Many have heard of the impact that John Wesley had on the church of England during the 18th Century as one of the founders of the Methodist Church, but his brother Charles is less well-known. His impact, however, has had a profound effect, particularly in Christian hymnology.
Unwell, and much in prayer, he heard a voice saying, ‘In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise, and believe, and thou shalt be healed of all thy infirmities.’ It was in fact the voice of [a woman], who had felt herself commanded in a dream to say these words. Charles got out of bed and, opening his Bible, read from the Psalms: ‘He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.’ Followed by the first verse of Isaiah 40, ‘“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,” saith your God.’ He wrote in his journal, ‘I now found myself at peace with God, and rejoiced in the hope of loving Christ.’
Two days later he began a hymn upon his conversion, [in which he wrote:]
Where shall my wandering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire,
How shall I equal triumphs raise,
And sing my great Deliverer’s praise!”[i]
Charles Wesley continued to praise his Lord and Savior for the next fifty years.
According to Frank Baker [Charles Wesley] averaged ten poetic lines a day for fifty years and wrote 8,989 hymns, …who produced ‘Hark! The Hearld Angels Sing,’ ‘And Can It Be,’ ‘O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,’ ‘Love Divine, all Loves Excelling,’ ‘Jesus, Lover of My Soul,’ ‘Christ the Lord is Risen Today,’ ‘Soldiers of Christ, Arise,’ and ‘Rejoice! The Lord is King!’[ii]
The nature of worship spoken or sung is to express our deepest gratitude toward God for who He is and all that He has done for us. When set to music it can move us emotionally, but the message is critical. It transforms the worshiper and is heightened when gathered with others. God’s presence is manifested in speaking into our hearts as His word is ministered to us.
As we celebrate this Thanksgiving season, may our hearts and expressions of gratitude to God ascend to God bringing praise to Him, but also impacting and transforming our attitudes and actions. In the O. T. songbook, the Psalms, we find many different expressions of which are great hymns of praise. Tremper Longman writes regarding the nature of a hymn:
Hymns are easily recognized by their exuberant praise of the Lord. The psalmist pulls out all the stops in his rejoicing in God’s goodness. His praise is exuberant because the psalmist is very conscious of God’s presence.
Though there are many different types of hymns, almost all of them share a similar basic structure.
1. Hymns begin with a call to worship.
2. They continue by expanding on the reasons why God should be praised.
3. Hymns often include, and sometimes conclude with, further calls to praise.[iii]
Psalm 147 is of a later composition in the canon of Scripture as reflected in its content speaking of a post-exilic period. It is written to celebrate the return of the exiles from captivity and the restoration of Jerusalem. God had faithfully fulfilled his promises to his people particular the words of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Three reasons are given in which the Psalmist exhorts us to praise our Lord.
THE FIRST REASON GIVEN FOR PRAISING GOD IS THAT HE CARES FOR US (1-6)
It is therefore good, pleasant, and fitting to give God all the praise and adoration for his faithfulness in caring for his people.
- Praise the Name of the Lord.
Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him![iv]
This hymn of praise is not only with a command to praise God, but with the idea that praise is wonderful. It is good, pleasant, and fitting. Mark Futato in commenting on this text states: “since praise is so good and delightful and appropriate, praise is something that we would certainly want as a regular part of our lives.”[v]
“Praise the Lord,” in Hebrew is “Hallelu Yah.” Praise Yahweh. What is significant about this is that we are praising the personal name of God. Bernhard Anderson explains the significance of God’s name which we too often take too lightly.
Usually Christian worshippers skip lightly over this matter when reciting the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Hallowed be thy name.’ In the ancient Israelite world, as in some societies today, the question of the name was a supremely important issue—one that could not have been challenged… Among the Israelites the name was understood to be the expression of the nature or identity of a person. …Therefore the God whom Israel worships is identified in ‘who’ clauses which may be a narrative reduced to a single sentence, as in the prologue to the Decalogue [ten commandments]: ‘I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage’. …Indeed, the faith of the psalmists cannot be understood apart from the belief that the identity (the ‘who-ness’) of God has been disclosed in the shared history of Israel and that the people may address God personally, by name.
Therefore we are exhorted to praise God, which is described as both good, pleasant, and fitting. One psalmist says, ‘Those who know thy name put their trust in thee.’ —Psalm 9:10 (RSV).[vi]
- Praise brings us joy.
Praise then comes from a heart of thanksgiving and gratitude for all that God is and does. Praise is pleasant and it is the reason we were created by God. We were designed to worship. So who are we worshipping and why?
