PRECIOUS NAME
Psalm 138: 1-8
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
The structure of this Psalm is simple. It falls into three parts. In the first three verses the singer, David, praises and recounts God's wonderous dealings with him. In the second three verses, the singer looks out over all the earth in the confidence that these blessings, when known will bring the whole world to worship Him. In the last two verses is the plea for God to complete the work that He has begun.
Our theme verse for today refers to the precious Name of our Lord God Almighty. And you will note in our catechism today our reference to the third commandment and our teachings about this revelation. Quite regularly I hear students blurt out a less than respectable referance to either Jesus Christ or to God Himself. Now it is no longer possible to admonish people to avoid blasphemy. The best I can do is to call attention to their hasty words:
"I should advise you that the One you refer to is more powerful than I!"
"That isn't His last name you know!"
"Remember, this is a public school, you can't talk to Him here!"
And so it goes. While the words are not the words I should like to use, usually the message gets across, and I can stay out of trouble. Is this the intent of the the third commandment? Our language is full of substitutes for the real words. Gosh darn, heck, Judas Priest, and so on. Is that enough, just not to say the name in the same way that the worldly would? I would think our Psalm today goes far beyond the common understanding of misusing the precious Name.
Let us look at the first part of our Psalm. There in verse one David promises the praise of his whole heart to God. That praise will be before all other gods. Now this "before" is usually interpreted that God's praises are spoken and witnessed to in the presence of hostile gods and God's holy name is proclaimed in power and in glory. In verse two we see the heartfelt worship and praise of David which is given for God's particular love and the ongoing faithfulness of the Holy God who we love and praise even today. It is this great God, whose name and word are above all other things in our life and even in His whole universe. And yet He is willing and able to care for and reveal Himself to us. Look at verse three the second phrase. It is He who gives us boldness, it is He who strengthens us for His own service. Did I use the word service? Yes, why else would He make us bold, why else would He strengthen us? We have a purpose to serve Him any way we can as long as we bring His cause glory and honor.
We move on to section two. Here David prays that the kings and princes of this world may hear the words of God. He also prays that the same kings may sing of the ways of the Lord. Does David hope for world evangelism? Is not God's glory great enough for that? It must be, David asserts. He looks down from on high upon all of the lowly. And yet, some will not lower themselves to be known. Instead, they chose to remain proud. They will not acknowledge His name and His word. But, David is not proud in this sense.
We move on to the last division to see our own proper relationship to the Lord God Almighty. In verse seven we see that we may have troubles. And dear friends some of us this very week are experiencing troubles that try our souls. Wherever sincere pastors and elders labor to pull together a group in the name of Jesus Christ, there are usually flaming arrows from Satan to trouble those whom God was calling together. At our Presbytery last week the session heard first hand how the devil has been at work troubling Christ's Church in many and varied places. One of my friends who I encouraged into the ministry was recently thrown out of his church in another Presbytery. Other Christian friends report the same phenomenon this fall as well! Some years before we began Christ Covenant, I had thought that four families were willing to come together to worship our God in another county. The first week that we were to gather, there was an auto accident in one family and another man went into the hospital sick.
The Lord has been gracious to us thus far at Christ Covenant and yet I know that several of our people are facing spiritual trials and temptations of various sorts this very week. May all of us in that situation look at David's petition in the last half of verse seven. See: He does indeed preserve our lives, He protects us and He saves us, just as He did David. Like David we may have the confidence that God has a purpose for each of us. And there in the last verse is His promise that His love for us endures forever. Like David, may we pray that He will not abandon the work that He has already begun in us. May the Lord, our God give us strength in times of trouble, may He also encourge our faint hearts, and show us His divine pleasure and will. Even though we are weak and frail may we be encouraged through His word. Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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MacLaren, Alexander. |
The Psalms. | |
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The Holy Bible, New International Version. International Bible Society (1973, 1978, 1984) | ||
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Psm 138a |
02 Oct 88 & 18 Oct 97 | |