Psalm 113
1Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
2Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
3From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised.
4The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
5Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,
6Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!
7He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
8That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.
9He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 114
1When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
2Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
3The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
4The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
5What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
6Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
7Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
8Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
Chapter 113
As a part of being a servant of the Lord, I do praise Him (v. 1). I don't just praise Him in church -- I try to include it in my prayer life. God's praise will never end (v. 2), which is what it means to praise Him for for evermore. What that means to is that I kinda started praising and worshipping God from the moment I became a Christian. Verse 3 reminds me that God can be praised from the start of the day to the end of it -- kinda like praising Him throughout the day. Perhaps I should start doing that more often. What "The LORD is high above all nations" (v. 4) means to me is that God is higher (or exalted) over all nations. No man can take His place and I thank Him for that aspect of His sovereignty. What "and his glory above the heavens" means to me, which I may have mentioned before, is that God is more glorious than I could imagine and that no words could describe His glory. I am thankful that no one is like Him (v. 5) and I praise Him for His uniqueness, which reminds me of this David Crowder song. The fact that there is no one like Him gives me goosebumps while reflecting on it and listening to that song, which illustrates the impacting effect of His glory. God loves me so much, which I would would say is summed up in the fact that there's no one like Him. Same goes for His glory. There is no one as glorious as Him, which is (probably) why His glory chokes me up sometimes. Verse 6 is a continuation of the praise aspect in verse 5. In regards to reflecting on verses 5-6 together, I am thankful that He watches the heavens and earth in the ways He sees fit because, to me, He is able to work out His plan for His followers and for the world in general from there. Even though He dwells on high, He still takes time to watch over the heavens and earth, which is quite a thing to imagine. I can't say I've been poor and needy in the literal sense (v. 7), but I know that if I was, God would help me out which is what the "lifeth up" part means to me. I guess what verses 7-8 illustrate to me is God's redeeming quality in the sense that God takes the lowest of the low -- the scum -- so they can be renewed by Him and associate with His people. I kind of get to see that since I know people that used to do drugs before coming to Christ and it's great to see His redeeming power in that. I can't relate to verse 9 since I'm not a mother, but I do like that verse because it reminds that God does indeed provide. In today's society, there may not be a lot stories of godly mothers who have to depend on Him to provide housing, but in my church, people have talked about how God has provided for them and I remember that one guy mentioned that God provided him a house since moving out of his apartment. It's (simple) things like that that illustrate how God is at work in the lives of others.
Chapters 114
For clarity, I'll include Matthew Henry's thoughts on the first few verses, "Let us acknowledge God's power and goodness in what he did for Israel, applying it to that much greater work of wonder, our redemption by Christ; and encourage ourselves and others to trust in God in the greatest straits. When Christ comes for the salvation of his people , he redeems them from the power of sin and Satan, separates them from an ungodly world, forms them to be his people, and becomes their King." I guess I could kind of apply or compare my life before I became a Christian to verse 1 in a sense that some things in life were strange to me -- like trying to understand things when I was five or so. I think by accpeting the Lord into my life, I didn't get as confused and frustrated about things since I had a reason to live and enjoy life and all that. I probably didn't think of God as my sanctuary then (v. 2), but He knew He could provide that for me and would do so later on -- my darkest moment being an example. I'm not how I'd relate to verses 3-4, but I know that whenever I feel pain, He will heal me (v. 5), which was what He did in my darkest moment -- He freed me from spiritual pain. I figure He started healing me as soon as I came to Him. I'm not sure how verse 6 would apply to me, but I think it's cool that God's presence warrants trembling (v. 7). That illustrates to me that when people come to Him to live for Him, His power and glory has that effect on them to the point where they tremble or give their lives over to Him. I figure God's presence was what brought me to Him even if I wasn't aware of it at the time. Verse 8 is talking about God's miracles. And to look at it from a bigger picture, I was a rock before I became a Christian and Christ washed away my sins by dying on the cross, which is what I see in the "standing water" and "fountain of waters" parts. I will continue to be grateful for His washing away of my sins, especially because I did nothing to deserve that.
Source used:
Henry, Matthew. "Concise Commentary on Psalms 114". "Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
on the Whole Bible". <http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/mhc-con/view.cgi?book=ps&chapter=114>.
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