God Works, Praise Him | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

111 Praise the Lord!

1 I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

2 The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them.

3 His work is honorable and glorious, And His righteousness endures forever.

4 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

5 He has given food to those who fear Him; He will ever be mindful of His covenant.

6 He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.

7 The works of His hands are verity and justice; All His precepts are sure.

8 They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness.

9 He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: Holy and awesome is His name.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

     

Can I share something with you? Sometimes I find it hard to praise God. I imagine that may be strange to hear from a pastor… someone that teaches people the Bible, and encourages others, and praises God for a living, but it happens. Work stress, family stress, financial stress, internal stress. Sometimes I spend so much time pouring out, that I miss out on being poured into. Sometimes I also get into a routine or a rut of doing things and the time gets away from me. The monotony of this pandemic behavior, dealing with sickness, death, people making the situation worse with their anti-science, anti-mask, antisocial opinions. 

I know that I am not alone though. We can all get caught up in our emotions sometimes; we are human, and we have emotions. When we get sad, sometimes we focus on the fact that we are sad. When we get mad, sometimes we focus on the fact that we are mad. Sometimes we just get into a routine and praise gets thrown by the wayside. If we’re being honest, some may go several days or weeks without talking to God unless it is the routine of  'bless this food for the nourishment of our bodies" prayer or another routine prayer before bed. Sometimes it is hard to praise the Lord

Fortunately, we are not the only ones who felt like this. The people of God felt down during the time of this Psalm. God gave us some ways in scripture to remember God's works and some reasons to praise him. Even if you are not a believer there is reason to praise. Church folk will say praise God! But outside of the church, it’s really popular to have a positive outlook or an attitude of gratitude. No matter the circumstances a person’s mindset is important. In Psalm 111 the people have an answer to this routine, this rut we may get into and the answer is to remember that God works, so praise him. Psalm 111, which scholars believe was combined with 112 is also an acrostic poem. This means that the poem follows an alphabetical pattern in the Hebrew Alphabet. Each half of each verse starts with a different letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. Psalm 111 has 22 phrases in it not counting verse 1a and the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters in it. Psalm 111 was written in this poem format so that the people during the Bible times learning this scripture could remember it better. Just like learning the English alphabet, A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for cat, D is for dog, and so on and so on. We do that with the kids all the time. Patterns like that work because it makes it easier to remember and recall for later. So when the people of God got into a rut, when they got a little down, they had a pattern, almost like a nursery rhyme      to remember. They needed to remember that God works, and God is worthy of praise. 

The translation loses a bit going from Hebrew to English. The text says to praise the Lord, give thanks with the whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Praise is something everyone can see, when you are praising God there should be no question what you are doing. And then the hallelujah there for praise is one that the "Halle" is repeatable and gets louder before we get to the yah part. Like a child calling out to their parent over and over again. Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad dad!! There is no doubt about who they are talking to and whether or not they are excited about it. There is real genuine praise coming forth. 

What are things were they praising God for? God provided food for them. God gave the Israelites manna while they were traveling in the wilderness and took them into the land overflowing with milk and honey. God made sure the people back then had food to eat, and he is making sure we have food to eat now. God works, praise him. 

God gave them the promised land; God took them from slavery to possessing the land. God works, praise him. You may be oppressed in your current situation. The oppressors have been keeping you down so long you cannot even think about getting up let alone see it. But the Lord will fight your battles just like he fought the Israelites battles. The Lord will make your enemies your footstool. God works, praise him. 

God protected them; there were plenty of times the people of God could have and should have been eliminated but were protected. Sometimes I think about the phrase I heard growing up about being protected from dangers seen and unseen. These people knew that God protected them before and can do it again. God Works, Praise him. 

God made a covenant with them, a promise. God promised to redeem the people, and the text says that he commanded this covenant forever. God is not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should seek a cause to repent. If God said he is going to do it, his word is good. God works praise him. The text started and ended with praise. We can start and end with praise. I think about a song by Marvin Sapp from time to time called Praise Him in Advance. 

I've had my share of ups and downs

Times when there was no one around

God came and spoke these words to me

Praise will confuse the enemy

So I started singing, I started clapping

I started dancing people were laughing

They knew my problems, they knew my pain

But I knew God would take them away. 

Sometimes we have to praise God in advance, praise God beforehand. We have to make an effort to remember how good God is and how good God has been to us. Remember all the times God worked for us before and hold on to them until we see him work again. Even if it isn't happening fast enough for our liking or doesn't come the way we want it to God's track record is more than enough reason to praise God. God Works, Praise Him! 

Alpha and the Omega, -Beginning and the end, Creator of everything -Dominion and power

Excellent in all his ways-Father to the Fatherless-Great and Greatly to be praised

Holy -Immaculate -Just-King of Kings- Lord of Lord-Magnificent in all his ways

Near us at all times-Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient -Powerful beyond measure

Qualified to run my life-Righteous-in Him, I put my Trust-Unchanging-Victorious

Wonderful in all his ways-Xristos -His Yolk is easy and his burden light-Zenith of all creation

God Works Praise Him

We praise him because God is God all by himself! We praise Him because of His grace, God provides and protects, and promises us out of grace. We could never be obedient enough that we deserve anything from God. The obedience is for us to be better believers, his grace is a reason to glorify him. 

Imagine what your spiritual life would look like if we remembered reasons to praise God more? I would like everyone who is hearing this message to write down 1 thing to praise God for, and look at it at least one time for the next seven days. This is more than a gratitude journal. It’s a practice of praise, of remembering how God works and why we praise him.