Tongue Tamers, Pt. 4

Ryrie

• “This hymn contins three stanzas, each beginning with a call to praise followed by the causes for praise. The first (vv 1-6) calls for praise because of God's grace to Jerusalem and greatness in creation; the second (vv 7-11) because of His greatness in creation and grace to those who trust Him; the third (vv 12-20) because He preserves Jerusalem and gives His Word to man.”
• (2-5) “The Lord's care for His people is guaranteed by His omnipotence.”
• (10-11) “The Lord does not take delight in physical strength but in reverential trust.”
• (15-20) “His Word commands the forces of nature, but particularly communicated His laws to Israel, thus distinguishing her from all other nations.”

Henry

• While other commentators think this is a postexilic psalm of praise for restoration, Henry asserts that it was written by David of the initial build-up of Jerusalem and the restoration of those alienated by Saul.
• Henry also notes that the LXX separates the chapter into two distinct parts between verses 11 and 12
• For us to give praise and thanksgiving to God “is acceptable to our Creator and it answers the end of our creation.”
• To give praise and thanks to God is pleasant for us because it requires (and, I would add, fosters) the joy and delight of the Lord within us. Further, as His saints, it should give us pleasure to give honor to God.
• “Praising God is work that is its own wages; it is heaven upon earth; it is what we should be in as in our element.”
• (1-11) Henry notes that the psalmist offers a number of reasons to praise.
  • God takes care of His chosen people, both Israel and the Church.
  • God forgives and restores relationships.
  • God reigns over the heavens.
  • God humbles the proud.
  • God provides for all creatures.
  • God values grace, rather than strength or might
• (2) We're not just talking about the sad here. Rather, “they are broken in heart, and wounded, humbled, and troubled, for sin, inwardly pained at the remembrance of it, as a man is that is sorely wounded. Their very hearts are not only pricked, but rent, under the sense of the dishonour they have done to God and the injury they have done to themselves by sin.”
• (2) “To those whom God heals with the consolations of his Spirit he speaks peace, assures them that their sins are pardoned and that he is reconciled to them, and so makes them easy, pours the balm of Gilead into the bleeding wounds, and then binds them up, and makes them to rejoice. Those who have had experience of this need not be called upon to praise the Lord; for when he brought them out of the horrible pit, and set their feet upon a rock, he put a new song into their mouths, Ps. xl. 2, 3.”
• (3) The fact that God can call each of the stars by name demonstrates his dominion over them.
• (10-11) The reference to horses and men is really to the machines of war. “It is not the strength of armies, but the strength of grace, that God is pleased to own.”
• (10-11) If we are to rest in grace, then Henry has some interesting stuff to say about what that will look like: “In the same heart, at the same time, there must be both a reverence of his majesty and a complacency in his goodness, both a believing dread of his wrath and a believing expectation of his favour; not that we must hang in suspense between hope and fear, but we must act under the gracious influences of hope and fear. Our fear must save our hope from swelling into presumption, and our hope must save our fear from sinking into despair; thus must we take our work before us.”
• (10-11) Further, “A humble confidence in the goodness of God's nature is very pleasing to him, as that which turns to the glory of that attribute in which he most glories. Every man of honour loves to be trusted.”
• All of God's people are called upon to praise Him because:
  • they were safe and flourishing
  • His power was demonstrated to be great
  • He had taken favor on Israel and entrusted them with His word and ordinance.

Reflecting God

• (1) pleasant = beautiful
• (2) “builds up... gathers” “refers to the postexilic restoration of Jerusalem and Israel.”
• (3) A good example of the brokenhearted would be “the exiles and those who struggled in the face of great opposition to rebuild Jerusalem's walls.”
• (4-6) “He whose power and understanding are such that he fixed the number of (or counts) the stars and names them is able to sustain the humble ones and bring the wicked down.”
• (6) “humble” = “Those who acknowledge that they are without resources.”
• (6) “ground” may refer to the grave.
• (7-11) “The God who governs the rain and thus provides food for beast and bird is not pleased by man's reliance on his own capabilities for those of the animals he has domesticated (or the technologies he has developed); he is pleased when people serve him and trust his loving care.”
• (11) fear should be understood as “to trust and obey”
• (11) “The Hebrew for ['unfailing love'] denotes befriending. Appeal to God's “(unfailing) love, kindness, mercy” is frequent in the OT since it summarizes all that the Lord covenanted to show to Israel as well as to David and his dynasty.”
• (12-18) “The Lord of all creation, Zion's God, secures His people's defenses and prosperity, their peace and abundant provision. The verses mention clouds and rain; snow, frost and hail; icy winds and warm breezes – the whole range of weather.”
• (15) “his command... his word” are “personified as messengers commissioned to carry out a divine order.”
• (19-20) “God's most unique gift to Israel: his other word, his redemptive word, by which he makes known his program of salvation and his holy will.”

Personal

• (3) It is impressive that God can call each of the stars by name. It is estimated that there are 200-400 billion stars in our galaxy alone. It is estimated there are hundreds of billions of galaxies just like it out there! The low end of that ballpark, then, is 40 sextillion (40,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) stars. That's a 4, followed by 22 zeroes!