GREATLY PRAISING THE GREAT I AM!
Tehillim/Psalm 145
Shalom family! Tehillim/Psalm 147:1 “Praise Yah! For it is good to sing praises to our Elohim. For
it is pleasant – praise is fitting.”
How many of you often struggle to really praise יהוה? And I mean really praise Him with
your all? We are to be a praising people who are offering up continual praise
to Elohim, no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in, and so tonight I
want us to be reminded to not neglect our giving of praise to our Mighty Maker,
יהוה our Elohim. In a message tonight
called, “Greatly praising the Great I
AM!” I want us to look at a magnificent Psalm of praise! Please turn with
me to Tehillim/Psalm 145 (read).
This beautifully constructed masterpiece of Dawiḏ “A Song of Praise of Dawiḏ”, which some
translations tend to leave out and in the Hebrew is תְּהִלָּה לְדָוִד
meaning, ‘Tehillah of
Dawiḏ’. Now the word תְּהִלָּה
tehillah
Strong’s H8416 means, ‘praise, or a song of praise’
and comes from the word הָלַל halal
Strong’s H1984 which means, ‘to shine; to be boastful; to be
clear; to make a show; to rave; be foolish; to celebrate; praise, cheer, brag
or extol, i.e., extol the greatness or excellence of a person, object or event.’
Tehillah carries the meaning of thanksgiving or speaking positive words about the
excellence of another and often these words are in the context of being sung.
It also gives the meaning of the act of general or public praise. Tehilla also
speaks of that praise which comes forth from the heart – certainly something
that Dawiḏ understood how to do, because He understood who it was He was
praising! What is interesting to note is that although this word, tehillah, although used around 57 times
in Scripture, is only used once as a title of a Psalm – here in 145. The plural
form of this, Tehillim, from which has come the traditional Hebrew name for the
book of Psalms - ‘SeferTehillim’ or ‘Book of Praises, and many regard this is the
crown jewel of praise by Dawiḏ which is a grand hymn of praise for יהוה the Great King and His
majestic reign and gracious acts-including the deliverance of His people. It
serves as the closing frame of the five prayers of Dawiḏ seeking rescue from
wicked enemies as seen in Tehillim 140-144.
This Tehillah of praise is well constructed and is in the form of an
alphabetic acrostic, with each succeeding verse beginning with a succeeding
letter of the Hebrew alphabet-with the exception, according to the Masoretic
Text, of the letter נ nun. Verse 13 begins with a מ mem and verse 14 with a
ס sameq, skipping the letter נ nun however the Dead Sea Scrolls have revealed that they contain a verse
between 13 and 14 containing the letter נ nun and renders the translation as added by more recent translations as “Elohim is faithful in all His words and kind in all His
works”. Be that as it may, despite many different theories as to
why or why not this line is in or out, what we see here is a wonderful Tehillah
of praise for a Mighty Elohim and I would like for us to look at some key words
contained herein that will expand our understanding of the great praise that is
due to the Great I AM!
Dawiḏ declares straight up “I exalt You, my
Elohim, o Sovereign and bless your Name!”
The root word used here for אֲרוֹמִמְךָ “arumimcha”
- ‘I exalt you’ is רוּם rum Strong’s H7311 which means
‘to rise,
raise up, be high and lifted, exalted’. Dawiḏ is declaring that
He lifts up and exalts Elohim – this is whom he is praising – Mighty Elohim and
declares that he will abundantly bless his Name forever and ever!!! The word ‘forever’ in Hebrew already
emphasises permanence and everlasting, continual and never ending praise, yet
he adds the word translated as ‘ever’
emphasising that his praise and ability to bless the Name of the Mighty Elohim
will last for eternity.
Our praise shall be as eternal and
everlasting as the Elohim we praise – in whom there is no end!
Luqas/Luke 1:33 “And He shall reign over
the house of Ya’aqoḇ forever, and there shall be no end to His reign.”
Just as there shall be no end to the
reign of Messiah, so shall there be no end to our praise of Him!
This is the one thing that we have been called to do now that we
will continue to do in eternity, and we are to praise Him here and now as we
sojourn, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in!
Tehillim/Psalm
35:28 “And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness,
Your praise, All day long.”
Can you declare this as Dawiḏ does? All day long – bless and
praise and speak of His righteousness?
Tehillim/Psalm
44:8 “In Elohim we shall boast all day long, and praise
Your Name forever. Selah.”
