‘Let all the peoples praise You, O God!’
[Psalms 67]
Today we hear the sad news. It is news that Pastor Hyung-gyu Bae, who was held hostage by the Afghan Telebans, was murdered. When I looked at CNN's Internet news, I saw a picture of Pastor Bae's body that was covered in cloth or something like a scroll and was on a truck. When I watched the internet Yahoo news, I read that there was an article under the headline ‘Pastor Hyung-gyu Bae was murdered, tragic death on his birthday’: ‘Pastor Hyung-gyu Bae, 42, who was murdered by the Afghan armed group, the Taliban, has been confirmed to have suffered a terrible death on his birthday. Pastor Bae's birthdate is July 25, 1965. On the day he was forty-two, he was killed by the armed forces in a foreign country by 10 shots on the head, chest, and stomach. Pastor Bae, who is also the senior pastor of the Youth Saemmul Church in Bundang, South Korea, is also an associate pastor of the church’ (Internet). What a sad new. May God comfort his wife, his daughter, and his whole family, relatives, members of the Saemmul Church and friends. As I heard the news of Pastor Bae's death this time, I also remembered the words that Paul and Silas in Acts 16, who prayed and praised God in the situation where they might die the next day in prison. In fact, it seems that the 22 remaining Koreans, brothers and sisters in the Lord who are now held by the Taliban, are actually at the crossroads of life and death like Paul and Silas. Imagine that they can sympathize with Paul and Silas more realistically than us. If I were held hostage like them right now, I wonder if I could pray to God and especially praise God in the midst of life and death situation.
This is what C. S. Lewis said about praise: ‘The most humble, well-rounded, capable people always sang, while the most complaining people sang the least’ (Lewis). I think it makes sense. If there is complaint in the heart, the hymn cannot come out. However, if we have humble and balanced spirit before God, you have no choice but to praise God. Why should we sing? There are many reasons, but we can think three reasons: (1) Because God is worthy to be praised (Ps. 18:3; 96:4). (2) Because praise is the purpose of creation (Isa. 43:21; Eph. 1:13-14). (3) Because praise is something that pleases God (Ps. 69:30-31; 147:11).
If we look at the same words of Psalms 67:3, 5, the psalmist is praying to God like this: “Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.” I would like to find out in the text three reasons why we all should praise the Lord under the heading ‘Let all the people praises You, O God’ based on Psalms 67:3, 5. In the midst of that, I hope and pray that our lives will be built as worshipers who praise the Lord.
First, we must praise the Lord because of His grace.
Look at Psalms 67:1 – “God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us-- Selah.” The psalmist asked God for the people of Israel (“us”), and the first prayer topic was for God's grace to come to the Israelites (Park). What was the reason? Why did the psalmist ask God for the grace of God to come upon the Israelites? The reason was none other than the salvation of the Israelites. In other words, the reason the psalmist asked God for grace was because he wanted the Israelites to be saved through God's grace. Furthermore, he prayed for God's grace because he wanted all nations to be saved through the nation of Israel. So he prayed to God like this: “That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations” (v. 2).
Salvation is totally God's grace. Yesterday, while meditating on the words of Isaiah 59 during the morning prayer meeting, I once again affirmed that salvation is completely grace of God. Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 59:1-2 the reason why God doesn’t listen to our prayers is “your iniquities”. The list of that iniquities starts from Isaiah 59:3. I thought about three iniquities of that list: “They trust in confusion” (v. 4), “Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity” (v. 7), and “They have made their paths crooked” (v. 8). In this way, from the list of sins listed from Isaiah 59:3, even if we think about it, it is true that human sins are such great sins that our human strength cannot solve it and we are compelled to admit once again the weakness of man. We are weak humans who cannot save ourselves. But if we look at Isaiah 59:16, the Bible says this: “And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him.” God is a God who knows that we humans cannot save ourselves from sin. So His own arm brought salvation to Him. Therefore, we were saved by God's grace alone, never by our own works or merits (Eph. 2:8-9). We who have received this grace of God must praise the Lord: “I know not why God's wondrous grace/ To me He hath made Known/ Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love/ Redeemed me for His own” (Hymn “I Know not Why God’s Wondrous Grace”, verse 1).
