Psalm 147
Praise
In this psalm
God is highlighting
many of the things he does for us.
God wants our response to be
to
Thank Him and Praise Him.
And in this psalm,
God gives some pearls of wisdom
for those who really want
to dig deep and
run after God with their whole heart.
A Musical Psalm 147
to Begin
Praise ye the Lord:
for it is good to sing praises unto our God;
for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
Comely
The Hebrew word translated comely
means
Becoming, fitting, lovely
We begin this psalm with a command from God
to
Praise HIM!
Have you
praised him yet - today?
Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to
our [gracious and majestic] God;
Praise is becoming and appropriate.
Psalm 147:1 AMP
I encourage you
to stop here and praise God for something
he has given you...
God, I praise you and thank you for ________________.
2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem:
he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He healeth the broken in heart,
and bindeth up their wounds.
God's love reaches out -
to build, to gather, to heal, to bind up wounds.
He telleth the number of the stars;
he calleth them all by their names.
God knows the number of the stars.
God knows everything about them.
He has even named them.
5 Great is our Lord,
and of great power:
his understanding is infinite.
Great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised;
and
his greatness is unsearchable.
Psalm 145:3 KJV
-
As we realize
how
Great
God is,
he wants us to respond with
Praise to Him!
The Lord lifteth up the meek:
he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
God lifts up and God casts down.
Take note:
Our choices influence our position.
Meekness = lifted up
Wicked choices = downward spiral
Looking at the word
"Meek"
Biblically Speaking
A meek person
is one who
is a strong follower of God...
One who is strong in obedience.
He is
controlled by God's Word not his own will.
.
A Meek Person
is strong
but his strength is under control
because
he is under the authority of God.
The Bible also specifically tells us that sheltering
PRIDE
inside us
puts us in a position to spiritually fall.
We often see
that
Pride comes before a fall.
A man's pride shall bring him low.
Proverbs 29:23 KJV
Pride goeth before destruction,
and an haughty spirit
before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18 KJV
PRIDE
Below is a link about "meekness" you might like to visit
http://jesusalive.cc/ques100.htm
Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving;
sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
Verse 7 gives us
our proper response to
who God is and what God does.
8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds,
who prepareth rain for the earth,
who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
9 He giveth to the beast his food,
and to the young ravens which cry.
Almighty God is one who
PREPARES
ahead.
-
God prepares ahead
in order to bless
all his creation.
God is never caught unprepared.
Has it ever occurred to you
that nothing
has ever occurred to God?
Part of his preparation
for us
is to create and cover the sky
with clouds
so that
the
rain is ready for dropping
and so that
the grass will grow
upon the mountains and upon
all the living places on earth.
He delighteth not in the strength of the horse:
he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
Physical Strength
is not what delights God.
-
God delights
in a heart
that is right toward him.
-
“But the Lord said to Samuel,
'Don’t judge by his appearance or height,
for I have rejected him.
The Lord doesn’t see things the way
you see them.
People judge by outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.'”
1 Samuel 16:7 NLT
The Lord taketh pleasure in them that
fear him,
in those that hope in his mercy.
Those who: Hope in his mercy |
Are: Those who are steadfast even when they have to wait. |
Let's look at the phrase:
Taketh Pleasure
Some translations
write the word
"favor"
instead of
"taketh pleasure"
for verse eleven.
For example:
The Lord favors those who fear and worship
Him
[with awe-inspired reverence and obedience],
Those who wait for His
mercy and lovingkindness.
Psalm 147:11 AMP
In the KJV,
the words "taketh pleasure"
are translated from the Hebrew word
ratsah.
Its definition is -
to be pleased with, accept favorably
So we see that the Hebrew word
is not just talking about
being pleased with,
but also has to do with
favoring them as well.
Fear of the Lord
Fear of the Lord is a phrase
that
stands for
a way of looking at God
and it includes
a way of living our life
with the awareness of the seriousness
of the Words
that God puts in the Bible -
both enjoyable words
and
judgment words that are linked to sin.
Many Bible verses
give us warnings
and
if
we have
a healthy fear of the Lord,
we will
heed the warnings.
-
Also take note:
-
Take note that
Proverbs 8:13 NKJV tells us
"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil."
As you grow in your fear of the Lord -
it means that you will grow
to hate evil (not people but evil deeds)
and
you will grow to want holiness in your life.
Below are two videos
that give a
greater understanding of the phrase:
The Fear of the Lord
More understanding
If
you do not have
enough
fear of the Lord
to actively
avoid sin and a sinful life,
what
does that
imply about
your spiritual life?
I have a page called
The
Fear of the Lord
which has a lot more
understanding and insights into this topic.
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem;
praise thy God, O Zion.
Verse 12
Praise is our appropriate response
to the God who is
all Powerful and all Knowing and all Loving!
For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates;
he hath blessed thy children within thee.