Over and over in the Psalms we’re called to praise God. Why? Is God narcissistic? No. God is worthy of praise, so we should praise him. But in addition to this truth, in commanding us to praise him, God is inviting us to experience true and lasting joy, for our greatest good and highest joy comes in praising God. God’s commands are always for our good and our joy.
The psalmist reminds us in verse 1 not only that God is good but also that it’s good to praise him. It’s fitting. It’s right. It’s pleasurable. It’s beautiful.[vii]
- We praise God because He is our liberator.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.[viii]
He builds up his people and gathers the exiles. He is the One who heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Here we see one reason for worship is that restoration of our lives. The example used is that of the nation of Judah, exiled, now gathered and restored. Sin always alienates us from God, and we are exiled from his presence, but God who is rich and mercy restore us and gathers “the brokenhearted and binds up our wounds.” God is our Savior and frees us from our sin, its penalty, its power, and ultimately, one day, its presence. The people in covenant relationship with God have always known the Lord as our Savior.
‘But I have been the LORD your God ever since you came out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me.
I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat.
When I fed them, they were satisfied, they became proud and forgot me.’[ix]
How often is that true, that when we are broken and in despair when we turn to God, but when God rescues and provides we often forget where the blessings have come from. Then once again we experience the pain of our alienation from God.
In this world things get broken—relationships, bodies, hearts. God is to be praised because he shows up in our lives where we are broken. He shows up to restore us to the well-being that he created us to live in. He showed up in Jesus, who casts out demons and heals to fulfill ‘the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases”’ (Matt 8:17). Because of God’s work of restoration, we exclaim, ‘Hallelujah!’[x]
- We praise God because God is able to do exceedingly beyond what we can imagine.
Psalm 147:4-5
He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name, which reveals God’s amazing, detailed approach not only in creation, but as an example of His detailed concern for each of us. It speaks of His ability and capacity.
The promises of Isaiah 40 to a homeless generation are here reflected back to God as praise—either in naked faith or in response to their fulfilment. We are singing to the same tune as the prophet: compare verse 3 with Isaiah 61:1, but chiefly verses 4 and 5 with Isaiah 40:26, 28c, where the point is made (more explicitly than in the psalm) that One who marshals the host of stars, ‘calling them all by name’ (as here, 4b), is more than equal to the problems of his people, both in power and understanding (cf. 5). It turns upside down the familiar argument that in so great a universe our small affairs are too minute to notice.[xi]
What are the Isaiah texts that Kidner is pointing toward and how do they apply?
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.[xii]
The initial message here of Isaiah is the restoration of the nation after the exile, but it has a more significant application as Jesus applies this text to his ministry of restoration of people throughout all generations. Kidner points out that God is more than equal to the problems we face as human beings regardless of how insignificant they may appear. Our complaint of God’s possible indifference is certainly responded to by Isaiah 40. Isaiah points to the created world to describe God’s infinite care in making our world work.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God’?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.[xiii]
God does care, though we may question that from time to time because of the deep anguish within our soul, but God is present with us through all of life’s difficulties. God comforts, sustains, and helps us when we are weary. He carries us.
The psalmist is assuring us that if God knows the name of each star which are impersonal, imagine the concern God, who knows each of us, which have been created in His image, knows you and what you are going through. God knows your name and everything about you. Let us worship him and praise him. God will carry you through.
- God is able to sustain us in the challenges and crisis of life.
The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.[xiv]
THE SECOND REASON FOR PRAISING GOD IS THAT HE IS WORTHY TO BE PRAISED (7-11)
God cares for both His creation and new creation, which are the people who put their trust in Him.
Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.[xv]
- Music is one of the vehicles to direct our praise to God.
We are to use our voices in singing accompanied by instruments to celebrate our God. There is a call for skill in this area.
Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.[xvi]
- God’s provision is one of the reasons for worship.
He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.[xvii]
If God can care and provide for the animals, how much more does He care for his crowning creation, those made in his image? Jesus certainly echoes this sentiment when he reminds us that in the Sermon on the Mount.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?’[xviii]
‘Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.’[xix]
- The character of a true worshipper.
