OUTLINE:
1.
115:1-3
Foundational
statements
a. A
foundational conviction (1)
b. A
foundational contradiction (2)
c. A
foundational confession (3)
2.
115:4-8 Idolatry obscures the glory of God
a. The
glory of idols are a mere reflection of human hands (4)
b. The
glory of idols literally lacks proper
sense (5-7)
c. The
glory of idols is in reality a misplaced
trust and identity (8)
3.
115:9-11 A call
to trust in God
a. Those
who trust Him find Him to be their help and shield (9-11)
b. The assumed result of this is that God gets
the glory.
4.
115:12-18 The God who is
trusted will bless His people
a. All
who fear the LORD will be blessed (12,13)
b. They
will experience increase (14)
c. God’s blessing His people results in them blessing and praising Him. This is nothing less than giving glory to God - the reason for which we exist.
a. A foundational conviction: “Not to us O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness” (v.1). The Psalmist is clearly concerned for God's (YAHWEH’s) glory. He believes that God is glorious[1]. God is weighty. God is incomparably glorious. In Exodus 15, the song of Moses, says this: “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? God, as He is revealed to Moses is the uncreated, eternal, self- existent Being, who is overwhelming in His glory.[2] This was the experience of the shepherds who were present after Jesus was born in Bethlehem.[3] This was Paul’s experience on the Damascus road. God’s glory knocked Paul from his horse and God’s glory blinded him.[4] God’s glory threw John to the ground on the island of Patmos.[5] The glory of God is not discerned by mere human beings. If God chose to not manifest His glory then nobody would know of His existence. But the Bible contains long lists of witness to His glory[6]. In particular we now think of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to whom the glory of God had appeared. Through these patriarchs He had adopted the tiny, insignificant nation of Israel as His own possession. He has done this to no other nation or people. In Psalm 147:19,20 we read, “He declares his word to Jacob, His statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules.” So, here the Psalmist asks God to give glory to Himself- to reveal Himself for who He is, and that for the sake of His steadfast love (Hebr.hesed) and faithfulness (Hebr.olam), and this for the following reason…
b. A foundational contradiction (v.2): “Why should the nations say, “Where
is their God?” The nations contradict the Psalmists
conviction. They clearly believe that God is not glorious. In their eyes God is
not weighty. The Psalmist observes that the surrounding nations were mocking
the house of Israel, and in particular they were blaspheming Israel's glorious God!
The nations were saying, "Where is
their God?" We can't see Him? We can't see Him helping you!" This kind of thing is frequently found in
the Old Testament historical narratives, when the nations fail to see God for
who He is. For instance…
·
2
Chronicles 32:10ff (particularly v.14): Sennacherib here
mocks king Hezekiah of Israel and the God of Israel. He thought little of God.
· 1 Samuel 17:45 – 47: David and Goliath: The attack here was not only made on God's people, but on their God. Goliath underestimated God, for he had not seen the glory of the God of David.This the fundamental inclination of the fallen people of this world. By nature we think little of God. But the truth is this …
c. A foundational confession (v.3): “Our God is in the heavens; he does all he pleases”. Despite that which people may think of YAHWEH, who at this stage seems to be silent on the world stage, the Psalmist says that He remains the sovereign God whose rule is not usurped by men, and whose plans are not thwarted by men. He does what He pleases – not in a random, quick tempered fashion, but always in keeping with His essential nature… steadfast love and faithfulness. “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…” (Psalm 103:8). God never becomes the victim of circumstance. He is never forced into a situation where He must do something to get out of a sticky situation. He is not trapped or cornered or coerced by anybody. Even at the one point in history where He did what in one sense was the hardest thing for God to do, i.e. “not spare his own Son” (Rom. 8:32), God was free and doing what pleased Him. Paul says that the self-sacrifice of Jesus in death was “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2). And on his way to the cross, Jesus said, “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (Jn. 10:18). He died sovereignly and “for the joy that is set before him,” (Hebr. 12:2). When Jesus appeared trapped, He was totally in charge doing precisely what He pleased. He died and rose to glorify His Father in justifying the ungodly, like you and me.
2.