The gates of a city represent...
Protection
Nehemiah 3:3
talks about
how the city gates were designed
and made strong...
"Now the sons of Hassenaah
built the Fish Gate;
they laid its beams and set up its doors
with its bolts and its bars."
Nehemiah 3:3 AMP
In this verse, God says that
for
those who fear him,
he strengthens our protection
and the protection (and blessings) of our children.
This Psalm 147:13 scripture
is a reference to how God blesses
a person
or a
people-group or a nation
who respects and follows him.
He maketh peace in thy borders,
and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
As we get closer to God,
we experience peace with God
and peace with his Word.
And the second part of the verse
- filleth thee with the finest of the wheat -
reminds us of that God gives many other
wonderful blessings.
to those who follow him closely.
He [God] fills my life with good things!
Psalm 103:5 TLB
15 He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.
16 He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?
18 He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow,
and the waters flow.
What does God do?
God supernaturally -
giveth,
scattereth,
casteth forth,
sendeth,
melteth
and he causeth.
Note: Hoarfrost is a type of frost.
19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob,
his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
God sheweth (shows) or reveals his WORD to us.
He guides us into understanding as we read his Word.
Jacob wrestled with God
and then God re-named him Israel.
Israel means "God prevails"
Jacob and Israel are the same man.
So...
Why is God using
both Jacob and Israel
in this verse?
I have a theory about
why God uses Jacob and Israel
in the same verse (or close proximity)
in various parts of the Bible.
The theory doesn't apply to every single one
of the instances
but it does apply in a large amount of instances.
If you are interested,
see part 5 on this page - click: Here
Below is more information
on some of the words
in this verse.
A Section about Hebrew Words
then
we continue Psalm 147 verse 20.
Showeth - in verse 19
05046 // dgn // nagad // naw-gad' //
a primitive root; TWOT - 1289; v
AV - tell 222, declare 63, shew 59, utter 5, shew forth 3, expound 2,
messenger 2, report 2, misc 13; 370
1) to be conspicuous, tell, make known
1a) (Hiphil) to tell, declare
1a1) to tell, announce, report
1a2) to declare, make known, expound
1a3) to inform of
1a4) to publish, declare, proclaim
1a5) to avow, acknowledge, confess
1a5a) messenger (participle)
1b) (Hophal) to be told, be announced, be reported
Word - verse 19 - He sheweth his word
01697 // rbd // dabar // daw-baw' //
from 01696 ; TWOT - 399a; n m
AV - word 807, thing 231, matter 63, acts 51, chronicles 38,
saying 25, commandment 20, misc 204; 1439
1) speech, word, speaking, thing
1a) speech
1b) saying, utterance
1c) word, words
1d) business, occupation, acts, matter, case, something, manner
(by extension)
Statutes - in verse 19
02706 // qx // choq // khoke //
from 02710 ; TWOT - 728a; n m
AV - statute 87, ordinance 9, decree 7, due 4, law 4, portion 3,
bounds 2, custom 2, appointed 1, commandments 1, misc 7; 127
1) statute, ordinance, limit, something prescribed, due
1a) prescribed task
1b) prescribed portion
1c) action prescribed (for oneself), resolve
1d) prescribed due
1e) prescribed limit, boundary
1f) enactment, decree, ordinance
1f1) specific decree
1f2) law in general
1g) enactments, statutes
1g1) conditions
1g2) enactments
1g3) decrees
1g4) civil enactments prescribed by God
Judgments - in verse 19
04941 // jpvm // mishpat // mish-pawt' //
from 08199 ; TWOT - 2443c; n m
AV - judgment 296, manner 38, right 18, cause 12, ordinance 11,
lawful 7, order 5, worthy 3, fashion 3, custom 2, discretion 2,
law 2, measure 2, sentence 2, misc 18; 421
1) judgment, justice, ordinance
1a) judgment
1a1) act of deciding a case
1a2) place, court, seat of judgment
1a3) process, procedure, litigation (before judges)
1a4) case, cause (presented for judgment)
1a5) sentence, decision (of judgment)
1a6) execution (of judgment)
1a7) time (of judgment)
1b) justice, right, rectitude (attributes of God or man)
1c) ordinance
1d) decision (in law)
1e) right, privilege, due (legal)
1f) proper, fitting, measure, fitness, custom, manner, plan
20 He hath not dealt so with any nation:
and as for his judgments,
they have not known them.
Praise ye the Lord.
~
In the Old Testament,
God honored the Jewish people
with blessings
that he did not give other nations.
Yet,
Gentiles were able to join the Jewish people.
Here are examples:
There were Egyptians who joined Moses.
There was Rahab.
There was Ruth ...great- grandmother of David.
~
Psalm 117
proclaims that God is a God for all peoples.
Consider visiting our page:
I am so glad
that I have been graphed into God's family!
(Romans 11:17)
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