Psalm 145
David's Psalm of praise.
1I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
2Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
3Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
4One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
5I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
6And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.
7They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.
8The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
9The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
10All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.
11They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
12To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
13Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.
14The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
15The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
16Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
17The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
18The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
19He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
20The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.
21My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
Chapter 145
I already extol, bless, and praise Him (vv. 1-2) pretty much every day, mostly for having a roof over my head, food to eat, and for another day by thanking Him for those things. Those verses are ones to keep in mind during trials, as Matthew Henry states: "Those who, under troubles and temptations, abound in fervent prayer, shall in due season abound in grateful praise, which is the true language of holy joy. Especially we should speak of God's wondrous work of redemption, while we declare his greatness." I don't remember if I praised God for my trial during my darkest moment, but I did pray fervently, which did resulted in me priaisng Him for His deliverance. In verse 3, I am reminded that words cannot describe His glory as well as His greatness because His greatness is unsearchable. I praise Him for being so good and for the fact that His greatness will never run out. I'm not sure how I'd relate to verse 4, but maybe I'm part of the generation that tells of His works and acts. If I am, that's a great thing to be a part of so I can let others know of His great works in my life and praise Him for all the good stuff, which is what I get out of verse 5. Perhaps, however, I should do as verse 5 commands when the opportunities present themselves, but sometimes it's hard to narrow down how He's working in my life. "Terrible" (v. 6) means "awesome." I have heard of the awesome things God has done in the lives of others, such as freed them from drugs and other addictions. Because of His work in others' lives, I am reminded of how good He is and that He can help solve any problem a person might have. I praise Him for transforming those that I know that used to do drugs into people who are part of His kingdom. If His hand wasn't over them, they'd be lost and it's a good thing they aren't. They -- the former drug addicts -- do talk about His goodness (v. 7) and so do I, whenever the opportunity presents itself when I'm with other believers. The part regarding singing of His righteousness reminds me of worship tim in church when me and the other believers do just that -- whether it be directly or indirectly -- the message gets across to Him that one of the things we are praising Him for as a body is His righteousness. I will say that no one is as righteous as He is because if someone was, that would create problems in terms of knowing who to praise for their righteousness. His actions are justified -- as I illustrated before in regards to Psalm 137 -- and I know that since they're justified, they are righteous. If He just killed people with a reason, His actions wouldn't be justified. I don't have a lot to say about verse 8, but I can't think of anyone who is as gracious and compassionate as He is. When I mess up, He welcomes me with open arms so I can repent and He can help me out and all that. I am thankful that His love outweighs my sins, but that doesn't mean I should abuse His forgiveness. When I felt convicted of thinking of material things I planned to spend money on once I had a job, I know that the Lord opened His arms so He could help me to change my thoughts in regards to what I would do with my money and not just focus on spending it on myself. That is kind of where verse 9 comes in because His change in me was a result of His tender lovingkindness. I don't have much to say in regards to verses 10-12 since they're pretty self-explanatory, but I will say that His works (or His creation) illustrates to me that He is worthy of praise since He took the time to create nature and all that. I am someone who has acknowledged Him as my creator and since I have acknowledged that, I believe in a God that is worthy of praise. What verse 11 means to me is telling people about the good things God has done in my life, which I haven't had much chance to do outstide of Christian circles, but I hope to tell non-believers and plant seeds that way. Continuing on from verse 11, I feel that verse 12 applies to both and non-believers because I could tell either a believer or non-believer about His glorious works in my life and I imagine it would have a different effect on either person. When I let other believers know how He is at work in my life, it's usually for the sake of praising Him. If I were to let non-believers know, it would be to plant seeds. What "and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations" (v. 13) means to me is that there hasn't been a generation that hasn't has its people who were under His domionion and I praise Him for His everlasting kingdom. If He wasn't everlasing (or eternal), then His kingdom wouldn't be and His kingdom wouldn't be there for purposes of dominion when it needs to be. So I guess His dominion is something that is a big deal to me and it's something I'd like to explore further at a later time.
In my darkest moment, I did fall (v. 14), but the Lord upheled me by protecting me from the enemy's influence, which allowed me to focus on my walk with Him, which I did by praying fervently and reading His Word. I'm not sure how I'd relate to verse 15, but I know I can rely on Him for my desires (v. 16). I have in the past, deliverance from my darkest moment being an example, and right I'm relying on Him to provide me with a job. He knows I want one and I just gotta wait on Him since He knows when I'll have one. I've already kind of alluded to verse 17, so there's not much reason to repeat myself. I basically called upon Him when I became a Christian (v. 18). I'm not sure how I'd explain He was near, but when I called on Him, I wasn't fooling around -- I wanted to see what living for Christ was like even though I didn't really understand it at a young age. Now I know how I can do it and what it means and all that. Originally I thought eternal life sounded pretty good, but now I now I see it's more than that -- it's about living for Him. In my darkest moment, God heard my cry and heard me (v. 19), as I've talked about before. I feared Him before my darkest moment took place, but kind of gave up on Him because I thought I could deal with things on my own, which was what led to my darkest moment. I figure since He had known I was one of His faithful, He helped me out as soon as I had cried out to Him. In regards to verse 20, He preserved (or watched over) me by protecting me from the enemy's infleunce, which He eventually took care of. I try to speak His praise for every good He does in my life (v. 21) or let Him know that I am thankful for the good things as He does them. I guess all flesh blesses His holy name by existing, but it's something I may look into further since I am not sure.
Source used:
Henry, Matthew. "Concise Commentary on Psalms 145". "Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
on the Whole Bible". <http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/mhc-con/view.cgi?book=ps&chapter=145>.
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