LISTEN TO AN OLD MAN (Psalm 145)

Would you sit with me today in the palace with King David? Would you sit there in the throne room, looking out beyond the balcony over the old city of Jerusalem, with this aged man?

As David was nearing the end of his journey, he looked back on a full and eventful life. For all of us, so many things seem clearer in retrospect. As the old saying goes, “Hindsight is 20/20.” When you get to the end and look back on the path, you see so many things you did not see when you were walking those actual steps.

It is believed that Psalm 145, called “David’s psalm of praise,” was written when he was old and reviewing his life — looking back on all of the goodness of God. It is 21 verses long, which is relatively lengthy, but we are going to walk through all of it. As we do, I want to point out a few things to you that I hope you won’t wait until the end of your life to recognize.

David did something in Psalm 145 that I hope you will do at every step in your journey now, which is praising the Lord.

Verses 1-2: “I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name forever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name forever and ever.”

DIRECTION

Notice the direction of his praise.

Upward

First, it went upward. Our praise should always go to God first and to God alone. Would you just pause right now and praise God? Thank Him for His faithfulness in your life.

I love the phrase “every day” in verse 2. There is never a day that should not be a day of praise because there is never a day when God is not good to us. Then he took it a step further by saying, “forever and ever.” Not only would it be a daily occurrence, but it would continue throughout his life and then beyond that for all of eternity.

Did you ever think about what you will do throughout eternity? You will praise your great God. We should start practicing it now.

Verses 3-4: “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.”

Onward

The praise moved onward. It went from one generation to the next. It is the responsibility of all of us who know and love the Lord to tell the next generation why. Tell your children about the goodness of God and let them know how faithful He has been. Praise should not only be offered TO God but also ABOUT God.

It is no wonder that people do not want to know our God when all we do is rehearse our struggles and never talk about His blessings. Brag on the Lord today.

Verses 5-7: “I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.”

Outward

This is where we see the praise going outward to all around us. David wrote here about praising God in his conversations with all of these other men, and the singular turned to plural as they continue the practice. This is how it is supposed to be, a tidal wave of praise. It should begin in my life and then continue in other people.

When you begin praising God, it leads others to praise. I believe that we would see more people come to faith in Jesus Christ, more prodigals come home, and more discouraged people lifted if we were more of the people of praise we ought to be. According to Rom. 2:4, “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.”

Nothing turns people’s hearts to God more than praise. It reminds us how good our God is. It is the first thing the devil wants to question and forget, yet it is the first thing we must go back and remember. God is good.

DETAILS

The remaining verses of the psalm show the details of his praise. Verses 8-9: “The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”

His goodness is not just what He does. It is who He is. As verse 9 tells us, He is good to all people and all things.

Verse 10: “All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee.” All of us have received His goodness, and all of us should give Him praise.

Verses 11-13: “They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.”

Remember where we are in David’s life. His reign would soon be over, and his son was poised to take over. He was rehearsing the fact that God is the true king, and His kingdom endures. It is everlasting.

You may come to the end of certain things. There are many endings in life, but there is no end to God or His goodness. Think about that today.

Verse 14: “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” Do you think that David perhaps was remembering all of the moments when he failed? Maybe he was thinking about his sin with Bathsheba, the time he ran when he should have stood, or an instance where he spoke in unbelief rather than faith. If so, he was also thinking of how the Lord upheld him in spite of that. We all have our failures and fallings. But we can all say that God has been faithful.

Verses 15-18: “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.”

I believe that David was remembering specific seasons of prayer, times when he called on God and God answered. We should do the same.

Verses 19-20: “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.”

David had seen many enemies fall, but those who loved the Lord were still standing. Think about the times in your own life that God has been good to you, and remember that He is with you to the very end.

Verse 21: “My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.”

David was continuing to praise the Lord, and he asked everyone else to do so as well. It was as if he were the song leader, inviting the congregation to join him on the chorus.

Join him today in praising the Lord and blessing His holy name. God has been so good to us. At the end of every day and every season in life, rehearse His goodness — and know that it will outlive you.