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How Great Thou Art Psalm 145 Julia Sweeney is a popular comedienne and author. She’s perhaps best known for her four-year run on Saturday Night Live. Julia Sweeney is avowed atheist. In recent years, she has performed a solo comedy show titled, Letting Go of God. The show is based on a book she has written by the same title. In her book, Julia Sweeney raises a question that many atheists ask: Why does God want or even seem to need our praise? Here's what Julia Sweeney said about this: “I'm living my life as a person who accepts the natural world. The whole idea that there's a God who cares whether people believe in him or not - like why would God care if people believed in him or not? That was one of the many things I found so shocking when I read the Bible. First of all, how insecure God is. I mean, God is so insecure he needs everyone to say, ‘You're number one. You're greater than all other god's.’? I have to ask, ‘Is God that insecure?’” Have you ever wondered, “Why do the Scriptures command us to praise God?” Is God like the Evil Queen in Snow White who said, “Mirror, mirror on the wall – who’s the fairest of them all?” Does our praise provide God with something that He’s lacking? Why does God deserve our praise? This is something David talks about in Psalm 145. Let’s turn in our Bible’s to Psalm 145. It’s not evident in the English text, but Psalm 145 was composed as a Hebrew acrostic. Each verse of Psalm 145 begins with a consecutive letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Interestingly, Psalm 145 is the only psalm in the Bible that is titled, “A Psalm of Praise.” There are no petitions recorded in Psalm 145. There is no confession of sin. It’s devoted entirely to praising God for who He is and what He has done. Psalm 145 was especially dear to ancient Israelites. Rabbi’s taught that people who were disciplined to recite this psalm three times a day would be blessed by God with a happy life. The question that I’d like us to consider this morning is: What inspired David to write this psalm of praise to God? What does he tell us about the God we worship and adore? Psalm 145 2 highlights four attributes of God. Please follow along in your outline. In verses 1-6, the first attribute that we see in this psalm is that: 1. God is great. The psalm begins with these words. I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. King Louis XIV of France often referred to himself as the Great One. Before he died, Louis XIV gave instructions about how his funeral was to be conducted. He gave the order that the cathedral, where he would lie in state, should be dimly lit – and at his funeral, there would be a single candle by his coffin. Most importantly, Louis XIV stressed that he should be remembered as the Great One at the funeral service. And so it was, at his funeral the cathedral was dimly lit – and there was a single candle by his coffin. Hundreds of people filled the cathedral for the funeral and waited in hushed silence. When Bishop Massilon rose to speak – he walked over to the candle and snuffed out the flame and the congregation was gasped. Bishop Massilon then said in a voice that thundered throughout the cathedral, “Only God is great!” David was saying in verse 3, “Only God is great!” David writes in verses 5- 6: On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. A question that many of us have asked at one time or another is: Can I depend on God to meet my needs? Is God mighty enough, loving enough, forgiving enough and close enough to help me? We ask this because all of us are acutely aware of the limitations we have. All of us have a limited amount of time. We have a limited amount of patience. We have a limited amount of money. We have a limited amount of strength. We have a limited amount of understanding. But God has no limits. Our needs will never exhaust God’s resources. How can we get our heads around just how great God is? One way to do that is to look at God’s creation. 3 Tim and Grace Greer recently visited Lake Tahoe and posted several pictures on Facebook. I’ve never been to Lake Tahoe. That’s on my bucket list. However, last week I learned some interesting facts about Lake Tahoe. I learned that Lake Tahoe is the eighth deepest lake in the world. On July 4, 1875, two men discovered the deepest point in the lake to be 1645 feet by lowering a weighted champagne bottle on fishing line from the side of their boat. Following the invention of sonar, soundings by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that depth. Lake Tahoe is so large that if someone pumped out all of the water, the state of California would be covered in 14.5 inches of water. That would solve our drought problem! Lake Tahoe has enough water in it to provide every person living in the United States with 50 gallons of water per day for 5 years. And Lake Tahoe is actually a small lake compared to Lake Superior (which is 120 times as large) and the world's largest lake, the Caspian Sea (which is 576 times larger). Look at Psalm 145 once again. In verse 3, David tells us that God is great in His Person. In verse 4, he tells us that God is great in His works. In verses 5-6, David tells us that God is great in His might and majesty. Here’s what David is driving at in these verses. If we truly believe that God is great – that should motivates us to praise Him! On the other hand, if you lack the desire to praise God – it could well be that you have a low view of Him. A theologian by the name of W.S. Plummer wrote these words about Psalm 145: “Nothing has a more pernicious effect on our character than having a low view of God. Unless we have a great view of God, our praises will be feeble and dull.” Plummer is saying this: We won’t give God the praise He deserves if we don’t think He’s great. Every week here at Parkside – our worship is designed to extol the greatness of God. We’re not here to entertain people. Worship isn’t about us - it's about God. That’s why we sing songs of praise and worship. That’s why we confess our sins in prayer. Confession bears witness of the fact that we’re flawed and imperfect, but we worship a God who is rich in mercy. That’s why we gather at Communion table – to remember and to thank Him for dying on the cross for our sins. 4 That’s why we teach and preach God’s Word. It tells the story of God’s love and redemption. In all of these acts, we’re bearing witness to the fact that God is great in His love and mighty deeds. This is the first reason why we praise Him! 2. God is good. Look at verses 7-9: They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. There is antiphonal saying that’s shared in many churches these days. A leader will say to the congregation, “God is good” and the congregational will say in response, “All the time.” The leader will then say, “All the time” and the congregation will respond, “God is good.” The Bible describes God’s goodness in two ways. First, God’s goodness is seen in His character. Psalm 119:68 says of God: You are good and do good. In Psalm 100:4-5 we read: Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him and praise His name! For the Lord is good and His love is eternal, and His faithfulness endures to all generations. Second, God’s goodness is seen though His through His actions. God’s goodness is seen through what He does. In Psalm 145:8-9, David quotes Exodus 34:6. It's the passage when Moses says, “Lord, please reveal Yourself to me. I want to see You.” But God said to Moses, “No one is able to see Me and live. Instead, I’ll put you in the cleft of a rock and let you see my back as I pass by.” God said to Moses, “I am…merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. In quoting this passage, David is saying that we should praise God because He is merciful and gracious and loving and faithful.

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