115:4-8
Idolatry obscures the glory of God
These verses
teach us some more about the thought begun in verse 2. Not only will the
nations of this world mock God, but they will do everything in their power to
substitute Him. People cannot get the thought of a God that rules in the
heavens out of their minds, and so they will find a substitute for God. These substitutes are
called idols. Please note how utterly
stupid that quest becomes:
a. The
glory of idols are a mere reflection of
human hands (v.4)
b. The
glory of idols literally lacks proper sense (vv.5-7). They cannot speak, see, hear, feel, or walk.
c. The
glory of idols is in reality a misplaced trust and identity. You become what
you worship (v.8)
How absurd that men
bow down to these things created by themselves. And the effect is that it
obscures the glory of God so that man cannot see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ.” (2 Cor.4:6). "Those who make idols, will become
like them" (v. 8), and
eternity will be spent with wherever our choice lies. This is a very serious
matter, and one which we must constantly keep before our eyes and examine
ourselves.
a. Those
who trust Him find Him to be their help and shield/ protection. Here is the
antidote, the vaccination against idolatry. Don’t trust in your man made idols.
Don’t trust in your society’s idols. Trust
in the Lord. The Psalmist repeats this three times in these verses. He
speaks to Israel generally. He speaks to the priests, the ministers (the house
of Aaron) specifically. And then He speaks to those who fear the LORD (i.e. all true believers) personally. He has one
message to all: “If you trust in the
LORD, He will be your help and your shield.”
b. The
assumed result of this is that God gets the glory.
a. All
(both the small and the great) who fear the LORD will be blessed (vv. 12,13)
b. They
will experience increase (v.14)
c. While
the heavens are completely in God’s
hands, He has handed the earth over for a
little while to the children of men, subject to the ravages of
the fall (e.g. idolatry) and the law of death (v.15), yet remaining in charge. The absence of His manifested glory
must not fool us! This is the greatest mistake that people make.
d. Faithful believers (who live by faith) will trust God and bless Him in this dispensation in which they live. They will give Him all the glory. This is the actual reason for which believers exist.
APPLICATION
1. This Psalm then is a reminder that the glory belongs to God and not to us. By nature we are inclined to glorify ourselves. This Psalm warns us that our self- glorification easily obscures the glory of God.
2. The nations looking at the church see very little of the glory of God reflected in the life of the church, because they see so little of His glorious Being - particular in terms of His steadfast love and His faithfulness reflected in the church. As a result the church finds itself mocked by the world. Many people see the church as weak, and dispensable. We have just been through a very trying 2020. Not only is there a huge health crisis in the world, but there is a huge faith crisis in the evangelical church. The Barna research group in the USA has revealed that one in three practicing Christians has stopped attending church services in this period.[7] The spiritual temperature seems to be dropping, and there appears to be a growing and disturbing division among many evangelical Christians over the management of the COVID crisis. The glory of God is diminished by the church, which is called to be the light-bearer. One gets the impression that outsiders, the media in particular, are watching the demise of the church gleefully, saying “Where is their God?”. It is true of course that much of what is reflected to the world by the so called church is what they see when they look at the malpractices of prominent individuals in the church. Many more outside the church are offended by the lukewarm behaviour of ordinary Christians in the church. This brings God no glory. It simply gives the world ammunition to crucify the Lord of glory over and over again.
3. The nations (in context commonly understood to be pagans/unbelievers) do of course not possess the moral high ground in their judgement of the church and by their judgement of the absence of God. Their lives are invaded by cheap and senseless substitutes for the God who made them. Their trust is on very shaky ground, and it will prove to be their undoing, when they will have to stand before their Creator in the great judgement day, to give an account of themselves.
4. The only way to experience the glory of God is to pursue a life of active trust in God, even when this fallen earth in which we now live causes us to struggle so much. Trust in the LORD! Remember that it is in God’s nature to help and protect His people. It is in God’s nature to bless and increase His people. When we are helped by God, He gets the glory and the praise.
A new year is upon us, and with a new year, come new hopes, and new resolutions. If you had to ask for one thing of the Lord for this year, what would you ask for? Would you not perhaps ask something, not for your own sake, but for God’s sake? Would you not ask that, this year, God would be glorified here among us, and in all the true churches in Windhoek, and in Namibia and indeed in the whole world? Would not the manifestation of the revealed glory of God, which is so easily substituted by our cheap versions of self-glory, be the true cure for our sick world?
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