Why we should praise God
[Psalms 117]
During this morning prayer meeting, I meditated on 2 Peter 2:8 – “(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds).” As we lived in this world that is like Sodom and Gomorrah, I thought that our righteous spirits were bound to be tormented by the lawless deeds of the world by what we see and hear (v. 7). What should we do when our righteous hearts are tormented? (1) We must have the assurance of salvation (v. 9). Obviously, we must look with confidence that God will deliver (save) the righteous and destroy the wicked. (2) We must stand firmly in strong faith (3:17). The Bible says that false teachers (2:1) entice unstable souls (v. 14) and “entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error” (v. 18). Therefore, we must stand firm so as not to be deceived and sin against God. (3) We must meditate on the suffering of Jesus on the cross when our righteous hearts are tormented and suffered by all the sinful things we see, hear, and feel in this sinful world. As we do so, our suffering will diminish and we will experience the Lord's binding and healing of our broken hearts.
After proclaiming this word, I read the newspaper in the morning that a Korean young man shot and killed his friend several times and then threw his body somewhere near Highway 110 to the Dodgers Ballpark in Los Angeles and was caught later while he was gambling. With the thought of how this well-looking young Korean young man could do this, I came to think of the words of the early morning prayer meeting again. This must be a truly sinful world. We are living in the world full of lawless deeds. What should we do when we see, hear, and encounter these sinful things in this world? I personally say to myself, ‘This world is not my home’ and ‘I’m heading toward heaven.’ In the midst of that, I hold on to the the Lord’s promise that He will come back. Hee said that he will come and take us to the place He has prepared. This is what the apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 3:12-13: “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” We are those who look to the new heavens and the new earth, who are grateful for God's saving grace, and who have no choice but to praise God until we die. In addition, as those who pray, expect and wait for the completion of salvation and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to praise and worship God.
This is what the psalmist said in Psalms 117:1 - “Praise the LORD, all nations; Laud Him, all peoples!” Why did the psalmist say that all of God's people should praise God? This is what he said about the reason: ” For His lovingkindness is great toward us, And the truth of the LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD!” (v. 2) Here we can think of two reasons to praise God:
The first reason is because of God's great lovingkindness toward us.
We often refer to November as the season of gratitude. The reason seems to be, of course, because it is the month of Thanksgiving. However, when we think of God's love for us, we think that each month is a month of thanksgiving, and we are God's children who can only be thankful every day and every moment. Of course, there are countless times when we know that we should be grateful in everything according to the words of the Bible. But when faced with a difficult situation, it’s hard for us to be thankful. The reason is because we don’t experience God's great love. In other words, when we face the difficult situation, we cannot give praise to God because we don’t realize God's great love even in the midst of the difficulty. Psalms 117:1 says “For His lovingkindness is great toward us.” Here, the word “great” is the Hebrew word “gabar”, which means “more” (Park). The reason why this meaning is interesting is that God's lovingkindness for us is increasing more and more as the years pass (Park). How in contrast to our human love? Human love decreases as the years pass, but God's love increases more and more. What is important is whether we feel and experience the increasing love of God as the years go by. In particular, the more difficult we are, the more we realize, know, and feel the increasing love of God toward us.
In Psalms 139:17-18, the Bible says that God’s precious thoughts toward us can’t be count and outnumber the sand. There are times when we are filled with thoughts, worries and anxieties while we live our faith, especially in the midst of our love for one soul while serving the Lord’s church. Even then, do we still feel His love and His countless thoughts for us and for the one soul whom He loves and we love? Therefore, are we praising God because we are grateful to Him? If we decide to praise God for His great (increasing) love for us, we must never stop praising God. We must love our neighbors with the great love of God. Our love for one soul must gradually increase. If our love for the soul, whom God loves, is not increasing but decreasing, we can never be said to be a worshiper who praise the great lovingkindness of God. If we are those who praise God's great lovingkindness toward us, we must increase our love for our neighbors as the years pass by. Therefore, we must become the people who gradually let the light of God's great lovingkindness to shine to our neighbors.
The second reason is because of God's eternal truth to us.
When a Korean actress Jin-sil Choi committed suicide, I remember seeing an article written by using the word "Ga-sik Choi" (meaning: ‘Pretense’ Choi) instead of the name "Choi Jin-sil". What does ‘pretense’ mean? When I look at an internet dictionary, it says, “an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true’. I don't know why some regarded “Jin-sil Choi” as “Ga-sik Choi” and what someone wrote such an article. But the suicide case of the mother of two children who couldn't endure while suffering from such people's words and criticism is probably the top news from the entertainment industry this year. As far as I still remember, I can't forget the advice of an elderly woman. When I went to her apartment with my grandmother because my grandmother wanted to see her, she, whom I met at the time, was in front of the apartment and was walking toward the apartment, supported by my grandmother. At that time, my grandmother told her that I am her grandson and I was going to be a pastor. When she heard that, she turned her head and looked at me and said one word: ‘Be truthful.’ I still haven't forgotten what she said. Sometimes, when I think of it, I wonder why she said that to me. Probably it was because there were so many untruthful pastors who kept on lying to others. At the same time, I feel very heavy responsibility to be truthful.
In Psalms 117, the psalmist said that the second reason for all peoples to praise God is because of God's eternal truth toward us. What does this mean? What does it mean to say that God's truth toward us is eternal? This word mean that God faithfully fulfills His promises to us. The surprising fact is that our God is faithfully fulfilling the promise He has made to us, even though we cannot faithfully bear our responsibilities as those who have received the word of promise from God. Psalms 117:1 was quoted by the apostle Paul in Romans 15:11. The reason is because, as promised in the Old Testament, God made the gospel preach to the Gentiles as well as the Israelites (for example, through Paul) and called them and made them God's chosen people (Park). Therefore, the apostle Paul and the psalmist in Psalms 117 say that all Gentile believers should all praise God with the Israelites.
One of the promises God gave us in Jesus Christ is Hebrews 4:9 – “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” God has promised us eternal rest. The day Jesus comes again, the Lord will lead us to an eternal haven. The eternal God of truth will surely fulfill the word of this promise. What are our responsibilities? This is what the author of the Book of Hebrews said: “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience” (v. 11). We must strive to enter that rest with the hope of eternal rest. In other words, we must live a faithful life with faith. We must hear and obey the voice of the Lord and head toward the heaven. I remember the lyrics of the gospel song ‘To us’: (v. 1) The Lord’s lovingkindness toward us is great, great and great (2x), The Lord’s truth toward us is forever, ever and forever.’
As I sing the Lord’s great lovingkindness and truth toward us,
James Kim
(‘Lord, I want to be more loving and truthful’)