“Praise, O servants of the Lord”
[Psalms 113]
What is praise? An internet post says that praise can be a self-diagnostic method to diagnose one's spiritual condition: ‘If you want to know your spiritual state right now, you can take a look at the songs that often hang in your mouth these days. If you are lonely, you will sing a song about loneliness. And if you are desperate, a pessimistic and sad song will flow from your mouth. The same goes for the spiritual state. If you look at the praises that often come out of your mouth, you can immediately see your spiritual condition. If you are singing “There is none like You”, then you probably need comfort and healing. Our mouths express what is in us. But even more surprising is the fact that changing the song of our mouth also changes our condition. If you want to change your spiritual state, you can change the praise of your lips. God loves songs, so He will hear the praise of our lips and He will work as it is’ (Internet). I think it makes sense to say that we change our spiritual condition by changing the praise of our lips. Of course I think this is impossible without God’s grace. It can only be done by faith. Without faith, for example, it would be impossible to praise the hymn “How Great Thou Art” in a painful and hurting heart. Of course, we can forcibly sing it with our lips. But as we praise the hymn to God, our own spiritual condition will not change. However, when we look to God with faith, the Holy Spirit changes our hearts when we praise. Furthermore, as we can see in Acts 16, as a miracle happened when Paul and Silas in prison prayed and praised God, God not only only changes our spiritual condition when we praise God with faith but also He will change the situation.
Therefore, we must praise God. In Psalms 113:1, the psalmist exhorts, “Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD.” Here, “servants of the Lord” are those who are in a lowly position for God (Park). This word teaches us that we must be humble in our faith, know God right away, and give proper praise to Him (Park). We must praise the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever in lowly places (v. 2). That is, in time perspective, we must praise God forever.’ Also, the whole world with us must humbly praise God from the rising of the sun to its setting (v. 3). So why should we praise God forever in our lowly position? Two reasons can be seen in the text.
The first reason is because God is high above all nations.
Look at Psalms 113:4-5: “The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high.” When I think of these words, I think of the hymn “How Great Art Thou”. He who praises the high and great of the Lord knows how high and great his God is. And knowing that God is high and great, he cannot help but praises, “Then I shall bow in humble adoration And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!” In other words, a believer who knows the high and great of the Lord has no choice but to humble himself. Therefore, he humbly bows down and praises the high and great of the Lord. The psalmist encourages us to give proper praise to God by humbly getting to know who God is. That proper praise refers to the praise of knowing God’s highness. In Psalms 113, the psalmist exhorts us to praise the glory of God high above all nations and above the heavens and glorious God who is enthroned on high forever (vv. 4-5). How can we know that God is high and great so that we can bring the praise and glory that deserve to Him? Of course, we can know it through the Word of God (special revelation) and also through the natural world created by God (natural revelation). One suggestion is to study God's great works (111:2), meditate and remember (v. 4), so that we can realize the high and greatness of the Lord. In other words, as we remember, meditate, and rejoice in God's great work of salvation in our lives, we can praise God worthy by knowing the high and greatness of the Lord.
The second reason is because God humbled Himself.
Look at Psalms 113:6 – “Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?” The reason why we should praise God is because God is humbled and looks down and sees all mankind. Among the psalms we have already meditated on, there is a saying that God considers everything we do: “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” (33:13-15).; “God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there is anyone who understands, Who seeks after God” (53:2). What kind of people are those whom God humbles Himself and looks down? They are “the poor”, “the needy” (v. 7), and “the barren woman” (v. 9). In other words, those whom God humbles Himself and behold are the poor, the lowly and those who have no alternative (those who can’t do anything). God is looking for those who are truly in poverty (Park). God beholds them, raises them from the dust, lifts them from the ash heap (v. 7) and makes them sit with princes of His people (v. 8). The reason we should praise God is that the Most High God humbles Himself and merciful with the lowly (Park). When I meditate on God’s sympathy, I remember the words of Hebrews 4:15 – “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” The Lord, who has been tempted in all things as we are, is the high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses. Therefore, the Holy Spirit helps our weaknesses (Rom. 8:26). Although we don’t know how to pray as we should, the Holy Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (v. 26). Therefore, we must praise the Lord.
I remember Philippians 2:6-8, which describes Jesus who humbled Himself: “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Jesus Christ didn’t regard equality with God, but humbled Himself and was submissive to His Heavenly Father until he died on the cross. What was the result? Look at Philippians 2:9-11: “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” The Most High Lord humbled Himself, came to this earth, and died on the cross in order to save us. As a result, God made us glorify our Heavenly Father by praising the Lord forever. Therefore, we must humbly praise the Lord forever.
“Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art!…”(Hymn “O, Lord my God! When I in Awesome Wonder”)
James Kim
(Desire to praise the Lord until I die)