We might almost assert that this Psalm was composed in spring. Spring, as Eastern travellers tell us, comes with a suddenness and beauty in that bare land of Palestine that we can hardly conceive of. All at once the dry, stony hills are clad with the tenderest green, the flowers fill the fields, and the heavens drop down dew.
I. But whether composed in spring or not, the hundred and forty-seventh Psalm may teach us a great lesson: a lesson of thankfulness; a lesson of acknowledgment to God for His care for His care of all His creatures, cattle and birds as well as man. The gratitude that is acceptable to God is the offering of a just, and merciful, and humble life an offering that God loves better than any other service, which in His sight is more than whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.
II. Let us learn from this season to have trust and confidence in God. Let us love to mark in what we see now the care of God for all His creatures. Not all the cunning of man could make a single blade of grass, or cause one leaf to come out of its sheath, or one flower to bud and bloom. Think of the witness which spring bears to the providence and love of God.
III. Let us learn from the present season at least a hint about our immortal destiny. A few weeks ago, and all nature seemed dead. The trees were leafless; the ground was bare; there was no song of birds in the air. But now there is life, visible and joyous life, all around us. The earth has had her Easter, and is risen. And shall not we see in this a type and parable of our own resurrection? Shall it not help in its degree to confirm the blessed hope that we shall live though we die; that death is not the end of our being?
R. D. B. Rawnsley, Sermons in Country Churches,2nd series, p. 41.
References: Psalms 147:7-9. C. Kingsley, The Water of Life,p. 317. Psalms 147:9. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xii., No. 672.Psalms 147:12. J. A. Sellar, Church Doctrine and Practice,p. 188. Psalms 147:14; Psalms 147:15. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. vi., No. 314.Psalms 147:15. Ibid.,vol. xxvii., No. 1607.