Why doesn't God reveal everything He knows to us
WHO IS LIKE THE LORD OUR GOD? (Psalm 113) – Sunday, November 27, 2016 Series: Psalms of the Season, Message #3 – Pastor Doug Corlew, Summit EFC
Psalm 113 - Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! 2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! 3 From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised! 4 The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! 5 Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, 6 who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? 7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, 8 to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. 9 He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord! This is week #3 in our series, Psalms of the Season, and it’s the first Sunday in Advent. So far it’s been easy to find appropriate texts. Psalms of thanksgiving are plentiful in the Bible; we can take our pick. But this weekend our focus shifts to the Christmas season. So where do we find Christmas in the psalms? It’s not as easy, but it’s an interesting search. Because on the night of His resurrection, Jesus said to His disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). So when Jesus read the Old Testament, He took it personally! He realized that it was all about Him, including the book of Psalms. Some of the psalms are clearly and explicitly Messianic, but all of them point us to Jesus Christ somehow. Often they point to His death and resurrection, but can the psalms also teach us something about His incarnation? Can we find Christmas in the psalms? That will be our challenge this Advent season, and we’re starting off in Psalm 113, where the psalmist asks a very important question in v 5 – Who is like the Lord our God? That question is placed at the very center of the psalm, and it captures the theme: Who is like the Lord our God? Throughout the Bible, that question receives a lot of attention: The prophet Isaiah asks, To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? (40:18) Isaiah then spends a couple of chapters describing the Lord’s incredible power and wisdom. The prophet Micah asks, Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression? (7:18). So this great incomparable God even forgives sin and enjoys loving us? Micah stands in awe. But in our text today, the psalmist is amazed how God stands alone in this respect: Nothing is too great for Him, and no one is too small. Who is like the Lord our God? Nothing is too great for Him to do, and no one is too small to receive His personal help. In the first 5 verses we see that God is HIGHLY EXALTED. Nothing is too great for Him. So praise the Lord! – the psalm begins and ends with that phrase, which in Hebrew is: Hallelujah! Maybe you noticed that the psalmist is focused on the name of the Lord in the first three verses, where the phrase is used three times, once in each verse. Names meant a lot in Bible times. Then as now, to tell someone your name was to initiate a conversation or relationship with them. It was understood that a person’s name generally communicated something about their character. So in God’s case, His name is all important, because it has to do with the revelation of who He is. In other words, it’s not just any God that we’re called to worship. God isn’t whoever we want Him to be. There’s no guesswork involved when you praise the name of one true and living God. 1
It was at Mount Sinai that Moses met God and asked Him, “What is your name?” God said, “Yahweh,” which means, “I am what I am.” Yahweh is God’s personal name. “I am” indicates that God is self-existent, self-sufficient, and eternal. God is, has always been, and always will be. He doesn’t change and He doesn’t go away. He answers to no one and He needs no one. But we answer to Him, and we depend on Him for everything – from physical life to eternal life. So if you ask, “What’s in name?” – that’s what’s in the name of the Lord! It’s a praiseworthy name! So who should do the praising? When should they do this? And where should the praising take place? Those three questions are answered in the first three verses. According to v 1, the servants of the Lord should praise Him, that’s who! Servants of the Lord? For our worship to be acceptable, it must be more than flattery. God’s not impressed when we show up one hour a week to worship Him, but in the other 167 hours serve other gods, continually denying Him by our words and actions. When God truly saves you, He sets you free from sin so you can serve Him. And you want to praise Him – with your life as well as your words. And when should God’s servants praise Him? v 2 - From this time forth and forevermore. Always! Today would be a good time to start. Devote yourself to His praise and you’ll find joy now – and that joy will multiply exponentially when you leave this earth to praise Him in glory that will never end. God will be praised always, and everywhere - From the rising of the sun to its setting. At first, you might think v 3 is saying that we should praise God all day long, from sunrise to sunset. And we should! But that was the point of v 2 – praising God at all times. v 3 means the name of the Lord is to be praised in all places, from the east to the west, from one horizon to the other. The prophet Malachi shares the same sentiment, when he writes, From the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts (1:11). So the Lord chose Israel first, and made His covenant with them. But Abraham was told that in him, all the families of the earth would be blessed. So Israel should lead the way in praise, as servants of the Lord, but they were to live in this confidence that one day their God would be praised all over the world by all kinds of people, as He deserves! That’s why we support missions. The psalmist says in v 4, The Lord is high above all nations, He’s no nationalistic God, restricted to the nation of Israel, or the United States of America. Jesus said to make disciples among all peoples. His name is for the whole world and for all time. Apparently the psalmist still feels like he’s under-stating the Lord’s glory to say that He is high above all nations on earth. So he adds in v 4– and his glory above the heavens! Not in the heavens, but above them! