PSALMS LESSON 145
 
     We will begin this lesson by giving the 145th Psalm in metre.

                   THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE

                             Chapter 145

Verse 1.  "O Lord, thou art my God and King; I'll thee exalt, thy
          praise proclaim; I will thee bless, and gladly sing For ever
          to thy holy name."
Verse 2.  "Each day I rise I will thee bless, And praise thy name time
          without end. Much to be praised, and great God is; His
          greatness none can comprehend."
Verse 3.  "Race shall thy works praise unto race, The mighty acts show
          done by thee. And I will speak the glorious grace, And honor
          of thy majesty."
Verse 4.  "Thy wondrous works I will declare; By men the might shall
          be extolled Of all thy acts which dreadful are, And I thy
          greatness will unfold."
Verse 5.  "They utter shall abundantly The mem'ry of thy goodness
          great; They shall sing praises cheerfully, Whilst they thy
          righteousness relate."
Verse 6.  "The Lord our God most gracious is, In him compassions also
          flow; In mercy he is rich to bless, But unto anger he is
          slow."
Verse 7.  "To all the Lord is very good, O'er all his works his mercy
          is. Thy works all praise to thee afford: Thy saints, O Lord,
          thy name shall bless."
Verse 8.  "Thy kingdom's glory they shall show; They also shall thy
          power tell: That so men's sons his deeds may know, His
          kingdom's grace that doth excel."
Verse 9.  "Thy kingdom hath no end at all, It shall to ages all
          remain. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, The cast-down
          raiseth up again."
Verse 10. "The eyes of all upon thee wait; In season thou their food
          dost give; Thy opened hand, with bounty great, Supplies the
          wants of all that live."
Verse 11. "The Lord will keep continually All who him love with
          upright heart; But all who work iniquity Destroy will be,
          and quite subvert."
Verse 12. "God will the just desire fulfil Of such as do him fear
          indeed. Their cry regard, and hear he will, And save them in
          the time of need."
Verse 13. "The Lord will keep continually All who him love with
          upright heart; But all who work iniquity Destroy will he,
          and quite subvert."
Verse 14. "My mouth and lips I'll therefor frame, To speak the praises
          of the Lord: To magnify his holy name Forever let all flesh
          accord."

     We will now begin the verse by verse study of the 145th psalm.
Psalms 145:1 "{David's [Psalm] of praise.} I will extol thee, my God,
O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever."
     This is not just a casual statement here, but is a statement of
determination on the part of David. We see a new name added to the
ones that David has been speaking of God in the last few chapters. Now
David is calling Him King. The praising of the Lord sometimes just
does not seem to be enough. David is determining in his heart to not
only praise the Lord, but bless Him, as well. In naming Him King,
David has recognized His power and authority.

     Psalms 145:2 "Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy
name for ever and ever."

     This lets us know that it is very important to commune with the
Lord, every day. Notice, here, that David does not put any conditions
on his praying. He does not say, if things are going good. He is
saying, regardless of the circumstances I find myself in, I will
praise and bless thy name. The smoke from the lamp rose to heaven at
least two times a day. This smoke symbolized the prayers of the
saints. To me, this said that we should commune in prayer with God at
least twice a day.

     Psalms 145:3 "Great [is] the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and
his greatness [is] unsearchable."

     When we think of how great God is, who created the earth, and
everything in it and the heavens, and all the galaxies, it is almost
beyond our comprehension. A new telescope in Hawaii has snapped a
picture of a galaxy 65,000,000 light years from the earth. Light
travels at 186,284 miles per second. I will let you multiply this one
out. God who can make all of this surely deserves our worship and
praise. This galaxy is probably not even all of this. How unsearchable
can you get? Even greater than all of this creation, is in the face of
this, He cared enough to save our souls.

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

     In the very beginning, this was the only way they had of passing
the glorious information on from generation to generation. Now, we are
known as the age of facts. I would rather be known as a person of
faith. The scientist can figure all they want to, they will never
figure out God. You must accept God on simple faith. I can relate to
my children, and grandchildren, and perhaps, my great grandchildren
the wonderful things I know to be true about God. He has done great
things in my life, and I will praise Him for it as long as I have
breath in my body. I read of the mighty acts that Jesus did on this
earth, and I am overwhelmed with praise for Him. The Bible is full of
this.

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

     Have you ever looked at a beautiful sunset and thought what a
wonderful painter the Lord is? Even though it is to be for a fleeting
second in time, it is so much more beautiful than any seasoned painter
on earth could do. God's majesty is all around us. His beautiful
mountains from his creation, and no two are alike. This little king
David knows there is a King of all the universe, who will outshine all
the earthly kings of all time. Not only in God's creation do we see
His majesty, His majesty is seen best by us in the perfectness of His
Word. It spans all of time and never is out-dated. His perfect plan
for the redemption of mankind shows His majesty. His 6 days of work in
creation, just boggles my mind. The beautiful 6 hours of work that
Jesus did for all of us on the cross, somehow beautifully completes
the salvation plan. I can not go on. Just think on these things and
see the majesty for yourself.

     Psalms 145:6 "And [men] shall speak of the might of thy terrible
acts: and I will declare thy greatness."

     The Pharaoh of Egypt would have spoken of the terrible act of
might that was shown against Egypt. On the other hand, the Israelites
who were redeemed, would speak of those same acts as the greatness of
God. Men, in the verse above, is speaking of earthly people. This is
the same thing seen from two different aspects.

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

     Singing broke out on the other side of the Red Sea, when the
Israelites had successfully crossed, and their enemies had been
drowned. When just mere words are not enough, then the abundant heart
must sing.It even excites me to read about such things.

