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Honor God
“Show favor to Yahweh, call in His name!
Make known to the peoples His deeds!”
(Psalm 105:1)
Psalm 105 is a psalm of praise to God for all He has done. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is what is called an “Alleluia Psalm” and is clearly the basis for the festival hymn found in 1 Chronicles 16, which joins this psalm along with Psalm 96, which dates this psalm back to the Davidic reign. Often, people ask me, “Why not sing some of the other songs found in the Bible?” Yet, given that these other songs have commonly either been drawn from a psalm or are the basis for a psalm, why bother when the psalms serve the same purpose?
This is one of nine psalms (9,75,105,106,107,111,118,136,138) that begins with the word ידה (yadah), which, in the Hiphil stem, means to show favor or honor to someone (typically to God). Thus, this is a psalm of praise to be sung by the people to show their love and honor to God. And, what is the content of this psalm? The mighty works of God. In other words, one of the ways in which we show honor to God is by honoring His works, praising Him for his good providence, and worshipping Him for His faithfulness to His covenant.
But, you will notice something. It is not just that the people of God are to praise God for His works. The people of God are to call out to the peoples of the earth — to the pagan nations — and call upon them to praise God for His works. Even though the wicked, the reprobate, those dammed to eternal destruction, have no hope of grace, it is good and proper for them to give God honor for His faithfulness to us — to His people. This is a theme that we find throughout the psalms (Psalm 117 is a good example), but it is also something that should shake our practice in life.
Thus, the Christian can say to the idolater, “You should honor my God. My God has been faithful throughout the generations and your god can do nothing. So, repent and believe, but also praise Him. And praise Him even if you never repent and believe!” It is a gutsy way of speaking in our modern culture, but we basically are saying that the one we worship has been faithful to us; has the one you worship been faithful to you? In the end, false gods will always leave you wanting and lost. The God of creation will deliver His elect. The rest, He leaves to their own condemnation. He leaves them under His own wrath to demonstrate His power (Romans 9:22-23).
So, give God glory and honor by telling those you meet of the great and faithful deeds of our God.
Destructions and Treachery
“Destructions are planned by your tongue;
As a sharpened razor, you work treachery.”
(Psalm 52:4 [verse 2 in English translations])
Normally, we are not used to seeing the word “destruction in the plural.” Destruction is more or less total and the idea of repeating a destruction over and over seems rather redundant. At the same time, as David writes these words, he is communicating a great and deep truth when dealing with wicked people: wickedness feeds on itself. The wicked do not simply find their satisfaction in tearing you down once, but repeatedly they delight in kicking you down as you try and stand up. The question does not so much lie in whether they will be there with a boot to kick you in the head, but whether you are going to continue trying to stand as they continue trying to beat you down. Jesus said:
If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you. If you were from the world, the world would love as one in the same. But because you are not from the world—rather I chose you from the world—for this, the world hates you. Remember the word which I spoke to you—a slave is not greater than his lord. If they drove me out, they will also drive you out. If they treasure my word, they will also treasure yours.
(John 15:18-20)
To drive the word-picture home, David continues by speaking of the tongue’s work of planning destruction as being like a sharpened razor, slicing away all that it touches and being the tool of treachery. The word that we render as “treachery” comes from the Hebrew root hAm∂r (ramah), which means “to abandon” or “to betray.” Of course, the ultimate betrayal of all time is that of Judas betraying our Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time, how often the actions of the world are marked by betrayal when dealing with believers in Christ Jesus.
More importantly, the contrast between the world’s oppression and the faithfulness of God should be made. While the world seeks destruction and betrayal, God builds up his own and promises never to leave or abandon us. It is sad that so often when people desire to be nurtured and treasured they turn only to those places that will betray and destroy. Of course, it is also sad that often the Christian church follows the world’s lead and betrays its own rather than demonstrating the love and faithfulness of Christ even when such things are difficult. Jesus said that the world will know that we are his disciples on the basis of our love for one another (John 13:35) — when we choose not to live out that love in fellowship, what does it say about the quality of our witness?
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