August 26, 2021
Who Commands the Sun?
Psalms 114-118
Katie Gaultney
Central Truth
As we labor in the Lord's service—especially publicly—we may find ourselves tempted to take credit for God's good work. We may even delude ourselves into thinking we deserve praise for what He has done through us. Conversely, a healthy spiritual posture reflects God's glory to a watching world.
Key Verse | Psalm 115:1-3
Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
Why should the nations say,
"Where is their God?"
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
Psalms 114-118
Tremble at the Presence of the Lord
1
When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2
Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3
The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back.
4
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5
What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
6
O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
7
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8
who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.
To Your Name Give Glory
1
Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
2
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
4
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
9
O Israel,
1
115:9
Masoretic Text; many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac O house of 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 remembered 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,
both the small and the great.
14
May the LORD give you increase,
you and your children!
15
May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth!
16
The heavens are the LORD's heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.
17
The dead do not praise the LORD,
nor do any who go down into silence.
18
But we will bless the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the LORD!
I Love the LORD
1
I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3
The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4
Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”
5
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6
The LORD preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7
Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
9
I will walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
10
I believed, even when
2
116:10
Or believed, indeed; Septuagint believed, therefore
I spoke:
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11
I said in my alarm,
“All mankind are liars.”
12
What shall I render to the LORD
for all his benefits to me?
13
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD,
14
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
15
Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.
16
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
17
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the LORD.
18
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
19
in the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!
The LORD's Faithfulness Endures Forever
1
Praise the LORD, all nations!
Extol him, all peoples!
2
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD!
His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
1
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
3
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
4
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
5
Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free.
6
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
7
The LORD is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
9
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
10
All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
11
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
12
They surrounded me like bees;
they went out like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
13
I was pushed hard,
3
118:13
Hebrew You (that is, the enemy) pushed me hard
so that I was falling,
but the LORD helped me.
14
The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
15
Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
16
the right hand of the LORD exalts,
the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”
17
I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the LORD.
18
The LORD has disciplined me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
19
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
20
This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.
21
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
4
118:22
Hebrew the head of the corner
23
This is the LORD's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24
This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25
Save us, we pray, O LORD!
O LORD, we pray, give us success!
26
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house of the LORD.
27
The LORD is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
up to the horns of the altar!
28
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God; I will extol you.
29
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Dive Deeper | Psalms 114-118
When my firstborn was a toddler, he hated to have the sun in his eyes while we were driving. He'd whine, holler, and squint, yelling, "No sun!" Meanwhile, I'd reassure him we were about to turn the car in a different direction, so the sun wouldn't be in his eyes anymore. Sure enough, as soon as we turned, his eyes would widen, and he'd clap and exclaim, "We stopped the sun!"
It's still a family joke today; of course, we didn't stop the sun (Job 9:7). My child's pride and exuberance were unearned, but they mirror a spiritual peril many of us face: taking credit for God's good work, either in our hearts or by our words and actions. It's easy to get a little big for our spiritual britches, and Satan loves nothing more than to pervert our service to the Lord by letting us think we deserve the praise that belongs solely to God.
Not all pride is evil, per se; Ecclesiastes 5:18 says it is "good and fitting . . . to eat and drink and find enjoyment" in our work. But that satisfaction teeters into unhealthy pride when we regard ourselves as superior because of gifts, talents, or opportunities that God has given us.
We see it from time immemorial: Lucifer wanted to exalt himself above God. Even those closest to Jesus, His disciples, argued about who among them would be the greatest (Luke 9:46). And I know I struggle with pride daily!
Instead of slipping into self-promotion for what God has done, we can reflect His glory to a watching world. It wouldn't be a stretch for me to answer every "Atta girl!" I receive with a "Praise God!"
Psalm 115 finds a New Testament parallel in Galatians 6:14: "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Or to put it as the psalmist did, in Psalm 115:18: "But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!"
Discussion Questions
1. Ford used to think we stopped the sun, and that reminds me of a C.S. Lewis quote: "A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." In a sense, we refuse to worship God when we take credit for His goodness in our lives. How might you guard against that?
2. Psalm 115:3 says, "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." Meditate on that for a moment. What about when God's actions result in something we might expect to bring sadness, like the death of His Son Jesus on a cross? What about when we refuse to bend to His will? Consider John Piper's words: "God never becomes the victim of circumstance. He is never forced into a situation where he must do something in which he cannot rejoice. He is not mocked. He is not trapped or cornered or coerced." Reflect on God's sovereignty, and take comfort in His ability to bring good from evil (Genesis 50:20).
3. You may have heard the phrase "Jesus juke"—steering every conversation to show how super-duper holy you are. For example, if someone says, "Did you catch the Cowboys game on Sunday?," a "Jesus juker" might respond with, "No, I spent the Sabbath worshiping. Imagine if instead of wasting hours watching football, you had used that time to pray?" Kind of off-putting, right? I think that's why some of us are sheepish about giving credit to God when someone pays us a compliment. We don't want to come across as awkward or hyper-religious. Consider if there's something to that, and think through ways you can bring honor and glory to God naturally in your day-to-day.