Glory in His Name!
TRANSLATION
(1) Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name! Make known his deeds among the peoples! (2) Sing to him! Make music to him! Tell of all his wondrous works! (3) Glory in his holy name! Let the heart of all those who seek Yahweh rejoice! (4) Resort to Yahweh and his strength! Seek his face continually! (5) Remember the wondrous works he has done, his sign miracles and the judgments of his mouth, (6) you (who are) the seed of Abraham, his servant, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones! (7) He (is) Yahweh, our God. His judgments (are) in all the earth.
OBSERVATIONS
The opening verses of Psalm 105 contain a virtual glossary of all the Hebrew verbs related to the worship of Yahweh given as commands. This shows us what the worship of God should involve:
vs. 1 – (3 verbs) “give thanks, call on his name, make his deeds known”
vs. 2 – (3 verbs) “sing, make music, tell of his works”
vs. 3 – (2 verbs) “glory in his name, seek”
vs. 4 – (2 verbs) “resort to, seek (repeated from vs. 3)”
vs. 5 – (1 verb) “remember”
Besides the four mentions of Yahweh’s name, one more repetition should be noted. Yahweh’s “wondrous works” were mentioned twice (vss. 2 & 5).
OUTLINE
I. What we should do – worship Yahweh (1-5)
II. Who should do it – those who are the seed of Abraham (6)
III. Why we should do it – because of his deity and his deeds (7)
IDEA STATEMENT
Because of who he is and what he has done, Yahweh’s praises should fill the hearts and mouths of Abraham’s offspring.
APPLICATION
John Piper included the following sentence in his book entitled, Desiring God: “For God, praise is the sweet echo of his own excellence in the hearts of his people.” In this brief statement the author captured the essence of Psalm 105:1-7, helping us understand why praise should be such an integral part of our relationship with our heavenly Father.
When we praise Yahweh, we acknowledge with gratitude how great he is and how extraordinary are his mighty works in our behalf. In worship we remind ourselves how needy and dependent we are upon him for every breath that we take, for every move that we make. With this in mind, we should give more attention both to the quantity and the quality of our worship. We likely fail to praise him as much or as often as we should (quantity) or as well as we should (quality). If praise is so gratifying to God and so beneficial for us, we should do it more frequently and in ever more meaningful and effective ways.
The next time we are about to worship with other believers in a church gathering, each of us should take a few moments to prepare ourselves as we enter the place of worship by calming our hearts, confessing any sin, and anticipating the joy of lifting up our hearts to Yahweh together with other believers. As we worship, we should consciously depend on the Spirit of God to direct our thoughts and actions. Afterward, we ought to reflect on our worship by asking such questions as “Was God pleased with how we worshiped today? What would make our worship more meaningful?” Efforts to enrich our expressions of worship cannot but gratify the One who takes pleasure in our praise.