My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord

Psalm 145 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

I will extol You, my God, O King,
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
² Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
³ Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable.
⁴ One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
⁵ On the glorious splendor of Your majesty
And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
⁶ Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,
And I will tell of Your greatness.
⁷ They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness
And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful;
Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
⁹ The Lord is good to all,
And His mercies are over all His works.
¹⁰ All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord,
And Your godly ones shall bless You.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
And talk of Your power;
¹² To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts
And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

¹⁴ The Lord sustains all who fall
And raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to You,
And You give them their food in due time.
¹⁶ You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways
And kind in all His deeds.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.
²⁰ The Lord keeps all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

In Deuteronomy 11:18-21 God said:  “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.”   In today’s text the psalmist says:  I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.  In our society and culture today, we see the results of our failure to speak to our children and teach them the words of God. We see what has happened when we have stopped praising the name of God and declaring His mighty acts. God was once revered in every aspect of our society, from education, to entertainment, in public and in politics. Now rather than being revered, God has been and is being removed. Even before cancel culture was a thing, God was being canceled in and by our culture. In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  Generation by generation we have increasingly failed to shine the light of God and Christ to our children. Having failed to tell them about the God of truth, peace and hope, is it any wonder that we have generations that are confused, fearful and hopeless?

It’s not too late. This can be the generation that renews its commitment to declare God’s goodness to the next generation. The psalmist says:  On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.  It begins with each one individually. Before we can speak of God’s majesty and goodness, we need to know it.  Will I be one? Will you meditate on the glorious splendor of His majesty And on His wonderful works?    Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.  The Bible is filled with accounts of God’s awesome acts, His greatness and His abundant goodness. So too are many other books that have been written throughout history.  In 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 it says:  You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.   We too are books that can be read by others, telling of His awesome acts, His greatness and abundant goodness. 

The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.  The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.  All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, And Your godly ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power; To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.  Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.  The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.  My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.   Amen.