Day 181. Psalms 145-150

Psalm 145
This psalm—number 145—is another acrostic poem in praise of the God who "unsearchable" in his greatness (3). Far from flattering God with empty praises, this hymn is intended to witness—to proclaim—his "awesome deeds" in history and "sing aloud" of concrete instances of his righteousness (7). Verse 8—"The LORD is gracious and merciful. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love"—amounts to a statement of Israel's faith. God is not remote or arbitrary, like the gods the pagans worship. He is as present to us as today's news. He is as immediate to us as we are to ourselves. He compassionate to his whole creation and to each of his creatures individually. And the proper response to such a God is to "give thanks" to him (10) and "speak of the glory of [his] kingdom" (11) to whoever will listen. God's "kingdom" is the place where he is fully present; everything we can see is only a shadow of it. But his
kingdom is present in creation in his bountiful care and concern for all his creatures, especially the "bowed down" (14), the needy and the hungry. God feeds us in every way. (Luther suggested the use of verses as a table prayer.) And his kingdom is near to us when we pray, and he reveals who he is when he responds our cry with compassion. The psalmist feels bound to join with "all flesh" to "praise the LORD" and "bless his holy name" (21) for being what he is.
Psalm 146
This psalm of praise—number 146—extols the creator "who made the heaven and earth," and yet takes interest in the human world—executing "justice for the oppressed" and giving "food to the hungry." In verses 6-9 the voice of the psalmist lists the marvelous ways in which the LORD "lifts those who are bowed down" in one way or another. But the greatest marvel is the LORD himself, the transcendent God who enters the obscurest, humblest corners of human life with care and concern.
Psalm 147
The psalms struggle to capture the experience of life in relationship with the God who is not like us and yet reveals himself to us in his "steadfast love" (11). In the end, all the psalms are "praises" of the one who enters the tragic and joyous events of our lives to give them meaning. In response to the interest God takes in us "a song of praise is fitting" (147:1). In the psalms there is always a mixing together of the actions of God in the natural world—"he determines the number of the stars" (4)—and his involvement in the human world—"the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him" (11). The psalms display a sense of the unity of the natural and the human worlds that modern people have lost and struggle to recover. The same power is simultaneously at work feeding "the young ravens when they cry" (9) and in declaring "his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel" (19). The same one who gives order to
creation gives order to human life through the Law of Moses. The one who makes heaven and earth also creates a nation for himself, Israel, unlike any other because it alone possesses the Law (20).
Psalm 148
As we drawn near the end of the Book of Psalms the outbursts of childish anger and the cranky complains about enemies die away and the songs are about the LORD alone. There is a clarity in these last psalms that is really wonderful. This psalm—number 148-- calls all the creation from the top to the bottom—from the highest orders to the lowest-- to "praise the LORD" (1). First the members of the heavenly court—the angels (2)—are called to "praise the LORD from the heavens" (1), then the celestial bodies—the sun, moon, and stars (3), then the sea and its creatures (4), then the earth—its wildlife, vegetation and weather (5-10)—all are summoned to praise him. Then last of all, the human creation—"kings of the earth and all peoples" (11)—are called upon to praise God for his greatest miracle of creation, the one that gives meaning to all the rest-- for creating "the people of Israel who are close to him" (14). So the top
of creation and the bottom and everything in between are invited to join the faithful people of God, who witness to the world who God is.
Psalm 149
And who is God exactly? That question is never really answered by the Book of Psalms. It never asks why there is anything and not nothing. It is a collection of responses to God that "is," and those praises become louder and more joyfully abandoned as the book nears its end. In this psalm—number 149—the people are gathered to rejoice—"to praise . . . with dancing"--a God who "adorns the humble with victory" (4). The God of the psalms is found in the human experience of forgetting ourselves, letting go of what we are, and becoming part of something—some one—infinitely greater. Notice that the last line of each of these last psalms (146-150) is the same—"Praise the LORD!" What we know about God is not captured in propositions; it is the experience we have when he comes close to us and we praise him for what he is.
Psalm 150
And so the Book of Psalms ends with one final great doxology—a "doxology" is a song of praise--in which the sound of praise is extended beyond the community of worshippers in the temple, beyond the small city of Jerusalem in an obscure time long past, beyond the little nation of Israel—the often unfaithful remnant-- to an audience more appropriate in its vastness —"Let everything that breathes praise the LORD!" (6), the psalms end. "Praise the LORD!" And someday everything will.