Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

blessing upon God’s leaders in the harvest time. • “May there be no breached walls, no forced exile, no cries of distress in our squares.” (14) Every city and dwelling is secure from attack and exempt from defeat. Instead of wailing and mourning in the city streets, there is peace and happiness. After the persecution of Christians under Saul of Tarsus and his dramatic conversion, the churches experienced the blessing of this psalm: “The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it grew in strength and numbers. The believers were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 9:31)

“Yes, happy are those who have it like this! Happy indeed are those whose God is the Lord.” (15)

The happiness, peace and prosperity described in verses 12-15 reached its highest level in the Old Testament under the reign of Solomon. David was a ‘man of blood and war’ but his son Solomon was a man of peace and ruled over the kingdom that exhibited these blessings; “After the festival was over, Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king as they went, and they were all joyful and happy because the Lord had been good to his servant David and to his people Israel.” (1 Kgs. 8:66) The great- est happiness imaginable is to live under the reign of Jesus, the eternal son of David.

1 Keil & Delitzsch 2 Scroggie

3 Kraus 4 Kraus 5 Scroggie

6 Keil & Delitzsch 7 Keil & Delitzsch

PSALM 145: BLESS YOUR NAME FOREVER Purest Stream of Praise

This is the last psalm attributed to King David and it is the purest expression of prolonged praise in all of the scripture. Only one half of one sentence turns its thought to the destruction of the wicked while the rest of the song reaches unequaled heights of adoration for Yahweh. It alternates between a per- sonal conversation of love directly with God and explanations of his wonders to the listener. It is stamped with the imprint of eternity and an open invitation for all people to join the song of the Lord’s praise. It is the last of the alphabetical psalms (acrostics) 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 119… where each verse begins with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet although this particular one is missing the letter ‘nun’ (n). Christ is foreshadowed as the King of Kings, the all-gracious God who came to demonstrate the glory of the Kingdom of Love by lifting up the fallen human race. This seamless praise is presented in four closely related sections:

I

EVERY DAY - 1-7

His Greatness

II EVERLASTING KINGDOM - 8-16 III EVERYTHING HE DOES - 17-20 IV EVERYONE ON EARTH - 21

His Grace

His Goodness

His Glory

INTRODUCTION:

“A psalm of praise of David.”

This is the last of a group of eight psalms attributed to David (138-145) and is his greatest song of ado- ration. ‘It is the only psalm that bears the title ‘Tehillah’, ‘a praise’, a word in the plural that is given to the whole Psalter…” 1

I

EVERY DAY - 1-7

His Greatness

“I will praise you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. I will bless you every day, and I will praise you forever. Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! His greatness is be- yond discovery!” (1-3) 390