We’re finishing our walk through Psalm 103 where we’re talking about the lavishness of God – His extravagance…who He is, what He does. We’re looking at the last four verses of Psalm 103 today. This is a psalm of David and if you recall – let me refresh our memories – the Psalm starts out with David praising God. He says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.” David actually tells himself – gives instructions to himself – to praise God. That’s good news for us because if we’re honest, many times we don’t feel like praising God. Maybe some circumstances in life are such that the last thing that we want to do is praise God and thank him. As a matter of fact, if we are really honest with ourselves, we’re a little fed up with God sometimes and He isn’t hearing our prayers or different things. But here, praise and to bless the Lord isn’t a feeling or it isn’t an emotion. It isn’t something that we get caught up in, although sometimes we can. It’s really an attitude of the heart. And David - he instructs his own heart – he tells himself, “Bless the Lord. Praise the Lord.”
Now maybe some of you are thinking, “Well that’s easy for David to tell himself to praise God – to praise the Lord. I mean he was King of all Israel. He killed Goliath and he had fame and people were calling out his name and Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands. David was the big man on campus. So it’s easy for him to call on God and say, ‘praise you God. Bless your name’.
But David had more heartaches and probably more trials than many of us will ever face. He stumbled into some deep sin. He committed adultery and to cover up that adultery because the woman whom he slept with got pregnant, he had her husband killed. And then his sin was found out. That baby that was born as a result of that died at seven days old. That’s tough. That’s reality. That’s life.
David was living in a time of war and he was fighting all the time to establish his kingdom and his throne. And when some of his sons grew older they fought over that very throne. One even tried to take David’s life and David was back on the run again. David had a lot to be thankful for – to bless God for – but he also had many circumstances in life that would stir up anything but praise.
But he instructs himself in the first five verses to bless the Lord. Bless him. Praise Him because He forgives all sins, all iniquities. He forgives them. Because he redeems my life from the pit. He crowns my life with His steadfast love. He restores my youth like the eagles.
So then he goes on. He goes on to move from personal praise and blessing of God to then praise for how God has operated and worked in and through the people of Israel. Verses 6 through 14. If you recall we see some of the things that God does for His people. He keeps His covenant, His steadfast covenant love, His lovingkindness. He doesn’t repay people for their sins. He has shown His ways to Moses – His acts to the sons of Israel…the nation of Israel. So David praises Him for that. So we see that He moves from personal praise to praise for the nation of Israel and the people of God – people who enter into covenant with God – and then He broadens it.
You remember last week he broadens it to all of humanity. He talks about how we all have one thing in common – the same thing in common – is that life is short and we’re all going to perish and we’re all going to die…but, the everlasting love of the Lord – the steadfast love, the abounding love, the lovingkindness, covenant love of God is from everlasting to everlasting. It lasts forever. So comparison of our lives to God is the finite to that which lasts forever. And that lovingkindness, then, is not only lasting forever, but it’s on those who keep His covenant.
And we talked about covenant. We talked about the new covenant that God wants to enter in with man – that anyone who believes in His Son will enter into that covenant and then become a disciple of Jesus and be His covenant people – to display His covenant love then to others and to display His kingdom love here on earth.
Then we come to today’s passage, verse 19 through 22. David has went from the personal. He’s broadened it to the people of Israel – God’s people. He’s broadened it every farther to all of humanity and now he goes all the way. He broadens the praise of God for who He is in the universe and praises Him before everything.
Let’s ask God to lead us today. Heavenly Father, thank you that you are a covenant keeping God…that your love is from everlasting to everlasting…that you rule in heaven. I pray You would through your word today speak to us. We don’t want to leave here the same person. We want to be challenged and changed through the preaching of your word by your Holy Spirit. So I ask Holy Spirit that you would come and you would minister to us. Amen.
Verse 19, David gives one more reason to bless the Lord. You want one more reason to praise the Lord? If all the things that he’s written about weren’t enough already…His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness, steadfast love, His covenant-keeping love to the nation of Israel and those who keep His covenant now, here’s one more reason:
Verse 19:
“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.”
God has established his throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all. Sovereign means chief or highest or supreme. The truth of God’s Word is that God is the supreme authority. He has control over all the earth.
