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PSALM

CHAPTER 113

1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. 2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. 3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised. 4 The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.

God's name IS "blessed" (verse 2). It is "blessed" forever. God is holy and perfect and never changes.

Therefore we are exhorted to PRAISE the Lord. Three times the psalmist mentions this. It is IMPORTANT!

God is to be praised ALL DAY by His people. The psalmist says "from the rising of the sun to the setting of the same." ((See also Deuteronomy 6:4-9))

God is GOD! He is ABOVE all His creation. His glory is greater than the beauty of all His creation. Therefore, let us PRAISE HIM!

5 Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, 6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! 7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; 8 That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people. 9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

No one is or can be totally like our Lord. He is HIGHER than we are. Yet He is compassionate and constantly works to help us.

See the things mentioned here that God does to help people. He helps the poor and needy and makes them equal with princes. He even gives the barren woman a home with children.

God loves us and is gracious and kind toward us; always abounding in help for our souls.

LET US PRAISE HIM!

CHAPTER 114

1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; 2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. 3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. 5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? 6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; 8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

This is a psalm that caused the people of Israel to remember what God had done for them when He saved them out of Egyptian slavery and brought them into Canaan - the Promised Land.

Notice that verse 2 tells us when God saved them, they became His "sanctuary" and His "dominion." God made His RESIDENCE within the people. And God took charge and control of their lives.

That's what it means to be saved. To allow God to come into our soul and take charge (see Revelation 3:20).

When God took up residence in them and took charge of their lives, He performed miracles for their benefit. The Red Sea opened up for them, and later, so did the overflowing Jordan River.

If the "earth" trembles at the "presence of the Lord," (verse 7), How much more should we? His power is awesome! He can bring water out of a rock!

And when we allow God to come and take up residence in our soul, and to take charge of our lives, He can perform the miracle of a new birth within us. Then He can begin to mold and shape us into a vessel fit for His use.

PSALM 115

1 Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. 2 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? 3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

If we achieve any success in this life, we are not to say that we have accomplished it by our own power (See Deuteronomy 8:17). And it is certainly not because of our righteousness that God has helped us with any accomplishment (Deuteronomy 9:4). Any accomplishment we may achieve is simply because God has had MERCY upon us and acted according to His own TRUTHS.

He is GOD! He reigns over ALL the earth (and people) and does whatever HE PLEASES!

Those who worship idols may say, "Where is your God? We cannot SEE Him."

And we can answer, "He came, He lived on earth, He died for our sins, He was placed in a tomb, then He resurrected Himself from that grave, and now reigns in glory above and beyond all that we can see or hear!" We also can say, "He is not like an idol - He is not the work of man's hands. Neither is God like a MAN which some men worship. Men who die are still in the grave. But Jesus Christ is RISEN!!"

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. 5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

Most people's gods are only figments of somebody's imagination! They had to MAKE them out of stone or wood. They can actually be carried around! And they have NO POWER! They are DUMB and cannot speak everlasting truths.

And those who trust in such gods are similar to those gods! They are carried around by every whim of society. And they have no power to receive healing of the soul from sinsickness.

The only REAL God is One Who would descend from glory and take upon flesh to reveal Himself properly to mankind; Who would show man as a sinner, then offer His perfect righteousness as a payment for their sins; Who would, by His own power rise up from death and prove His eternal power; Who would ascend back into glory and call all men to be forgiven, saved and JOIN Him there!

9 O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 11 Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 12 The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. 13 He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. 14 The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. 15 Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. 16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

Therefore, we are called to trust in the LORD. Only HE has the blessings of life in this earth, and in eternity!

He is God ABOVE, and has given earth BENEATH unto man. God is MINDFUL of us. He CARES about us. Therefore, He has paid the price we could not pay for the redemption of our souls.

He is patiently waiting for each person to acknowledge sin, beg forgiveness and be saved. When a person does that, he is both blessed in this earthly life and then blessed eternally.

Have you trusted in this Holy God by surrending to Jesus Christ?

17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.

Those who are "dead" in sins can never praise the Lord. Death separates us from the living! When we die in this world, we are separated from the living in the earth.

Sin causes us to be DEAD to God. He is ETERNALLY ALIVE!

In order for a man to praise the Lord, that man must first be MADE ALIVE to God! And for that to happen, God must first grant us HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. And the conditions upon which He will grant us His righteousness are:
A) admit we are sinners as God says we are (Romans 3:23),
B) beg God's forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38),
C) commit to following Him by allowing Him to take control of our lives (Romans 10:9-10, Luke 9:23).

Those who never follow the simple A,B,C's of salvation can NEVER praise the Lord! That's because they are SEPARATED from God Who is ETERNALLY ALIVE!

But those who follow the conditions are received in Christ, and will reside with God forever in glory to give Him praise!

If you have never followed the ABC's of salvation, follow them today!

And if you have followed the ABC's of salvation, then PRAISE HIM today!

Please continue in Bible Study with us.