Second, we must praise the Lord because of His upright judge.
Look at Psalms 67:4 – “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah.” The psalmist said that the reason why all nations (v. 2) should be glad and sing for joy in praising the Lord is because they were saved by God's grace (v. 1) and because He judges the nations with uprightness and guides them (v. 4). This is what Dr. Park said: ‘If God doesn’t do the work of rewarding the good people and of punishing the evil people, the the lives of the righteous (saints) who follow the good will be meaningless and not enjoyable. But since God does it fairly and reigns, their lives are enjoyable.’ The just God who does reward the good people and punish the evil people with His upright judgment. So in the end, He saves the righteous (saints) who follow the good.
The world we live in is a world with so many unfair things. In this truly sinful world, there seem to be people who are accused of unfair judgment in court and are imprisoned, while there are more people who are released without punishment after committing evil sins. It seems that not only the judges in the courts but also the leaders of the country and the leaders of the church are losing their impartial judgment. When we think about the cause, the distinction between good and evil in this world in which we live is becoming increasingly blurred. The reason is, of course, because people deny the existence of absolute truth. ‘Justice' means ‘according to the will of God' in Greek (Internet).
We live in a world in which we cannot discern the will of God. And we are living in faith without discerning the will of God in the midst of ignorance due to the lack of knowledge of the absolute truth, which is the word of God. As a result, there are too many times when we cannot live in harmony with God's will. But our God is a just God. Even though we cannot make upright judgments, our God is a just God who makes upright judgments. He is a God who rewards the good and punishes the evil with upright judgment. This is what the psalmist says in Psalms 96:13 – “Before the LORD, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.” The Bible says that God is the God who pays back to the proud what they deserve (94:2), and reward the righteous (58:11). Therefore, we believers (the righteous) must praise the Lord because of God's upright judgment.
Third and last, we must praise the Lord because our God blesses us.
Look at Psalms 67:6 – “The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us” This is the word that refers to the blessing of abundance in Israel. Here, the word “produce” may mean “increase/enhance/enlarge”. This word was primarily used for the productivity of agriculture. Perhaps this word has the concept that the earth produces fruit because of the blessing of God (WBC). In other words, God blessed the lands where the Israelites lived to produce fruit, and thus gave the blessing of abundance. Of course, before this blessing of abundance, we shouldn’t forget that God gave the Israelites by grace the greatest blessing, the blessing of salvation. He saved His people by judging the wicked with His upright judgment. Therefore, the psalmist prayed, “Let the people praise You, O God” (vv. 3, 5). We must praise God in fear of Him (v. 7). Our God is the God who wants to bless us. Blessings can be divided into three categories: God's blessing, human blessing, and material blessing. Priority is important in these three blessings. First, we must receive God's blessing. In other words, we must seek spiritual blessings first. In the midst of that (or after that) we must ask for the blessing of people. We must pray that God will send to us faithful workers. But what we must not forget is that the greatest blessing our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of blessing.
If we look at Ephesians 1:3, the Bible says we have already received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We have been loved by God, chosen by Him, He predestined us, became the children of God (adoption) and have already been redeemed (the forgiveness of our trespasses) (vv. 4-7). Therefore, we must praise God.
Thinking of the late Pastor Hyung-Kyu Bae, I want to see with you the death of Jesus Christ on the cross this evening. Let’s remember the love and grace of Jesus, who had heavy suffering on the cross and died for us and for our salvation. Therefore, we confess “His precious blood He Shed to free, From sin and all its stinging, Death destin'd sinners such as we! How can I keep from singing?” (Hymn “My Life Flows Rich in Love and Grace”, verse 1). Let’s praise the Lord no matter what circumstances we may be in since we have received God's saving grace. As a result, I hope and pray that all nations may praise the Lord through us.
Wanting to be nearer to the Lord as I praise Him until my last breath,
James Kim
(Only by God’s grace)