Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 149 is the fourth Hallelujah psalm at the end of the Book of Psalms. Like its companions, it begins and ends with “Hallelujah”, or “Praise the Lord!” 

The first half of the poem says the Lord delights in his people (v. 4a). This certainly gives cause for optimism and praise. God is not an impatient parent, annoyed with his children, wishing they would just shut up and sit down. No, he is a delighted parent, enjoying his children’s activities when they use the world to farm, raise families, build, and worship. The poet responds to God’s pleasure with vigorous worship, dancing, and music. 

Then at verse 6, this hymn of praise changes tune. The poet says,
  Let the high praise of God be in their throat
      and a two-edged sword in their hand,
  to execute vengeance on the nations
      and punishment on the peoples (vv. 6-7). 

Don’t just talk. Pick up your sword and exact vengeance on your enemies. Praise God and pass the ammunition. The poet assumes that Israel’s cause is right and just, that God takes their side in the argument, that he approves of the desire to execute violent justice on the earth. Israel learned from painful experience that God was not always on their side. Sometimes God used other nations to execute violent justice on Israel.

But this is a “Hallelujah” psalm. It doesn’t reflect soberly on the line between Israel’s good and evil. Rather, it rejoices exuberantly in the God who has cared for his people, who has helped them in past military victories, who promises to judge the nations in righteousness. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, with Israel of old, we rejoice in you as God and king. We don’t dance in worship as they did, but we do play loud music on YouTube and sing songs to celebrate your salvation.

The poet tells us you delight in your people and crown the humble with victory (v. 4). Perhaps our lives are humble. We work long hours at menial tasks to earn a living. We drive about in iron chariots, spewing noxious fumes. We are hunt and gather in the supermarket. We attend church in weatherproof denominational temples. Look on us in the dismal drabness of our modern culture, delight in us, give the humble victory.

Look on our unremarkable lives. Accept the service we offer. Enjoy our stammering words of praise. Receive our hearts as we rejoice in you. 

Give us, we pray, victory over our own sins and over the sins of our culture. As we lose the culture wars, give us your favor. As our world slides into violence, grant us the victory of your righteousness and justice. As our nation loses all knowledge of holiness, draw us into the life of Christ. 

You are God who will give us the victory. You are God who will set the world right. Praise be to your name forever. Hallelujah. 

Amen

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 148 is the third of five Hallelujah psalms that take us to the end of the Psalter. Like its four companions, it begins and ends with “Hallelujah”, which means “Praise the Lord!” 

Psalm 148 has two parts. The first encourages everything in the heavens to praise the Lord. Angels, stars, planets, even the water above the blue dome of the sky.

The second half of the psalm encourages everything on earth to praise the Lord: weather events like hail, snow, and storms; domestic and wild creatures on land, sea, and sky; mountains and trees; even people, young and old, politically well-placed or, like me, politically unplaced. 

Psalm 148 is a summons for everything in creation to praise God. Surely he who made it all, and rules over what he made, is great. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we live by the cycles of the sun and moon–by seasons and tides, light and darkness, warmth and cold. Our earth is not some random planet in an improbable universe, but our home designed and built by you, our wise and loving God. 

You created the climate, and you watch over it. Our modern technology can barely predict today’s weather, much less manage it.The pollution we pour into earth, sky, and seas drives the weather and our tomorrows mad. But as the poet says, lightning, hail, clouds, tsunamis, volcanoes, and tornadoes are your servants. We remember Jesus who stopped the wind and calmed the waves.

You filled the earth with life. Microbes and elephants, water bugs and blue whales, gentle ferns and mighty trees were not created by random evolution operating through endless ages. Your hand has guided creation and history to where we stand today. Soon, your hand will sweep our future into your eternal plan. 

Our father, you who watch the universe expand, you who watch humans stumble and fumble from age to age, you who will resolve history when Jesus comes to earth again, have mercy on our short, short lives. Teach us to enjoy the world you created. Teach us to eat well and sleep well and pray well and live well by the help of your spirit and the guidance you give us in scripture. 

Bring us through this life with thanks and praise. Usher us into the next life with clear vision, obedient faith, and holier lives than we have known. 

We praise you, our forever God. Hallelujah. 

Amen

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 147 continues the final crescendo of praise that takes us to the end of the Book of Psalms. Like the previous psalm, and the next three, it begins and ends with “Hallelujah”, which means “Praise the Lord!” 

Writing about his journey toward praise, American teacher and blogger Alan Jacobs says, 

. . . a lot of people [are] doing good work to expose the absurdities, the hypocrisies, and the sheer destructiveness of both the Left and the Right. I myself did . . . that work for several years, but I’m not inclined to keep doing it . . . because that work of critique, however necessary, lacks a constructive dimension. There has to be something better we can do than curse our enemies—or the darkness or the present moment. If . . . this is indeed a time to build, then what can I build? (Jacobs, Alan. “The Homebound Symphony”. Web blog post. Snakes and Ladders. 15 January 2022. Accessed 18 January 2022.)  

Jacobs describes his new direction: 
I want to find what is wise and good and beautiful and true and pass along to my readers as much of it as I can.  (Jacobs, Alan). He says his work now is “all about praise and delight” (Jacobs, Alan). 

There’s that word “praise” which Jacobs shares with Psalm 147. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we focus too much on our enemies, thinking how to avoid their traps. We focus too much on money,  preserving and growing our riches. We read too much news, fixating on what’s wrong with the world. We introspect, working out what we’ve got wrong and right. 

