Hallel Ujah

 

Praise 2

 

The Hebrew term Hallel

          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.

 

1 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.

 

2 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.

 

3 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.

 

4 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.

 

5 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.

 

6 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.

 

7 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 21^st-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.

 

8 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.

 

9 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.