All day long people may twist your words (Tehillim/Psalm 56:5) or
you may be plagued all day long (Tehillim/Psalm 73:14) and may even be
reproached all day long (Tehillim/Psalm 102:8), but will you bless and praise His
Name all day long?
Dawiḏ declares that Elohim alone is great and greatly to be
praised! The word for ‘great’ is גָּדוֹל gadol –
Strong’s H1419 and means, ‘great, highest, mighty, marvelous’
and he says in:
Shemuʼĕl Bet/2 Samuel 7:22 “You are great
indeed, O Master יהוה. For there
is none like You, and there is no Elohim but You, according to all that we have
heard with our ears.”
We serve a great Ěl who must be
greatly praised!!! The word used here for greatly is מְאֹד meod –
Strong’s H3966 which carries the meaning of, ‘muchness,
abundance, diligently, exceedingly, excessive, fully, immense’.
I think we get the picture here!!! Our diligent praise for our Great and Mighty
Ěl must be in abundance and exceedingly
immense which continually grows and grows in intensity as His greatness is
unsearchable!
Romiyim/Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of
riches, and wisdom and knowledge of Elohim! How unsearchable His judgments and
untraceable His ways!”
In verse 4 we clearly see the call for us to heed the
responsibility of passing on the necessity of great praise to the next! Each
generation needs to ‘catch’ the intensity of the praises of the last and echo
them with and urgency of passing this passionate and zealous praise to the next,
and so we have a responsibility here and now to make known His Greatness and
this is not done in silence! The word used in verse 4 for praise is שָׁבַח shabach –
Strong’s H7623 which means, ‘to laud; to praise; commend;
congratulate; to address in a loud voice; proclaim; make exuberant statements
as to the excellence of someone’. It is also used in:
Tehillim/Psalm
63: 3 “Because Your kindness is better than life, My
lips do praise You.”
Shout aloud His praises! How sad it is when so many are seemingly afraid to
give a shout offering to יהוה! In Tehillim/Psalm 117:1 the
Hebrew word ‘shabach’ is translated into English as ‘extol’ which gives the
meaning ‘to praise highly’. In other
words – lift up your voice and praise! And this is what is done generation to generation – but how will the next
generation know how to lift up their voice and praise of the preceding one does
not show them!!!
We are to lift up our voice and praise and we are to ‘declare’ His mighty acts! The word for declare is נָגַד nagad –
Strong’s H5046 meaning, ‘make known, announce, declare, publish and
stand out boldly in opposition’. We are to be a bold and loud
people who praise and declare His works and acts – are you doing that? For
starters, in order to do that you need to know just what His works and His
mighty acts are!!! If you do not know Him and His word you cannot lift up your
voice with boldness and praise and this is the responsibility we carry in
ensuring that the next generation will do the same! Sadly we have inherited
lies and so there has been a large gap in the ability to exceedingly and boldly
praise יהוה, which we now as a people must take up the
responsibility in restoring this awesome and great privilege and
responsibility, aměn!
In verse 5 the repeated word for declare
is not the same but rather is שִׂיחַ siach –
Strong’s H7878 meaning, ‘talk, meditate, sing, speak’
and the basic meaning of this verb seems to carry the picture of rehearsing or
repent or go over a matter in one’s mind and is used in reference to silent
reflection on the works of Elohim, and so we see that we are to not only have
the silent reflections and meditations but we are also to rehearse aloud His
works. As the world battles for the attention of the mind through ever
increasing tactics of very attractive and ever increasing forms of media
persuasion, we need to realise just how important it is for us to be renewing
our minds daily, guarding against the danger of being conformed to the patterns
of this world and at the same time we need to make our voice of praise and the
declaration of our lips heard with great passion and zeal so that the next
generation are not lured away by the fleshly attraction of the world!
Who says praising יהוה and declaring His mighty acts is boring? We have a huge
responsibility in showing that it is far from it, but rather it is a great joy
and delight and far better that the fleeting passions the world has to offer –
and it is up to us to live it and show it!
We are to be a
praising, singing and declaring people – verse 7 tells us that the righteous sing of His righteousness. The word
used for sing here is רָנַן ranan – Strong’s H7442 and means,
‘to give a
ringing cry!’ That is to
‘cry for
joy, cry aloud, joyfully sing, shout for joy or sing aloud for joy’!
I often think that we, at times, read these verses without recognising the
intensity of the passion and love for Elohim that Dawiḏ had and lack the fire
for praise and singing and declaring that he had, hence the need for me to
expand on the meaning of these most powerful words that ought to bring alive
the desire to praise and shout aloud to our Great King!
