Psalms 145 - Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

I am going to preach about prayer, so we will read «David's Psalm of praise.» Thus we shall have two parts of true worship.

Psalms 145:1-19. I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

Notice how long David expected to praise God. He was going to praise God for ever, and then after that, «for ever and ever.» «'Every day will I bless thee,' that is, when I do not seem to be partaking of any choice temporal blessing, I will still bless thee. When I sit like Job on the dunghill, ‘every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name,' thy character, all that has to do with thee, ‘for ever and ever.'» The first two verses are the preface of the Psalm; now the psalmist begins his music:

Psalms 145:3. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

He is great without bound; let him be praised without end. There is no end to his greatness; let there be no end to our adoration.

Psalms 145:3-19. And his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

The fathers shall be the preachers to their sons, and the sons shall be the preachers to their sons. The flaming torch of Jehovah's praise shall be passed from hand to hand all down the centuries; as long as men shall live, God shall have the praise of the godly: «One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.»

Psalms 145:5. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty,

This is a beautiful expression: «I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty.» It is a heaped-up expression. David was in an ecstasy of delight when he wrote it; he did not know how sufficiently to express his adoration of God. Other men might praise God for themselves, but that is not enough for David; he must take his own cut at the blessed business: «I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty,»

Psalms 145:5-19. And of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.

«And I will declare.» Yes, in comes David's personal note again; he cannot let the praises of God alone, he must take his full share in this heavenly task. I wish that, whenever there was work to do for God, or prayer to be offered or praise to be given to the Lord, you and I would always interject this personal pronoun, «and I.» You know, perhaps, dear friends, that you never find Bartholomew's name by itself in any of the Gospels, it is always somebody else «and Bartholomew.» It is well to be a good helper of other people; and when others are praising the Lord, it is good to come in as David did with the personal resolve and confession, «and I will declare thy greatness.»

Psalms 145:7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness,

Mark every word in this choice expression: «They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness.» They shall see this goodness, and they shall appreciate it as great goodness; they shall remember it, and so have the memory of God's great goodness; and then they shall speak of it: «They shall utter the memory of thy great goodness;» and when they have done so, they shall do it again and again: «They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness.»

Psalms 145:7-19. And shall sing of thy righteousness. The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion;

He has no passion, but he is full of compassion. What a mercy that is for us! Sometimes we hear persons say that God cannot do this or that, that he cannot feel, and cannot suffer. That is not true, for he can do anything that he likes. A god who has no feeling is a poor god, of no service whatever to us; but «the Lord is gracious and full of compassion;»

Psalms 145:8. Slow to anger, and of great mercy.

Oh, what a blessing it is for you and for me that he is slow to anger!

Psalms 145:9. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Whether you search for the far-distant with a telescope, or peer into the minute with the microscope, the Lord's tender mercies are found everywhere. Like the light, without which you see nothing, so is the mercy of God; it enlightens everything: «His tender mercies are over all his works.»

Psalms 145:10. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee.

«Standing in the inner circle, ‘thy saints' shall mingle their love with their praise, and so ‘shall bless thee.' Theirs shall be a choicer, tenderer worship than that of all ‘thy works' besides.» The works of God are like a great organ, but it is man who puts his finger upon the keys, and brings forth all the music. Man is the interpreter of the universe; he praises God as the inanimate creation can never do.

Psalms 145:11. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;

I wish we did speak more of such subjects, and talk more upon these sacred themes. I do not think there is ever any deficiency of talk; but I am afraid there is a very great lack of such talk as this: «They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power.»

Psalms 145:12. To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.

See how David keeps to the subject with which he began the Psalm: «I will extol thee, my God, my king.» Ay, and he sings about the King all through this Psalm. His great object is to make us see that there never was such a King as the infinitely-glorious Jehovah, who surpasses all the kings of the earth.

Psalms 145:13. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

Other kingdoms come and go; they last during their little day, and then they vanish away. Look, for instance, at the kingdom of Alexander the Great, who only reigned for about twelve years, and when he died left no successor. We talk of great earthly monarchies; they are but monarchies of an hour compared with the kingdom of Jehovah. Well might David say to him, «Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,»

Psalms 145:13. And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

What kind of a King is this whose kingdom is everlasting, and what are the acts that make him famous? Notice the first thing he is said to do:

Psalms 145:14. The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

This is his glory; this is the majesty of the King of kings, that he takes notice of the poor and weak. The compassion of God is to a great extent the glory of God. That he has such tender mercies toward the unworthy, is the subject of the loudest of our songs: «Jehovah upholdeth all that fall;» that is, such as would fall were it not for his upholding. Jehovah lifts up all those who have fallen, and raiseth up those who are bowed down. Blessed be his holy name!

