Psalm 115 - Sinners Are Stuck In Reverse
Do you ever feel stuck in reverse? Psalm 115 can help!
PSALM 115
1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where, now, is their God?”
3 But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
They have eyes, but they cannot see;
6 They have ears, but they cannot hear;
They have noses, but they cannot smell;
7 They have hands, but they cannot feel;
They have feet, but they cannot walk;
They cannot make a sound with their throat.
8 Those who make them will become like them,
Everyone who trusts in them.
9 O Israel, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.
12 The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless us;
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear the LORD,
The small together with the great.
14 May the LORD give you increase,
You and your children.
15 May you be blessed of the LORD,
Maker of heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are the heavens of the LORD,
But the earth He has given to the sons of men.
17 The dead do not praise the LORD,
Nor do any who go down into silence;
18 But as for us, we will bless the LORD
From this time forth and forever.
Praise the LORD!
Belgic Confession
Article 23: The Justification of Sinners
We believe
that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins
because of Jesus Christ,
and that in it our righteousness before God is contained,
as David and Paul teach us
when they declare that man blessed
to whom God grants righteousness
apart from works.
And the same apostle says
that we are justified “freely” or “by grace”
through redemption in Jesus Christ.
And therefore we cling to this foundation,
which is firm forever,
giving all glory to God,
humbling ourselves,
and recognizing ourselves as we are;
not claiming a thing for ourselves or our merits
and leaning and resting
on the sole obedience of Christ crucified,
which is ours when we believe in him.
Summary
I once had a boat that would get stuck in reverse. It's hard to look cool cruising into the marina backwards... it was always a humbling experience (I'm ashamed to admit that experiences like this are fairly common on my boats).
Sin causes humanity to be stuck in reverse - going away from God in every regard. But most people can't sense the silliness of their situation, and rather than being humbled by it, they're actually quite proud. Psalm 115 calls out the absurdity of living life in reverse and shifts our lives back into a forward gear.
The opening couplet of the Psalm captures its entire message:
Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Notice the repetition of the phrase not to us in the first line. Our egos are so stuck in reverse that this basic concept needs to be repeated. We want the glory, having mistaken our blessings as being purely products of our own doing rather than the LORD's provision. But to enjoy the blessed life that Psalm 1 points us toward, our lives must be pointed toward the proper purpose: glorifying the name of the LORD, simply because of who and what the LORD is: full of lovingkindness and truth.
An idol is anything that gets glorified in the place of the true and living God. Although idols have taken various forms throughout the ages, they all have one thing in common: idols are the work of man's hands. Your idols may not seem as silly as those described here in Psalm 115 by what they cannot do (a phrase repeated six times), but remember that ultimately an idol is anything that you put your trust in.
Ultimately, those who make idols - that is, those who are stuck in reverse - ultimately become like the false gods they put their trust in: defined by what the cannot do.
Dig Deeper
Having pointed out the problem in the first half of the psalm - that is, we're stuck in reverse when we glorify ourselves rather than the LORD, the second half of Psalm 115 recommends a remedy, telling us three times over to trust in the LORD! The rationale is repeated three times as well: He is our help and shield.
I kept trying to fix my boat's reverse problem with duct tape and zip ties. But the issue kept coming back at the worst possible moments because I never got it properly fixed - indeed, with the limited tools and experience I had, I couldn't fix it.
The New Testament describes people who are outside of Christ as being dead in their sins, and today Psalm 115 explains that the dead do not praise the LORD. In other words, people stuck in their sin are stuck in perpetual reverse, unable to fulfill the purpose they're created for of glorifying God, with no way to fix it on their own.
But this week's Psalm gives us good news. Even when we were stuck in reverse,
12 The LORD has been mindful of us;
He will bless us.
And He has blessed us by sending His Son, who didn't just repair our sketchy transmission, but in a very real sense, gave us a whole new boat (ok... I think we've stretched the boat analogy as far as it will go).
So as one who's been made new in Christ, don't get stuck in reverse! Instead,
18 as for us, we will bless the LORD
From this time forth and forever.
Praise the LORD!
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, He is our help and our shield!
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Memorize and pray today's opening verse: Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give glory;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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