In Isaiah, chapter 66, God says this about himself…”Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where then is a house that you could build for me and where is a place that I may rest? For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being, declares the Lord.”
God is above the earth. He is above heaven and earth and He rules over everything. Listen to Daniel’s description of God in Daniel 4, verse 35: “And all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heavens. And among the inhabitants of earth and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘what hast thou done?’”
God does what He wills and nobody can say to Him, “why have you done that, God? You should have done it differently.” God doesn’t answer to any higher authority. He is the supreme authority. He is sovereign. He doesn’t have to ask permission from anybody. He doesn’t have to gain people’s favor in order to do different things. His throne is established and He rules. He’s sovereign over all of creation.
That is something to be thankful for and to bless the Lord for and to praise Him for as David did. Because we, as one of His people, know that God is ultimately in control. It’s not our own lives and our circumstances. It’s not those in our realm and sphere of influence that will ultimately determine our end or where we go. It’s in the Lord’s hands…its God’s hands.
Now I also believe that while God is sovereign, scripture also talks about man’s responsibility. All throughout the pages of scripture we are still responsible for the decisions that we make. Now you say, “Well, God is ultimately in control so how are we responsible for the decisions we make.” Well, that’s a good question. But I know this, in scripture it’s clear. Scripture is about whosoever will – you’ve got to make a decision. There’s scripture about God is sovereign. He rules over all. Nothing is seen that He doesn’t plan or ordain. But scripture is very clear that we are responsible. We still have responsibility. But I also believe that there are spheres of influence within God’s frame work of His sovereignty – His control.
That’s how Paul can talk of in Ephesians of there being powers and principalities. Powers of darkness – these rulers of darkness – they do have a sphere of power and influence within the scope of this world under God’s authority. It’s all God’s authority.
Jonathan Edwards before he was saved – God saved him – he stayed home from church. His family went to church and he went to the library. He liked to read a lot and he saw a book sitting there with black leather and no title on it. So he picked it up and it was a New Testament. And he turned to I Timothy 1:17 and he read this words…”Now to him, the immortal, invisible only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” In a flash of an instant, Jonathan Edwards realized that this powerful God, ruler of the universe, king over all creation, was a God that he didn’t know. He was a subject to Him…a very poor one. And so right then God saved him and he grabbed his life. Jonathan Edwards went on to proclaim this God – this powerful God, this judging God, yes, but this grace-giving God. And thousands came to know the truths of scripture.
There are spheres of influence and maybe you’re right in the middle of a sphere of influence and it doesn’t seem like God is in control, but He is. Over-arcing all the plans of humanity and all the plans of the spiritual world is God’s control. He doesn’t get caught off guard by anything.
Today we talk a lot about terrorism and people are scared and rightly apprehensive about terrorism and there’s these people that are seeking to hurt people and do harm. I have news for Osama bin Laden is that he’s not in control. He doesn’t control this earth or this world and he might be thinking that he’s fighting for God. But God of heaven and earth that we read about here is in control. And nothing that he can do is outside of God’s plan and His design. Al-Zarqawi thought he was in control and he had power, but he tasted of his own humanity just recently. God is in control. Don’t ever forget that.
When the first Russian satellite went into space – as soon as they got into space the Russian people, the Community country, was really happy about it and a magazine in Moscow, called “Krolcidil”, it indicated this. It said this in a quote, “Creation from a communist point of view is at last under new management.” That’s the claim of Communist Russia at the time.
Well, the news is from scripture and why David praises God is because His throne is established. He is sovereign and He rules over all. “Bless the Lord.”
Now if you are like Jonathan Edwards, that’s not really a reason to bless the Lord if you don’t know him – if you’re not one of His subjects. But it is all the reason to praise Him and bless Him because He’s in control and you know that the outcome is in His hands. There’s that hope there. And there’s that hope that someday things will be made right.
All right, so let’s move on. God’s in control…there’s a reason. And then he closes out the Psalm by instructing praise and blessing to different beings here. Look at verse 20:
“Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word!
Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
You who serve Him, doing His will.
Bless the Lord, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
He instructs the very heavenly parts of heaven to praise their Creator. He instructs angels, angelic beings. Here’s some quick facts about angels. Okay, 21 facts about angels right from scripture. I won’t give you the scripture reference, but they are all right here if you want them.
• Angels are mentioned 273 times in the Bible in 34 books.
