Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 147

Psalm 147 is another psalm of praise.

Psalm 147:1
Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

If you woke up this morning wondering why you should praise God, this psalm gives us three reasons.

Psalm 147:2-6
The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.  He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.  Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.  The LORD lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.

We can praise God because we know He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. “Not me”, you proclaim. Yes, He does do this and will heal you as well. The problem does not lie within His ability. If God numbers and names each star, then He certainly knows you and your struggle. The problem lies within us. We say we believe and trust in him and yet, as soon as we face adversity we say God isn’t there. He is. Read the story of the healing at the pool in John, chapter five. Jesus simply tells the man, “Pick up your mat and walk.”, and the man does. The truth is we are not living in obedience to Jesus. We are not walking in faith. The Lord lifts up the humble.

Psalm 147:7-11
 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!  He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills.  He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.  His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Rather than focusing on our pain and our difficulties, we should sing to the Lord every day, declaring to Him our faith and reverence for Him. When we look at the creation, we see that God provides. He feeds the land with rain and the beasts with food. Yet, we put our trust in everything but Him. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.

Psalm 147:12-20
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!  For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.  He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat.  He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.  He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.  He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?  He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.  He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel.  He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. Praise the LORD!

God sends out His Word and through His Word, even the weather obeys. This is the reason I try not to complain about the weather. If we have snow and frost, it is a result of God commanding it. If we have wind, (my personal least favorite), it is because God made it blow. If it rains? Yes, it is God’s doing. Who are we to complain? And just as God’s Word commands the weather, His Word comes to us. Israel was chosen by God to preserve God’s Word so that we could be saved by it. Yet, the world does not know His laws and judgments. Do we?

This morning if you are struggling, the best thing you could do is fall before Almighty God in humility. Offer up your praise and worship. Yes, you can go to Him in your pain and pray for healing. But you must open up His Word and read the promises. You must open up the Word and read the commands. You must believe that when the God of the universe speaks, it is the truth and you can know that what He says will be. Do this and you will see the power of God in action. You will know Jesus has come to heal us. This is faith. Then you can pick up your mat and walk.

This morning start here: Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

How To Overcome Unbelief

Life is hard. Sometimes we get to the point that we just don’t know how we will go on another day. It’s all too much. Maybe it’s chronic pain or an illness that seems to have no hope for healing. Maybe it’s your finances. Maybe you’ve lost your job and there seems no hope of ever getting hired again. Maybe it is your marriage that is falling apart. Or it could seem like the grief of having lost a child will never let go of the grip it has on your life and it seems you will never laugh or smile again. Maybe it’s all these things. The worst part of it all is that you are a Christian and you know you should trust God but it seems as if you just don’t have enough faith.

I have good news this morning. God understands. Jesus knows your pain and He knows the temptation to give up is strong. There is a great story in Mark 9:14-23

“And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?" And someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able." And he answered them, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." And Jesus said to him, "If you can! All things are possible for one who believes."

Jesus said to him, “All things are possible for one who believes.” But that is the problem you say. I am struggling to believe. Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus knew you would face this struggle. It is easy in the good times to have faith but when it seems your situation is one of those that require a miracle from Jesus to resolve the problem suddenly our faith falters.

God knows and He understands our human frailty. Continuing in the story from Mark chapter 9 hear what the father of the boy possessed by the unclean spirit says from verse 24, “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" The NIV renders the verse, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Help me overcome my unbelief the man says. I can’t tell you the countless times I have said the same thing. I believe the Bible. I believe it is the Word of God. I believe every word in it and I take it literally. But sometimes my belief is not as strong as I wish. God understands our faith isn’t perfect.

Jesus goes on in the story and casts out the spirit. The disciples are confused as they have been having success at healing but this time they were unable to help the boy. Listen to the response of Jesus as He answers what went wrong for them in verse 29, “He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer." The importance of prayer cannot be overstated. Jesus instructs us in Matthew 21:22, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." James continues this theme in James 5:13-15, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

Our faith and prayer work hand in hand. And as the Body of Christ we are to pray for each other. James tells us this in James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

By the Blood of Christ those who believe in Jesus by faith are cloaked in His righteousness. Those who are in Christ have great power that is unleashed through prayer.

So let us pray with faith. Pray for yourself and pray for each other. Your faith doesn’t have to be perfect for Jesus says in Matthew 17:20, “…For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."

Jeremiah reminds us of the power of God in Jeremiah 32:17, “Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

Nothing is too hard for God. So let us pray in faith for each other and for ourselves. As James said the prayer of faith will save and it will heal. You only need the faith the size of a mustard seed. I believe this. Do you? If so then get to praying. If not then get to praying and ask God to help you with your unbelief. Nothing is too hard for Him.

