Psalm 115: Not to Our Names

Today’s reading is Psalm 115.

The Foundation of All Prayer

I encourage you to memorize Psalm 115:1. This verse is the foundation of all prayer and all worship.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! (ESV)

This verse explicitly states what is left implicit in every other passage mentioning the glory due the Lord’s name. The Lord’s name deserves glory, yes. But behind that statement is our names do not. That is the ancient competition. Even the devil, when he tempted Eve, highlighted how she would become like God. Sin, at its heart, is anchored in self-worship and self-glory.

This becomes all the more profound when we come to Jesus’s model for prayer in Matthew 6:9. Our English translations obscure it, but the initial statement in that prayer more accurately says, “Our Father in heaven, your name must be hallowed.” Implicit in that statement is the thought “Your name, not ours, must be hallowed.” Likewise, “Your kingdom, not ours” and “Your will, not ours.”

We need to see this statement as the foundation for every prayer we ever pray. Through the years, so much of my praying has been predicated simply on what I want in the moment. What will benefit me? Can I get God to give it to me? But the greatest pursuit at any moment, and what should be the overarching pursuit of every prayer, is for the Lord’s name to be glorified, not ours. In fact, may I suggest as you prepare to cast your cares upon the Lord, think through the situation and consider what will bring the Lord’s name and reputation the most glory. Care about that and pray for that.

Another Exodus Picture

We continue in the Egyptian Hallel psalms used among the Hebrews at the Passover feast for millennia. While Psalm 115 does not specifically mention the exodus from Egypt (though the similar Psalm 135 does), the entire basis of this psalm presents a picture from the exodus.

First, when the psalm kicks off honoring the Lord’s name, it specifically calls to mind Exodus 34:6-7, in which the Lord allows His glory to pass by Moses and proclaims His name:

The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation (ESV).

Second, it gives the basis for some of Moses’s most powerful praying during that time. Every time God told Moses to get out of the way so He could wipe Israel out and start over, Moses prayed for God to refrain because the Lord’s name was more important than Moses’s name. Further, Moses’s big concern was what the nations would say about the Lord if He destroyed the people He had just delivered.

Third, the contrast with the idols of the nations clearly provides the basis for the second command given on Sinai. The Lord did not want any graven images representing Him because their lifeless nature simply could not represent Him.

Fourth, the Psalm 115:12 declaration that “The LORD has remembered us” calls to mind the specific statements in Exodus 2:24-25; 6:5. The Lord remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; He remembered His people. He blessed them with deliverance.

Truthfully, this psalm displays so many connections back to the exodus from Egypt, I’m surprised most commentators date it to some potential crisis in the days of the kings or even to the time after the Babylonian exile. Frankly, I could see this psalm coming from the pen of Moses himself following the golden calf debacle.

Whenever it was written, the great concern is the glory of the Lord. May that always be our great concern as well.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 115.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 115 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Psalm 114: PATHS-Praise

Today’s reading is Psalm 114.

A Hallelujah!

The Septuagint (LXX) organization of these Hallel psalms is different from that in our Bibles based on the Masoretic Hebrew text. One small difference comes at the end of Psalm 113 and beginning of Psalm 114.

In the LXX, the final “Hallelujah!” or “Praise the Lord!” of 113 becomes the first line, or potentially the heading for Psalm 114. In fact, while the LXX combines what we have as Psalm 114 and Psalm 115 into one psalm and then breaks what we have as Psalm 116 into two psalms, the Greeks made sure to begin each one of these “Passover” psalms with the heading “Hallelujah!” Praise the Lord.

As mentioned last week, Psalm 113 – Psalm 118 form a special series of psalms sung during the memorial feasts of Israel, especially sung at the Passover. As a unit, they are often referred to as the Egyptian Hallel. That is, they are the songs of praise remembering the exodus from Egypt. Psalm 114 specifically calls the Exodus to mind. These a series of praise. How could they not prompt us to praise as well.

Remembering the Exodus

Jewish readers won’t have to imagine. Many Christian readers will. Imagine each year preparing to recall the great deliverance of the nation from Egypt. You sit around a table with your family, preparing to eat the sacrificed lamb recalling the night God gave great victory over Pharaoh and Egypt. As the observance begins, your family sings the praise of Psalm 113, proclaiming God lifts up the needy from the ash heap. You then move into Psalm 114, remembering the time He lifted up your enslaved forefathers from the dung heap of bondage, walking through the waters of the Red Sea and bringing them into the land of promise. What a moving moment.

For Israel, crossing of the Red Sea was the defining moment. God gave birth to Israel through the watery channel. Then, though Israel had rebelled so greatly afterward and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years thereafter, He repeated the miracle at the Jordan and allowed His people to come into their new home.

Praise the Lord!

Each year, they recall, “We are a distinct and special people because of these historical moments. God chased back the waters. He defeated them and delivered us. Praise the Lord!”

God is worthy of praise because He does provide the way. He does part the waters. He chases back the obstacles. He leads the way.

Let us follow Him and let Him chase back the obstacles.

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 114.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 114 prompt or improve your praise of God?