It is often very easy to see in the
world how so many will give a ringing cry and shout aloud for their ‘sporting
heroes’ – just look at a rugby or soccer match and see how the ‘fans’ will
scream and shout and get all ‘dressed up’ to shout and scram for their heroes.
Many will even know all the stats of their favourite players and talk about
them to others, while when it comes to praising and giving a ringing cry of joy
for יהוה they suddenly lose their tongue, which
simply reveals what is in the heart! We are to be a people who are willing to
give a joyous ringing cry for our wonderful Maker and Creator, clothed
continually in garments of righteousness and praise!
In the verse 7-9 as well as 17
we see some very illustrative words of the personality of יהוה, which certainly brings us clarity as to who we are to
be greatly praising:
We see words such
as:
Goodness; righteousness; compassionate;
patient; lovingly-committed and good to all!
His goodness is
the object of our praise and it is His goodness that ensures us of His doing
things right, reflected in His justice and righteousness being the foundation
of His throne. His righteousness speaks of His steadfastness of not deviating
from His decreed standard and He is patient and compassionate toward us:
Ya’aqoḇ/James 5:11 “See,
we call those blessed who endure. You have heard of the endurance of Iyoḇ and
saw the purpose of יהוה, that He is very sympathetic and compassionate.”
Tehillim/Psalm 86:15
“But You, O יהוה, are a compassionate Ěl and
showing favour, patient and great in kindness and truth.”
He is patient and good to all:
Kěpha Bet/2 Peter 3:9
“יהוה is not slow in
regard to the promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not
wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Dawiḏ continues to strengthen his cause for
praising Elohim in declaring the superiority of יהוה declaring the splendour of the reign of יהוה, the Mighty Elohim who has made all and that all creation will praise Him.
This Tehillah certainly reveals to us what was upon the heart of Dawiḏ. There
is a link between what in on our hearts and what is expressed from our mouths –
we speak what is upon our hearts. There are many who love to talk about sport
and the latest results, while others love talking about their careers or the
latest fashion trends or money or even the weather! If you want to know what
someone holds dear to their hearts – in other words ‘what they care about’ then
just listen to their speech and hear what they passionately talk about.
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 16:23 “The heart of the wise gives discretion to his mouth, and he
increases learning to his lips.”
If our hearts are set on wisdom and praise, our
mouths will speak and declare accordingly and if they are set on others things
that will certainly come out too!
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 4:23
“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for
out of it are the sources of life.”
Let me simply tell you that this is a fact: If our
hearts are filled daily with יהוה’s presence and
His Living word as we eat our daily lawful bread, then we would not stop
talking about Him to others – what is on your heart?
Verse 12 speaks of our urgent need to make known to the sons of
men His mighty acts – now to do that our hearts need to be filled with His
mighty acts and to have our hearts filled we need to be digging in and studying
and meditating upon His Word – being filled with the witness of His mighty
Acts.
In verse 14-16 we see the provision of יהוה and how He is powerful and awesome and is tender and
focused upon our needs. He upholds or supports the falling – in other word’s we
can lean on Him, and when we do we are sure not to fall, as He carries our
burdens and satisfies our desires. Verse
16 puts it beautifully: Opening Your hand
and satisfying the desire of all that live! He has not withheld His Hand from us – He has extended
His Hand and opened it up before us and extended His loving-commitment toward
us that we may be satisfied in Him.
יהוה is lovingly-committed in all His works and
that is a great assurance for us for eh remains steadfast in His commitment to
His love toward us and will not break His covenant with us – this we can be
sure of and we are called to guard loving commitment
Hoshěa/Hosea 12:6 “Therefore, return to your Elohim. Guard loving-commitment
and right-ruling, and wait on your Elohim continually.”
He is lovingly-committed and He expects us to be
too and our ability to praise, sing and declare His Name and His mighty works
continually will equip us in striving to guard loving commitment and right
ruling.
Verse 18-19
reminds us how יהוה is near to us – he is near to those who call
upon His Name and we need to declare this to remind us of this fact – as we
draw near to Him, He draws near to us! When we call He is there – when we call
upon Him in Truth that is!!! Many are calling upon Him in vain – let us not do
that but as we guard loving-commitment and right-ruling then we are well
equipped to walk in Truth and are able to call upon Him who is near!
Verse 20 gives the reminder of the assurance that יהוה preserves or is the keeper of all those loving Him, and
as we all know what loving Him is – but I will remind you anyway:
Yoḥanan Aleph/1 John 5:3 “For this is the love
for Elohim, that we guard His commands, and His commands are not heavy.”
