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How pleasant and fitting to praise him!
(Psalm 147)
Andy Nagahara
Today’s psalm is the 147th. This poem, like many of our modern worship songs, has a sequential structure that is repeated several times. In modern terms, it is a song with one to three verses. Now it is impossible to recreate what the melody was like, and we can only imagine what the sound of the harp was like at the time, but I would like to read it while keeping in mind that it is a song that was sung in worship services.
Before reading the text, let’s check the structure of the song. The three parts consist of four elements:
a. An invitation to sing songs of praise together. Blue part
b. About God’s salvation. (Not in verse 2) Purple part
c. About God’s creation. Red part
d. About God’s judgment. Green part
Now let’s read the whole thing.
1 Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
6 The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.
8 He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.
10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man;
11 the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
12 Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion,
13 for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.
14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
15 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast?
18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.
20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.
a. An invitation to sing songs of praise together.
Each section begins with an invitation to sing praise. In Japanese churches, “praising” is understood to mean singing songs with Christian content.I think it is a “song that praises God” among the various songs we sing to God as part of worship. However, praising or giving praise is not all there is to worship.
Worship includes confessing one’s intentions, such as “I love you” and “I follow you,” as well as earnestly pleading, “Please help me and heal me.” Of course, “praise,” as discussed here, is an important element of worship.
Praise is something we do toward God, like confession and supplication. I wonder if you have noticed that most of the songs we sing are written in the second person, addressed to God.
One of the reasons we don’t sing many songs from commonly used hymnbooks (especially in Japanese) is because many of them are songs that explain what God is like, rather than being sung to God. Do we need to explain to God how wonderful He is? I think it would be more appropriate to sing “praise” simply and straightforwardly, saying things like “You are wonderful, I need you, I love you.” That’s why we choose to sing honest, simple songs so that everyone can sing to God with all their heart as much as possible.
As verse 7 says, “Sing praises to the harp,” it seems that an instrument similar to the prototype of the modern harp was used to accompany people’s singing. Harps were used to accompany the music. I believe that people singing to God is the essence of praise and worship. This is visibly practiced in yourchurch’s worship services.
I had been taught that the sermon was the pinnacle of worship. Probably the seminary I graduated from still thinks that way. However, my mind changed after attending a church service. I came to believe that singing to God is the heart of worship. And so yourchurch began. I wanted to start a church where worship culminated in each person singing to God with all their heart. The reason worship leaders do not sing on the front stage is because God and you are the main characters.
Do you feel wonderful when you worship as described in verse 1? Do you feel that this is a special time? Is it a beautiful and pleasant time?
I hope you will put everything else aside today and sing and worship to the Lord with your whole heart and soul. As you sing with your hearts, the Lord will do new things. Let us worship with anticipation today as well.
b. About God’s salvation (not in verse 2)
It is not in the second part of verses 7 through 11, but in the second part of verses 1 and 3, they sing about what God has done for them. In a word, it is about “saving us”. Let’s take a look at what it’s about.
For the people of Israel, Jerusalem was not just a city but a spiritual home where the temple was located. Although the city has been invaded and destroyed many times and its people scattered across the continents, it has never been forgotten like so many other religious cities. Rather, it was a place where the scattered could be gathered and the brokenhearted could be healed and their wounds bound.
Salvation is the restoration of our natural relationship with God as it should be. There are many real difficulties, pain, and sorrows, and God saves us from them, but the essence of the matter is our relationship with God.
What does Jerusalem mean to us who are not the people of Israel? A place to return from alienation, to be healed from despair, to have one’s needs met and one find peace of mind. So the question is, where is salvation? The answer is the church.
Please don’t get me wrong, the church is not this building. Jesus said:
For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” （MATT 18:20）
And the Apostle Paul said:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. (ACTS 17:24 )
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? (1COR 3:16 )
Paul often refers to the church as the body of Christ, not just a physical building, but a community centered on Jesus. And according to Paul, each of us is an essential part of that body. In other words, we exist in this world with a role to play in working together to deliver “God’s salvation” to people.
c. About God’s Creation
These parts remind us that God is not only the Lord of human beings and their society, but also the Creator of the natural world, which is even larger than society.
At the end of Genesis 1, we read that God looked at everything he had made and saw that it was very good. Humans are created in God’s image and have been given the role of properly managing the world that God created. But now, the nature of the world, which was supposed to be extremely good, has begun to go awry due to human activities. This is because humans, in their pursuit of a richer life, have neglected to protect nature.
A typical example would be global warming. The Industrial Revolution in the 18th century led to a dramatic increase in the use of fossil fuels, which increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by about 40%. On the other hand, development is reducing the amount of forests that absorb carbon dioxide, store carbon, and release oxygen. Human life has become very convenient, but in exchange for this, the exquisite atmospheric balance that God said was extremely good has been disrupted.
Many scientists and politicians are working with a sense of crisis, but some are simply denying global warming for short-term gain. Should believers just leave this matter to scientists and politicians? I don’t think so. Because I believe that we have a responsibility to properly govern the world that God created, as described in Genesis. People have the freedom to pursue their own happiness and prosperity. But no one has the right to obtain it at the expense of others. Environmental destruction is a rebellion against God’s creation. Humans have no right to destroy the world that God created. I believe that one of the church’s missions is not just to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but also to work and call for healing the environment. I believe that those who believe in God who created the world should speak up and act.
d. About God’s Judgment
At the end of each section there is a contrasting expression of the way God wants human beings to live. It serves as a guideline for the church and also as a standard for individuals to judge right from wrong. When we read these verses, we see that God stands with the discriminated and oppressed and defeats those who discriminate and oppress. God does not want nations to compete with each other in military might or for people to boast about their strength, but rather wants people to have faith in God’s power and wait for His mercy to be revealed.
I mentioned global warming in the previous section, but it is also a question of justice. When it comes to carbon dioxide, the cause of global warming, a few countries known as developed countries account for most of the emissions, and these countries also enjoy the resulting wealth. And the rest of the world will remain poor and suffer only the disaster damage of global warming. What should the church do to make God’s justice known?
In b., we discussed that the church is a community that is the body of Christ. Justice is salvation for the oppressed. On the other hand, it is also just to blame those who discriminate. Both of these are things the church can do to demonstrate God’s justice. That is what Jesus put into practice. He is not just a liberal, but a radical, who loved those who were despised as sinners by religious people, while at the same time overturning the sales tables of those who used the temple as a place to make money. That Jesus is our role model.
(Prayer) God, we praise you and worship you with our hearts.
We are glad that you will guide us.
We are grateful that you have drawn us close to you when we were wandering in the wilderness without knowing you, that you have healed our wounds, and given us the mission of living in this world as part of your body.
Teach and guide us so that we may follow your will, point to your salvation and justice, and realize it in this world.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary
God saves us from various difficulties, suffering, and sorrow. The essence of the problems that surround us is that we are far removed from God, and God gathers us in this state, heals us, strengthens us, and uses us for His work. And justice is doing God’s will. The church is a Jesus-centered community that brings God’s salvation and justice to the world.
For Discussion
- Why is it important to praise God?
- What is “salvation”?