Praise The Lord (Psalm 33)
We are living in tumultuous days. As I write this Russia is fighting in Ukraine, China is flying planes over Taiwan. We are, hopefully, nearing the end of a pandemic that was started in a Chinese lab with United States funding. There is a lot of evidence floating around that the United States is involved in ugly ways with all of these countries. We have seen evidence that the president’s family is involved in gaining wealth through corruption in Ukraine. Special Counsel John Durham has written up a report that accuses a former presidential candidate, who was at one time the First Lady and later Secretary of State, of spreading Russian disinformation to sway an American election. And all sorts of funny business is being found to have been done in the last election. We are living in tumultuous days.
Our ties and relationship to these countries is complicated to say the least and great damage has been done across the globe. Casualties will mount in Putin’s war. Casualties have already mounted due to Covid. And masking children has caused actual delays in the learning of the children of our country, so much so that the CDC quietly lowered the standards for delays in children in the past week. Things like, children should know 50 words by 30 months rather than 24 months.
It would be very easy and understandable for us to throw our hands up in the air in despair. But we are Christians. Despair does not suit us because we know better.
You’re A Christian, Praising The Lord Suits You (Psalm 33:1-3)
The beginning of this song is very interesting to me. He calls the righteous to shout to the Lord and then he says,
“Praise befits the upright.” (Psalm 33:1b ESV)
Have you ever considered that a grumpy whiney attitude does not look good or look right on a believer? The gripey whininess of our society is not the attitude the believer should have. It is praise that befits the upright.
So, he calls upon God’s people to give thanks and sing. Hey, even sing a new song.
This “new song” probably has to do with a new circumstance that has taken place. It probably has to do with God’s deliverance of the people without a fight. So it is time for them to pull out their instruments and sing a new song to the Lord.
New music for a new time and new circumstance are a good thing, as long as those songs are doctrinally sound. Both new and old songs come out of their circumstances. They come from a grateful heart to God.
So, bring out the instruments and sing to the Lord.
Being an ungrateful grump does not suit the believer. Your hope is not in the things of this world. You know that the future is in the Lord’s hands and He is in control.
These are complex times and matters that we are living in. And I’ll be the first to admit that I do not know how all the pieces fit together in this. Corruption, expansion of power by a tyrant, loss of life, I don’t know what the right and proper response of a government is to all of this.
But I can respond with rejoicing in the Lord because I have hope. My hope is not in the powers that be, but in the Lord.
Praise The Lord Because Of Who He Is (Psalm 33:4-5)
We now receive a list of reasons to praise the Lord. And the first one given is that we should praise the Lord because of who He is.
Consider all that is said here. He begins by discussing God’s Word. It is righteous (Psalm 33:4). God’s Word right and good. Then he discusses God’s faithfulness (Psalm 33:5). Then he states that God loves righteousness and justice (Psalm 33:6). And, this is why we understand that all things will be made right one day, even if things look very ugly now. And then he states that God’s steadfast love fills the Earth. And we can see this is true as we look at the sun, rain, the love of families, God’s provision for us.
And for the believer we can see that God’s steadfast love is with us in a special way. When we think of our salvation. When we think of how God sent His Son to Earth to live a perfect life on our behalf and die on the cross as the punishment for sins for us, we can’t help but think of God’s steadfast love and how glorious it is.
No wonder he calls us to shout and sing praises to the Lord!
The first motivation to praise the Lord is found here in the nature and character of God. Everything around me is crazy, but I can rest in who God is. His Word is righteous and good. And He is righteous and good.
Bombs are flying. Leaders are making corrupt deals. But I can praise the Lord because of who He is. I can ultimately trust that righteousness and justice will prevail because the Lord is who He is.
Praise The Lord For He Created All Things (Psalm 33:6-9)
Now, we are given a second reason to sing and shout praises to the Lord. And it is that God is the Creator of all things.
With a word God created all things. The sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, our planet, animals, plants, and even us. All of this was created by God. And it is a display of God’s power, wisdom, and creativity. He created it in an orderly fashion (Psalm 33:7). And He did so with spoken word (Psalm 33:9). And because of this everyone should praise the Lord.
