“I will extol You, my God, O King”
[Psalms 145]
I love to sing the Korean gospel song ‘The blessed man’. If we look at the chorus lyrics of that praise, it says ‘Your service is a beautiful praise/ Your devotion is a fragrant prayer/ Wherever you step on, the name of the Lord will be exalted.’ As I sing this song, especially in this chorus section, I think of the people who blessed my heart and pray that the name of the Lord may be exalted anywhere on the land they step on. When I think of these people, I often sing this song, thinking that their service is beautiful hymn and their devotion is fragrant prayer. In the midst of that, I hope and pray that all members of our Victory Presbyterian Church together with myself become God's blessed people who exalt the name of the Lord no matter where we are, whatever we do and wherever we go. In fact, this is one of the three purposes of our church. In other words, the purpose of our church is to serve the Lord, to imitate the Lord and to exalt the Lord. Our church retired pastor has set these three purposes of the church and served Victory Presbyterian Church.
In Psalms 145:1, we can see that the psalmist David is devoted like this: “I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever.” What kind of the Lord did David, who dedicates himself in exalting the Lord and David who dedicates himself to bless (praise) the Lord's name forever, want to exalt?
First, David wanted to exalt his God and his King.
Look at Psalms 145:1 – “I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever.” There is a Korean gospel song “I bless you my God”. This is how it goes: “I bless you my God and my king/ I bless extol and adore/ forever my God I will praise/ extol your holy name.” This King our God is the God who rules His kingdom (v. 13). And the kingdom of the Lord, ruled by our King God, is everlasting (v. 13) and has splendor and glory (vv. 11, 12). We see and experience the power of the Lord in His kingdom of glorious splendor that ruled by our God and our King (vv. 11, 12). David, who experienced this splendor, glory, and power of the Lord, devoted himself to meditate on the work of his God and his King. Look at verse 5: “On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.” Last week, at the church Vacation Bible School, I talked with our church education pastor and his friend pastor. In order for us to make the right decisions as ministers, I encouraged them to pause for a moment and look back on our individual lives and meditate on the hands of the Lord who is the potter. The reason is because when we meditate like that, we can make the right decisions in God's eyes in our present situation. I think it's really important to meditate and reflect on our experiences of God’s glory and power in our past life since our God and our King is in control of our lives and we are under His reign. The reason is because when we meditate on the God’s wonderful works that appeared in the past, we can be more certain that our God and our King is now in control of our lives. With this conviction, we will be able to exalt the Lord like David, no matter what circumstances we are in.
Second, David wanted to exalt his great God.
Look at Psalms 145:3 – “Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable.” There is a gospel song “Great is the Lord”. This is the lyrics: “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise, The city of our God, the holy place, The joy of the whole earth. Great is the Lord in whom we have the victory, He aids us against the enemy. We bow down on our knees. And Lord we want to lift Your Name on high, And Lord we want to thank you for the works You've done in our lives. And Lord we trust in Your unfailing love; For you alone are God eternal, Throughout earth and heaven above.” In Psalms 145:8, the psalmist said that the great God who is highly to be praised loves us with His great lovingkindness. How do we know this? Look at verse 14: “The LORD sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down.” As I meditated on Isaiah 41:10 during the morning prayer meeting on Friday last week, I thought about God's words, “… surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Even in a frightening and surprising situation, I learned that Immanuel God was with us, and because He was with us, He upheld our right hand (v. 13), and that He is the God who strengthens and raises us again. In Psalms 145:14, David said that with His great love, the great God sustains us who fall and raises us up when we fall into trouble and persecution. How can we know that the great God is loving us with His great lovingkindness? We can see in verses 18-19: “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.” Our great God loves us with His great lovingkindness, and “is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth” (v. 18). And as we pray in fear of Him, He hears our cry and saves us. And the great God protects all of us (v. 20) who love God by experiencing His great love [sustaining us (v. 14), answering our prayers (vv. 18-19)]. Therefore, like David, we must be devoted to praise God and to proclaim Him. Look at verses 3, 4, 6: “Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. … Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness.” David was compelled to praise the great God and proclaim His greatness when he considered the great wonders of salvation performed by the great God through His great power. We must dedicate ourselves in giving great glory and praise to the great Lord when we experience God's great love and His great works of salvation in our lives,
Third and last, David wanted to exalt his gracious God.
Look at Psalms 145:8 – “The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.” David had no choice but to give praise to God when he considered the greatness of God in his life while meditating on God as King, because he realized the grace of God. As he meditated on how the great God and the King performed the great miracle of salvation in his life with His great love, he became more and more aware of God's abundant grace. In particular, he saw and experienced that the gracious God “is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works” (v. 9). He also saw and experienced that the gracious God satisfied the desire of every living thing (v. 16). Therefore, David confessed: “The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds” (v. 17). He dedicated to celebrate this gracious God. Look at verse 7: “They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.” God is the God who loves His people (children) with His great lovingkindness, is good to us, shows His mercies, and satisfies our desire. What can we do when we celebrate that grace now, remembering the great grace that God has given us in our lives in the past? Look at verse 10: “All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD, And Your godly ones shall bless You.” We have no choice but to give thanks to God. And we have no choice but to express our gratitude to Him with praise. That’s why David (re)dedicated his life in verse 21: “My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.”
We must live a life that exalts the Lord. The reason is because He is worthy to be exalted. He is our King. He is the God who rules over us and is dominion over us. He has honor, power, and glory. He is the great God. The great God loves us with His great lovingkindness. He is the God who sustains us and answers our prayers when we fall into trouble and persecution. Also, our God is gracious God. He is good to us and shows mercies. Therefore, as we meditate on the Lord's wonders in the past, we must celebrate the grace of God He has given us. Since we are grateful to our great God, we must go out and praise God with great praise. I hope and pray that all of us exalt the Lord.
He who failed to exalt the name of the Lord,
James Kim
(As I see my own disobedience, hypocrisy, arrogance, love, and inability to show grace)