Our place in God’s cosmic plan
I probably shouldn’t reveal any of this in public, but I went to a rather unique school. There were lots of strange things about the school, but one particularly strange thing was that it had a marching band. I was part of this marching band. It accompanied the entire school marching into lunch each day. The staff claimed it was the most efficient way to move the student body into lunch in an organised way. Not many other schools have this idiosyncrasy, which meant we were often invited to perform – and be scoffed at – at quite a few prominent events.
But it was actually quite exciting! Each year the band participated in the Lord Mayor’s Show in London, which is each November.
I first went when I was 12, in year 8. Imagine how I felt, leaving the enclosed, secure confines of the school, taking a coach trip to London.
Every time, the scale of the thing was overwhelming. We were involved in something big! There were hundreds of floats, representing organisations all over London and the UK. There were giant inflatables, floats of livery companies centuries old. There was the band of the Grenadier Guards, the Royal Marines, the Croydon Fire Department. And then there was us: a marching band made up of 11 to 18 year olds from a school in the countryside.
But we were part of it too! Little us, our small band, part of this giant parade. And it was exciting!
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like that about being a Christian?
We’re part of something huge! We’re part of God’s great cosmic plan. It’s much more significant than a parade in London!
I know it’s easy for me to loose sight of this. Perhaps that’s the same for you. In this Psalm, David reminds himself of all that God has done, and it moves him to praise and wonder. Please pray that it would do the same for you.
Let’s look at the Psalm together.
Remember his blessings (1–5)
I think two things when I read verses 1 and 2.
- This is reassuring.
- This is a big challenge.
Verses 1 and 2:
Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
David is calling on his soul to praise God. His innermost being, in other words, all that is within him. With all that he is, he will praise a God so holy that even his name is holy.
That’s the challenge that this Psalm starts with: Do we remind ourselves to praise God?
But there’s also an encouragement.
David knows himself too well. He knows he will easily forget all that God has done, and all that God has given him. That’s why he needs to forget not
in verse 2. He recognises that, like us, he can forget that he’s caught up in something big, something wonderful. And so he needs to take the time to do two things deliberately. He needs to remember, and to praise.
Look at the blessings God has poured out!
Verses 3 to 5:
[He] forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
How wonderful God is! How amazing are his blessings!
Reflect on that list for a moment. Aren’t these all things we long for?
- He forgives you,
- He heals you,
- He redeems you, so you belong again,
- He crowns you, to give you dignity,
- He satisfies you with good things,
- He renews your strength!
What amazing benefits! They’re all gifts. They’re all undeserved and unearned blessings. But God has given them to us, his followers.
Now you might be thinking, These are wonderful blessings, but I think I must be missing out! I don’t feel healed, satisfied and renewed!
And we may not experience these things completely this side of the new creation. But for David they’re certain to happen, and happen completely, because they’re dependent on God’s character, as we’ll see in a moment. So though we don’t experience them completely now, they’re so certain to happen, that David speaks as though they already have!
As you look through those few sentences, which one stands out to you? Which one do you look forward to? Perhaps there are sins that weigh you down, which you feel guilty about. He is the God of forgiveness. Perhaps you have a disease which you long to be rid of. He is the God of healing. Maybe you sometimes feel really low and desperate about life, like there’s no way back. He is a God who will redeem your life from the darkest, deepest pit.Maybe you’re feeling like you just aren’t satisfied, you find that you enjoy things only for a short time. He is a God who will satisfy you completely with exactly what you need. And maybe you’re weary of all this sin, disease, despair, dissatisfaction. He is God who renews us, and makes us soar.
Remember his blessings.
How can we be sure of these blessings?Remember his character (6–9)
Those blessings are actually astonishing, aren’t they? Why would God give them?
We see in these verses that God gives these blessings because that is the kind of God he is. Here we find definite and undeniable statements about God. He has demonstrated his character in history, and He has demonstrated it in our lives.
Verses 6 and 7:The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel
How can we know what God is like? We can know because we can see how he’s acted in history, towards his people, Israel.
Look at what event David chooses to focus on here. When God made his ways known to Moses, and his deeds (actions) to the people of Israel. Surely this means the Exodus, when God rescued his people from slavery in Egypt. At that time Israel had grown in number, as God had promised to Abraham. But they weren’t living in their own land; they were living as slaves to Pharaoh, a labour-force for his building projects. It would have seemed hopeless. Perhaps some people had even given up the idea of escaping. But God was working. He chose Moses – a guilty, reluctant man – and showed him his ways. He showed the people of Israel that he was far mightier than the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, and that he was the God with the right to judge people for their sins. He worked justice for the oppressed. What does it mean that he works righteousness
? All his actions are good, perfect and right.