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high? (v 5) Praise the Lord, for He is highly exalted! And 2nd, praise Him because He is HUMBLY GRACIOUS. That’s the second half of the psalm. There is nothing too great for Him, and no one too small. So even though He is seated on high – v 6 says, the Lord looks far down on the heavens and the earth. The NIV says, He stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth. The NASB says, He humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth. First of all, what’s striking here is that God is exalted so high that He has to stoop low, not just to see the earth, but also the heavens! Remember v 4 – his glory is above the heavens! 2
The Hubble Space Telescope continues to reveal new stars and galaxies that are so far from the earth it boggles our imagination. The universe we live in is larger and more spectacular than we ever dreamed. But never forget: Even the most distant and glorious parts of creation are far beneath the Creator Himself. The Lord looks far down on the heavens and the earth! Who is like the Lord our God? He’s in a league of His own. No one can match Him. He has no rivals or competitors. But what’s even more amazing than the fact that the Lord has to stoop in order to look upon the heavens and the earth, is the fact that He does do that! Yahweh, the Lord, chooses to humbles Himself in order to look upon us, to care about struggles we face – all of us, even the lowliest of the low. 7-8 - He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, 8 to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. Not only does the Lord stoop down to look upon the lowly, but He lifts them up to be as He is! He is seated in the heavens, highly exalted, and yet He cares so much about the downtrodden, that He elevates them to places of dignity and privilege. I have no idea how it feels to be from the dust or from the ash heap. I doubt if many of us have ever been that low, but obviously it speaks of extreme misery and a very degrading existence. And I can’t help but think of hundreds of boys and girls in India over the years who once lived in such miserable conditions. Frightened and lonely children living on the streets and scavenging food from the garbage dumps. But they have been rescued from the dust and the ash heap because of people like you, who desire to show them the heart of a God who loves them. I don’t think many of them are sitting yet with the princes of their people, but some of them are getting close! They’ve grown up in our orphanage in Hyderabad, where they have been fed and clothed and loved, and introduced to Christ. They’ve received a good education and some have even gone on to college. One has become an engineer, one is a nurse, another has become an accountant. And as for the children now living at this orphanage – they may eat nothing but rice, own no more than two or three changes of clothes, and sleep on a mat in a room with dozens of other kids – but as far as they’re concerned, compared to where they’ve come from, they are seated with the princes; they are living in luxury! They’ve been raised up from the ash heap. If we know our Bibles well, we may recognize that v 7-8 of Psalm 113 are almost an exact quotation from the mouth of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:8. In her praise to the Lord, Hannah says, He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. And you may recall that Hannah’s song of praise was lifted to God after He answered her prayers, and she gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel. And so it makes sense that the psalmist’s mind would turn where it does next, to conclude like this in v 9 - He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord! This was Hannah’s experience. Obviously, God doesn’t raise every poor person to a place of honor in this life. And He doesn’t enable every barren woman to conceive a child. But the psalmist is reminding us that God does know about our heartaches, and He cares. I think that’s the progression here. If v 7-8 speak generally of those who are poor and needy, v 9 speaks specifically to that one person who is struggling to find joy. Society may see the downtrodden as one collective mass, but God sees individual people who have suffered specific defeats or setbacks. He doesn’t see the discouraged in some general way. God knows each one individually. He knows you. He cares about what you are going through. 3
