thoughts and ruminations while in exile (1 Pet. 2:11)

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1 Praise the LORD. Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
2 Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.
4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,
6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
8 he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.
9 He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.



This passage before us presents us one clear and compelling truth: it tells us that God is to be praised, and it also tells us why God is to be praised.

And if we were to put that in a summary statement it would look like this: God is to be praised because he intervenes on behalf of his people.

And the points that I make today are going to emphasize that one truth.

God is to be praised because He intervenes on behalf of his people.
Psalm 113 has a rich history among the Jewish people. In fact, Psalm 113 through 118 makes up what is known as the Egyptian Hallel. The word “Hallel” means “Praise.” It’s considered “Egyptian” because it was connected with Passover, which commemorated the LORD bringing his people out of Egypt. To see the connection you can look at Ps. 114.

Another reason for its significance is that these Psalms were used at the annual feasts like Passover, Weeks, Booths, and later on at the dedication of the Temple (Hannukah). The worshippers would either sing or read these Psalms in a responsive way. At Passover, for example, worshippers would either sing or read Psalms 113-114 before the meal, and then afterwards read or sing Pss. 115-118.

So we know Jesus would have known these Psalms very well. Throughout his life he would recited this very Psalm numerous times. In fact, before he was crucified he and his disciples celebrated the Passover together, meaning he would have read the Egyptian Hallel right before he was betrayed by Judas.

But this Psalm has greater significance for us as Christians because we have the full revelation of God in Christ. The church throughout the centuries, therefore, has used this Psalm on Easter Sunday; most noticeably on Easter Sunday evening services is when it was traditionally preached.

The Psalm can be broken down into three sections:

The Call to Worship (V. 1-3).
An Exclamation of Praise Concerning the Sovereignty of God (V. 4-6).
The Glorious Intervention of God (V. 7-9).

The Call to Worship (V. 1-3).

1Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD!
2Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore!3 From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised

Well, this seems pretty self-evident doesn’t it? Couldn’t I just say, “God wants us to praise him?” Amen, let’s go on to the next point. But I think there is more that can be said than that. And it’s tied to the historical context of this Psalm. Remember, we want to see how this call to worship relates to truth about God intervening on behalf of his people.

In other words, in order to see the richness of this Psalm we must understand how those who were being called to worship God viewed themselves. And once we understand this truth, we can see how it applies to us, and what it means for us as a congregation.

Those being called to worship here are either Jews, or those who converted to Judaism—the totality of God’s people. And how did the Jews view themselves? They viewed themselves as the people to whom God had made many wonderful promises. And so they viewed themselves as the people who worshiped the God of promise.

To see this, for example, Paul asks in Romans 3, “Then what advantage has the Jew? . . . Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.” Later on in Romans 9 Paul says about the Jews: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.”

What promises? All of the promises that God had made to Israel. Predominantly, the promise to make Israel a great nation, he promised to do this through Abraham in Genesis 12, and he told Abraham through him the Messiah would come. But the one great covenant promise that is reiterated many times throughout the Bible is this one: “I will be your God and you will be my people.” In Gen. 17:7 God says to Abraham, 7And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

Now fast forward all the way to Rev. 21 and listen to what John says: 1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

This is a huge deal because God is saying throughout the Bible, “All of the promises I have made to you, I will keep. I will be that kind of God FOR YOU.

So God made all of these great promises to Israel, and what happened? They were enslaved by Egypt; Israel was taken into captivity by Assyria; Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon. And so the people were crying out to God and asking him, “What happened to your promises God? I thought you were going to make us a great nation?”

And what happened? God intervened on behalf of his people. He rescued his people with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm from the Egyptians, from the Assyrians, and from the Babylonians.

I go through all this because this Psalm was written after all this had happened. And while this Psalm is specifically a reminder of God bringing his people out of Egypt, undoubtedly the people remember all that God had done for them. And so in this call to worship the people are saying, “Yes! That is our God, and we are his people!”