Psalms 145:15. The eyes of all wait upon thee;

What a King is this, who must needs feed all his subjects, and who must have all his subjects depend upon himself alone! «The eyes of all wait upon thee;»

Psalms 145:15. And thou givest them their meat in due season.

It is an act of grace, not of debt: «Thou givest them their meat.» Did you ever think of the vast variety of the separate sorts of food that the Lord provides for each of the creatures he has formed? The meat that feeds an elephant would not feed a lion, that which feeds a lion would not feed a sparrow, that which feeds a sparrow would not satisfy the fish of the sea. To every creature God gives its own food: «Thou givest them their meat in due season.» The fruits of the earth do not ripen all at once, but the various harvests succeed each other. Notice how each of the many flowers is full of honey just at the time when the particular insect which is to come down into the flower-bell is needing that nectar to feed upon. It is marvellous to see how God has timed creation to the ticking of a watch; and when the flower is ready, then comes the fly, the bee, the butterfly, or the moth, that shall be fed thereby. «Thou givest them their meat in due season.»

Psalms 145:16. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

As men feed doves in their courtyard, carrying down to them their little handful of food, and opening the hand to pour it out, so does God feed all living creatures readily and easily enough by the simple opening of his hand. But he does it. He satisfies the desire of every living thing, and he will satisfy your desire, dear soul, if you take it to him. You say, perhaps, that you are very poor; well, then, cry to him, he has never failed his creatures yet, and he will not fail you. He hears the young ravens when they cry; and he will hear you, a man created in the image of God, when you cry to him.

Psalms 145:17-18. The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his work. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

As the omnipresent Deity, the Lord is not far from any one of us; but there is a peculiar nearness of God to his people, a nearness of knowledge, a nearness of affection, a nearness of heart by which he looks upon them as his own special portion, his own peculiar heritage: «Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon him.» That is the name of his people; they are a calling people, they are a praying people, and they pray to him «in truth.» There are some who offer the mockery of pretended prayer, but God is not near to them in the special sense in which he «is nigh unto all them that call upon him in truth.»

Psalms 145:19. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him:

«He will fulfill» he will fill full «the desire of them that fear him.» If you fear him, you need not fear any lack; indeed, you have nothing at all that you need to fear.

Psalms 145:19-20. He also will hear their cry, and will save them. The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.

These two things always go together; as surely as the Lord does the one, he will do the other. While he preserves his saints, he will certainly destroy the wicked.

Psalms 145:21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord:

God move us each one to do this! Then with the psalmist we may fitly say,

Psalms 145:21. And let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

When you get to the 145 th Psalm, you enter the Beulah Land of the Psalms. Henceforth, the time of the singing of birds is come; and you go from one Hallelujah to another. In the Hebrew, this is one of the alphabetical Psalms, but one letter (nun) is omitted, perhaps, as Dr. Bonar suggests, that «we must be kept from putting stress on the mere form of the composition.» Those ancient singers sang their way through the alphabet from A to Z, and it is well for us also to begin to praise the Lord while we are yet children, and to keep on praising him till we get to the «Z» in the very hour of death, gasping his praises till we get into eternity.

«My God, I'll praise thee while I live,

And praise thee when I die,

And praise thee when I rise again,

And to eternity.»

Psalms 145:1-19. I will extol thee, my God, O king, and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

Such as the Lord is, such should his worship be. If he were a little God, he would deserve little praise; but the great God is «greatly to be praised.» There is no fear of going to any excess in our praises; we must never laud him too highly, however lofty our expressions may be. «Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.» David knew what it was to be himself searched by God and he prayed, «Search me, O God;» but he could not search the greatness of his God. There, he was utterly lost, the utmost range of his faculties could not compass the greatness of Jehovah: «his greatness is unsearchable.»

Psalms 145:4. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

There is a hallowed tradition of praise; each generation should hand out the praise of God as a precious legacy to the next one. Train up your sons and daughters to praise your God, so that, when your voice is silent in death, another voice, like your own, may continue the strain.

Psalms 145:5. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.

«I will speak.» What a powerful speaker David was! Note how he piles up his golden words. He is not content merely to talk of God's majesty, but he speaks of its «glorious honour.» When he talked of God's works, he calls them «wondrous works.»

