Introduction

One of the key features of the Psalms in general – as we have noticed in recent weeks – is their seemingly general tone. With a few exceptions (such as the Psalm we looked at last week, Psalm 114, which focuses on Israel’s Exodus from Egypt), the Psalms themselves seem to consciously avoid laying out specific details. Rather than laying out how a person should respond when someone is trying to kill you in the palace of the Israelite king or how a person should respond when they find themselves wandering in a foreign wilderness for 40 years, the psalms address more general issues such as how to handle distress, how to handle those who ridicule you, how to praise the Lord in any and all circumstances, etc.
I bring this up to say this: rather than viewing this feature as an annoyance, we should seek to become as intimately acquainted with the themes of the individual psalms as we can. If we can saturate ourselves in the psalms – perhaps even going so far as to keep track of which psalms address which issues – we would find that the psalms are so beneficial to us. For instance, the psalm this morning is penned in the midst of a great time of distress. It is likely that at least some people here this morning are in a time of distress. It is also very likely that some here this morning are not in such a time. But what is certain is that everyone here this morning will be in a time of distress at some point in life. If we have the psalms ready at hand in those moments, it will be much easier for us to immerse ourselves in their life-giving words.
I also bring this up because Psalm 115 is another very general psalm. It addresses the general issue of how to respond in a time of distress by laying out a series of ways in which the people of God responded in this specific time of distress. The way this psalm is written, it is almost as if we are given a peak into the world of the Israelites without them knowing that we are there. The Psalm begins very abruptly; it is almost as if we come into the scene in mid-sentence. Moreover, rather than having a single author, like so many of the Psalms, this psalm reads almost as if it was penned by the group as a whole. The people seem to be in the midst of some type of distress, but we are not told what the details of this distress entail. We are simply brought into the picture at the point when the people begin to respond to that distress. We have often taken opportunities to declare our need to “preach to ourselves” as the Puritans of old were apt to do. And, in this psalm, we are given an almost intimate glimpse into a scene in which the Israelites seem to be “preaching to themselves” as they attempt to endure under their distress. The ultimate issue, at this point in the lives of these Israelites, is their faith in the Lord. Will it endure? How will they ensure that it will endure? How will they exhort themselves to have faith?
So, with that in mind, let us look at the themes which this “preaching to themselves” entailed. There seem to be three different responses held up in the psalm, and we will look at each one in turn. As we look at each one, we will see that the recounting of these themes served their purpose well because we will see the people of God stirred up in faith. And we will see that these same themes are quite useful for stirring up our own hearts in faith in times of distress as well.

First, They will Call out to the Lord (v. 1-8).

As I already mentioned, the Psalm begins quite abruptly. Beginning in verse 1, the people say, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.” So this first section of the psalm begins not so much with a theme per se as much as an action. We see that the people’s first response, at least in this psalm, is to call out to the Lord for help. We will look at the details of this calling out in a moment, but surely it is meat enough for us to consider whether or not such a response can be counted on from us. In times of distress, is our first recourse to call out to the Lord, or is it to seek refuge somewhere else. Does your faith fly to the Lord or does it fly to some other foundation? The consideration of that question might be enough to think on the rest of the day, but then we could not consider the other 16 verses!
Notice, first of all, the heart that is evidenced by the people in the way that they call out to the Lord. Their heart is not one that is focused on their own safety or deliverance; their heart is one focused on the exaltation of their God. The people are crying out for deliverance so that the nations might not ridicule their God. Notice verse 2: “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” It seems that part of the distress that the Israelites are under is a distress in which their God is being called into question because of their circumstances. The people long for God to deliver them, but they long for it because they long for his reputation to be vindicated. The people long for the Lord to prove what they express in verse 3, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” The burning passion of these people’s hearts is that the glory of the Lord might be displayed and magnified until it is beyond dispute.
Before we examine further, let us examine our own hearts and see if they burn with that kind of passion. What drives our decisions and our plans and our prayers? Is it a desire to see the Lord glorified or is it something else? Perhaps we are driven by our own desire that people think well of us. Perhaps we are driven by our own desire to have an easy life. And yet we do not realize that our having a good reputation matters not a bit in light of eternity. And we fail to realize that our desire for ease in this life could lead us to fight against God himself who might desire to show himself mighty through our suffering and difficulty. We, as individuals and as a church, must have a heart that boldly cries out, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory.” Our lives in and of themselves are worthless. They gain meaning only so far as they are joined together with God’s purpose to glorify himself in the world. This life is not about us and so the glory is not due to us. It is about the Lord and the glory is due to him.
Notice, secondly, the reason that drives the people to call out to the Lord – they recognize that their God is sovereign and that all other gods are worthless. Listen to the people’s words in vs. 3-8: “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” The people are declaring their reason for crying out to their God and not to the gods of the nations. What good will it do to cry out to that which is not alive? Think about the comparisons the people are making in their minds. The idols have mouths but do not speak whereas the God of Israel has spoken repeatedly to his people, revealing his will for them. The idols have eyes but do not see whereas the God of Israel, though he is exalted so far above the earth, “looks far down on the heavens and the earth” (Ps. 113:6) and sees. The idols have ears but do not hear whereas the God of Israel heard the groanings of his people in Egypt and continues to hear the cries of his people (Ps. 116:1). The idols have noses but do not smell whereas the God of Israel instituted sacrifices for his people that would serve as a pleasing aroma to Him. We could go on through every attribute listed, but the point of the people’s diatribe against the idols of the nations is that they will call out to their God because he is alive. The idols of the nations are worthless productions of man, and those who worship them become as dead as the idols themselves. The people will worship the living God so that they might live.
So here we are presented with a people in distress, and their first response is to call out to the Lord because they trust that he is sovereign and able to answer. So, once again, we should pause and examine whether our God is indeed the God of the Bible. Of course we would all readily admit that God is the same yesterday, today and forever; he does not change his character so of course our God is the same God. But, if look closer, in our moments of deepest distress and in the moments when our faith is tested to the limits, is our God really the God of our emotions or the God of the Bible. Is our God a God who can work good from even the greatest evil we can imagine, or is our god a god who is unable to even sustain us in the midst of trying times let alone work out his purposes? When we are in difficult circumstances and we are struggling to find faith and to exercise faith correctly, we must – like the people in this psalm – stay our hope on the God of the Bible and not a god of our own making. For gods of our own making are pitiful and they are no greater than us. But the God of the universe is infinitely higher than us. This is our true God.