These things are just as much true now as they were then. God is still working for good, for righteousness.And he still cares about justice for the oppressed. This is the kind of God we praise! He is not a capricious, vindictive God, before whom we must cower. No! He works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
He’s demonstrated his character in history.
And he’s demonstrated it in our lives.
Verse 8:The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
Aren’t these wonderful verses? The Exodus showed the right and necessity of God to judge; And it also shows his compassion and grace.
He is not quick to condemn. He is slow to anger, He abounds in love.
There’s a small comment to make about love here which is quite important. It’s literally covenant love
, that is, the committed love that God has for his people, based on his promises. God has solemnly promised to love his people, a promise which cannot be broken, and which was confirmed by his Son’s blood.
Now remember those things as we read the next few verses. Verses 9 and 10:
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
Isn’t that amazing?
What does it mean for God to be compassionate and gracious? It means that he does not treat us as we deserve. He does not repay us according to our iniquities
, punishing us for all the wrong things we’ve done, but he forgives. It isn’t that God loves us because we’ve done everything exactly as he wants, or because we’ve done enough good for him to be pleased with us. It’s just the opposite: God loves us and forgives us, even though we’ve done nothing to deserve it. He is compassionate and gracious.
What a reason to praise!
How does it make you feel when you experience this from another person? I don’t know whether you were the kind of person who always did homework at school. I used to take things very seriously, and being careful to do the homework I was set. But there would be times when I wouldn’t do it. I didn’t want to stay up all night doing it if I’d run out of time, so sometimes I had to go to class with it not done. Perhaps you’ve had the same kind of thing at university or at work. You’ve been set an assignment, but you haven’t done it.
But I would get to the class and be really worried. All the way through the class I’d be worried about the moment the teacher was going to ask about homework, trying to think of a suitable excuse, or finding a way out of it. Then at the end I’d sheepishly approach the teacher, then mumble something like, I’m sorry, but I haven’t done the homework. Can I bring it to you tomorrow?
. I braced myself, assuming they’d say, No! Detention for you now.
, when they said instead, Yes, no problem, I know you should have done it, but bring it next week.
How do you react when that happens? It’s a relief, isn’t it! It isn’t a denial of wrongdoing, but it’s not getting the punishment we deserve. It’s grace. You’d admire the character of the teacher or your lecturer or your boss.
How much greater is it with us and God! Take a moment to wonder at the burden that’s been lifted from you by God’s forgiveness. Perhaps you’ve never considered it before, and all this is quite new. Reflect on the message of this passage, that God isn’t pleased with those who try to be good, but he delights to forgive those who come to him knowing they can’t be good enough.
What a weight that takes off our shoulders! What guilt that takes from us. All because of who God is. He is gracious and compassionate. Praise Him!
Remember his character.
We might well ask why God is so remarkably gracious towards us. What could motivate him to do such things?
Remember his decision (10–14)
How high do you have to go to get to the heavens, to find God and his angels? In the 1960s, the US and Russia were competing to launch the first human into space. But the Russian government didn’t miss the chance to turn the exercise into propaganda for their ideology. They said, if God is up, above the sky, we’ll find him! When they got into space and found no evidence that God was there, they declared, There is no God
. Of course they didn’t find him! If they’d have gone further up, farther away, they still wouldn’t have found him! Because you’d have to travel to the very end of the universe to find God. To go further than the trillions of miles and parsecs we can see with our telescopes. Heaven is an infinite distance above the earth! We can never reach it with rockets. It’s the greatest distance we can’t imagine.
Verse 11:
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
That’s how great God’s love is for us! Can you imagine it? No, neither can I. But it’s true.
But it does say that his love is this great for those who fear him
. What does that mean? It can’t mean those who are terrified and petrified, those who cower before him. Remember his blessings and his character! He wants to crown us with love and compassion, and satisfy our desires with good things, not to render us unable to approach him for fear of punishment.
Verse 13 has a comparable statement:
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
This is a compassionate father-child relationship.
What would fear be like for children of that kind of father? It would mean wanting to please him, wanting to do the things he wants us to do. The fear is being afraid of hurting our heavenly Father.
As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.
