Psalm 147

Praise the Lord! ?

This Psalm has a clear message: Praise the Lord!

What does it take for us to lift our hearts and praise God?

The reason we see in the Psalms is out of response to God. We praise because we look to God and see that He is worthy of our praise. Praise is a completion of our experience of God.

This Psalm lists some reasons why we praise God

Might and Tenderness ??

This Psalm is written with the exile in mind. The Lord brought them back and healed them. Often we feel like we are exiled from God because of our sin.

But God takes those without hope, or a future and gathers them to Himself. He heals the broken-hearted. We can come before Him in honesty, in our broken state and He will not hurt us more or turn us away. He will renew us and make us whole as His child.

This same God who tenderly heals our brokeni lives is the one who has immense power over all the universe. There is nothing He doesn't know about or understand.

We are tiny in comparison to what God knows and understands - yet God knows and loves us as those made in His image. That same God came to Earth as a man for one purpose: to love us. To love the small, broken, and sinful creation that has turned it's back on Him.

Provision ?

The Psalmist understood depending on God for rain to bring the crops to growth for food. We often do not understand this as we are far removed from depending on God for things like that.

Yet God still provides! It may not be as clear anymore but everything down to the breath in our lungs is given by the Lord.

God does not rely on human strength for His provision to the rest of us. He knows that He alone can provide for us. Yet we sometimes miss this. We put our hopes in worldly things and strengths to provide whatever need. Yet the Lord provides what we need for our future in Him. We put our hope alone in Him. Our progress and growth as Christians comes from a fear and reliance of the Lord. God looks to those who fear Him and delights in them. He uses the weak in order that His power is praised, not our own. The more we rely on Him, the more He is glorified.

Sovereign Rule ?

For those in exile there was a memory of a peaceful Jerusalem, with secure gates and safe people.

That now lies in the future. We come to Christ and receive more than what we expect. Jesus always has more than enough for us.

God exercises His rule on this Earth with His voice. Creation came into being by His command. All weather, and kingdom, and power comes and goes by His voice. We can lift our eyes to see God's hand behind all things.

Even the harder parts of life are still under the Lord's control. They are restrained and ended by Him. We can feel comfort during hard times that God can restore and bring healing from them.

God's Word - the Bible, has no less power than the voice of God in creation. It can change lives and us the power to bring revolutionary change.