"Praise the Lord, you servants of the Lord"

[Psalm 113]

What is praise?
According to an article I read online, praise can serve as a kind of "self-diagnosis" tool for assessing one’s spiritual condition:
“If you want to know your current spiritual state, consider the songs that have been on your lips lately. If you’re feeling lonely, you’ll likely find yourself singing songs about loneliness. If you’re in despair, sorrowful or pessimistic songs may come out of your mouth. It’s the same with our spiritual state. Take note of the praises that frequently come from your mouth, and you’ll get a clear idea of where you are spiritually. If you’re singing something like, ‘There is no one like You who touches my heart, Lord,’ it may indicate that you’re in need of comfort and healing. Our mouth expresses what is inside us. But what’s even more amazing is that when you change the song on your lips, your condition can also change. If you want to change your spiritual state, start by changing the praises that come from your lips. God delights in songs, and when He hears the praise of our lips, He will move accordingly.” (from the internet)

I think there is a lot of truth in the idea that changing the praise on our lips can change our spiritual state. Of course, I believe this is impossible without the grace of God. It is only possible through faith.
For example, without faith, it would be nearly impossible to sing Hymn #40, “How Great Thou Art,” while feeling burdened or heartbroken. You might be able to force the words out with your lips, but such praise won’t transform your spiritual condition. However, when we look to God in faith and begin to praise, the Holy Spirit works within us to transform our hearts.

Furthermore, as we see in Acts 16, when Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God from prison, a miracle occurred. In the same way, when we offer up praise to God in faith, not only will our spiritual state change, but our circumstances may also change by His power.

Therefore, we are rightfully called to praise God.
In Psalm 113:1, the psalmist exhorts us:
"Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!"
Here, “servants of the Lord” refers to those who humbly position themselves in lowly places for the sake of God (according to commentator Pak Yoon-Sun).
This verse teaches that you and I must become humble through faith, know God rightly, and offer Him praise that is worthy of Him (Pak Yoon-Sun).

From our lowly positions, we are to “praise the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore” (v.2). In other words, we must praise God eternally.
Moreover, not only us but the entire world must humbly praise God “from the rising of the sun to its setting” (v.3).

So then, why must we praise God forever from a place of humility?
There are two reasons the text gives us, which we will explore next.

The first reason is because God is exalted.

Look at Psalm 113:4–5:
“The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high?”
When I reflect on this passage, I think of hymn number 40, “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder” (“How Great Thou Art”).
A soul that praises the greatness and majesty of the Lord comes to know how exalted God truly is.
And knowing His exaltedness and majesty, one cannot help but sing: “Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee: How great Thou art, how great Thou art.”
In other words, a believer who comes to know the Lord’s greatness inevitably humbles themselves.
Therefore, they bow down humbly and praise the Lord for His greatness and majesty.

The psalmist exhorts us to come to know God rightly with humility and offer Him the praise that is fitting.
Such fitting praise is the kind that acknowledges God's exalted nature.
In today’s passage, the psalmist urges us to praise forever the glorious God whose glory is above the heavens and who is seated on a high and glorious throne (verses 4–5).

But how can we come to know the Lord’s greatness and majesty and offer Him praise and glory that is worthy?
Of course, we can come to know this through God’s Word (special revelation) and also through the natural world God has created (general revelation).
One suggestion is found in Psalm 111, which we have already meditated on: we can recognize the Lord’s greatness by studying (v.2), meditating on, and remembering (v.4) His great works.
That is, as we remember, reflect on, and rejoice in God’s mighty acts of salvation in our lives, we come to know His greatness and majesty, and so we can offer praise that is truly worthy of Him.

The second reason we must praise God is because He humbled Himself.

Look at Psalm 113:6:
“He stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth.”
We are to praise God because He has lowered Himself to watch over the lowly.
Even in other Psalms that we have already reflected on, we find that God looks down upon mankind:
“From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth—he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do” (Psalm 33:13–15);
“God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God” (Psalm 53:2).

Whom does God stoop down to observe?
They are the “poor” and the “needy” (Psalm 113:7), and the “barren woman” (v.9).
In other words, the Most High God lowers Himself to watch over those who are “lowly and helpless” — those who are in utterly hopeless circumstances.
God truly watches over those in pitiful conditions (as Pastor Pak Yoon-Sun comments).
He raises them “from the dust” (v.7), lifts them “from the ash heap” (v.7), and “seats them with princes, with the princes of his people” (v.8).
We must praise God because this exceedingly exalted God humbles Himself to have compassion on the lowly (Pak Yoon-Sun).

When we meditate on our compassionate God, Hebrews 4:15 comes to mind:
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
Our Lord, who was tempted just as we are, is a High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:26).
We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans (v.26).
For this reason, we must praise our Lord.

I am reminded of Philippians 2:6–8, which describes Jesus who humbled Himself:
"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross."

Jesus Christ, though He was equal with God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Instead, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

And what was the result?
"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9–11)

The Lord Most High humbled Himself to save us, came to this earth, and was crucified. As a result, God highly exalted Him. And through that, God made it so that we may glorify the Father by praising the Lord forever.

Therefore, we must humbly praise the Lord for all eternity.

“Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, how great Thou art…”
(Hymn No. 40)

A Reflection by Pastor James Kim
(Longing to praise the Lord until my dying breath)