Yoḥanan Aleph/1 John 2:3 “And by this we know
that we know Him, if we guard His commands.”
He preserves
those who loving Him and destroys those who are not – that simple!
When Sha’ul told
Corinth that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up I believe he was referring
to a greater truth than what is taught in error today as you hear many will say
that all the learning we do on the Torah walk will just puff us up and we lack
love. Well as we see that Scripture is clear – love is not merely an emotion
but rather is an ability to guard and obey His commands and so here what Sha’ul
was saying is this – if you just get knowledge and do not walk in that
knowledge then it will puff you up, whereas love for elohim is the application
or the doing of the knowledge that we gain through meditating upon His Good
Word!
Dawiḏ ends this Tehillah
with a bold reminder that his mouth will speak the praise of יהוה - that is His praise – not our own – we speak His praise
and all flesh must bless His set-apart Name – forever and ever!!!
Are you greatly
praising the Great I AM?
I want to end
with showing what words are linked with the Name of יהוה in this Tehillah, as a summary of who we are to be
praising and why:
גָּדוֹל יהוה -
‘gadol Yahweh’ – The Great יהוה (Verse 3)
חַנּוּן
וְרַחוּם יהוה – ‘ḥanun v’raḥum Yahweh’ – Gracious and
Compassionate יהוה (Verse 8)
טוֹב־יהוה - ‘toḇ Yahweh’ – Goodness of יהוה (Verse9)
יוֹדוּךָ יהוה – ‘yoducha Yahweh’ – We praise you יהוה (Verse 10)
סוֹמֵךְ יהוה -
‘somech Yahweh’ – יהוה
upholds/supports (Verse 14)
צַדִּיק יהוה -
‘tsaddiq Yahweh’ – Righteous יהוה (Verse 17)
קָרוֹב
יהוה – ‘karoḇ
Yahweh’- יהוה draws near
(Verse18)
שׁוֹמֵר יהוה – ‘shomer Yahweh’ – יהוה is the keeper (Verse 20)
תְּהִלַּת יהוה – ‘tehillat Yahweh’ – praise of יהוה (Verse 21)
I hope that as you read through this tehillah that you
will be greatly encouraged to be greatly praising the Great I AM.
This Tehillah is certainly a song of praise that can lift
our hearts into praising Him and it has been customary for many to actually
pray or recite this 3 times a day! I am not telling you to do that, but I do
believe that as we meditate on these words we will grow in our ability to boldly sing, praise, declare and exalt the Name of the Most High – no matter where we are or what
we are going through for we serve and praise a great, gracious, compassionate,
and righteous El who upholds us, keeps us and in near to us when we call for He
is Good and His loving-commitment endures forever!
Praise is an integral part of the body for which we all
must partake in and it carries great significance in regards to the
completeness of the service of the House!
Melaḵim Aleph/1
Kings 9:25 “And three times a year Shelomoh brought
burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for יהוה, and he
burned incense with that which was before יהוה – thus gave completeness to the House.”
3 times
a year (Feasts times) slaughter and peace offerings were brought giving
completeness to the House. So much so that we see in the next chapter:
Melaḵim Aleph/1 Kings 10:1 “And the sovereigness of Sheḇa heard of the report of
Shelomoh concerning the Name of יהוה, and came to try him with hard
questions.”
She saw
the witness of Shelomoh and witnessed the completeness of the House through its
service and function and she saw the standard of excellence displayed in the
service of the House of Elohim, which resulted in her praising יהוה!
We need to take up the responsibility of bringing the excellence of pure
worship and praise in service to יהוה back into the
body that is being built up in Messiah as we let the praises of our King and
the voice of joy and gladness be heard!
In speaking of what will once again be heard in the House of יהוה, we see in:
Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 33:11 “the voice of joy and the voice of
gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of
those who are saying, “Praise יהוה of hosts, for יהוה is good, for His kindness is forever,” of those who are
bringing the offering of praise into the House of יהוה. For I shall turn back the captivity of
the land, as at the first,’ declares יהוה.”
Iḇ’rim/Hebrews 13:15 “Through
Him then, let us continually offer up a slaughter offering of praise to
Elohim, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name.”
Let us greatly praise the Great I AM and let others
witness and see the completeness of the House being rehearsed daily, that may
result in many turning to and praising יהוה!
ARE YOU GREATLY
PRAISING THE GREAT I AM?
Shalom
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