Happy Thanksgiving Day! Today we come to Psalm 135:1-12 which addresses the “servants of the LORD – those who minister in the house of the LORD and in His courts” (verse 2). Five times in this brief section, the Psalmist calls them (and us) to “praise” God, and he references “the name of the LORD” no fewer than eighteen times in this Psalm. We – those who know the Lord – have a special obligation to praise God because He has allowed us to know Him and because He alone is “good, great, and does whatever pleases Him” – and wherever He chooses – “in the heavens, on the earth, and in the seas” (verses 3-12). God’s previous deeds confirm this truth (verses 8-12). He chose Israel as His “treasured possession” (verse 4), and “He struck down many nations – giving their land to Israel as an inheritance” (verse 10). No man or other “god” can do what God does, for which reason we should also “praise” Him. In addition, God created us – He gave us life – an important reason to exalt Him. However, our praise of Him – to be genuine – should arise not from a sense of duty or obligation, but freely given from hearts of love.
Today in Daniel 2:24 – 3:12, we see Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of “things to come” (2:29). Daniel’s abiding testimony is that “there is a God in heaven Who [graciously] reveals mysteries” (2:28). By God’s revelation, Daniel explains the meaning of the king’s dream. We must understand that God is under no obligation to reveal anything to mankind, but by His grace, He is the God Who shows us in His Word “what is going to happen” (2:29). May I say to you that this expresses the collective purpose of the whole Bible – the entire Bible serves the divine function to inform us truly and faithfully what has happened (i.e., history); what is happening (i.e., present); and what will happen (i.e., future). God is the Author of reality and truth, and His propositional revelation (i.e., the Word of God) accurately spans the ages from eternity past to eternity future. The Scriptures inform us of Christ’s forthcoming kingdom – “a kingdom that will never be destroyed” (2:44). In Daniel 3:1-12, we see the rock-solid faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In these two chapters, we see reasonable and overwhelming evidence to do exactly what the Psalmist calls us to do – to praise our God!
In 2 Peter 1, Peter also agrees with the Psalmist, and he wants “always [to] remind” us (verse 12) to add to our faith increasing measures of the necessary virtues we addressed yesterday – including “goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance; godliness, brotherly kindness, and especially love” (verses 5-7). In light of Christ’s “majesty, honor, and glory” (even more reasons to praise Him), these virtues will “keep us from being ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of Christ” (verse 8) – enabling us to praise God properly. Peter states that “it is right to refresh your memory” (verse 13) and “to remember these things” (verse 15) to prevent us from forgetting. Even though we “know the truth and are firmly established in it” (verse 12), we need to repeat it often because we are easily distracted from it and extremely forgetful about it. Once is never enough. How many times does God repeat the expression, “I love you,” in His holy Word? The repetition and multiplication of things beautiful helps to put a world of ashes into proper perspective.
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