• They were created by God
• They report directly to God.
• They were present at the creation of the world.
• They announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds.
• They do not marry.
• They were created to live forever.
• Their purpose is to glorify God.
• Some angels help human beings.
• Some angels harm human beings.
• They are spirit beings.
• They are invisible beings.
• They are innumerable.
• They possess intelligence.
• They possess will.
• They display joy.
• They display desire.
• They are stronger than men.
• They are more intelligent than men.
• They are swifter than men.
• They are not omnipresent.
• They are not omnipotent.
• They are not omniscient.
• Some are cherubim
• Some are seraphim.
• The majority remain true to God.
• They will all join believers in the heavenly Jerusalem at the end times.
You got all that? There will be a quiz following on your way out that you’ll have to fill out…but, no, the whole point is that angels are a part of God’s creation. They are an intricate part and they have an intricate, specific role that God has given them. But David in his praise is not just limiting his praise to himself; not just limiting his praise to his people; is not just limiting his praise to all of humanity; he even shouts out to these powerful beings who are more powerful to him – “Bless the Lord you His angels; praise His holy name!”
He exhorts them to praise Him. Then he moves on. He addresses the hosts of heaven. He’s really even broadening now the scope even more, because hosts is still referring to angelic beings, but it’s referring to a myriad of them or the Hebrew word really has a sense of an army…the hosts of heaven. And so he says, “you, his angels, praise Him.” He’s addressing them. Then he broadens it – “all the hosts of heaven, bless his holy name.”
Then verse 22, “Bless the Lord, all of His works…” He can’t go any farther than this. There’s no other place that David can go greater than this praise. All the works of God’s creation, by God’s hand everything was created. By His decree, He spoke the earth into being. By his command, we still have life and breath and we still are able to live. And he says, “all works….let the rocks cry out…bless the Lord.”
The last part of verse 22…in this song of blessing and praise to God, he closes it with what he started, “bless the Lord, O my soul!” He once again tells himself and his very soul to praise God…to praise Him.
Do you have an attitude of praise today? Do you have an attitude of thanksgiving and blessing for God? Maybe you don’t. Maybe it’s because there’s circumstances surrounding life that has clouded your view of God. And not even clouded but it’s really given you a sense about God or a feeling towards Him that isn’t good; that isn’t praise-worthy.
Do you praise Him today? Do you give Him thanks and praise? Many times circumstances in life have that affect on us. They steer us away from seeing who God really is or seeing the big picture, the big plan.
Earl Weaver was a manager of the Baltimore Orioles…long time manager. And Reggie Jackson was playing for him at the time and Reggie didn’t like the rule that Weaver had. He said that nobody can steal unless he gives the steal sign. It didn’t matter if you were fast or you knew how to steal bases and you could get a great jump off the pitcher…it didn’t matter. You didn’t steal unless you got the steal sign.
So one day, early on in the game, Reggie Jackson got on first base and he knew the pitcher and he knew the catcher catching. He knew that he could steal the base so he got a good lead and the pitcher made his delivery to home plate. Reggie got a huge jump and was safe by a mile at second base. He got up and he was brushing himself off and he had a big smile on his face because he felt that he had proved himself to Weaver. “I can steal bases. I’m good enough. I know these people so I don’t need the instruction. I can do it.”
Well, after the game, Weaver pulled Reggie Jackson aside and he said, “You’re not going to do that again. Let me just tell you – you might have thought that you stole a base, but that’s not all that happened.” You know what happened is that after Reggie Jackson was up to bat, Lee May came up to bat. He was the next best hitter on the team – a power hitter. So the pitcher intentionally walked him because he had first base open. So he went to first base so the next batter up throughout his whole career had never hit this pitcher very well. So in order to try to get some of these runs in, Weaver had to pinch hit for him. And then later on in the game, he didn’t have that pinch hitter; he didn’t have that bench help. So they went on to end up losing the game.
Reggie saw the pitcher and he saw second base. That’s all he could see. But Weaver saw the entire game. He saw the grand plan and scheme. Many times that’s how it is in our lives, isn’t it? …that we don’t see the purposes and the plans behind the things that we are going through at the time. But it doesn’t mean that God isn’t in control; it doesn’t mean that he’s not on his established throne in heaven; and it doesn’t mean that he’s not going to make it come together for our good. Romans 8:28 says that. For those who are in a covenant relationship with God, he works all things together for good so don’t let those circumstances cloud your vision of who God is.