Verse 12:
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
How far apart are east and west? If I started walking east now how far would I need to keep going to get all the way to east? If I started walking west, how far? I’d never get there!
What do you think when you consider how God forgives? I know I sometimes find it hard to know what it means. Whether he hasn’t really forgotten my sin at all; he’s just choosing to overlook it for now. Perhaps he will hold it against me if I really upset him one day. Perhaps he still feels disappointed with me because of that sin.
This is what God’s forgiveness means: God has decided to remove your sins from you further than you could ever take them. He has done what none of us could. It’s better than burying them and forgetting them. It’s better than launching them into space. It’s certainly better than struggling on regardless.
And he decided to do it, through the cross of Jesus. As Jesus died on the cross, John records that he said, It is finished
. Does that sound similar to anything in this passage? When Jesus died on the cross, sin was flung as far away from humanity as east is from west. It’s only possible because God has done it.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
He’s done this because of his love, and, as we’ve already seen, because he is our compassionate, caring Father. He knows how we are made, that we are fragile, because he lovingly made us. He knows that we are not special because of our biology – in the end we’re made of the same organic matter as the ground. But we are special because he has chosen us, and he loves us.
Remember his decision.
Remember his eternal love (15–19)
We all know, painfully, how frail human life is. Verses 15 and 16:
The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
We have lives of productivity and we flourish. But in the great span of eternity, our lives are as short as the bloom of a flower. When we die, the places we live don’t carry our memory.
Is this section awfully depressing? Not at all – just look what follows in verses 17 and 18:
But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children – with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
Do you see what David’s saying? Yes, God is eternal and never perishes like us, therefore, his love for his children is eternal, never fading or diminishing.
Our lives are short, but God’s love for us is eternal. God’s love for you and me isn’t only there while I live. It’s there as long as God lives and reigns. Which is forever!
And look at verse 19. It’s also there wherever God rules and reigns. Which is everywhere!
There is no time or place in eternity when God has not loved you, his precious child. You, who fear him and live trusting in his promises. What a reason to praise!
And this is certain and unshakeable. When David says, God has established his throne in heaven
, he means that God’s power can never be overthrown. No-one but God will ever be king of heaven. And God’s kingdom rules over all the earth, over all of creation.
You and I are loved by this king! Us: frail, short-lived, messed-up people, are eternally loved by the King of Heaven!
It’s shown through his blessings. It’s because of his character.
His love is greater than we can conceive. His forgiveness is more complete than we can believe.
What reasons to praise!
- Remember his blessings.
- Remember his character.
- Remember his decision.
- Remember his eternal love.
Remember to praise (20–22)
It isn’t always easy to praise God for the things that happen in our lives. Are we to find something in each situation to praise God for, however small or tangental? Are we to ignore the difficult things we go through and force ourselves to praise him anyway?
Maybe you’re facing a particularly tough situation at the moment. It seems perverse to praise God for it! Don’t we have to find the good in every situation? Isn’t he working everything for our good?
Yes he is! But God never rejoices in the evil and sin we come up against in the world each day!
Yet verses 20 to 22 call all things, everywhere, to praise God.
Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul.
The Bible calls us to praise God as a sign of our obedience to him. We are compelled by all he is and all he has done to praise him! It’s not that we ignore or push down the suffering that we face, because God cares deeply about that. He’s our compassionate father! It’s rather that the things we’ve read about in this Psalm are things that are always, unchangeably true. We’re caught up in God’s cosmic plan, at the centre of his affections. You and me.
It’s his plan that our praise and adoration of all he’s done for us would overflow so that the whole world joins us in praising its creator and God.
How will you respond?
Perhaps this is the first time that you’ve heard of God as a gracious, compassionate God. Will you accept the offer he makes? Will you decide to praise him, maybe for the first time, acknowledging the amazing things he has done?
Or maybe you were once overjoyed with what God had done, and are now feeling disillusioned because of life’s pain. How have you felt as we’ve looked over this Psalm together? Choose to praise God for all he is and all he has done. This doesn’t mean ignoring or pushing down the struggles you have, but it does mean acknowledging the things you have from God that no situation in your life can ever take away.
Perhaps you’re enjoying life and there are lots of things to thank God for. Praise God for the wonderful blessings that you’re receiving as gifts of his grace!
Remember his blessings.
Remember his character.
Remember his decision.
Remember his eternal love.
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
From a talk given at Above Bar Church, Southampton on 20 February 2011.
Please don’t copy it without asking, but I would be delighted if you want to use any of it. Just send me an email.