Letting Go and Holding On

The life we have is a pleasant gift from God. Even to most who never give God a casual thought or to the one who despises Him in every way, God has given so much, especially in this day of prosperity and ease here in this beautiful country. So I come to you today and ask that you drop right to your knees and thank God for the blessings of life. And never, ever take any single thing for granted. I say this now from a new perspective. Of course all of us at times remember how good life is, but I had let complacency slip in.

A few weeks ago, in a matter of moments, I found out that everything I took for granted could be lost in a moment, in a brief, bad decision. All my life I had bounced around roofs and climbed ladders and telephone poles with reckless abandon. At 52 years old I pridefully acted as if I was invincible and as if I was in control of my life.

Then I did something really stupid. My best friend knew it was stupid and told me not to do it. But I thought I knew better. I was wrong. I fell off a roof in a position that I immediately recognized as one I had no control of.

When I began to fall from that roof, I was desperately hanging on to a piece of plywood. But somewhere on the trip down, I let go, instinctively knowing that I was clinging to a useless material object. Smashing into the ground, my body was broken and beaten. Still conscious I feared for my life, at first unable to take a breath and then immediately knowing I was severely injured, I was more afraid then I had ever been.

But then finally along the painful journey to the hospital, I found the hand of Christ himself reaching out to me. Knowing the pain was unbearable for my weak physical mind and body, Jesus picked me up and carried me through the pain and kept me close to Him. My accident began with me hanging to a piece of wood, but it ended with me clinging desperately to Jesus.
Jesus carried me through each step of the hospital experience. Every fear I faced, fears that had haunted me all my life, He brought me through. Now, praise God, I am home recuperating. When people ask things like when I might return to work, I truthfully respond that I do not take more than 1 day at a time. I trust in God to provide and now I just seek patience and comfort through Him.

So how has this changed my life? Well to begin with I again became aware of how blessed I am. My hospitalization resulted in an unbelievable outpouring of prayer and of people coming to see me. I learned that not only do I have an awesome family: I have an awesome Church family.
I also learned quite a bit about pain. As soon as I hit the ground I was in intense pain. Many say that the body protects us by shutting down the pain, but in my situation God allowed me to experience intense pain and I never lost consciousness nor did I appear to be in shock. Instead I existed in a state of pain so intense I had no other option but to completely surrender it to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now some might say God wouldn't have a hand in my suffering. To that I say read the Book of Job. You see while God wasn't the source of Job's suffering, He did allow Satan to bring it on and then God turned the tables on Satan by taking this devastation inflicted by the evil one and using it to defeat him. Romans 8:28 confirms this saying, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
So the bottom line here is this: God has and continues to bless me through the entire experience. My life shall never be the same. I see now that being able to bench press a certain amount of weight or getting people to think you're afraid of nothing is all useless pride. Instead what matters is letting go of the silly idea that being in control of a situation is important and I have learned instead to let God be in control.

The Bible is not short of counsel in this area. 2 Corinthians 12:9 reminds of us of what Jesus advises us. It says this, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

I have experienced the power of Christ at work. My body knows of the amazing work of His healing hand . Just ask the staff at St. Anthony’s who witnessed how Jesus healed and moved me from the ICU to a regular room to home in just 9 days. Ask them why I was allowed a constant flow of visitors, against their rules that patients be allowed rest and not be bombarded with people. The answer is simple: God used the Body of Christ, through the biggest outpouring of prayer and love I and they may have ever seen, to make known the truth of His Word which says this: "...pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

I think of all the lessons to be taken from this event, most importantly God wants each of us to at least understand this very important lesson. The Word of God is true...all of it. Those promises He makes are not just cheerful little statements given to make us feel better. No, the promises of God are complete truths that we can trust our whole lives with. If He said it; believe it. Then when you find yourself in a situation that seems unbearable, your spouse leaves you, you lose your job, or maybe your health whether by illness or accident, you can immediately ask Jesus to carry you through it. He will not let you down.

I have to make the following plea to you before I post this. If Bible reading and prayer don't play a dominent part in your life, please change that. I don't know how I would have made it through this had I not been convinced of the truth of God's Word and known the promises Jesus had made me. And when I fell, my Christian brother and friend Bill and I both knew to pray even before He called 911. You see God is in control. Doctors, nurses, and paramedics are awesome and I appreciate each and every one of them and their work. But they are just one way God heals and comforts us. It is His power and His love that actually does the healing. To God be all the glory and all the praise.