Sunday April 07
David’s Crown Jewel of Praise
Psalm 145:1-21
A Psalm of Praise. Of David.
1 I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.
5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works.
6 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, And I will declare Your greatness.
7 They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness.
8 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.
9 The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.
10 All Your works shall praise You, O LORD, And Your saints shall bless You.
11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, And talk of Your power,
12 To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
14 The LORD upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season.
16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.
18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.
20 The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever.
Psalm 145 is the last psalm in the book attributed to David. It is a psalm of pure worship, a fitting end to the Davidic psalms. It brings all of David's other hymns to a climax. It forms an end, too, to the main body of the book of Psalms itself. The remaining five psalms are an appropriate appendix of appreciation for God, a supplementary doxology.
Psalm 145 is the only psalm that has this particular title, “A Psalm of Praise. Of David.” Some translations render it: “David's Psalm of Praise.” It is David's, David's very own, David's favorite. It is David's Praise just as Psalms 86:1-17 is “David's Prayer”. It is altogether praise, and praise pitched in a high key. David had blessed God many a time in other psalms, but this he regarded as his peculiar, his crown jewel of praise. Certainly, David's praise is the best of praise, for it is that of a man of experience, of sincerity, of calm deliberation, and of intense warmth of the heart.
Psalm 145 is also the last of the acrostic psalms. All the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are present, with the exception of the letter nun, the fourteenth letter of the alphabet. (Some early versions of Psalms based on the Septuagint have a verse starting with nun.) The use of acrostics no doubt means that the Holy Spirit and David intended that this psalm be memorized and used often in praise and worship of our great Jehovah God. I also couldn’t help but think it so awesome, that by God’s divine providence, we begin looking at Psalm 145 on a Sunday, our day of the week that we have specifically set aside for praise and worship!
Today, I thought it fitting to read Psalm 145 in its entirety and let it speak for itself. You will notice that David mentioned several attributes of God throughout the psalm, among them His greatness (v. 3), His grace, mercy, goodness and compassion (vv. 8-9), His glory and might (v. 11), His righteousness and kindness (v. 17), and His providential care (v. 20). Who could not praise a God with all these wonderful characteristics?
As you read and meditate on this wonderful “Psalm of Praise”, I’m sure you will agree that indeed this is David’s crown jewel of praise!
God bless!
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