One generation shall praise Your works to another

Psalm 145 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Lord Extolled for His Goodness. A Psalm of Praise, of David.

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.

The psalmist says:  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.   It may have happened over a period of time, but certainly in my generation we have seen the failure of following the exhortation of the psalmist. When I was a child the works of God were acknowledged and praised in nearly every aspect of our culture and society, in education, in art, in entertainment and in government. Now we have removed prayer, God and the praise of His works from nearly every aspect of our society and culture. God is no longer permitted in our schools, in our government or in our public areas. He is not praised in art or entertainment. Yet we wonder with all the advancements and enlightenment of people, why is it that it is poverty, illiteracy, hatred, division and violence that have increased rather than wisdom, peace, provision and compassion.   The psalmist says:  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… The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.   Too often today, if the Lord is depicted as anything it is not righteous and kind. Instead the current culture depicts God as intolerant, judgmental and unjust. God is rarely credited or praised for His good works but still often criticized or questioned when things go wrong.

Be that as it may, even though our society and our culture rejects and even forbids it, I will stand and repent for the failure of my generation. Like the psalmist:  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… Like the psalmist, I will declare:  Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable.   In truth, one does not need to search for God’s greatness, it is plain to see. Google may suppress God’s greatness, but the evidence is displayed throughout creation. God’s greatness can be seen in the beauty and majesty of all that naturally surrounds us. His greatness can be seen in the magnitude of the universe and the intricacy of cellular and atomic structure. Science may explain things about creation, but it is God who created and sustains them.  

Like the psalmist, I will declare:  All Your works shall give thanks to You…  Perhaps people are the only works that do not give thanks. Everything else in all of creation responds in obedience, praise and gratitude to You, but people are allowed to choose. I will give thanks and like the psalmist, I shall bless You. I 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 nations, kingdoms and governments of the world may boast of and revel in their temporary glory and power, but I will speak the truth, like Daniel who says:  Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning,   I know it is You who establishes them.     Nations will rise and fall by Your will. Yours is the everlasting kingdom and You have dominion forever.  

Like the psalmist I will declare:  The Lord sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down.  1 Peter 5:5-6 says:  God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.   Like the psalmist I acknowledge and declare:  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.  For us, the psalmist also tells us the way to have our desires in Psalm 37:4 he says:  Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.  As we praise You and Your works, as we delight in all that You have done and all that You are; Your righteousness and goodness, our desires become aligned with Yours and so we get what we want.   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.

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.  Of all of Your great works, the one that I will thank and bless You for the most is the finished work of the cross, by which I am saved, redeemed, reconciled and restored to You my God and my King. Thank You.   Amen.