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Hallelujah Sandwich
Psalm 113
Andy Nagahara
1 Praise the LORD. Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
2 Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.
4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,
6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
8 he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.
9 He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.
The Psalm 113 we’ll be covering today is a wonderful filling sandwich, sandwiched between two Hallelujahs in Japanese translation and the phrases of “ Praise the Lord” in English translation. It is a sandwich of God’s grace, and that each ingredient is the nature of God.
God’s nature is not only pleasing and enriching to our hearts, but it is also necessary nourishment for our souls. Just as the body needs a balance of more than one nutrient, ignoring one or emphasizing only one of God’s qualities leaves us with a disease of the soul. That is why I would like you to receive a good balance of soul nourishment, without being picky about what you like or dislike.
A. Each ingredient is essential
1. The glory of the LORD (4,5)
First, we will look at verses 4 and 5.
4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,
Here we see that God is far beyond our abilities and ideas, and that He is stronger and greater than any earthly power. God created us in His own image. So, we think of God in the image of “us. For example, we imagine that God has a personality and emotions “like us. That is not completely wrong, but we tend to forget that there is a crucial difference between “God is like us” and “God created us in His own image.
So we look at the world in front of us and despair or fear that God has abandoned us. We feel resentment toward God when things don’t go our way, or we even think about pretending that God doesn’t exist. However, the fact is that God actually “created” us, not that we who happened to be born by chance “imagined” God in our minds. God is not limited by time and space as we are. For those of us who put our trust in Him, He can meet our needs beyond time and space.
2. Prejudice toward Judaism
The second ingredient is “humility of the Lord.
6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
The humility of God sung in this psalm was actually revealed in a form that people could see and hear when He came to this world as one person, Jesus Christ. We have learned through this event that God, who is unequaled in greatness, is also unequaled in lowliness. We have seen in Jesus that God goes down to places where we are too timid to go down. He comes to people whom we may feel sorry for but feel unable to help. For example, as Jesus was with that woman who was brought out for the sin of adultery.
3. The justice of the LORD (7,8)
The third is the Lord’s justice, which I have been talking about as a theme for the last few times; read verses 7 and 8.
7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
8 he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.
It is clear in this verse what God’s justice looks like. It is a matter that is strongly connected to the “mercy of the Lord,” which I will talk about next. Raising up the weak and lifting up the poor, I do not think it is an overstatement to say that this is what God’s justice is all about.
Compared to these, ethnic justice and national justice are merely excuses for the wicked to continue oppressing the weak and poor. As is the case now with the war of aggression going on in Eastern Europe, we must know that Christianity, like any other religion, is used for the convenience of those evil people. We are not trusting in “Christianity,” we are trusting in the Lord Jesus. We want to follow His justice, not “Christian justice.”
4. The mercy of the LORD (9)
The Lord’s strong will of justice is based on His compassion for our plight; read verse 9 again.
9 He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.
For those of you who follow Jesus in your walk, you know very well that the Lord watches over us with deep compassion. Believing in Jesus means that we are aware that we cannot live without His mercy. Yet we often forget this fundamental fact and live under the illusion as if we are living on our own. And this manifests itself as self-hatred and despair toward ourselves, and as cruelty or meanness toward others.
So now we should be aware once again that we are being kept alive in the Lord’s mercy. Since we are kept alive by the Lord’s deep and never betraying mercy, we have nothing to worry about.
B. The bread (praise) is key (1-3)
Finally, we return to the first three verses.
23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
His glory, humility, justice, and mercy. Now that you have understood that these are the nutrients of the heart that we need. But at the same time, it is something that we feel keenly about ourselves, that we so easily forget that need. We also often walk away with a choice of just one of those ingredients.
There is a reason the psalmist sandwiched this verse with hallelujah (praise the Lord). This is because, in order to receive the four elements of God’s grace in a balanced manner, it is essential that “praising the Lord” be a major part of our lifestyle. Unless we say to ourselves, “The Lord is the One to be praised in all things,” or encourage each other with people, our hearts will sink into the heaviness of the situation we see.
May we continue to remember, thank, and praise the Lord for His glory, humility, justice, and mercy as we walk forward.
(Prayer)
Dear God, Not only are you far beyond us, but you are closer to us than anyone else. We remember and thank you that we are alive in you. Guide us so that we may live as part of your body, showing your glory, humility, justice, and mercy in any way we can.
Please intervene in the wars and conflicts that are happening now and free people from suffering. Use each of us through what we can do.
With thanksgiving and anticipation, we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary
The nature of God is to nourish our souls, not just to make our hearts happy. Just as our bodies need many different nutrients with the right balance to thrive, our souls become unwell when we focus too much on certain characteristics of God while ignoring others. Only when we appreciate all the characteristics of God can we truly believe and follow him in our lives.
For Discussion
1. Which ingredient is most appealing to you?
2. What, specifically, is the “bread” of the “Hallelujah Sandwich”