10The all of Your doings shall
praise You, LORD, and Your loved ones shall bless You.
11They will speak of the glory of
Your kingdom and shall tell of Your might,
12To declare to the sons of the
man His might and the glory of the splendor of His kingdom.
There are several thoughts I want to remember from these
verses. The first half of verse 10 provides a familiar thought, “All Thy works
shall praise Thee, O LORD…” My mind goes immediately to Psalm 19:1, “The
heavens declare the glory of God.” As Jesus said, “If My disciples don’t cry
out, the rocks will!” All of God’s creation does in fact shout His praises from
the furthest star to the tiniest electron.
As a scientist willing to see, everywhere I go I find God’s
praises. It is remarkable to me to look at the moon in the night sky and
realize God hung it there. Then I look under a microscope and see the slide
alive with protozoans and bacteria. As a scientist, I am keenly aware the
entire creation is regulated by very predictable and orderly laws. In fact,
that is the proper quest of science – to unlock the order in our universe, then
figure out ways to use that knowledge for people’s good. But why is there order
to be found? Why isn’t it pure chaos? Why should people spend their entire
lives searching for that order, whether in the law of gravity or a cure for
cancer? Science can be science because a God of order arranged it all, then
charged us to “rule over the earth and subdue it.”
Literally, “the heavens declare the glory of God.”
However, that said, the second half of verse 10 reveals a
wonderful truth: “and Thy saints shall bless Thee.” The word translated “saints”
is just a simple word for God’s people. It literally means something like “loved
ones,” but from my own studies I’ve had to conclude it simply became a general
name for God’s people. Notice what they
(we) do: they “bless Thee.” The inanimate creation praises God, but even more
than that, His people “bless” Him. His people acknowledge not only His power
but also see and feel His kindness and goodness and grace. They enjoy His
wisdom and not only acknowledge His power but appreciate it. We add emotion to
the Creation’s inanimate praise. We praise Him willingly and intelligently.
Just think about it. As God looks down from heaven
(surrounded by the praising angelic hosts!), He hears the praises of all Creation.
And yet, in the midst of it all, He sees the dirty, emaciated faces of some
poor, struggling, very imperfect people and what are they doing? They’re
looking up and blessing His name! What a joy that must be to His heart! Yes,
the rocks will praise Him, and even the angels, but how much more it must mean
to Him when us redeemed sinners lift up our blood-bought voices and say, “We
love You!”
My thought is that we ought to sing His praises all the
more, just realizing that, out of all the Creation, we are the ones who do it
willingly and with feeling. We praise Him because
we can!
What a privilege!
And when His people speak, what do they talk about? “His
might” and the “glorious splendor of His kingdom.” The rest of the world may
speak about a lot of things which capture their interest – sports, fashions,
the stock market, the weather, etc., etc. But give the Lord’s people a voice
and what interests them? “His might” and the “glorious splendor of His kingdom.”
He interests them!
They alone have the eyes to see. In verse 12 it is us who “…make known to the
sons of men His might and the glory of the splendor of His kingdom.” Ourselves
seeing, we have the privilege of doing in our world what Jesus did when He was
here – giving sight to the blind! Although the world hates us, yet if the Lord
is doing a work of grace in someone’s heart, it is His people He’ll use one way
or another to open those blind eyes to see Him in His beauty.
And notice it is the “glory of the splendor of His kingdom.”
His kingdom is the kingdom! He is the King! Once again, in this world people
are enthralled with royalty. The paparazzi torment Will & Kate and Harry
& Meghan and why? Because people are fascinated with them. Kings raise
monuments to themselves. Wars are fought just to decide who will be the king
over this particular patch of dirt. But all authority is but an expression of God’s.
He is the King.
May I add, it is wonderful that He is the King because He
alone is truly worthy to be the King. Fortunately for all of us, the entire
Creation has an appointment to keep – the Day when Jesus will ride His white
horse into this world to establish His kingdom. And His name shall be called “Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Prince of peace.” In this world, we pick up our
newspaper and groan at the gross incompetence and corruption of the lousy
excuse for “governments” under which we suffer. But not so when Jesus returns.
His world will be a world where all is right, all is good, and all is peace.
The good news for you and me is that we know that world already.
Though we live in this world of groaning, yet we know of “the glory of the
splendor of His kingdom.” We know it because we’re part of it, even now, even
here.
And what do we do? We lift up our dirty faces and bless Him
for it all!
One last thought, we are all aware that this world does hate
us. It does all it can to silence us – to suppress and silence the praises of
our God, but what does this Psalm tell us? They will not succeed. The heavens will declare the glory of God and His
people will bless Him! The world
might as well resolve to stop the sun from shining. They will not succeed!
May we bless His name, may we speak His praises specifically
because we can and because we want
to! Out of all Creation, that is our privilege! “And the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it!”
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