And He is able to do something about it! He may answer your prayers and give you just the blessing you’ve been praying for. Other times He answers our prayers in ways we do not anticipate. The joys of motherhood, for example, are sometimes experienced through adoption, or extended family, or relationships within God’s family, the church. And while physical poverty is not what any of us wish to experience, God often uses those situations to open our hearts to our need of grace. The danger of wealth is that it gives you the illusion that you don’t need God. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” because only those who know they are needy will call out to God for salvation. Go back and read Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2 and you see how she emphasizes that God reverses what the world holds dear and significant. God shows favor to the weak, poor, and socially marginalized. But He resists the proud and brings down those who trust in the strength of their own resources. Hannah says God will give strength to His King, His anointed one. And of course in the Bible, God’s king is David, and ultimately, David’s Greater Son, Jesus the Messiah. So trust in His grace! The God who showed His grace to Hannah later showed it to Mary. When God told her she would conceive a child supernaturally by the Holy Spirit – one who would be called holy, the Son of God – Mary, like the psalmist before her, was actually quoting Hannah when she said – “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant…He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away” (Luke 1:46-53). So no we’re beginning to find a little bit of Christmas in Psalm 113. When God sent His Son into this world, He became humbly gracious far beyond what the psalmist describes. Jesus not only looked down on us to see us in our misery and in our sin, but He also actually came down to us to lift us up. Philippians 2:6-8 says, Though he was in the form of God, (He) did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men... Incredible! God, so highly exalted, infinitely greater than the universe with all of its planets and galaxies, actually became a tiny infant, who needed to be fed and carried and changed. And that’s not all. Paul goes on: And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Who is like the Lord our God? Who else is that great and that good? So great and so gracious? Who else is so majestic and merciful? There’s no one like our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! In Christ, the Most High visits the most humiliated and lifts them up. Praise the Lord! In this life you may never be raised from the dust or the ash heap to sit with princes. But Ephesians 2:6-7 says, when God saved us by His grace, through faith in Christ, (He) raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6-7). And God does this for us one at a time. One by one, He sees us and lifts our spirits when we are cast down. And one by one, He makes us alive together with Christ. Have you experienced this? Do you know Jesus as some great Savior of the world in general, or do you know Him as your own personal Savior and Lord? Without Him, we are hopeless and helpless. With Him, we have eternal hope. It doesn’t matter how insignificant you feel, or how impossible it seems that God could ever transform your life. Because nothing is too great for Him, and no one is too small. Amen. 4
Psalm 113 - Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! 2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! 3 From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised! 4 The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! 5 Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, 6 who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? 7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, 8 to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. 9 He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord! This is week #3 in our series, Psalms of the Season, and it’s the first Sunday in Advent. So far it’s been easy to find appropriate texts. Psalms of thanksgiving are plentiful in the Bible; we can take our pick. But this weekend our focus shifts to the Christmas season. So where do we find Christmas in the psalms? It’s not as easy, but it’s an interesting search. Because on the night of His resurrection, Jesus said to His disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). So when Jesus read the Old Testament, He took it personally! He realized that it was all about Him, including the book of Psalms. Some of the psalms are clearly and explicitly Messianic, but all of them point us to Jesus Christ somehow. Often they point to His death and resurrection, but can the psalms also teach us something about His incarnation? Can we find Christmas in the psalms? That will be our challenge this Advent season, and we’re starting off in Psalm 113, where the psalmist asks a very important question in v 5 – Who is like the Lord our God? That question is placed at the very center of the psalm, and it captures the theme: Who is like the Lord our God? Throughout the Bible, that question receives a lot of attention: The prophet Isaiah asks, To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? (40:18) Isaiah then spends a couple of chapters describing the Lord’s incredible power and wisdom. The prophet Micah asks, Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression? (7:18). So this great incomparable God even forgives sin and enjoys loving us? Micah stands in awe. But in our text today, the psalmist is amazed how God stands alone in this respect: Nothing is too great for Him, and no one is too small. Who is like the Lord our God? Nothing is too great for Him to do, and no one is too small to receive His personal help. In the first 5 verses we see that God is HIGHLY EXALTED. Nothing is too great for Him. So praise the Lord! – the psalm begins and ends with that phrase, which in Hebrew is: Hallelujah! Maybe you noticed that the psalmist is focused on the name of the Lord in the first three verses, where the phrase is used three times, once in each verse. Names meant a lot in Bible times. Then as now, to tell someone your name was to initiate a conversation or relationship with them. It was understood that a person’s name generally communicated something about their character. So in God’s case, His name is all important, because it has to do with the revelation of who He is. In other words, it’s not just any God that we’re called to worship. God isn’t whoever we want Him to be. There’s no guesswork involved when you praise the name of one true and living God. 1
