Monday
Psalm 145.1-2 “I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.”
When it comes to praise the Psalm writer doesn’t do thing by halves. “For ever and ever…every day.” It’s a commonplace comment that the atheist’s worst moment is when they are grateful but don’t know who to thank. The Psalmist-poet knows perfectly well who to thank, and practises gratitude as the fuel of praise, every day and always! This psalm is a praise list. It’s not a prayer list of what we want, but a praise list of who God is and what God does.
Tuesday
Psalm 145.3-4 “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.”
Every culture has its gods, and they are not all good for us or to us. Whatever comes first in our lives, takes up our time, energy, money, and captures our heart, is well on its way to being an idol, a God who demands but never gives. Not so the Lord who is most worthy of praise. The God of Israel is a God of mighty acts of mercy and judgement, bestowing a depth of love and grace we can never fathom. The true God we know in Jesus Christ draws us to wonder, worship and witness.
Wednesday
Psalm 145.5-6 “They speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds.”
What God is – “the glorious splendour of your majesty” – and what God does – “your wonderful works.” God is what he does, and what he has done in creation and redemption is seen most fully in Jesus Christ. The generations proclaim and live and embody the glory of Christ as the good news of God. Mission is not the Church’s burden or strategy, it is the natural outflow of a community renewed in Christ. We speak as visible saints, and live by God's grace as signs of the glorious splendour of the majesty of God in Christ.
Thursday
Psalm 145.7-8 “They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.”
Whatever else the Christian community is, if it reflects the New Testament church it sings and dances to the music of God, it celebrates joyfully the reality of who God has revealed himself to be in Christ – “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.” It may be that the church best reflects the good news of Jesus if we are also known as those who are slow to anger and rich in love, and shown to be less about condemnation and more about mercy, gracious and compassionate and slow to anger!
Friday
Psalm 145.9-10a “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All your works praise you, Lord…”
Three times the poet uses the all-encompassing word "all". For people of faith in this God who is good to all and has compassion on all he has made, this is argument enough for environmental concern, love of creation, conservation of the natural world, resistance to the wasting and laying waste of God’s creation, from the rain-forests to the oceans, the snow leopard to the honey bee. If all God’s works praise him, we have no right to silence that praise by our greed, neglect or indifference.
Saturday
Psalm 145.10b-12 “Your faithful people extol you. They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.”
This is called bearing witness, giving testimony, with patient and persistent faithfulness to the Gospel we believe and the Saviour whose love we celebrate. The kingdom of which we tell is the Kingdom of God, the reign and rule of God which Jesus demonstrated and proclaimed. Luke 4.18-19 describes what Jesus is about, and what his faithful people are about. Read it again, this is the good news of God’s Kingdom. It was demonstrated and established on Calvary, confirmed let loose at the resurrection, and became our commission at Pentecost to tell of the glory of God's kingdom.
Sunday
Psalm 145.13 “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”
This verse is about faith taking the long view. The purposes of God are seldom short term. But however long it takes in our human time frame, the Lord is trustworthy and faithful. Isaiah said much the same: “My word shall not return to me empty, but will accomplish the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55.11) In all the changing circumstances of our lives, despite the flux and turmoil of the world we live in, it is God’s Kingdom that will come, and God’s purposes that will eventually be fulfilled. For that we pray; meantime we live obediently towards God’s will being done on earth as in heaven. And remembering, “The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”
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