I like the fact that David tells himself and he ends this Psalm and we’re going to end our time today – our examination of Psalm 103 and I’m going to ask you to do this same thing that David did. I’m instructing myself – instruct yourself – to praise God. Tell yourself to praise Him. Praise and worship isn’t just about this time and this service that we have right over here where we sing some songs. This is not just how we bless the Lord. This is about our life, and who we are, and how we live. And for me, I know a challenge for me is when I come in to praise and worship time or singing, it’s a lot easier to get into it when its my music and I like this type of singing and this type of songs. But the beautiful thing about praise and worship and blessing the Lord, it doesn’t have to be what we like. It doesn’t have to be what we’re used to. It doesn’t have to be any of those things. We can instruct our very souls to praise God and to bless Him with all of our life; with all of our song; with all of our speech.
Maybe some of you, and I know that there’s some that don’t like to sing at all. You don’t like to sing the praise and worship songs. Well, that’s okay because there’s more than one way to praise God. “Bless the Lord, O my soul”. Tell yourself, today, to praise Him.
Maybe today you are feeling weary and you’re feeling down about this life. Whatever the circumstances is, a job, family…maybe crumbling or falling apart, I don’t know what the circumstances are…but you are feeling weary and down. Let Psalm 103 bless your spirit to bless the Lord today. He renews your youth like the eagles.
Maybe today you’ve failed and you’ve sinned and its Father’s Day and you can’t help but feel a little beat up on Father’s Day because you’ve failed in so many different ways as a father. You’re feeling like a failure or you’re feeling like your sin is ever before you and it’s condemning you. You’re a Christian; you’re a believer; you’ve stood at the Cross of Calvary; you’ve been forgiven but yet you’re still hounded by the hound of hell and he’s on top of you and your sin is ever before you. Let Psalm 103 bless you to bless the Lord today. “…as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who keep his covenant.”
Maybe today you don’t feel like God’s in control. Maybe things have spun out of control and you want a sense of closure. You want a sense of finality. Maybe there’s been somebody who has hurt you or wronged you or even your family…they’ve ridiculed your children because they take a stand for Jesus and you’re worried about their well-being and their love for the Lord. You want it to grow, but you see that they are getting hammered every time and you’re saying to yourself, “turn the other cheek isn’t working too good for me. All it’s given me is more bruises.”
Well, let me tell you the fact of scripture. You can bless the Lord today and let Him know that His throne is established in heaven. He rules on high and everything will be made right; the path will be made straight.
That’s the promise of scripture. Let it bless you today so you can bless the Lord. Then you can join in with David. You can say, even though you might not feel like it, right now you can join in. You can say, “Bless the Lord you His angels; bless the Lord all the heavenly hosts; bless the Lord all of the works of His Creation. Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
For those who bless the Lord, when they don’t feel like it, when they instruct themselves like Job, that’s the character that God wants to see in his people. Will you bless the Lord today? Praise Him in your soul. It doesn’t matter of the circumstances; it doesn’t matter the feeling. I’m going to tell myself today to bless the Lord.
Napoleon Bonaparte – he conquered pretty much the whole known world at a very young age – a very accomplished warrior and strategist. He called his general the bravest man on earth. He said that there is nobody braver than him; he is the fiercest warrior and the bravest man on earth – his number one general. But you know this general before going to battle he would need help from people on each side to get up on his horse to go into battle because his knees would be shaking so much. He couldn’t get up on the horse; he literally couldn’t. He had to have help and people around would see this man that Napoleon said was the bravest man on earth shaking so much in his boots that he couldn’t get on his horse. But then he would mount his horse and he’d call out for everyone to see, “Shake away knees; you’d shake a lot more if you knew where I was taking you.”
That’s the attitude we have as believers and Christians. Even though we don’t feel like praising God – that’s what he has made us to do. In Ephesians, chapter 1, “we’ve been made for the praise of His glory and grace.” And maybe you feel like your knees are shaking and you can’t praise Him; or you don’t have the feeling within you – hey, instruct yourself…tell yourself “I’ll praise the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul, let all that is within me bless His holy name.” Amen.
