Psalm 145:1-10, My Response to God (2)

The question we are answering is not so much “how should we respond to God” as it is “how can we respond to God?”  It is an encouragement to glorify Him with abundance and variety. 

·       I will extol You (v1).  ruwn 730.  This means to rise up, to set on high.  One of God’s titles is Most High God.  Thus, to extol Him is to speak of how much higher He is than any other god, that there is no one like Him.  The first use of the word is to speak of the flood as high above the earth (Gen. 7:17).  In that sense we can say the flood extolled God, who said He would bring waters to cover the whole earth.  Any denial of that fact does not extol God.  The second use is by Abraham, speaking to the king of Sodom, referring to the LORD as God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:22-23).  Abraham’s point is that he would take nothing from the king of Sodom, lest people think his riches were from men and not from God Most High.  What a great way to extol God before the people of this world. 

·       I will bless Your name forever and ever.  barak, 1288.  The root meaning here is “to kneel.”  Thus, you can say this is “extolling” God by humbling oneself.  I think that’s remarkable when you realize that God was the first to do this, in Gen. 1:22, when God blessed Adam and Eve.  In Gen. 9:26 Noah said, Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem.  The term is used numerous times of God blessing man; in that sense, it is remarkable that we, too, can bless God.  When God blesses us, He doesn’t necessarily speak well of us; He actually prospers us in some way.  We might consider this, that to bless God certainly speaks well of Him; but it should involve our lives, in how we live according to and in support of His purposes.  By the way, the term is also used in v2.  So what does David say?  He will bless God forever and ever; he will bless God every day. 

·       I will praise your name forever and ever (v2).  The phrase is similar, of course, to the second line of v1.  We also have the word “praise” again.  But the word is different.  halal 1984.  This is the base word for hallelujah (praise the LORD).  The root meaning is to shine; so “praise” is to shine a light upon our Lord.  It also means to boast or be boastful.  What a great thought there is here.  Where will the light we shine upon our God be the brightest?  In the darkness, of course!  We ought not to cast our pearls before swine (Mt. 7:6), meaning we don’t need to be “preachy” before the world.  But we should not refrain from giving God the credit for our blessings.  The first use of halal is in Gen. 12:15 when the princes of Egypt commended Sarah to Pharaoh.  They were saying, “she’s beautiful; you should make her yours.”  So, we should shine a light on the Lord, telling people how glorious He is, that they might make Him their own.