Psalm 146
“Song of Praise”
December 12, 2010 - Third Sunday in Advent

         She was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and a big green “O” stenciled on her cheek. As I checked in at Court Sports late last Saturday afternoon, the girl at the desk was flushed and cheerful, obviously coming off the excitement of the Ducks’ victory over the Beavers in the “Civil War” game. I mentioned that she looked happy and she said, “You should have seen all the happy people in here an hour ago.”

         Many of you shared that happiness last week, gathered around a television screen or sitting out in the weather in Corvallis, cheering for your team. In the process, you were filled with one of the deepest human joys, the joy and happiness that comes through giving fervent praise.

         God made us, designed us, to find joy and fulfillment in the offering of praise. It’s why cheering a football team or applauding a great stage performance or giving some positive feedback to a child who’s done well are such satisfying and happy experiences. We are doing what we’re made for, offering up blessing and honor to someone other than ourselves.

         Cheering, applause and sincere praise of our children and friends are great and good things, but ultimately they will not completely satisfy our need to give praise. A brilliant line from the Westminster Shorter Catechism sums it up, saying that our “chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” We were made not just to praise that which is great, but that which is greatest. We were made not just to praise a team when they are winning or an orchestra when they are playing well, but to enjoy the giving of praise always and forever.

         Our song from Scripture this morning, Psalm 146, is the first of the last five songs in the book of psalms. They are all especially focused on praise because they each begin and end with the same Hebrew word, “Hallelujah.” “Hallelujah” means “Praise the Lord.” Jewish people call these the “Hallel psalms,” because there are two words combined in one here: Hallel “to praise,” and Yah, short for Yahweh, or “Jehovah,” the Lord. These are ancient praise songs meant to help us fulfill our need to praise God.

         Psalm 146 starts with a stair-step build up of praise in verses 1 and 2. Each phrase adds something and broadens the dimensions of praise. “Praise the Lord,” then ^“Praise the Lord, O my soul,” then “I will praise the Lord as long as I live,” and finally, “I will sing praises to my God all my life long.” First just the one word, “Hallelujah,” then “Hallelujah” in my soul, in the very depths of my being, then “Hallelujah” for as long as I live, and then finally, “Hallelujah” out loud, singing, for my whole life.

         Praise is meant to keep growing. Your excitement builds during a game when your team is doing well. You get louder. You “quack.” You do “the wave.” People whose bodies would never express emotion at any other time perform ridiculous actions. You get caught up in the great affirmation being offered. Psalm 146 shows that same kind of excitement about God. His praise keeps getting larger. You are drawn into a greater and greater affirmation of the Lord and in it find yourself fulfilled.

         We are fulfilled by praising God, because when we praise God we are praising the one person we can absolutely and completely trust. The second part of this song, verses 3 and 4, reminds us why we cannot completely trust anyone else, not a football team, not a performer, not, as it says, a prince or politician. As much as I hate to say it, and please forgive me, the Ducks may lose next year. They may lose on January 10. You can’t put all your hope and trust there. God help us because it’s so painful, you can’t put all your trust in members of your family. They often fail you. And we’re dreadfully and constantly aware that we cannot place our confidence in those who govern us.

         This psalm was written as Israel returned from exile. They received help from the Persian kings in rebuilding the temple and even the wall of Jerusalem. Perhaps they imagined the Persian government would always take care of them, protect them from their enemies, provide them whatever financial assistance was needed. This song says no to that kind of misplaced trust. “Do not put your trust in princes in mortals, in whom there is no help.”

         Why? Why can’t we trust other human beings? It’s not just that we’re all flaky. There are some fairly trustworthy folks around. You may know some. No, it’s that we are mortal. Verse 4 says, “When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.” Cyrus the Persian was a huge blessing to Israel, but he died in battle. His son Cambyses continued his good policies, but died after only 7 years. His brother succeeded him, but lasted only seven months.

         We can’t count on other human beings to always be around when we need them. It may be no fault of their own, but there is no human person you can be completely sure to trust and praise all your life long.

         Once upon a time I searched for the perfect Christmas tree stand. Years ago we went out to cut a tree on a little tree farm. They were selling an intriguing stand. It was a big plastic bowl for water, three long steel bars for legs and a single long spike coming up from the bottom. “How does that work?” I asked. The man said, “We drill a perfectly straight hole up the trunk of your tree. You just take it home, tap in the spike with a hammer and stand it up. That’s all there is to it.” So I trusted him… and our tree leaned to one side all that December.

         The man at the tree farm was sincere. He didn’t deliberately lead me astray. But he was human. And he was not around when our tree stood up crooked. If you can’t trust a nice guy about a Christmas tree stand, why think you can trust your life to princes, or presi­dents or even pastors? Don’t put all your trust in any of them. At the very least, someday they will be dead and gone.

         That’s why verse verses 5 and 6 tell us, “Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob.” Why? Because He “made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them.” He was there at the beginning and verse 6 ends by telling us that He “keeps faith forever.” God began this world, began your life, and He will see it through to the end, forever. God can always, literally, be trusted.

         The Hebrews identified God by His relationship to their ancestors, “the God of Jacob.” They knew He had been faithful to them for generations back into the past. So they trusted Him to be faithful on into the future, forever.

         Even short of eternity, we can trust and praise God. In our Gospel lesson from Matthew 11 you find John the Baptist wondering if he can really trust Jesus. John had already decided Jesus was the promised Messiah. He had baptized Jesus, and had seen the Holy Spirit come down on Him like a dove. But now John was in jail for having the gall to tell a king he was a sinner for marrying his brother’s wife. You cannot trust princes. Now John began to wonder if he could trust Jesus. Was Jesus really what he thought? Was He really the Messiah?