     Psalms 145:8 "The LORD [is] gracious, and full of compassion;
slow to anger, and of great mercy."

     The following Scripture shows better than anything I might say,
just how patient, and kind, and merciful this great God that we serve
is. He does not want even one person to be lost. II Peter 3:9 "The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance."

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

     God provided salvation for everyone through the precious shed
blood of the Lamb {Jesus Christ}. Not all accept it, but it is for
all. I Timothy 4:10 "For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach,
because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men,
specially of those that believe."

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

     Even a tree in the forest shows the great works of the Lord.
Their uplifted limbs are as if they have raised their hands in praise
to God. The reason to praise God is in all of nature. If I were a
scientist, all of these unexplainable discoveries would make me fall
on my knees before the supreme intelligence of the universe. These
discoveries should make them realize the frailty of man compared to
the Mighty God. The saints {believers in Christ} do not understand all
of this. They just accept God through simple faith. They praise Him
continually, because they realize to do anything else would be folly.

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

     The "they", here, is speaking of the saints. We say it in the
prayer Jesus taught the disciples. Thy kingdom come. This Mighty God
will set up His kingdom on this earth and, also, in the believers, as
well. In a mystical way, the believers are His kingdom. This kingdom
is both spiritual and physical. The physical kingdom would be of no
earthly use to us, unless we had experienced His Kingdom in our
innermost being.

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

     The majesty of His kingdom is that this is a kingdom of the
purest love known to man. Greater love hath no man, than He lay down
His life for His friends. The glorious gospel message should be taught
in all the world for a witness, and this kingdom would become a
reality. Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature." By the foolishness of
preaching, those who believe are saved.

     Psalms 145:13 "Thy kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, and thy
dominion [endureth] throughout all generations."

     The throne of God is from everlasting to everlasting. God was God
of Adam and He is still God of us today. He will always be God. His
throne is the same. It is for all generations past and all generations
to come.  He was God, He is God, and He will be God.

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

     Those that be bowed down are the humble. This great God who
reigns forever is so concerned about each of us, that He reaches down
and saves us one at a time. The only ones He will save are those who
know they need a Saviour.

     Psalms 145:15 "The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest
them their meat in due season."

     To look to the world, or its people, is a very bad thing to do.
They will let you down. The place to look for all things, is to the
Lord. Look upward to the Lord of all the universe for all the answers
and the blessings of life.

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

     Remember, I said when you are lifting your hands up to God, hold
your palm upward with an open hand. To receive from God the desires of
our heart, we must receive them. We cannot earn them, we must receive
them. God will give you the desires of your heart. You must be ready
to receive them.

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

     Righteousness and holiness are two things that most people do not
want to talk about. If we are to be like our Saviour, then these must
be characteristic of us, as well. We do not have any righteousness of
our own, but we have taken on the robe of righteousness washed in His
blood, if we are true Christians. The righteousness and holiness that
we have are given to us by the Lord. He is Righteousness. He is
Holiness. He said, Be ye holy for I am holy.

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

     Notice the addition, in the last part of the verse, of call upon
Him in truth. He will not be fooled by a mouth worship. We must
worship Him in our heart. We call in truth, when our mouth speaks the
words that are in our heart.

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

     This fear is like what a son has for a father. This type of fear
would cause you to want to do His will. Salvation is available to all.
We must repent and cry out to God for salvation, and then He will hear
our cry and save us.

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

     Preserveth means continues to preserve. We have spoken of the
great love of God for all of mankind. When we reach out in love to
Him, He accepts us and keeps us in that perfect love. The destruction
of the wicked speaks of those who have totally refused His love.

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

     We said it before, salvation was provided for all flesh. How
could we do anything short of praise Him? Let everything that hath
breath, praise the Lord. David has determined that as long as there is
breath in his body, he will praise the Lord. He, also, makes one last
plea for all others to bless His holy name, as well.




                             Questions 145

1.  How long does David promise to praise the name of the Lord in
    verse 1?
2.  What name did David call the Lord in verse 1?
3.  In this new name, what has David recognized Him as?
4.  What condition did David put on praising God every day?
5.  How often did the smoke of the lamp  rise from the temple?
6.  What did this smoke symbolize?
7.  Quote Psalms chapter 145 verse 3.
8.  What unusual thing, in recent weeks, has happened that shows us
    even more clearly how unsearchable the Lord is?
9.  How fast does light travel?
10. What is even greater than all of this?
11. In the very beginning, how was the goodness and greatness of God
    related from generation to generation?
12. You can not figure out God. Salvation is accepting by simple
    _____.
13. Verse 5 says, he will speak of what?
14. What is the greatest majesty we see of God?
15. Speak of two of the works of God that are almost impossible to
    comprehend?
16. What does verse 6 show us about happenings?
17. When did the Israelites break out in spontaneous singing?
18. Quote 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9.
19. Quote 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 10.
20. How do trees praise God?
21. What should the scientist realize, when they see all these new
    discoveries?
22. In a mystical way, the believers are His _________.
23. What is the majesty of His kingdom?
24. Quote Mark chapter 16 verse 15.
25. He was ____, He is ____, and He will be ____.
26. Who are those that be bowed down?
27. Where is the place to look for all things?
28. How should you lift your hands to God?
29. He said, "Be ye _____ for I am _______."
30. The Lord is nigh unto them who call upon Him in _______.
31. What will the Lord do to the wicked?
32. Who did David tell to bless His holy name in verse 21?
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