Today, Lord, we focus on you. We are amazed by the person you are and the world you made and the life you give us and the people you created. 

You teach us love and faithfulness. The love we find in family and community is a small taste of your great love. We see your faithfulness in the world you made, where gravity always pulls down and trees grow up, where the moon bids tides to ebb and flow, where mountains stand immovable. Our home, this world, gives us food and shelter and comfort, that lead us to our home in you. 

We praise you that you speak to us. Scripture tells us that you are love and light and spirit, a consuming fire. We praise you for speaking to us though Jesus, who walked on earth, and died on a cross, and said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Beyond the  conundrums of life and the mystery of the universe, you offer us not answers but yourself. We praise you that in Jesus you walk with us and you promise to be our friend through life and death and life everlasting. 

O God, we have doubts but we hold them loosely. We have questions but we lean into mystery. We have complaints but we lift a voice of praise. With the poet we say, “Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.” 

Amen

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 146 begins the final crescendo of praise that takes us to the end of the psalms. Starting with this psalm, the final five each begin and end with “Hallelujah”, which means “Praise the Lord!”

Singer songwriter Leonard Cohen brought the word into modern, secular use with his well-known song, “Hallelujah”, used in the movie Shrek. Some of my favorite words from his song are:
    Even though it all went wrong
    I’ll stand before the Lord of song
    with nothing on my lips but Hallelujah  (Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah, 1984) 

Cohen said, “The world is full of conflicts and things that cannot be reconciled but there are moments when we can. . .embrace the whole mess, and that’s what I mean by ‘Hallelujah’.” Rolling Stone Article on L. Cohen

The poet of Psalm 146 does something similar, and something different. Like Cohen, he does not try to reconcile the conflicts he has struggled with all through the psalms. He’s not building a system of rational thought, nor creating a philosophy of life. But unlike Cohen, it is not the mess of it all he embraces, but the God of it all. He looks at the good which God has done in creation and the good he does for people who seek him. Our poet embraces God. Let’s do the same. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we say “Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.” 

We have journeyed with the poet through depression and praise, through sleepless nights and hopeful days, through times when you are absent and times when you are present. We set aside conflicts we cannot reconcile, the parts of life that don’t add up. 

O God, our experience of you seems random, not neatly wrapped in theology or logic. Our prayers come from within, from depths we do not understand, from a place where pain and love and hope and despair mingle in our daily chaos. We have exposed our inner self to you, our thoughts worthy and unworthy, our desires and fears. Today we turn to you. We focus on your person and your gifts. 

The beauty we see in the world is a gift. You created the universe, and you saw that it was good. 

The beauty we see in people is a gift. You created us, male and female, in your image, and you saw that it was good. 

The beauty we see in society is a gift. You said, “It is not good for man to be alone” and you created family and community and society. We praise you because you made us to live in relationship. 

The beauty we see in culture– art, technology, music, and architecture–is a gift. You created us to be creative, and you enjoy the works we create. 

The beauty we see in your word is a gift. You spoke the worlds into being, and you spoke again through your son whom you love. He is our light and our life. 

With the poet we say, “Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.”

Amen

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

The Book of Psalms turns a remarkable corner at Psalm 145. Here, the poet looks away from his troubles and turns his full attention on God. In this psalm and the remaining five, the poet does not mention his enemies, nor his fear of falling into the pit, nor his struggle to believe. He is not despairing or desperate. 

Instead of cajoling God to keep his promises, he pivots to a theme of praise, focusing on God’s faithfulness and glory. 

The poet’s favorite word in Psalm 145 is “all”. Listen to all the ways he uses it: 

  The Lord is good to all
    he has compassion on all he has made.
  All your works praise you, Lord (vv. 9-10a).
     Your dominion endures through all generations (v. 13b). 
 
  The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
      faithful in all he does.
  The Lord upholds all who fall
      and lifts up all who are bowed down (vv. 13b-14).

  The Lord watches over all who love him,
      but all the wicked he will destroy (v. 20). 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, you have compassion on all you made. Look on us with compassion, as we work for you and others; as we age; as we live with sins we are unable to conquer. Look on the earth with compassion, as it adjusts to a changing climate, convulsed by typhoons and floods, earthquakes and fires. Look on the nations with compassion as democracies decay and dictators rule harshly. 

With the poet, we say, “All your works praise you, O God” (v. 9). The sun rises and sets on bright winter snow, the moon softens the night with a gentle light. Mountains tell of your greatness and plains speak of your goodness. 

With the poet, we believe:
  You are trustworthy in all you promise,
      faithful in all you do” (v. 13b).
You chart your way through history. You do not make promises in election years and discard them when you govern. You do not study opinion polls and hire spin doctors. You are God of power, light, and love. Your rule is often hidden, your kingdom a mystery. Yet you call us into relationship, and draw us into the ocean of your love.   

As the poet of this psalm says, 
   You uphold all who fall
    you lift up all who are bowed down
  The eyes of all look to you (vv. 14-15a).
We are part of that “all”. We look up to you from our routines, from our pandemic world, from the politics of church and state. Above it all we see your throne, in the news we hear rumors of your righteousness, in disasters a hint of your goodness.

    You are near to all who call on you,
      to all who call on you in truth.
    You fulfill the desires of those who fear you;
      you hear their cry and save them (vv. 18-19). 
We call on you Lord, with such truth as we know. Fulfill our desire to know you. Help us make the world an outpost of your kingdom. Make our lives rich in the imitation of you and your goodness. May our mouths ever speak your praise (v. 21a). 

Amen

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube