Psalms 147:1. Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
«It is good,» that is to say, it is a thing that ought to be done, it is a right thing «to sing praises unto our God.» «It is good,» that is to say, it is profitable, it is beneficial to our own hearts. Prayer is refreshing, but praise is even more so, for there may be, and there often is, in prayer, the element of selfishness; but praise rises to a yet higher level. Prayer and praise together make up spiritual respiration; we breathe in the air of heaven when we pray, and we breathe it out again when we praise. «It is good to sing praises unto our God.» What a mercy it is that it is pleasant, too! There are many things that are good that are not pleasant, and many more things that are pleasant that are not good; but here is a holy duty which is also a heavenly pleasure. It is the bliss of heaven to praise God; let us anticipate that bliss by praising him now, «for it is pleasant.» And then there is a third commendation: «and praise is comely.» That is to say, it is beautiful, it is a good thing in its right place, it is according to the natural and spiritual fitness of things that God should be praised. In God's sight, one of the most beautiful things in the world is a grateful heart: «it is pleasant; and praise is comely.»
Psalms 147:2. The LORD doth build up Jerusalem:
There is something for which to praise him. When the Jews came back from captivity, and found their beautiful city all in ruin, God helped them to build it up again, so they sang, «The Lord doth build up Jerusalem.» We may sing the same sacred song, for the psalmist does not say, «The Lord hath builded,» but «The Lord doth build up Jerusalem,» he is going on to build it: the Divine Architect's plan of salvation is still being carried out, the great Master Builder is still placing stone upon stone in the wondrous courses of his election of grace: «The Lord doth build up Jerusalem.» O Lord, build up this part of the wall!
Psalms 147:2. He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
Those that were far away, captives in Babylon, he brought back again. God has a long arm, which he is casting round his outcast chosen ones, for he means to gather them all to himself. He has an elect redeemed people, and they are scattered throughout the whole world; but even Caiaphas knew enough of the truth to declare that Christ «should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.»
Psalms 147:3. He healeth the broken in heart,
He does it still, mark you, for the verb is in the present tense: «He healeth the broken in heart.» These are two of God's great occupations, to gather outcasts, and to heal broken hearts.»
Psalms 147:3. And bindeth up their wounds.
Oh, what a blessed God he is, thus to interest himself in the sorrows of mankind, to give his infinite mind and heart to this wondrous work of healing the wounds of our lost humanity! You see, it is thus that the Lord buildeth up Jerusalem; the two verses are the complement of each other. «The Lord doth build up Jerusalem,»-with what? Outcasts, and broken hearts, and wounded spirits. Many of the stones that God puts into his great temple are such as men would exclude. Broken hearts and bruised spirits, that look as if they never could have any strength in them, God uses in building up his Church. What a wonderful leap it is from this third verse to the next!
Psalms 147:4. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
Yet is there as much grandeur and glory in his compassion as in his omniscience. To bind up wounds, is as God-like a work as to count the stars; God doth both, taking perhaps a greater delight in the first than in the second. There is not a star in the church's firmament to which God has not given the light, he knows the number of his shining ones, and he keeps their light burning; their names are all in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Psalms 147:5-19. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. The LORD lifteth up the meek:
That is the Lord's usual way; those that are down, he raises; but
Psalms 147:6. He casteth the wicked down to the ground.
This is what God is always doing, uplifting and overturning, putting people and things in their right places.
Psalms 147:7. Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
False gods have been served with discordant yells and cries of agony, but our God is to be worshipped with songs of thanksgiving. Think not that he desires you to come before him with groans and moans: he will hear them if they he sincere, but he would have you raise your hearts to something higher and better.
Psalms 147:8. Who covereth the heaven with clouds,
Little children do not think that is a matter for gratitude; they are sorry to see the clouds and the rain, but wise men know how fraught with blessing are the clouds God sends. It is even so in providence and grace.
Psalms 147:8. Who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
For every blade of grass, we ought to thank and praise the Lord. If he be a benefactor who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before, what a Benefactor must he be who makes all the blades of grass to grow, without whom there would be none at all! Even on the mountains, where it may be that we have no cattle, yet there are wild creatures that must be fed, so the Lord maketh the grass to grow there. We are often selfish, and we talk of things so being useless if they are of no use to us. Are there no other living things, then, but men; and is God only to care for those animals which most of all rebel against him? Let us think differently of this matter, and bless the Lord even for the grass that grows on the waste places, where only the chamois or the wild gazelle will feed, for they, too, have their purpose to fulfill in God's sight.
Psalms 147:9. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
Unclean creatures though they be, God feeds them. We have known people have only one bird in a cage, and yet forget to feed it; but God has myriads of birds, millions of beasts, and fishes innumerable, yet they are not starved. The commissariat of God never fails: my soul, will he not feed thee? If he hears ravens, will he not hear thy cry?
Psalms 147:10. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
Man boasts of his strength, and he looks at his fine horse, and glories in its strength; but God has something higher and better than sinew and muscle to boast about.
Psalms 147:11. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him,
That is his joy. As a man is proud of his horse, or of the muscles which enable him to run swiftly, so God takes delight in those that fear him,
Psalms 147:11. In those that hope in his mercy.
These are his jewels; these are his glory.
Psalms 147:12-14. Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders,
What a blessing this is, not only in a nation, but in a church! If you were ever members of a church where they seemed to quarrel punctually once every month, you would soon be sorry to be a professor of religion at all, but to live in a church where brotherly love rules, this is a thing for which to praise the name of the Lord. «He maketh peace in thy borders,»
Psalms 147:14. And filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
There is generally peace where there is plenty. Dogs fight when there are few bones, and when God's people are well fed, they do not so often quarrel with one another. If they are fed with the finest of the wheat, there will be peace in their borders.
Psalms 147:15-16. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool:
Light and fleecy, it covers the plants, and protects them from the cold; the snow is a kind of garment to them from the frost.
Psalms 147:16. He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
You must often have been reminded of white ashes as you looked at the hoarfrost in the early morning.
Psalms 147:17. He casteth forth his ice like morsels:
Hailstones, like little pieces of bread, broken off and scattered abroad,-
Psalms 147:17. Who can stand before his cold?
In all this, the Lord is really fattening the soil, and preparing food for man and beast in the coming spring and summer.
Psalms 147:18. He sendeth out his word, and melteth them:
He has only to speak a word, and the ice, the snow, the hoarfrost, and every sign of winter will disappear, and we shall begin to swelter in the heats of summer.
Psalms 147:18. He causeth his wind to blow,
That is all,
Psalms 147:18. And the waters flow.
Ice-saws and axes could not set free the frozen rivers but his wind, the very breath from the mouth of God doth it at once.
Psalms 147:19. He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statues and his judgments unto Israel.
And we have come into the place of Jacob and Israel, even we who have believed; for Abraham is the father of believers, and we are his spiritual seed according to the promise. So we have to bless God that he has showed unto us his word, his statutes and his judgments.
Psalms 147:20. He hath not dealt so with any nation:
There are no other people who know the Lord as God's people do; and remember, they constitute one nation. We are Englishmen, perhaps, or Americans, that is a skin-deep distinction: but if we are in Christ, we are one family, we are of that one peculiar nation which, all over the world, is distinct from every other nation.
Psalms 147:20. And as for his judgments, they have not known them.
If they have been left in the dark, let us do all we can to carry or send the light of the gospel to them; and so we think of the great things God has done for us, let us join in a joyful Hallelujah, as the Psalm ends,
Psalms 147:20. Praise ye the LORD.