Well, now you may be saying, “That’s a nice history lesson, Joe, but how does that apply to me? How does what God did for Jews have anything to do with me?”

Well, it has everything to do with you because in Romans 2:28-29 Paul says this: For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.” Paul is saying salvation has never been and ethnic or physical matter. On the contrary, as Paul says here, it is “by the Spirit.” Circumcision is “of the heart.”

In Galatians 3 Paul says, “it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham . . . So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

He is saying that being a child of God is something spiritual, not physical. So everything I’m telling you here is important because the promises of deliverance that God made to Israel as a nation now apply to the church. This is what the Bible means when it says there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile.

Look at Ephesians 2:11-22:

11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

So we, as Christians, are the people of God, and we worship our God who has redeemed us. He may not have redeemed us from Egypt physically, but he did rescue us from our bondage to sin. Look back at Ephesians 2:

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

This passage applies to all of us. I don’t care if you were born in a Christian home. You were a slave to sin whether you were 4 or 74 when you got saved. And God, through the power of the gospel, overcame all of your resistance, stubbornness and heard-heartedness and caused you to be born again. The one you hated and wanted nothing to do with, intervened in your life. And for the first time, you saw him as infinitely valuable and supremely precious to you.
This is the God we worship: the God who has redeemed us and made us his own. We worship the God who intervenes in the lives of his people. And he calls us to worship him, and when he speaks to us through his word, we listen. And we respond with thankfulness and obedience.
And each Lord’s Day as you come to worship let these great truths weigh heavily on your mind.
And our God calls us to worship him.

An Exclamation of Praise Concerning the Sovereignty of God (V. 4-6).

4The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens!5 Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high,6who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?
In verses 4 and 5 the psalmist is declaring that God is sovereign; he is the ruler of this earth. This is what verse 5 means when it says that God is “seated on high”; it means that God is the ruler of this earth. And please notice the language in the text, especially the repetition and how one sentence builds upon the next.

For example, the words, “high,” “above,” and “high above,” are important in helping us understand what is being communicated. The idea is that God is superior to everything and everyone else in the universe.1 God is the sovereign ruler of the universe. This thought was expressed everyday in Jewish prayers. Whether in the Temple, or in family prayers the Jews began every prayer with the words, “Blessed are you O LORD our God, King of universe.”
And the Jews used words like “high,” and “above” because they expressed superiority in terms of elevation.2

But, remember, the idea being expressed here is that God is sovereign; that is, he has authority and rights over human beings. As Psalm 115 puts it, “Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.” A. W. Pink says this, “Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, Lord of heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder him.”3

Here is a little sampling from Scripture: Is. 46:10- I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Dan. 4:35- All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?"

Remember what Jesus says in the Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me!” (Matt. 28:18).

Here is the NT. In Acts 17 Paul says, The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

In Ephesians 1:11 Paul says that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
Friends, that is a glorious picture of God. And I pray that you see God that way. He is big. The mind cannot conceive of a being as great as God.

Now, admittedly those passages hit us differently. We have different personalities, and we’re wired differently, so we respond to those verses differently. See, when I hear those verses I want to do the Tiger Woods after he makes a great put. But for others who are tender, you may be a little put off. You may be saying, “I don’t need a God like that, I need someone to tell me they love me; I need a God who will hold me and comfort me.”

And God does that. He loves us, cares for us, and Paul says he is the “God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1). And as Pastor Andy has told us repeatedly, quoting from Calvin, there is nothing harmful in Scripture. This is true for the sovereignty of God. Because when things go wrong in life, there is nothing more comforting than knowing that you serve a God who is on the throne ruling and reigning. And he will be that kind of God for you!