It was at Mount Sinai that Moses met God and asked Him, “What is your name?” God said, “Yahweh,” which means, “I am what I am.” Yahweh is God’s personal name. “I am” indicates that God is self-existent, self-sufficient, and eternal. God is, has always been, and always will be. He doesn’t change and He doesn’t go away. He answers to no one and He needs no one. But we answer to Him, and we depend on Him for everything – from physical life to eternal life. So if you ask, “What’s in name?” – that’s what’s in the name of the Lord! It’s a praiseworthy name! So who should do the praising? When should they do this? And where should the praising take place? Those three questions are answered in the first three verses. According to v 1, the servants of the Lord should praise Him, that’s who! Servants of the Lord? For our worship to be acceptable, it must be more than flattery. God’s not impressed when we show up one hour a week to worship Him, but in the other 167 hours serve other gods, continually denying Him by our words and actions. When God truly saves you, He sets you free from sin so you can serve Him. And you want to praise Him – with your life as well as your words. And when should God’s servants praise Him? v 2 - From this time forth and forevermore. Always! Today would be a good time to start. Devote yourself to His praise and you’ll find joy now – and that joy will multiply exponentially when you leave this earth to praise Him in glory that will never end. God will be praised always, and everywhere - From the rising of the sun to its setting. At first, you might think v 3 is saying that we should praise God all day long, from sunrise to sunset. And we should! But that was the point of v 2 – praising God at all times. v 3 means the name of the Lord is to be praised in all places, from the east to the west, from one horizon to the other. The prophet Malachi shares the same sentiment, when he writes, From the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts (1:11). So the Lord chose Israel first, and made His covenant with them. But Abraham was told that in him, all the families of the earth would be blessed. So Israel should lead the way in praise, as servants of the Lord, but they were to live in this confidence that one day their God would be praised all over the world by all kinds of people, as He deserves! That’s why we support missions. The psalmist says in v 4, The Lord is high above all nations, He’s no nationalistic God, restricted to the nation of Israel, or the United States of America. Jesus said to make disciples among all peoples. His name is for the whole world and for all time. Apparently the psalmist still feels like he’s under-stating the Lord’s glory to say that He is high above all nations on earth. So he adds in v 4– and his glory above the heavens! Not in the heavens, but above them! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high? (v 5) Praise the Lord, for He is highly exalted! And 2nd, praise Him because He is HUMBLY GRACIOUS. That’s the second half of the psalm. There is nothing too great for Him, and no one too small. So even though He is seated on high – v 6 says, the Lord looks far down on the heavens and the earth. The NIV says, He stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth. The NASB says, He humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth. First of all, what’s striking here is that God is exalted so high that He has to stoop low, not just to see the earth, but also the heavens! Remember v 4 – his glory is above the heavens! 2
The Hubble Space Telescope continues to reveal new stars and galaxies that are so far from the earth it boggles our imagination. The universe we live in is larger and more spectacular than we ever dreamed. But never forget: Even the most distant and glorious parts of creation are far beneath the Creator Himself. The Lord looks far down on the heavens and the earth! Who is like the Lord our God? He’s in a league of His own. No one can match Him. He has no rivals or competitors. But what’s even more amazing than the fact that the Lord has to stoop in order to look upon the heavens and the earth, is the fact that He does do that! Yahweh, the Lord, chooses to humbles Himself in order to look upon us, to care about struggles we face – all of us, even the lowliest of the low. 7-8 - He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, 8 to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. Not only does the Lord stoop down to look upon the lowly, but He lifts them up to be as He is! He is seated in the heavens, highly exalted, and yet He cares so much about the downtrodden, that He elevates them to places of dignity and privilege. I have no idea how it feels to be from the dust or from the ash heap. I doubt if many of us have ever been that low, but obviously it speaks of extreme misery and a very degrading existence. And I can’t help but think of hundreds of boys and girls in India over the years who once lived in such miserable conditions. Frightened and lonely children living on the streets and scavenging food from the garbage