When I see something that is magnificent that someone has built, I give praise to the creator. We do this with works of art. We do this with structures that people build. We understand this concept intuitively. When we were children, we would build things and then seek our parents approval.
We do this with God as well. When we look at all God created, shouldn’t we heap praise upon Him?
Over and over this is mentioned in the psalms. But I don’t see it strike us as clearly as it did David. Creation should strike in us this sense of awe, wonder, and praise.
Praise The Lord For He Is With His People (Psalm 33:10-19)
We are reminded here that God, not the rulers of this world, is in control. God brings the counsel of the “nations to nothing” (Psalm 33:10 ESV). But on the other hand, “the counsel of the Lord stands forever” (Psalm 33:11 ESV).
It is God’s people who find this a particular blessing (Psalm 33:12). God fashions all people and sees who they are and what they do. No military might, no strength, no authority, no power can rescue from the Lord (Psalm 33:16-17). And this is important for us to remember because God cares for His people (18-19).
This is the reason that I went into this sermon thinking that this text speaks to our current situation so well. It is blatantly obvious that the other things of this world are not going to help us.
Our government is corrupt. Ukrainian business people, if not part of their government seems to be a part of this corruption as well. Putin is a blood-thirsty, power hungry tyrant, who is now threatening Westerners. China is wicked and nobody wants to point that out to them. They have become just powerful enough to think they can get away with anything. And it all seems so wild.
But I’m not trusting in these people. My hope and my faith is not in the powers of this age. I am trusting in the Lord who rules over them all. Therefore, I can praise the Lord.
We Praise The Lord As We Trust The Lord (20-21)
So, we wait. That doesn’t mean sit on our hind parts. It means we actively trust the Lord as we live our lives. We don’t go about our day cowering in fear. We understand that the Lord is our shield and our protector (Psalm 33:20). So, we are glad in Him. We rejoice in the Lord and in His love.
Therefore, we have hope.
Our hope is not in the people of this age. The corrupt leaders and politicians who so often try to stir us up for their own greedy ends are not the people I want to trust in, but are the people that so many people our day trust in.
Our hope is not in pharmaceutical companies who are losing lawsuit after lawsuit for all their dirty dealings in the past to get people hooked on opioids, but have made the money back 100 fold with Covid.
Our hope is not in my retirement account, which can rise and fall with every little thing that happens in this world.
Our hope is in the Lord.
Therefore, we can have hope.
Conclusion
Everything is currently being shaken. In the Middle East, Afghanistan is again running rampant with terrorists. In the far east, China is committing atrocious human rights violations and blessed the world with a pandemic from one of their labs. Europe is likely about to be in a mess due to how reliant these countries are on Russia for their survival. America will feel this pain as well because Biden decided to make us dependent upon Russia for oil. The Russian invasion of Ukraine actually threatens the prosperity of all of Europe, and to a lesser extent our own. And a bit closer to home, Canada is threatening to sink into tyranny. And our very own country is, in some way, involved in every single one of the issues that I outlined above whether it is through inaction, funding, or corruption. Everything is currently being shaken.
“For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken–that is, things that have been made–in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:18-29 ESV)
Good things are coming from this shaking, even if it is incredibly painful. Colleges, that bastion of rebellious though in our day, have seen a rapid decrease in enrollment. Parents are understanding in greater ways how dangerous it is for teachers to teach your children without parent oversight and so a number of things have taken place. Florida passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits gender and sexuality discussions to the youngest of school children. And parents around the country are contesting perverted curriculum, even as our government leaders call these people terrorists. Parents are, time and time again, using this time of shaking to decide to spend more time with their kids. It seems that the pandemic gave them time to reassess their lives.
I don’t know what the fallout will be from what is happening this week, but that’s how it is when you are in the middle of a shaking. But I am trusting in the Lord. And I know that He is with me, He is for me, and He is in control. Our eternal hope and rest are in a kingdom that cannot be shaken. So, let us rejoice.
R. Dwain Minor