- Read Psalm 135 from the ESV.
- Read my Psalm 135 poem from A New Song.
There must be something terribly wrong with me…I mean, other than the obvious reasons! When I read the psalms which are primarily filled with praise and worship I don’t really know how to respond. But when it comes to the psalms of lament — the psalms filled with pain, suffering, and sin — my ideas run faster than my pen. I seem to know those things all too well. Maybe it’s because my mind has dwelt on my sin for far too long; maybe I don’t think God will listen to my praise; maybe I don’t think I’m worthy to praise him — I don’t know. But whatever the reason, I do know this: the rest of the psalms are going to be difficult for me to write about, because the rest of the Psalms are primarily filled with praise and worship.
The Songs of Ascent concluded in Psalm 134 with a short psalm of praise, but the praise does not end there, in fact, it is just beginning. Praise continues in Psalm 135 and 136 which offer more insight into what it means to praise the LORD. Psalm 134, the pinnacle of the Songs of Ascent, tells us that all the servants of the Lord are to praise him. Psalm 135 offers reasons why we are to praise him, and Psalm 136 provides an example of how we are to praise him.
Psalm 135 explains why we are to praise the LORD by contrasting him to other gods. The God we serve — the LORD — is different from every other god in the universe — from every god that humanity has created.
The LORD does whatever he pleases to do in heaven and earth and in the seas and all deeps. He is a God of action and self-will. No one compels him; no one directs him; no one surpasses him in authority. He is the God who makes all things and makes all things work together for his good pleasure. He directs nature. He enacts vengeance. He performs miracles. He clears away the enemies who stand before his people. He gives good gifts to those whom he has called by his name. He endures forever. He will clear his people of their guilt. He has compassion for all those who love him.
In contrast to what we know about the LORD, the idols of humanity — the gods our hands have made — are quite different. Nothing we create can do anything without it being told to. A wooden idol cannot see, cannot hear, cannot speak. A car cannot drive itself. A computer cannot choose its own programming. A golden toilet cannot fill or flush itself. None of these things has the capacity to destroy evil. None of these things have the capacity to reward good; to forgive; to weep; to have compassion. They are all as blind and deaf and mute as any stick of wood we could pick up from the ground and place on a shelf in our house.
As if it weren’t enough that the idols of humanity are inanimate, when we worship them we tend to become like them. If we worship blind, deaf, mute objects of our own creation we become blind, deaf, mute, and lifeless just like them. BUT, if we worship the living God, we have our eyes opened, our ears unlocked, and our mouths become filled with praise. We become the living creation we were meant to be as we worship the living God.
And this brings me back to why I think I find the praise psalms are difficult to navigate for me. It’s because I — that is who I am in my base nature — am blind, deaf, and mute. I come from the lifeless dirt, and, even though I have the breath of God filling me, my broken nature continues to drag me down toward the dirt and decay. And once in that pit, all I see is the pit. What a horrible indictment this is upon me. BUT there is hope. When I read the psalms of worship, I am beckoned to lift my eyes from out of the pit I know so well. The LORD who created me, loves me, redeemed me, and promises to one day make his dwelling with me here on earth, calls me. Yet, even so, most days lifting my eyes from the pit of despair to behold God’s glory is not easy; it goes against my nature. BUT when I do, when God gives me the strength to lift my sight beyond my own problems — as happens to me in the short span of writing these entries — the struggle against my nature is well worth it.
We may start in a place of darkness, dwelling on the troubles surrounding us, but when we lift our eyes to see the vast differences between the God who loves us and the gods we create, the darkness falls away and our eyes are turned to the light. And in that light, we are able to see what is real and what is good — even the slightest glimpse of the presence of the LORD, the creator and redeemer of all. And at that moment, whatever was terribly wrong with us, keeping us from praise, falls away as we stand in his inexplicable, inexhaustible, and loving light ready to praise the LORD.