dumps. But they have been rescued from the dust and the ash heap because of people like you, who desire to show them the heart of a God who loves them. I don’t think many of them are sitting yet with the princes of their people, but some of them are getting close! They’ve grown up in our orphanage in Hyderabad, where they have been fed and clothed and loved, and introduced to Christ. They’ve received a good education and some have even gone on to college. One has become an engineer, one is a nurse, another has become an accountant. And as for the children now living at this orphanage – they may eat nothing but rice, own no more than two or three changes of clothes, and sleep on a mat in a room with dozens of other kids – but as far as they’re concerned, compared to where they’ve come from, they are seated with the princes; they are living in luxury! They’ve been raised up from the ash heap. If we know our Bibles well, we may recognize that v 7-8 of Psalm 113 are almost an exact quotation from the mouth of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:8. In her praise to the Lord, Hannah says, He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. And you may recall that Hannah’s song of praise was lifted to God after He answered her prayers, and she gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel. And so it makes sense that the psalmist’s mind would turn where it does next, to conclude like this in v 9 - He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord! This was Hannah’s experience. Obviously, God doesn’t raise every poor person to a place of honor in this life. And He doesn’t enable every barren woman to conceive a child. But the psalmist is reminding us that God does know about our heartaches, and He cares. I think that’s the progression here. If v 7-8 speak generally of those who are poor and needy, v 9 speaks specifically to that one person who is struggling to find joy. Society may see the downtrodden as one collective mass, but God sees individual people who have suffered specific defeats or setbacks. He doesn’t see the discouraged in some general way. God knows each one individually. He knows you. He cares about what you are going through. 3
And He is able to do something about it! He may answer your prayers and give you just the blessing you’ve been praying for. Other times He answers our prayers in ways we do not anticipate. The joys of motherhood, for example, are sometimes experienced through adoption, or extended family, or relationships within God’s family, the church. And while physical poverty is not what any of us wish to experience, God often uses those situations to open our hearts to our need of grace. The danger of wealth is that it gives you the illusion that you don’t need God. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” because only those who know they are needy will call out to God for salvation. Go back and read Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2 and you see how she emphasizes that God reverses what the world holds dear and significant. God shows favor to the weak, poor, and socially marginalized. But He resists the proud and brings down those who trust in the strength of their own resources. Hannah says God will give strength to His King, His anointed one. And of course in the Bible, God’s king is David, and ultimately, David’s Greater Son, Jesus the Messiah. So trust in His grace! The God who showed His grace to Hannah later showed it to Mary. When God told her she would conceive a child supernaturally by the Holy Spirit – one who would be called holy, the Son of God – Mary, like the psalmist before her, was actually quoting Hannah when she said – “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant…He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away” (Luke 1:46-53). So no we’re beginning to find a little bit of Christmas in Psalm 113. When God sent His Son into this world, He became humbly gracious far beyond what the psalmist describes. Jesus not only looked down on us to see us in our misery and in our sin, but He also actually came down to us to lift us up. Philippians 2:6-8 says, Though he was in the form of God, (He) did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men... Incredible! God, so highly exalted, infinitely greater than the universe with all of its planets and galaxies, actually became a tiny infant, who needed to be fed and carried and changed. And that’s not all. Paul goes on: And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Who is like the Lord our God? Who else is that great and that good? So great and so gracious? Who else is so majestic and merciful? There’s no one like our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! In Christ, the Most High visits the most humiliated and lifts them up. Praise the Lord! In this life you may never be raised from the dust or the ash heap to sit with princes. But Ephesians 2:6-7 says, when God saved us by His grace, through faith in Christ, (He) raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6-7). And God does this for us one at a time. One by one, He sees us and lifts our spirits when we are cast down. And one by one, He makes us alive together with Christ. Have you experienced this? Do you know Jesus as some great Savior of the world in general, or do you know Him as your own personal Savior and Lord? Without Him, we are hopeless and helpless. With Him, we have eternal hope. It doesn’t matter how insignificant you feel, or how impossible it seems that God could ever transform your life. Because nothing is too great for Him, and no one is too small. Amen. 4