Psalms 145:6. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts:

If they will not speak of anything else, they shall be obliged to speak with awe when the terrors of the Lord are abroad in the earth. If they were as dumb as fishes before, they shall begin to say to one another, with bated breath, when earthquakes, and famines, and war, and pestilence are rife, «What a terrible God he is!»

Psalms 145:6. And I will declare thy greatness.

While other men were talking, David did not say, «Now I can be quiet.» When they did not speak, he did, and when they began to speak, he still added his quota of praise to Jehovah.

Psalms 145:7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.

What a beautiful expression! «They shall abundantly utter.» The original has in it the idea of bubbling up, boiling over, bursting out like a fountain; men's hearts shall get to be so full of gratitude to God that they shall overflow with the memory of his great goodness. Then they shall sing. Singing is the language of jubilant nature: «The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing.» Singing is the language of men when they wish to express their highest joys. The saints sing the high praises of their God. Singing is the language of the holy angels; did they not, when they came to Bethlehem, sing concerning the newborn King? Singing is the language of heaven, and most marvellous of all, singing is the highest language that ever God uses: «He will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.» Oh, for more holy singing!

Psalms 145:8. The LORD is gracious,

That alone is enough to make us sinners sing, for we need grace, and «the Lord is gracious,»

Psalms 145:8. And full of compassion;

There is no «passion» in him, but there is «compassion» in him; what a mercy that is for us! He is full of compassion;»

Psalms 145:8. Slow to anger, and of great mercy.

Hear that, ye great sinners, and ye saints who need great forbearance.

Psalms 145:9. The Lord is good to all:

Even to his enemies. Does not the dewdrop hang upon the thistle as well as upon the rose?

Psalms 145:9. And his tender mercies are over all his works.

He cares for the worm in the sod and for the fish in the sea as well as for men upon the face of the earth.

Psalms 145:10. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saint shall bless thee.

Their voices can reach a higher note and a loftier strain than God's works can ever reach: «thy saints shall bless thee.»

Psalms 145:11. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom,

For the saints love God as their King, and they rejoice to remember what the King's Son said to his disciples, «Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom;» so well may they sing of it.

Psalms 145:11-13. And talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

What is the use of preaching if it does not glorify God? What is the use of a tongue that does not speak or sing of the glory of God's kingdom? But let one of God's bards have this as the theme of his song, and he feels like a hind let loose, rejoicing in glorious liberty.

Psalms 145:14. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

Does not this seem to be a singular change in the strain? The Lord is a King, and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; yet what is he doing? Why, he is upholding, propping up those that are ready to fall, and lifting up those that are crushed and oppressed. Earthly kings often glory in the terror of their power, and the splendor of their majesty. What a condescending God is ours, whose glory is a moral glory, and whose chief delight consists in blessing the poor and needy! Let us bless his name for this. Are any of you ready to fall? Then praise him for this glorious truth, «The Lord upholdeth all that fall.» Are any of you bowed down? Daughter of Abraham, have you been bowed down these many years? Oh, that you might be made straight this very hour! And you may be, for God can lift you up, for he «raiseth up all those that be bowed down.»

Psalms 145:15-16. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfied the desire of every living thing.

What a glorious God we have! How easily can he supply the needs of his people! He has but to open his hand, and it is done! We need not be afraid to come to him, as though our needs would be too great for him to supply. The commissariat of the universe is superintended by this truly Universal Provider, who hath but to open his hand to satisfy «the desire of every living thing.»

Psalms 145:17. The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

This is a thing for which many modern divines do not praise God. The attribute of righteousness in the character of God is expelled from a good deal of modern theology. But he, who loves God aright, loves the righteousness of God. I would not care to have even salvation if it were unrighteous salvation. The righteousness of God gleams like a sharp two-edged sword, and it is terrible to those who are at enmity against him; but the true children of the Most High delight to see this sword of state carried in the front of the great King of kings. The seraphim cried, one to another, «Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.» The redeemed in glory sing, «Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints; but the captious critics of the present day care nothing for these attributes of Jehovah.

Psalms 145:18. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

If you read this Psalm through carefully, you will notice the great number of «alls» with which the latter part of the Psalm is studded; and this is appropriate, for God is All-in-all, he is the One, the All, so let him have all praise from all.

Psalms 145:19. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

When you have respect to God's will, God will have respect to your will. When you fear him, you will have no one else to fear, and when you make his service your delight, he will make your wants his care.

Psalms 145:20. The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.

As in a state of sanitary perfection, everything that breeds miasma and disease is banished, so must it be in God's great universe, when he has completed his works «all the wicked will he destroy.»

Psalms 145:21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.