

But to get to that point, the people of Israel had to let go of the idea that an earthly king could do all this. Verse 1 acknowledges that God is the only king that really matters: I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Verse 13: Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

• Poetry, Prayer, Personal, Public
• In this psalm’s universe, the role of humans is to speak. Worshipers describe themselves as extolling, blessing, praising, lauding, telling, meditating, proclaiming, declaring, celebrating, singing, giving thanks, speaking, and making known. The role of God is to act.
• Faith isn’t faith if it’s just inside your head/heart—true faith must be spoken, shared, proclaimed.
• Acrostic implies comprehensiveness—the A to Z of praising God. Also implies educational use of the psalm—the ABC’s of praising God.
• Rabbi Yehiel Poupko is Judaic Scholar for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. Rabbi Poupko describes Psalm 145 as the “prayer of all prayers” and the “entry way to the Psalms,” to be prayed three times each day by the devout. According to the Talmud, “‘Everyone who repeats the Tehillah of David thrice a day may be sure that he is a child of the world to come’ (Berakot, 4b).”2 Its purpose is the praise of God (vv. 1–7). Prayer should be offered to God, who is compassionate, majestic, and sovereign (vv. 8–13). The final section (vv. 14–20) answers the question of the very purpose of prayer.
• Augustine selected Psalm 145:3 as the opening words of his Confessions: “You are great, Lord, and highly to be praised.” In the opening paragraph to his spiritual autobiography, commenting on this and other psalms, Augustine addresses one of his greatest insights about God: “You stir [us] to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you”
• This insight from Augustine inspired one of Calvin’s own great insights: knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves are woven together into one true quest. If we would come to know the truth about ourselves, we must come to a true knowledge of God our Creator and Redeemer.
• Psalm 145 beautifully demonstrates the lex orandi lex credendi rule of the Christian tradition. This classical phrase in Christian theology means that as the church prays, so it believes.