Who is our God? (Psalm 136)

This sermon was preached on 7/7/2013

This psalm obviously focuses on the steadfast love of God as we can see from the refrain in each verse. The clear deduction we can make is that all that happens is connected to his love as far as his people are concerned. A wide variety of situations are mentioned, yet each happened because God is love.

The Jews call this psalm the Great Hallel (an hallel is a psalm of praise – we can see ‘hallel’ in the word Hallelujah which means ‘praise the Lord’). They gave it this title because it focuses on great things that God did for his people.

In the initial verses (vv. 1-4), the psalm extols the Lord for what he is in himself. The author mentions God’s goodness, God’s sovereignty and God’s unique ability to perform wonders. In other words, the psalmist is attracted to and absorbed in the greatness of God.

Then three divine activities are focussed on in this song of praise: the first activity of God for which they are called to give thanks is his work of creation (vv. 1-9); the second activity is his work of redemption (vv. 10-24); and the third activity is his work of providence (v. 25). 

So we can see in this psalm a pattern for how we should praise our God. Basically we praise him for who he is and for what he does. Both his character and his conduct should be central in our praise. And our praise should be marked by thanksgiving and by intelligent appreciation of what he has done. We can take the three activities mentioned by the psalmist in connection with Israel and apply them to our own situation.

The character of God

The psalmist mentions that God is good. In the definition of God in the well-known Shorter Catechism answer, goodness is included: ‘God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.’ Some have found fault with this statement because it does not mention God’s love. Initially we may assume that it does not mention love. But it does, in its reference to God’s goodness. God’s goodness is the expression of his love.

The second detail that the psalmist mentions about God is his sovereignty. The psalmist looks at neighbouring countries and see their inhabitants praising several gods and attributing their national power and benefits to the activities of those false gods. Whatever may be the reasons for their national progress, the psalmist knows that there is only one Sovereign and he, the Lord, is exalted far above all other forms of power.

It is important for us to retain this perspective as well. We live in a day in which people are obsessed with power and expressing it. If God did not exist, this would be a very frightful world. It would be the survival of the strongest. But the Lord does exist, and he exists always as sovereign. He is not merely a little stronger than others. Instead he regards human rulers and any created authority as little more than a breath. He has total control at all times, even although most of his subjects spend the time rebelling against his laws and disobeying him.

We also need to maintain this perspective as we see the weakness of the church. The sovereignty of God is a reminder that we should not panic. Instead we should remember that the sovereign God has his own purpose and it is multi-faceted. At this moment, the Lord is controlling all things. He does everything, as Paul says, for the benefit of the church. This can be for the benefit of the church of today or for the benefit of the church of tomorrow. We have to remember this as we live in a time when the church is sidelined. However much we are sidelined, God never is and his opponents will yet find out that is so.

The third attribute of God that the psalmist focuses on is that the Lord can do great wonders. In a sense, this is a definition of God. If he cannot do great wonders, why should he be regarded as God? If all he can do is only slightly better than what his creatures can do, how will we know that he is divine? It may be that with human progress we could reach the height that is only a little better than us.

This ability to work wonders reminds us of the dignity of God. We are familiar with the hymn called ‘Great God of wonders’, and it is a very accurate title. In our praise we should mention his wonderful acts. Worship in a real sense is repeating to God his own greatness. We demean God when we do not mention his dignity, and an essential part of his dignity is his ability to work wonders.

Moreover, the ability to work wonders points us to the delight of God. Because he is good, he wants to provide things for his people; because he is almighty he can provide for them what he wishes; and because he can do wonders, he can give them what will fill them with astonishment. I suspect the heavenly experience of his people in the new heavens and new earth will involve observing and enjoying the wonders that he will continually perform as he blesses his people. Endlessly they will respond with praise for his amazing power that expresses his goodness continually.

How thankful we should be that such a God is our God! He is our hope, he is our friend, he is our deliverer, he is our refuge, he is our desire. He is our God.

The conduct of God

Earlier we said that three divine activities are mentioned in this psalm. The first is his work of creation and we can see that the psalmist considers various things that God created.

We look at creation for what it tells us about God. As Psalm 19 tells us, the heavens declare his glory and the skies are his handiwork. In this psalm, we are told that the creation tells us that God is wise, that God is powerful enough to stretch the heavens like a curtain, that he is faithful to his original plan that the sun and moon and stars would rule over the day and night. Creation is there for us to explore and find the riches of the Creator.

This is how God dealt with the problems that Job was going through (Job 38–39). At first, we might imagine that God was being cruel in ignoring Job’s concern and instead talking to him about animals and birds. Yet as he looked at the involvement of God in creation, Job found great consolation at knowing that while he could not grasp the big picture, God could.

This is how God directed Isaiah to comfort his people (Isa. 40). They were facing the prospect of captivity because of their sins. The prophet tells them to look at the way God controls the stars. From their perspective, all the stars are there because God does not forget about them. Neither would forget about his people.

And it is how Jesus comforted his followers. He reminded them that God sent his rain for the benefit of his creatures, he reminded them that the God who took care of the sparrows also would take care of them, and he reminded them that the God who clothes the ground with grass would provide them with what they needed. Today is a lovely day, but as we enjoy the brightness and heat of the sun we should also look to see what it tells us about God.

The second divine activity that the psalmist mentions is God’s deliverance of his people at the Exodus.  They were slaves and were facing destruction from powerful enemies in Egypt. After the Lord dealt with those enemies at the Red Sea and Israel travelled to the borders of Canaan, they discovered more powerful enemies there who were determined to prevent Israel from obtaining her inheritance. The Exodus was about liberty and the Entrance to Canaan was about possession. God gave them both and therefore they praised him.

In a far higher sense, we too needed release from captivity and we too need to be led to our inheritance. We were in bondage because of our sins, but Jesus came to set us free from the penalty of sin. This he did on the cross at Calvary when he liberated his people from their chains. The application of this liberty comes to them personally when each of them trusts in him. When they do so, they discover that he will lead them as the Good Shepherd to the Promised Land and not even the enemy of death will prevent them from entering their inheritance. If Israel praised God for her historical redemption, how much more should we praise him for our eternal redemption!

The third divine activity mentioned by the Psalmist is divine providence. He provides food for his people. This may seem so elementary, but have we ever worked out how much has to happen before we have a loaf of bread? And God is not doing this merely for one person but also for countless millions. The providence of God is intricate and all-inclusive. Not a second of time or an inch of space is outside his control. And he works all things together for the benefit of his people. We are the objects of his providence every day in numerous marvellous ways. And every night we should thank him for how he worked in providence that day.

This psalm can be sung in unusual situations. Prothero, in his book on the psalms, mentions an incident that took place in Alexandria in Egypt on February 8th, 358. One of the leaders of the congregation there was Athanasius, a theologian who defended the eternal sonship of Jesus. He had many enemies, both religious and political, and they got the government to attack him. So the government sent soldiers to the church while a meeting took place. The worshippers were frightened. But Athanasius announced that they would sing Psalm 136 and the soldiers were astonished as they heard the congregation sing the refrain twenty-six times that God’s love endures forever. The cruelty of the soldiers had not been confined to the church and many living in its vicinity were killed. Athanasius and many of his flock did not perish that night and they always remembered afterwards that their God is good. And we should do the same.