Delighting Yahweh’s Heart
TRANSLATION
(H) A Song of Ascents (1) Behold, bless Yahweh, all servants of Yahweh, who stand by night in the house of Yahweh! (2) Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless Yahweh! (3) May Yahweh bless you from Zion, the One who made heaven and earth!
OBSERVATIONS
Two repetitions should be noted in this last of the Psalms of Ascent. First, the psalmist used “bless” in each of the psalm’s three verses. In the first two verses Yahweh received blessing through the praise of Levites who served in his sanctuary and kept watch there at night (vss. 1 & 2). Yahweh then blessed all who came to Zion to worship him in the temple (vs. 3). The second repetition, the name, “Yahweh,” is found five times, (three times in vs. 1 and once each in vss. 2 & 3).
OUTLINE
I. The Levites blessed Yahweh by serving in his sanctuary. (1 & 2)
II. From Zion Yahweh blesses all who worship him. (3)
IDEA STATEMENT
Those who bless Yahweh in worship will in turn experience his rich blessings.
APPLICATION
Worship is always a two-way street. Sometimes we respond to the outpouring of Yahweh’s great love and mercy with expressions of gratitude and joy. At other times we take the initiative to offer expressions of praise and adoration, perhaps at fixed times of personal devotion and corporate worship, to which God responds by blessing us with his grace. Both are of great value, and both should characterize the believer’s personal life and the worship of the church. Whether our praise is offered spontaneously in response to some unexpected blessing or in a planned way because of our regular worship routines, we should constantly and consistently express our love and devotion to Yahweh.
So often in gift giving we hear the complaint, “I never know what to get him” or “She already has everything she needs.” If that be true on the human level, it applies even more to God. What does our Creator not have that we could offer him? There is really only one answer. Our sincere worship is the one gift we can offer to God that he does not already possess, a gift that gratifies his heart and pleases him beyond measure.
Call to mind what Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria: “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks” (John 4:23). Clearly God is deeply gratified when we, without any prompting from him or from anyone else, offer to him our spontaneous expressions of praise and gratitude. If we were to realize that worship is what truly delights Yahweh’s heart, would we not be more eager to come to him frequently with our praise and adoration?