Thursday, February 2, 2017

Psalm 146

Psalm 145 exhorts us to "declare His mighty acts"(v4);  meditate on His " wonderful works"(v5);  speak of His "awesome acts"(v6) ; and "make known... [His] mighty acts" ( v12). Verses14-20 then tell us of what He does...  and this Psalm continues to proclaim His praise:

To this God, who is our Hope, we give praise with all our soul, because:

He "made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them;" v6
He "keeps faith forever".
He "executes justice for the oppressed" v7
He gives "food to the hungry".
He "sets the prisoners free." 
He "opens the eyes of the blind" v8
He "raises up those who are bowed down"
He "loves the righteous".
He "protects the strangers." v9
He "supports the fatherless and the widow". 
He "thwarts the way of the wicked".

He "will reign forever". v10

In Charles Spurgeon's book, The Fullness of Joy,  he writes a chapter titled "Marvelous Things".  The verses he cites are Psalm 98:1-2 " O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous things; his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known his salvation; his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen."  Spurgeon expounds on what is marvelous about what the Lord has done:
The marvelous things:
Christ overcame sin... the guilt of it and the power of it!
He overcame death. "... He has gone up into glory and left heaven's gate wide open to all believers".
He overcame Satan.
"Therefore, dearly beloved in Christ, this is the joyous news we have to bring sinners; sin and death and the Devil have all been vanquished by the great Captain of our salvation."
The marvelous ways:
Christ did this alone... He did it all. We can "throw [our] weight entirely upon Him"
He did it "so wisely".   "The design of salvation is the very perfection of wisdom, because all the attributes of God are equally glorified in it"  Mercy and justice both completely fulfilled in Christ!
"The hand that was pierced by the nails conquered sin; the hand that was fastened to the wood has fastened up the accusation that was written against us; the hand that bled has brought salvation to us, so that we are Christ's forever. Infinite wisdom shone through in our Lord's conquest of sin and death and the Devil."
He did it with absolute holiness.
He did it with perfect, amazing, unbiased grace.
The marvelous revelation:
" It is truly marvelous that the Holy Spirit, who is equally God with the Father and the Son, should come and reside in these bodies of ours and make them His temple."
We could not know Him any other way..

We come again and again to the Word  of God, to remember, to declare, to sing, and to praise His marvelous works! It is like daily bread.. manna from heaven... life giving.  To meditate and rejoice in His unfathomable greatness and unmeasurable love for us should lead us into songs of praise.
"Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!  I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being." ( Psalm 146:1-2)
Amen.

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