Psalm 135:1–11 1Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; Praise him, O ye servants of the Lord. 2Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, In the courts of the house of our God, 3Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: Sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant. 4For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, And Israel for his peculiar treasure. 5For I know that the Lord is great, And that our Lord is above all gods. 6Whatsoever the Lord pleased, That did he in heaven, and in earth, In the seas, and all deep places. 7He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings for the rain; He bringeth the wind out of his treasuries. 8Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, Both of man and beast. 9Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, Upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants. 10Who smote great nations, And slew mighty kings; 11Sihon king of the Amorites, And Og king of Bashan, And all the kingdoms of Canaan:
Psalm 135 is a mash-up
Ok, I know that sounds odd so let me explain. A mash-up is when you take separate songs and combine them into one arrangement, another term for this is a medley. We sometimes do this at our church, we combine songs around a common theme. I really like it when we do this because we often learn a new song while also having our hearts touched by a familiar one.
It is believed that this Psalm is something of a mash-up because it is made up of pieces from other parts of Scripture.
Psalm 135 quotes passages from four different Psalms, two from Deuteronomy, two from Jeremiah and two from Exodus.
Perhaps God inspired some musician preparing for a special worship service to make a mash-up of a little Bible here and a little there to make an all-new Psalm.
It doesn’t take a scholar to see that this mash-up is a call to praise.
It opens with the Hebrew “Hallelujah” translated “praise the Lord” and ends with it too.
Let me point out three reasons to praise the Lord
1. Praise the Lord because HE deserves it
Psalm 135:1–3 1Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; Praise him, O ye servants of the Lord. 2Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, In the courts of the house of our God, 3Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: Sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.
You may have been in a church service where a minister says, “God is good” and the congregation answers, “all the time” and then he says, “all the time” and then hears back from the group, “God is good”.
He certainly is, don’t you agree?
God has given life, both physical and spiritual because he is good.
He has provided provisions to sustain us and promises to stand upon because God is good.
He planted trees to provide oxygen for our lungs and even grew one to provide eternal life to our souls because our great God is so gracious and good!
Because he is good, our God most certainly deserves our praise!
2. Praise the Lord because it delights us
Psalm 135: 3 Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: Sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.
Yes, our God is good but so is praise!
Praise is pleasant and is good for the person who gives it!
Did you know that on a bad day when you feel at your lowest that you can lift yourself up by lifting up the Lord in praise?
I don’t know who originally said it, but this saying is certainly true, “Morning praise can make your days”
Plant a seed of praise in that dirt where you find yourself and see if joy doesn’t grow there. I believe it will!
Praise does the giver good because it is our original purpose, we were made to praise!
So, praise the Lord because he deserves it, praise him because you will delight in it and…
3. Praise the Lord because he delights in you
Psalm 135:4 4For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, And Israel for his peculiar treasure.
Of course, this passage refers to the nation of Israel, but Paul tells us that we have been grafted in so I believe all who come to Christ by faith are included in the truth of this comforting passage, we are his peculiar treasure.
I know a lot of Christians that pride themselves on being peculiar and buddy are they ever.
If you want to wear an “I love Jesus” belt buckle that makes you look like the champion of the world it is your business, I ain’t mocking. You do you pal, but the word “peculiar” here implies personal or private ownership not strangeness.
Jesus purchased us with his own blood making all of us who are saved his private property.
I like the fact that I am his, but it’s the next word that I especially love, “treasure”.
I have a cousin whose dad always called her “treasure”. I was touched by how he always called her that. Well, dear reader, God treasures you!
Jesus told a parable of man that paid a high price for a field because he knew a treasure was there.
I imagine a scenario in which someone tried to talk sense into a man paying way too much for a piece of property, the conversation might go something like this.
“Pal, it ain’t worth it!”
“The appraised value is much less that you are about to pay, don’t do it!”
But what the friend doesn’t know is that a fella with an eyepatch and a parrot on his shoulder was seen hauling a wooden chest onto that property and never came out with the chest.
Arrr, there is buried treasure on that land mate! The hidden prize makes the land worth the price!
That is what Jesus did for you!
Can you imagine the conversation between the angels in Heaven?
Angel 1 “Why is he willing to pay so much?”
Angel 2 “I know, they just aren’t worth the price!”
Can you hear the Father’s reply?
“What ya’ll don’t know is the treasure that I can bring out of them!”
Dear reader, you are his peculiar treasure!
Shouldn’t that make you want to praise him?
So, heed the Psalmist’s mash-up and praise your God because he is good and deserves it, because it will do you good and will delight in it and because he delights in you!