OUR GOD IS GREATER
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Opening Prayer
Almighty God, there are no other gods before you, there is nothing greater, no one wiser. I praise you, my Creator and Sustainer. I worship you with all that I am and have.
Read PSALM 135
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Psalm 135
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise the name of the Lord;
praise him, you servants of the Lord,
2 you who minister in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God.
3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own,
Israel to be his treasured possession.
5 I know that the Lord is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods.
6 The Lord does whatever pleases him,
in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and all their depths.
7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
the firstborn of people and animals.
9 He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He struck down many nations
and killed mighty kings—
11 Sihon king of the Amorites,
Og king of Bashan,
and all the kings of Canaan—
12 and he gave their land as an inheritance,
an inheritance to his people Israel.
13 Your name, Lord, endures forever,
your renown, Lord, through all generations.
14 For the Lord will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
17 They have ears, but cannot hear,
nor is there breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.
19 All you Israelites, praise the Lord;
house of Aaron, praise the Lord;
20 house of Levi, praise the Lord;
you who fear him, praise the Lord.
21 Praise be to the Lord from Zion,
to him who dwells in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord.
Footnotes
- Psalm 135:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verses 3 and 21
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘My God, how wonderful thou art, / thy majesty how bright.’1
Many of our worship songs in church use phrases taken straight from the Bible, the psalms being a favorite source because of the beauty of their poetry and images. Psalm 135 is an ancient hymn of praise that was probably used during one of the feasts, with a post-exilic congregation gathered to praise God. Interesting for us is the way this psalm uses bits of other psalms and texts in the Old Testament. Leslie Allen says that if we read carefully we will find ourselves ‘assailed by a conglomeration of snatches of other parts of the OT’.2 What a beautiful composition emerges! This is real poetry, with a beautiful shape and structure, real praise, remembering God’s past deliverance and his future promise to his people, and naming his power over all creation.
The writer asks us to see God as ‘our’ God (v. 2)—the God who has chosen to be in covenant relationship with his people (v. 4). The psalmist then gives some reasons to praise the Lord. Beautiful images assault us as we read of his creative power in making clouds rise and bringing the wind from the storehouse, followed by memories of powerful interventions. As a people that has been imprisoned and released, exiled, and restored, there is plenty of awareness of the religions of the other nations that surround and tempt Israel to be faithless. The psalmist dismisses these other gods (v. 5) and idols (vv. 15–18) as powerless, hopeless, and pointless in the light of the glory of the Lord.
I have often seen the worship of idols and they are simply statues made and carried around by people. They have no power. Thank God, we worship a Lord who is unchanging and is daily with us, and carries us—not the reverse. Our God is greater. Praise the Lord.
Apply
How much more have we to thank God and praise him for? Count your blessings and praise him.
Closing prayer
Thank you, Father, for enabling me to know who you are and for making me your own. Thank you for the countless good gifts that come from you.
1 ‘My God, How Wonderful Thou Art’, FW Faber, 1848 2 Leslie C Allen, Psalms 101–150, Word Biblical Commentary (Word Books, 1983), 224.
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