I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever

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 6:6-9 God says:  These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  The psalmist goes one step farther, not only the commandments of God should be passed down but also:   One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.  How far have we fallen in our society, from the commandment of God to teach our children, to the exhortation to tell of His mighty acts?   I am sixty years old and in my lifetime we have gone from a culture that openly praised God, to one that condemns and outlaws the teaching and telling of His works. We’ve removed God from our schools and our public places. We are seeing a third generation of children raised with little to no knowledge of God. Along with God, we have done away with righteousness. Sin, self satisfaction and selfishness are encouraged.  Proverbs 9:10 says:  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.  Surely in our society today we see the results of having no knowledge of God. Rather than understanding, we see people who are confused. They don’t even know who or what they are. As God has been removed from society, so has goodness. Our schools and our cities and neighborhoods resemble war zones and addictions to sin and selfishness are rampant.  

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.   Not knowing God, people today know nothing of His mercy and grace. They are unaware of His lovingkindness. God’s love, His grace and mercy are over all His works, but the greatest work, the greatest demonstration of His love mercy and grace was that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. In John 15:13-14 Jesus says:  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.   We cannot know and comprehend true love, the great love of God, without also knowing the cross. 1 John 4:19 says:  We love, because He first loved us.    The world promotes a love defined by acceptance and tolerance of what is unholy. True love is that Christ died to make us holy; that He gave His life for His friends. If we are His friends, those He gave His life for, our response is that we keep His commandments. Romans 5:8 says: God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.   We demonstrate our love by keeping His commandments.

The psalmist says:   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.   That men today do not know of God, does not change the fact that His dominion still endures; that His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. So, it is for those who know to bless God and to speak of the glory of His kingdom; to talk of His power and make known His mighty acts. Jesus says:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. “ (Mark 16:15-16) In Matthew 24:9-14 Jesus says:  “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.  At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”  Lawlessness results in cold love and many are mislead.

The psalmist says:  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, And His greatness is unsearchable.   Amen.