From Obedience to Praise (3): Discovery of What Matters Most Leads to Unabandoned Praise

This is the third and final post on the topic of the journey that the Psalter takes us on from naive obedience to unabandoned praise. (See part 1 and part 2)

Psalm 73 is where the paradigm shifts in the Psalter's journey towards God's presence being the reward rather than material blessing. Psalm 103 is the next psalm that Walter Brueggemann looks at in this pilgrimage. In it we see trust in God's 'hesed'* but the speaker hasn't yet arrived at pure doxology. Psalm 103 has moved past the harsh complaining of Psalm 25 but two problems are still lingering and presented in Psalm 103: guilt and mortality.

Psalm 103 is a psalm of confidence that God's mercy and compassion are greater than human sin and mortality. "In the end it is not human righteousness but the abiding trustworthiness of Yahweh that matters decisively."

God's faithfulness is everything and supersedes all else; it transforms human guilt, enabling humans to praise him in spite of circumstances that don't fit the premise given in Psalm 1. Glimpses, hints and hunches of God's good presence are what keeps Israel moving and hoping, moving from trustful naivete (Psalm 1) to trustful abandonment (Psalm 150). (By the way, Brueggemann makes the observation that this is not a one-time journey but is made over and over again in Israel's story, as in ours...)

In this journey Israel is impinged upon, impacted by life's realities; but not only is Israel impinged upon but "the God praised in the psalms is also impinged upon by Israel's assaults, summoned to change and impelled to risk..."

There are no words adequate for such a God and such good news!! His faithfulness is what matters most in the end, and it is discovering and embracing this that inspires faithfulness in his people. Any loss you might experience (and there will always be loss of some sort) by going outside prescribed religious boundaries to find God and his goodness is well worth it. All praise to him! I will close with the doxology of Psalm 150 (The Passion Translation):

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
   Praise God in his holy sanctuary!
   Praise him in his stronghold in the sky!

Praise him for his miracles of might!
   Praise him for his magnificent greatness!

Praise him with the trumpets blasting!
   Praise him with piano and guitar!

Praise him with drums and dancing!
   Praise him with the loud, 
      resounding clash of cybals!
   Praise him with every instrument you can find!

Let everyone everywhere
   join in the crescendo
   of ecstatic praise to 
      Yahweh!
   Hallelujah!
   Praise the Lord! 

 


*'covenantal fidelity guaranteeing moral coherence'