Praise
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The Hebrew term Hallel
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We begin exploring what it means to
praise God by examining a section of the Hallel. The English word hallelujah,
which means praise Jehovah, is related to the Jewish term hallel. This section
of Psalms, from 113 to 118, was sung/chanted word for word
at various feasts. The portion we will look at today is Psalm 113. In
the first five verses, we find the psalmist praising God for His lofty
position. In the last four verses, he praises God for His notice of us.
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Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the
LORD.
We see here that the first sentence
is an imperative, issuing a command. In plain language, praising God is not
optional. We are not to glorify God only when the sun is shining, the birds are
singing, and the gentle breeze is wafting in the window. Praise is not
voluntary; it is required, which means, at heart, it is not circumstantial.
We also notice that this command is
issued to all of us. Who is to praise the Lord? Ye, that great King
James Version word for all of you. In turn, this implies that praise is not
just for the choir or the pastor; it is for all of God’s people, men and women
and boys and girls.
But whom are we praising? Jehovah. We
are to praise Him specifically for this name. You and I did not choose our
names; they were chosen for us. But God did choose His names, and He did so to
reveal aspects of His character. This particular name He used 6,519 times for
Himself in the Word of God. Its root in the original language is hayah (to be,
formed twice). Jehovah is the One Who is what He is, I AM THAT I AM. (Exodus
3.14)
In studying Jehovah for a sermon
series, stripped down to its essence, I found this name reveals a God who
requires righteousness. This, in turn, demands that He not rest until He makes
His creatures as righteous as He is. Thus, it is Jehovah who formed the plan
for our justification, Jehovah who sacrificed the Messiah at Calvary (Isaiah
53), and Jehovah who leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his
name’s sake. (Psalm 23.3)
Praise the Lord for justification, for
the atonement, for imputed righteousness, for the practical daily outworking of
our sanctification, and the glorification we will experience one day when we
become like Him. Literally, hallelujah.
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Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and for evermore.
Praising God for the name and revealed
attributes of Jehovah is not something exclusively commanded in the psalmist's
day. He is careful to point out that this should continue for evermore.
Reading through to Revelation, the saint of God will have little trouble
finding it happening there in Heaven, present and future. It should be done by
us now; it will be done by us in eternity.
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From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same The LORD’s name is
to be praised.
There is no wrong time to praise
Jehovah. I am grateful for all of God's people that stand and sing His praises
in church of a Sunday, but praising Him is emphatically not just a Sunday
thing. It is an all-the-time thing.
The other way to take the phrase from
the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same is geographic. Where
does the sun rise? In the east. Where does it set? In the west. From the East
to the West, the whole Earth should resound with His praises. This has
implications for the missionary responsibility of the church, does it not? The
English used to crow, "The sun never sets on the British empire."
Used to, as in, they do not anymore, because the British empire, as all realms
eventually must, collapsed under the accumulated weight of human inertia. Yet
all across the globe today, God's people whispered and shouted and sang and
cried His praises.
There is no other empire like His.
There is no other God like Him. There are no other accomplishments like His
accomplishments. Praise Him, beloved.
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The LORD is high above all nations, And his glory above the heavens.
Although the psalmist is praising
Jehovah here, I cannot help but think of another of God's names, El Elyon, The
Most High God. There are other spirit beings and forces out there, gods if you
will. But our God is El Elyon, The Most High God.
Find me a God higher than our God. Psalm
2 tells us He sits in the heavens and laughs at the ineffectual attempts by
others to attack Him.
Find me a God with more glory. It cannot
be done. In Louis L’Amour’s book, The Lonesome Gods, he theorizes the
gradual disappearance of the old Native American gods because they were no
longer worshipped. Although not quite theologically accurate, it is telling.
Pull out your phone and search Google Maps for a local temple to Taiowa, the
Hopi sun spirit. You will not find one. Yet from before the dawn of Creation,
our God has been worshipped. He is worshipped now by millions of angels,
billions of humans in Heaven, and hundreds of millions of living humans on
Earth. He will be worshipped by uncountable numbers of human and angelic beings
throughout all eternity. There is no God ever anywhere who has received or is
receiving or will receive such glory.
Find me a God deserving of more glory.