So I implore you, don’t stumble over this doctrine, it is meant to be a comfort for you. The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said this about the doctrine of God’s sovereignty:

There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation—the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands—the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that Throne.4

And these words do not come from the mouth of a man who experienced an easy life. Spurgeon, even though God had blessed his life and ministry greatly, struggled with depression. He and his wife were physically ill for most of their lives. He was kicked out of his denomination for being a conservative and virtually everyone bad-mouthed him. By no means think he is saying these words without having gone through struggles.

So what is our hope then? The Psalmist, after he gives this great treatment about God’s transcendence says in verse 6 that God “looks far down on the heavens and the earth.” The NIV says he “stoops down to look,” while the NAS says he “humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth.”

This is simply to remind us that we do not serve some abstract deity who is unconcerned with the affairs of his people. Though God is high and lofty, he takes notice of those in need.

In Ps. 138:6 David writes, For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly.

Is. 57:17 reads, For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

This is why verses 5 and 6 come in the form of a question. Who is like this? The answer is “No one.” In Psalm 115 the writer says the nations serve idols of gold and silver. Their gods have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, mouths but can’t speak. Well, a god who can’t hear or see is no God at all. Therefore, he can’t intervene on behalf of his people.

The Glorious Intervention of God (V. 7-9).

7He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,8to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.9He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children.Praise the LORD!
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Notice verse 7 and 8 (read). God’s compassion is seen in that while he is exalted above the nations, he takes notice of the lowly and afflicted. God intervenes on behalf of his people because he “looks far down” and sees their situation. Verse 7 says he “lifts the needy from the ash heap.” The words “ash heap” can also be translated “dunghill.” The “ash heap,” or “dunghill,” was a place where the poor or social outcasts would live and sleep. This was located outside the city, and certainly would have been an unfortunate place to live. It was here, however, where the poor would search through the trash and look for food to eat.

God says he takes these people and will make them sit with the princes of his people; meaning that when the kingdom comes in its fullness, God will reverse the fortunes of his people. For now, it is a great joy and enough for us to know that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:3).

Now, it’s interesting that verse 9 says, “He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children,” in light of the fact that verses 7-8 are taken directly from Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2. And what did God do for Hannah? He intervened for her, a barren woman, and she gave birth to Samuel, who was a judge in Israel (1 Sam. 7), and was the one who anointed David king (1 Sam. 16).

God doesn’t just do this one time. All of history is the story of God breaking in on behalf of his people. He extended mercy to Adam and Eve in the garden by not destroying them when they disobeyed him and sinned by eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6). Rather than destroying them right away as he could have justly done, he provided loincloths for them to cover themselves (Gen. 3:7).

God extended mercy to Abraham by unconditionally electing him and causing him to be the “father of many nations” (Gen. 17:5). The one-time “wandering Aramean” (Dt. 26:5), and child of pagan parents, was to be the man through whom the Messiah would come.
All of redemptive history is about God intervening for his people. And he did this most notably when he came in human flesh. And why did he do this? Paul tells us in Philippians 2, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus came as Mt. 20:28 says “to give his life as a ransom for many.” For all of the difficulties and trials we face, our fundamental issue is that we have a sin problem. And we can’t blame anyone else for that. Paul says we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Solomon said, “There is not a person who always does good and never sins” (Eccl. 7:22).
And in the midst of our rebellion, Paul says, “while we were still helpless . . . Christ died for the ungodly.” And he was raised on the third day, thus demonstrating that he was who he claimed to be. And he ascended and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty. And he will come back to judge all peoples. Those who believe in the gospel will spend eternal life with the Triune God; those who don’t will face eternal separation.

So, if you’re not a Christian, I’d encourage you to cry out to God and ask him to grant you repentance and new life. He is a faithful God and he says all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

And for those of us who are Christians, may we care for the lowly and afflicted just as God does. The wonderful thing is that God will use us to intervene in the lives of others.

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1 Millard Erickson. Christian Theology. Second Edition. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 339.
2 Ibid.
3 A. W. Pink. The Attributes of God. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1975), 32.
4 Quoted in Pink, 32. Also see the Heidelberg Catechism questions 26-28.