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, David, of whom God said, “I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will,”  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. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. 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.  Often, we seek and pray for God to bless us. We ask for His provision, His protection, His goodness and His grace in our lives. Do we though, like David bless the name of the Lord? Do we bless Him with our words and with our lives? Do we recognize that He is worthy of our praise not only for what He does and has done, but because His greatness is unsearchable? His greatness and His worthiness of our praise is not dependent on what He does, but rather on who He is.

I am 62 years old and perhaps the greatest failure of my generation is that we have not been faithful to do what David says, that:  One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. 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.   When I was a child, God was integral in and to our culture and society. He was included in our curriculum. God was honored in our government and in the entertainment media and news media. In my lifetime, our society has chosen to not only no longer praise God, but to dishonor Him. We no longer even attribute His mighty acts and His wonderful works to Him, but rather we say that all that we see is merely the result of a series of random occurrences. It is no wonder then, that today’s generations have little to hope for, that fear, anxiety and depression are rampant in the world. Are the generations today really to believe that the institutions, the philosophies and the ideologies of man which have led to division, hatred, violence and destruction are the hope for the future?

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. 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.   Regardless of who are the political leaders in the world, God’s kingdom is everlasting and His dominion endures throughout all generations. Daniel 2:20-21 says:  Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.  Those who arrogantly disregard God, those who reject His will and His ways, should at least learn from history, that their days and all that they have built are fleeting and finite. Wisdom is not to rely on man’s knowledge, but rather to obey the one who is omniscient, the one who has all knowledge. In Revelation 1:8 the Lord says:  “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  Would it not be wisdom to trust our future to the one who already knows it? Is it not wise to submit our present to the one who controlled the past and ordained our days? In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says:  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

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. Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. 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. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. 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.  Amen.