Find me another God who is entirely righteous, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal,
majestic, wise, loving, faithful, and as merciful as our God. It cannot be
done. Find me another God who has existed from eternity past. Find me another
God who has made all that is. Find me another God who sacrificed Himself out of
love for the good of His creation. Find me another God who conquered sin and
death and hell. Find me another God who could come up with a way to make
humanity righteous. All of these and more He did, is doing, and will do.
The praise and glory we give Him should
fill not just the Earth but the heavens, the present Heaven, the future Heaven.
Let His glory burst forth from an uncountable number of throats in an uncountable
number of places for an uncountable number of reasons for an uncountable
eternity.
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Who is like unto the LORD our God, Who dwelleth on high,
Go ahead. Try to compare our God to
something or someone else. It is a delightful exercise in futility. Try to
describe Him. Try to explain the glory of the Trinity, stretch your mind to
grasp the wonders of a God Who never began, and meditate upon the endless
infinity of His attributes. When you have accomplished this, you will have only
started to touch the hem of His garment.
Then find someone greater. I say again
with entire confidence; it cannot ever be done.
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Who humbleth himself to behold The things that are in heaven, and in the earth!
…yet this God, Jehovah, El Elyon, the
Most High God, pays attention to what happens on this old Earth. He is not
remote, detached, unmoved, and unnoticing. He is aware, fully aware. Not aware
of the great only or of the grand sweep of history but of the minutiae of my
everyday life. And not aware only, but aware and caring.
Our church building, like much of
Dubuque, sits atop a hill. A stop sign is at the bottom of the road running
down the hill. In a tablespoon of dirt at the base of that stop sign are more
micro-organisms than people on Earth. I have driven past that stop sign
thousands of times probably and never once stopped to consider those billions
of organisms. There are so far beneath my notice as to be entirely unnoticeable.
The chances of me caring for them are even less.
God is infinitely higher above me than
I am above those micro-organisms, yet He knows me and cares for me.
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He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth the needy out of the
dunghill;
Why would a God as great as our God
care about our financial condition? But He does. Our genuine need occupies His
attention, whatever that need may be. As a 21st-century American, I
have never known absolute poverty. I have, at times, slept in my car because I
had no other roof. I have, at times, eaten my meals out of other people's trash
cans. Yet I still say I have never known absolute poverty. I have read too many
books about the Third World to think I have ever been destitute. Yet this great
God notices each and every genuine need we have and tenderly provides for His
own.
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That he may set him with princes, Even with the princes of his people.
Our God is a great promoter; He
constantly lifts others higher, moving people up. Noah was just another man in
a pre-Flood world, yet God used him to save humanity. Abraham was just another
man in the ancient Sumerian civilization, yet God made him the father of many
nations. Joseph was just a late-born son in an enormous family of wandering
Middle Eastern nomads, yet God raised him just below the mighty Pharaoh in
prominence and power. And we have yet to get out of the book of Genesis.
I have seen this in my own life. I
used to walk and pray in my tiny Chicago church auditorium, with its pews
crammed in one upon the other, running all the way to the walls, asking God to
give me a ministry that would go beyond the walls of my church building. I had
no right to ask such a thing. I had even less right to expect the Most High God
to notice, to care, or to act upon it. Yet now, my ministry extends far and
wide.
It is our God alone Who could or would
do such things.
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He maketh the barren woman to keep house, And to be a joyful mother of
children. Praise ye the LORD.
This week, I sought to comfort a
friend whose first grandchild had just closed his eyes in death. There is something
awful about standing above a child's grave. I know for I have done it. Our
first daughter lived for ten days. She is buried now on a peaceful Pennsylvania
hillside. This week I remembered again the horror of those days, a horror
compounded by the medical advice we received that Mandy and I might never be
able to bear healthy children. I cannot possibly explain the pain such events
bring a young bride and groom.
Yet, despite these facts, I sat at
lunch today with my children like olive plants around my table. And I was
happy.
What He has done for Mandy and me in
His great lovingkindness He can do for you. Only a God like our God would.
Praise Him today. Wherever you are,
still your heart and your mind. Open your soul to Him. And whisper or shout or
sing or weep out your praises to Him.
Hallelujah.
