May 19, 2010
Extolling God Today
I will extol You, my God, O King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Psalm 145:1
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The word “extol” means to lift up with praise, blessing, and worship. Within each of our hearts lies the desire to praise God. Some days we do not feel that way, but deep down, we know that God deserves praise. The Psalmist wanted to “extol” God. 1The Hebrew word for “extol you” (“אֲרוֹמִמְךָ”) means to build up, lift up. He emphasized the intensity of his desire to bless God and lift Him up. 2The Hebrew term “bless” (“אֲבָרְכָה”) occurs in the intensive piel participle form. The Piel stem indicates intensity. For example, when Moses saw the people of Israel sinning with the golden calf, he slammed the tablets from God upon the ground in his anger. He did not just drop them, he slammed them according to the text. He shattered the tablets. See Exodus 32:19. So here David plans on intensely blessing the name of God forever and ever. In this case, David did not just want to praise God, but he wanted to extol God intensely.
David wrote Psalm 145, and in Psalm 145:1, David had a particular image of God in mind. He called God “my God” and “King.” I thank Jesus Christ that I know Him personally. I believe that Jesus was God and is God. 3See John 1:1, 14. Jesus was God, the Word made flesh, who dwelt among men. 4John 1:14 Jesus dwelt among men to seek and save the lost. 5See the story of Zaccheus, the tax collector and sinner. Jesus told Zaccheus that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19:1-10. Jesus finds lost and sinful people and adopts them into His family. 6Galatians 3:4-7 As God, Jesus maintains constant fellowship with His children. When Jesus died on the cross, He did not die for His own sins, for He was sinless. 7Hebrews 4:15 By faith alone I believe that Jesus gave His life for mine on the cross. I trust that Jesus died for my sins. Jesus satisfied God’s demand to punish my sin by taking my sin upon Himself. I often tell people that I drove those nails into the hands of Jesus because I caused His death by my sin. Therefore, I believe He washed away my sins by cleansing me with His blood. 8See Colossians 1:20; Ephesians 1:7 Jesus has forgiven me because I believe He paid all the debt I owed for sin. Jesus urges me to take time to extol Him today. By faith, you can pray right now to accept the free gift of salvation from Jesus because He died for your sins too. David believed in Jesus, and so can you. David also called God his King, even though God had anointed David to be king over Israel.
God selected David to be the second King of Israel. David knew King Saul, his predecessor. King Saul treated David poorly and tried to kill him. Yet, David would not kill Saul, because David knew that God made Saul king. David respected King Saul because David had ultimate respect for God who made Saul king. 9See the story of God sparing Saul from David’s hand in 1 Samuel 24:1-22. We praise God as King because we respect God and understand that God reigns spiritually over the whole earth. As God, Jesus created all things 10Colossians 1:16 and waits for God the Father to make all His enemies His footstool. 11Psalm 110:1; Matthew 22:44 One day, Jesus will subject all things to Himself on the physical earth, but not all things have been subjected to His rule yet. 12Hebrews 2:8 Even so, Scripture describes Jesus as “crowned” with “glory and honor.” 13Hebrews 2:7 One day every knee will bow and “every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 14Philippians 2:10-11 Why not confess and praise Him right now?
I praise God because He is my personal God and because He is King of this world, and the universe. We praise Him every day, because of His great love for us, and because we are the subjects of the King and transferred as believers into His glorious kingdom. 15Colossians 1:13 We extol God and bless His name today, tomorrow and forever because we have grateful hearts that respond spiritually to His great kindness and love in our lives.
Application for Today
I will take time today to praise God from the bottom of my heart to the top of my spirit. I want to praise Him throughout today, tomorrow and the next day. No matter how it goes today, I am sure that God will still be “my God” and “King” all day, and forever more. He deserves all the praise I can give to Him for as long as I can extol Him.
Scripture Note
When David wrote Psalm 145, he started each verse with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So verse one starts with the Hebrew letter for “A” and verse two starts with “B” and so on. 16Bible scholars call this style of writing an “alphabetic acrostic.” God inspired poetry and makes our lives to shine as poetry for Him.
May 19, 2010 │ Extolling God Today │ Psalm 145:1
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