Second, They will Trust in the Lord (v. 9-15).

Having called out to the one true, sovereign Lord to vindicate his name among the nations, the people then cry out in exhortation to one another to trust in the Lord. The people declare, “O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield” (v. 9-11). This three-fold repetition is meant to make clear that everyone in the assembly is included. Indeed, the point of the statements is that for all of those who place their trust in the Lord, he will be their help and their shield. The unspoken assumption is that if trust is placed anywhere else, that trust will prove futile. But trust placed in the Lord will be gloriously justified when deliverance comes.
And, much like with the last point, the people make clear their reasons for trusting in the Lord, and the reason is really twofold. First, they will trust in the Lord because he has been faithful to them in the past. Even the wording of vs. 9-11 suggests this idea. It is almost as if the people are exhorting one another to trust in the Lord because he has been their help and their shield in the past. It would be like telling my 2-year-old son to trust in me because I am his parent, meaning I am the one that has taken responsibility for him and cared for him in the past. The idea is the same for Israel. They exhort one another to trust, not only because the Lord is the only true God, but because he has protected and aided Israel in the past. A lack of trust now would be the height of ingratitude and the apex of arrogance.
We also see this idea of the Lord’s past faithfulness in the beginning of verse 12, “The Lord has remembered us.” This idea of remembrance is not merely the conscious act of remembering something that had been forgotten. In biblical terms, the idea here is one of God consciously choosing to help his people because of the promises he has made to them in the past. It is not as if God forgot the promises and then suddenly remembered them again. The idea is that God has helped his people because he looked back again on the covenant he made with his people in the beginning. It would be like telling a faithful husband to “remember” his wedding vows. Has he forgotten them? No, what is being said is that the husband should think back on them so that he will act in a particular way today. That is the idea here – the people will trust in the Lord because he has been faithful to them in the past.
But they go on to make clear that they will trust in the Lord because of their hope in his blessings on them in the future. The people declare, “The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; he will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great. May the Lord give you increase, you and your children! May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (v. 12-15). So, in the minds of the people speaking in this psalm, their God is not just the God of yesterday but of tomorrow. The trust they are placing in this Lord is not some naïve hope that everything might turn out okay of they just desire it hard enough. This is a firm trust in the Lord to provide what is needed. This is a faith that has been forged in the heart through trials before and trusts the character of the one behind the trials. This faith recognizes that the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and trust in him is wise because he is able to justify such faith. Indeed, he will justify such faith.
So, having called out to the Lord, the Israelites declare their intention to trust in the Lord to guide them through this difficult time because he has been faithful in the past. That past faithfulness drives their present trust and causes them to rejoice in the hope of future blessing.
And so, as we look at our own lives, the simple question becomes, “Do we trust in this wholehearted way?” In our hearts, do we trust that the Lord knows what is best? If faith is “the assurance of things hoped for” (Heb. 11:1), do we have that level of assurance in our hearts when we cry out to the Lord? Do we pray as people who trust in that way? The people in this psalm give us a model for moving our hearts to trust in that way. Remember what the Lord has done for you in the past. Remember his promises to you that still stand in the future. And, in the midst of those things, trust in him today.

