The last five songs in the psalter are entirely devoted to praising God. There’s no asking for help, no confession, depression or confusion. And surely this is where we should all end up. Following Jesus Christ, and living to the glory of God, is often confusing, difficult and draining, but in the end, it is our duty and our joy to praise our Maker and Saviour, and to trust Him for the parts where life is a struggle.
Read Psalms 146:1
Who needs help?
• Who is he talking to in v 1?
• What is he urging himself to do?
• Why do you think he needs to talk to himself like this?
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APPLY
Other psalms in this last section urge us to encourage each other to praise God. Here, the writer is talking to himself! The
first sign of madness in the Christian life is when we stop talking to ourselves! Our hearts, we know, are desperately wicked.
And our temptation is to give in to selfpity when our lives are hard. So we need to keep preaching to ourselves, urging our cold hearts to give God due credit for all that is ours in Christ.
• What sermon do you need to preach to yourself today?
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Who not to praise
• Find three reasons why it’s just plain stupid to praise mere humans.
• How is God the exact opposite of all this?
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TIME OUT
• How do you think we can thank people properly for things they have done, for us, or in church, for example, and yet give the glory where it belongs—to God?
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Who to praise
Notice that it’s not just any Creator God that we need to praise. The God of the Bible is the God who made everything (v 6), but who also cares passionately about people (v 7-9), and about justice (v 7a, 9c). Praising “the unknown God” is just not good enough. Our intelligent worship must be given to the LORD, who reveals Himself in Jesus Christ.
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PRAY THRU
Read Psalms 146:5 again, and think how the Lord Jesus fulfils each point through His life, death and resurrection.
Now preach these truths to yourself (v 1), and give voice to your praise. Saying words of praise to God is just the
start. To praise God truly is to become like Him in how we feel, what we do, what we want for others… Pray that your life will be like this in the coming year.
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This devotional is taken from Explore—a daily Bible-reading devotional from the good book company which enables you to engage with Scripture and which will encourage, equip and inspire you to live for Christ. Explore features contributions from pastors such as Dr Timothy Keller, Mike McKinley and Tim Chester.
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