Reasons for the worship and service of God.
The psalm suggests to us—
I. TWO REASONS FOR PRAISING GOD. (Psalms 135:1-4.)
1. God is worthy of our utmost reverence. "The Lord is good." The truth is too familiar to us to strike us; but if we contrast the character of the God whom we worship with that of the deities of heathen lands (see Psalms 135:15-18), we see and feel how great is our privilege, how excellent a thing it is to pay reverent homage to One who is absolutely pure and true and kind—who is "good" in every attribute, whom we can worship, not only without loss of self-respect, but to our highest spiritual advantage.
2. Praise is pleasant. It is not merely that, in the "service of song," human art may be called into play, and the exercise be tuneful and grateful to the cultured ear, but that to pour out our hearts in united thanksgiving and praise is an act which may fill the soul with pure and elevating joy.
II. GOD'S DISTINGUISHING GOODNESS. "The Lord hath chosen Jacob … for his peculiar treasure." "Ye have not chosen me," said our Lord, "but I have chosen you" (John 15:16). God did show especial kindness to Israel. Jesus Christ conferred a very peculiar honor on his apostles. Our heavenly Father does not treat all his children alike. He is bountiful to us all. He gives to us all more than we deserve, he fills our cup even to overflowing; but he gives to some that which he does not bestow on others. It would be a far less happy world than it is, and there would be far less opportunity for discipline and growth, if there were a dead level of power and privilege. We should not be envious of the special good which others are enjoying, but glad and grateful on their account; we should be observant of and thankful for every peculiar gift granted to ourselves. It is certain that God has "chosen" us for a place in his kingdom and a post in his service.
III. THE EXERCISE OF DIVINE POWER. (Psalms 135:5-11.) God is great; he does what he pleases. He refreshes the earth; he smites kings and peoples in the day of his wrath.
1. He uses his Divine power to fertilize and enrich. God might have been "pleased" to make this earth a dreary and desolate place, but it pleased him to enrich and to adorn it, to give to us large resources for our use, so that, if we are only frugal and industrious, we can live in comfort and abundance.
2. He also uses his power to punish. When nations are guilty, as they have been, he "smites" and scatters and destroys; then "great nations" perish, and "mighty kings" are humbled. Families also, and individual men, are made to know that sin brings down punishment and penalty from God.
IV. THE ACTION OF DIVINE PITY. (Psalms 135:14.) Though God sends his people into exile, yet he will take pity upon them; he will "judge them;" he will vindicate their cause; he will "repent himself concerning his servants," i.e. he will reverse his decision concerning them—he will change penalty into mercy, he will turn banishment into restoration. "God will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever." He sends trouble and affliction, but "not willingly" (Lamentations 3:33); he wounds that he may heal, and, healing, restore to newness of life.
V. OUR DUTY AND OUR WISDOM. (Psalms 135:15-21.) It is sad to think of the vast numbers of men that have spent their powers and their means in vain, on idols that could not hear or speak, on gods that had no existence apart from the darkened imaginations' of men. They are wise indeed, who worship the true and living God, the holy and the loving Savior, who put their trust, not in uncertain riches, but in the living God"—in the Father who will guide and guard them along all the path of life, in the Divine Friend who will sympathize with them and sustain them in all the trials of their course.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY