Hymns: RHC 339 When I Fear My Faith Will Fail, 348 Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah, 351 He Leadeth Me
PSALM 147
1 Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. 2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. 4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. 6 The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground. 7 Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. 9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. 10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. 11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. 12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. 13 For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. 14 He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. 15 He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly. 16 He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. 17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold? 18 He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow. 19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. Psalm 147:1-20 (KJV)
EXTOLLING OUR ALL-CARING GOD
OUTLINE
His Redemptive Care (v1-6)
His Provisional and Protective Care (v7-14)
His Instructive Care (v15-20)
INTRODUCTION
It is observed, “The God of Israel is set forth in His peculiarity of glory as caring for the sorrowing, the insignificant and forgotten.” (CH Spurgeon) This is the singularly gracious God that the psalmist praises, to impress upon our hearts to extol and glorify.
God’s people, Israel, were wayward. They went after idols. God had to deal with them after their sins. Even after repeated warnings by God’s prophets to awaken them from their spiritual adultery, they were unrepentant. The Babylonians were sent to destroy Jerusalem. God’s people were exiled from the Promised Land for 70 years. It was a time of great sorrow. God brought them back to the land through the decree of Cyrus, the king of Persia.