Third, They will Praise the Lord (v. 16-18).

The last thing that the speakers of Psalm 115 declare that they will do is praise the Lord. As we said, they find themselves in the midst of a difficult circumstance. Their first reaction is to call out to the Lord to justify his name among the nations. Then, they declare that they will trust in the Lord in the midst of this circumstance. And, having said those things, the psalm closes with them saying, “But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord.” Even in the midst of this circumstance – as far as we know in this psalm the details have not changed in the least – the people will boldly praise the Lord.
But, before we quickly pass over this reality as if there is no need to elaborate on it, look at their reason for praising. Beginning in verse 16, the people say, “The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence. But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord!” (v. 16-18). The people declare that the Lord has given the earth to the children of man. Of course, we know that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (1 Corinthians 10:26). But, the people in this psalm understand that the Lord delegated the dominion of this world to men. The Lord did not need to create anything. He was perfectly satisfied within himself – in the form of the trinity – before the world began. But the Lord created the world and everything in it so that Jesus might be exalted by everything that was created and so that God might be glorified above all things. The earth was created to praise and glorify the Lord! But, because of the fall, this does not happen on the earth. Instead of praise, men exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship the idols that were spoken of in vs. 4-8. And, as we saw in those verses, those who make them become like them. That is, those who worship them become as lifeless as the idols – dead. And verse 17 says the dead do not praise the Lord. So how is the goal of creation going to be accomplished? How is the Lord going to receive praise? The answer to this question is that it will come from his people – just like it does in this psalm.
The people in this psalm recognize that they have been given a unique privilege and responsibility by God to carry on his desired intention for this world. The Lord created the world and everything in it to glorify him. The chief end of mankind is to praise and glorify him. So, the people in the psalm understand that that is what they are to be about. No other task is to consume their souls but the enduring praise of their Creator and their Lord. So, in boldness, they declare that they will praise the Lord.
And so, for us as believers today, we need to reorient our lives. Our chief end and aim in life is to praise the Lord. Is this referring to an unending praise service in which we never leave this building? Of course not, all of life is to be lived to the glory of God. Are you married? If so, do not be confused, your chief aim in life is to praise the Lord as you are a husband or a wife. Are you single? If so, do not be confused, your chief aim in life is to praise the Lord with an undivided devotion to him. It is what you were made to do. Are you a parent? If so, do not be confused, your chief aim is still to praise the Lord as you raise your children. Are you a child? If so, do not be confused, your chief aim is to praise the Lord as you play and as you learn. We must never grow confused about our chief task on this earth. We were put here to exercise dominion over this earth and to be ambassadors for the Lord – vessels through which the Kingdom of God is extended to every nation and every corner of the earth. Church of God, praise the Lord – do not forget your main task!

Conclusion

So, the importance of this psalm for us today is clear. In times of distress, in times when our faith is tested, we should cry out to the Lord. And as we cry out, we should trust in that Lord to deliver us. And as we cry out, we should praise the Lord with every ounce of our being – with word and thought and deed.
As we come to the table today, we remember Christ’s example of these very things. Throughout his difficult but sinless life, he provided us the absolutely perfect example of an individual who cries out to the Lord often while entrusting themselves to that Lord and praising that Lord. And at the end of his life – as death neared – we remember that he cried out to the Lord often. In the midst of that, he entrusted himself to God and to God’s will even though that will would not deliver him from the difficult circumstances but lead him directly into them. And, as we know, he triumphed over death through his death and resurrection, and we praise him for that this morning. As we eat the bread and drink the cup, we remember the One who left us a perfect example of the principles we have seen this morning. But we also remember something greater as we remember the One who – more than leaving an example – made us able to do the things that we have seen this morning. We cry out to the Lord because we can come into his very presence because of the finished work of Christ. We trust in the Lord because he has been faithful to meet our greatest need by saving us and because we look forward to a day when all of his enemies are crushed and the Lord is glorified above all things. And we praise the Lord because he is worthy to receive honor and glory and praise. Amen.

FOUNDATIONAL REASONS TO TRUST IN THE LORD

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