His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.[xx]
Verse 10 does not intend to say that God has absolutely no delight in our physical strength or beauty or our mental powers, etc. When read with the following line, the point is that God takes no delight in our substituting things like physical strength for our faith in him.[xxi]
What God delights in is our reverence and hope in His unconditional love to us. Trust is the fundamental element in every relationship. When trust is destroyed, it diminishes the relationship. So, how is a relationship that has experienced a violation of trust restored? The three things that are needed are genuine repentance, which means a change of attitude leading to a change of behavior, forgiveness on the part of the offended party, and time to allow for healing and trust to be rebuilt.
THE THIRD REASON FOR PRAISING GOD IS GOD’S RESTORATIVE WORK IN FULFILLMENT OF HIS WORD. (12-20)
What God promises, He is able to accomplish on behalf of His people. Though God disciplines us when we sin, He is more than able to restore us. Here we find the reason for gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise as God restored the people to Himself.
Extol the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion.
He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.
He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.[xxii]
Roger Ellsworth points out the connection between God’s fulfillment of his promises to His people and the fulfillment of the seasons.
God had once again given security and peace to the city and the surrounding areas (vv. 13–14a). He had also given bountiful crops (v. 14b). The restoration of these blessings, after years and years of their absence, was no small reason for praise. The author did not want to leave any doubt about the source of these remarkable blessings. It was the powerful, effective word of the sovereign God. That word ‘runs very swiftly’ (v. 15). The word which goes out of his mouth is, as it were, very eager to accomplish the thing that he commands. And this word does not return ‘void’ to the Lord but rather accomplishes his purpose (Isa. 55:11).
The psalmist again appeals to the natural order to make his point. The snow, the frost, the hail, the cold, the thawing and the wind are all examples of the effectiveness of his word (vv. 15–18).[xxiii]
He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.
He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast?
He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.
He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the Lord.[xxiv]
Tremper Longman points out that God is in control of the weather which affects us all, but God’s relationship with his covenant people reveals to them His laws which helps us to know His will.
Of course, the weather affects all of God’s world, but it is to his people (Jacob/Israel) alone that he has revealed his law that describes his will. The law of God (see Ps. 119) is the final reason for praise given by the composer.[xxv]
God chose Israel to be the first recipient of his Word. As such, the people were recipients of great grace. With that privilege came the responsibility of making his Word known. Now, by God’s providence, the nations can know his Word, and indeed, we should desire the world to hear it and know it! … We open up the Scriptures daily because the Father speaks to us there. Nothing else in the world is like this gift.[xxvi]
Let us not take this greatest of gifts, to be able to hear God’s voice speaking and directing our lives, for granted. Let’s take advantage of it. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48)). We have been given a beautiful gift, God has revealed His word to us, not just to bless us, but to bring a blessing to those around us. We have light that illuminates the darkness around us. People are living in confusion, lies, and chaos. We have a light that leads them to the path that is the Jesus way.
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[i] Jim Townsend, The Forgotten Wesley, in Christian History, Issue 31, (Volume X, No. 3, 1991), 11.
[ii] Ibid, 6.
[iii] Tremper Longman III, How To Read The Psalms, (Academic Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 24.
[iv] Psalm 147:1, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[v] Mark Futato, The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol. 7, (Tyndale Publishing House, 2009), 432.
[vi] Bernhard Anderson, Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today, (Philadelphia: PA: The Westminster Press, 1983), 141-43.
[vii] Daniel Akin, Johnny Hunt and Tony Merida, Eds. Exalting Jesus in Psalms 101-150, Christ-Centered Exposition, Vol. 2, (Broadman & Holman, 2021), 350-51.
[viii] Psalm 147:2-3.
[ix] Hosea 13:4-6.
[x] Mark Futato, The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs, 432.
[xi] Derek Kidner, Psalm 73-150, An Introduction and Commentary, Vol. 14b, TOTC, (Downers Grove: IL; Intervarsity Press, 1975), 485.
[xii] Isaiah 61:1-4.
[xiii] Isaiah 40:26-28.
[xiv] Psalm 147:6.
[xv] Psalm 147:7.
[xvi] Psalm 33:1-3.
[xvii] Psalm 147:8-9.
[xviii] Matthew 6:25-27.
[xix] Luke 12:6-7.
[xx] Psalm 147:10-11.
[xxi] Mark Futato, The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs, 433.
[xxii] Psalm 147:12-14.
[xxiii] Roger Ellsworth, Opening Up the Psalms, (Day One Publications, 2006), 122-23.
[xxiv] Psalm 147:15-20.
[xxv] Tremper Longman III, Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary, Vol. 15-16, TOTC (Downers Grove: IL; Intervarsity Press, 2014), 473.
[xxvi] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Psalms 101-150, 359.