         Verses 7 and 8 from our psalm match the answer Jesus sent to John the Baptist, match  the prophecy we read from Isaiah. God in Jesus Christ can be trusted because God helps the poor and oppressed, sets prisoners free and gives sight to the blind. Jesus told John that He could trust Him, could trust God, because Jesus was doing what God promised to do.

         Jesus could have asked John for more faith. If anyone should have had faith, John should have. But Jesus gave John evidence. He gave him a reason to trust. Jesus told the John’s disciples to tell him what they saw. They saw the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking, lepers being healed, deaf people hearing, and poor people receiving good news. They saw Isaiah and this psalm being fulfilled right before their eyes.

         Yet John could trust even more because Jesus added to the list. Compare the promises in Psalm 146 and Isaiah 35 with what Jesus says in Matthew 11. Jesus added the curing of lepers, and that’s amazing. But com­pare the lists and you will see one incomparable item added to what the Messiah was actually doing. Jesus told them to tell John that “the dead are raised.”

         As John sat in prison waiting for an evil queen to connive and get his head cut off, he could trust Jesus because Jesus was raising the dead. We praise and trust God today because of that incredible fact. The Hebrews knew Him as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We know Him as the God and Father of Jesus Christ our Savior. God proved Himself trustworthy forever because in Jesus Christ He showed us that even death is not a reason to give up trusting Him. We may die, but even in death we can trust a God who can raise the dead, who raised up Jesus Himself to live forever. Happy are those whose help is the God of Jesus Christ who rose from death.

         We can trust God and offer Him praise for our whole lives. He will be there for our whole lives, and beyond. He will do the rest of what is sung here in verses 8 and 9. He will lift us up when we are bowed down by worries and sadness. He loves those who are righteous and good. He will take care of strangers and orphans and widows, like the ones we prayed for today.

         Verse 9 ends telling us we can even count on God to judge those who do what’s wrong. As we remembered last week, Jesus will bring justice to this world. Those who abuse their power by abusing those who trusted them will be brought to ruin. As we say in the Creed, because Jesus rose and lives and reigns in heaven, He will come again to judge the living and the dead. We can trust in that. We can trust Him.

         The last verse of our psalm says again why we trust Him. “The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations” and then ends with that great single word “Hallelujah!” “Praise the Lord!” We praise Him because He can be trusted to reign forever. This last verse is another reminder that you can trust the Lord. He reigns forever. He will never forsake your trust. His power will last through the genera­tions. You and your children and your children’s children can trust Him. You can always trust Him.

         That thought of praising Jesus because He will reign forever was taken up by the apostle John in Revelation 11:5, “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” You may recognize that verse as the central phrase of one of the most popular and wonderful praise songs ever created, George Frederick Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”

         Years ago I heard Handel’s work mentioned on Performance Today. A critic named Ted Libby was offering suggestions for recordings which belong in every good music collection. Handel’s Messiah was one. Host Martin Goldsmith remarked that almost everyone knows and loves Messiah. It’s the one piece for which even amateurs buy the sheet music, tuck it under their arms and go off to sing in “do-it-yourself” Messiah performances. Libby said the power of Messiah is unique because “it speaks the truth.”

         Handel’s Messiah is true. You can trust what it says because you can trust the one it’s about. A Messiah really did come. He really set people free. He really fed the hungry and healed the blind. And He really raised the dead and rose from the dead Himself. And He shall reign forever and ever. That is every reason to praise and honor Him with the very best songs and acts of worship we can offer.

         After the first performance of Messiah in 1742, Handel directed a production of it every year until he died. At a performance in Westminster Abbey, it is told that when another composer, Franz Joseph Haydn, heard the Hallelujah Chorus he jumped to his feet and exclaimed, “He is the master of us all.” Since then it has been the custom to stand for the Hallelujah Chorus. Even King George III felt compelled to stand in praise for the King of kings and Lord of lords, for here was a power in which even a king must place his trust.

         George Handel died in 1759. The last music he ever heard per­formed was his own Messiah. Handel was far from perfect. He was often destitute and de­pressed, but he kept offering praise to the Lord. The story goes that as one day a friend entered where Handel was writing, found him in tears, and asked what was wrong. Handel held up the score for the “Hallelujah Chorus” and said, “I thought I saw the face of God.”

         Jesus wanted John the Baptist to know that He had seen the face of God. He wanted him to be able to trust and, yes, to praise God even in prison. He wants the same for you and me. He wants to give us the deep and lasting joy that comes from praising Him forever.

         Many of you may have already seen the video of a “flash mob” of professional singers performing the “Hallelujah Chorus” in a mall food court in Canada. You can see the joy on the faces of the singers and the wonder of those caught by the surprise and you catch a glimpse of what praise to God does for us. We see people rising to their feet to honor the King of kings. We see a child with his mouth open in awe. Amateurs in the audience are joining in. There are smiles and rapt eyes and ears carried away in the affirmation of “Hallelujah” and “he shall reign forever and ever.” It’s a little sample of our destiny. I’d like to share that wonderful act of praise with you this morning, and may it inspire you to fulfill your chief end this Advent and Christmas, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

         Food Court Hallelujah Chorus

         Amen.

Valley Covenant Church
Eugene/Springfield, Oregon
Copyright © 2010 by Stephen S. Bilynskyj