Because it is good to sing praise to our God!
Because it is a pleasure to make beautiful praise!
2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, gathering up Israel’s exiles.
3 God heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.
4 God counts the stars by number,
giving each one a name.
5 Our Lord is great and so strong!
God’s knowledge can’t be grasped!
6 The Lord helps the poor,
but throws the wicked down on the dirt!
7 Sing to the Lord with thanks;
sing praises to our God with a lyre!
8 God covers the skies with clouds;
God makes rain for the earth;
God makes the mountains sprout green grass.
9 God gives food to the animals—
even to the baby ravens when they cry out.
10 God doesn’t prize the strength of a horse;
God doesn’t treasure the legs of a runner.
11 No. The Lord treasures the people
who honor him,
the people who wait for his faithful love.
20 God hasn’t done that with any other nation;
those nations have no knowledge of God’s rules.[a]
Praise the Lord![Footnotes:
Psalm 147:20 LXX, Tg, DSS (11QPsa) God hasn’t let those nations know his rules.][Common English Bible]
The world is full of woe and disaster. The news media tell us all about it with painful regularity. Yet, in spite of all that, the psalmist calls us to praise the Lord. And then he compounds this invitation with reasons to do so: the Lord heals the brokenhearted ... the Lord lifts up the downtrodden ... the Lord makes grass to grow on the hills. This is a gracious God; and we are called to sing to the Lord with thanksgiving ... to make melody with voice and instruments.In the light of all that we know about how bad things are, this makes little sense. Yet, with the eyes of faith it makes all the sense in the world. People of faith are not called to ignore the wrong which seems oft so strong; but we are to affirm that God is the ruler yet. We live because of God's grace and in spite of life's difficulties.
O God, we sing praise to you, the author of creation. You are the God of love and have understood our need for your salvation. To you all praise and glory. Amen.
Robert Brusic
Seminary Pastor Emeritus, Luther Seminary
Bachelor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School , 1964
Psalm 147:1 Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
6 The Lord lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre.
8 He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills.
9 He gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry.
10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
20c Praise the Lord![New Revised Standard Version]
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