“Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.”
– Psalm 115:3
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you feel about wanting God to bless you? Are you expecting God to bless you? Why would God want to bless you? What would being blessed by God look like to you? Who do you think God blesses? God blessing is the underlying premise or theme for the psalm song writer who scribed Psalm 115. Per this psalm song writer, every guy, gal or kid who puts his or her trust in God will be blessed. The writer of this psalm song may have scribed his psalm song to be chanted during the dedication ceremony of the temple of God that was in the city of Jerusalem. The temple of God that was in the city of Jerusalem had recently been rebuilt by God’s specially chosen guys who had been allowed to return to their homes in the city of Jerusalem after God had them – because of their incessant rebellious attitudes and actions against Him, live as exiles in the country of Babylonia during the 70 years of the existence of the country of Babylonia. Or the writer of this psalm song may have scribed his psalm song as a praise song to be liturgically chanted during the worship time in the restored temple of God that was in the city Jerusalem. Or the writer of this psalm song may have scribed his psalm song to be sung as a praise chant to honor the love and faithfulness that the one true God was proactively demonstrating to His specially chosen guys and gals. The writer of this psalm song scribed five liturgical exchanges in his psalm song. This first half of this praise psalm song has the guys and gals who are in the temple of God that is in the city of Jerusalem chanting an indictment against the people groups of guys and gals who absurdly claim that there is no divine God. The chanting denunciations by the guys and gals who are in the temple of God against the unbelieving people groups guys and gals specifically focus on the idol gods that guys among these unbelieving people group guys and gals have made with their hands from silver and gold. The chanting condemnations by the guys and gals in the temple of God regarding the idol gods that were handmade by guys is a vocal reminder to these unbelieving people group guys and gals that their idol gods have mouths that cannot speak, eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hear, noses that cannot smell, hands that cannot feel, feet that cannot walk and throats that cannot make a sound. The psalm song writer as he began his psalm song facetiously scribed a reminder to God’s specially chosen guys and gals as they chanted their song part, that the guys who made idol gods and the guys and gals who trust in manmade idol gods are just like these mute, blind, deaf and immobile objects. This psalm song writer also factually wrote in the first part of his psalm song – in verse 3, “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.”
This psalm song goes on with the Levi tribal clan choir leader and the Levi tribal clan choir that was in the temple of God – that had been reconstructed in the city of Jerusalem, chanting about the need for God’s specially chosen guys and gals to trust in God – reminding them that God is the only source for their help and protection. The guys and gals who worshipped God in the temple of God would then follow with another chant that reminded them that as they fear God that they will be blessed. The Levi tribal clan priests in the temple of God responded with a chant claiming God’s blessings on His specially chosen guys and gals. God’s specially chosen guy and gals who had met together in the temple of God end this psalm song with a chant that first told God that He is the Lord of the heavens while they are His planet Earth residents. This psalm song’s final chant – which is chanted by the guys and gals who have gotten together in the temple of God, told God that His specially chosen guys and gals have finally gotten it; that the guys and gals who have come to a heart understanding of Who He is as God will always praise Him – even after death as the death experience is only a momentary silence before personally meeting God face to face, while the guys and gals who never come to having a heart understanding of Who God is will always invariably be suffering an anguish filled, eternal death.
Does the Christ-follower community of guys and gals that your dad and ma attend do liturgy? A liturgical service may become ritualistic or lack in spontaneity but . . . the Christ-follower fellowship of guys and gals – the Christian Reformed Church that is in Volga, South Dakota – where your grandpaa’s dad and ma attended all their lives, has a carefully scripted Sunday morning service that is dutifully followed. Deviating from the established Sunday morning service norm in the Christ-follower community that your grandpaa’s dad and ma went to would invariably lead to a complaint from a congregant. Your grandpaa at times wishes that he could worship again in a Christ-follower fellowship that encourages congregational involvement through singing hymns, reciting a creed, responsive Bible reading and listening to pastoral teachings on core church dogmas. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have not found a Christ-follower fellowship that they like where they now live in the Gainesville, Georgia area. Your grandpaa’s take on what worship is like today has morphed because of a contextual attempt to meet a societal demographic while satisfying a communal norm. Your grandpaa thinks that Christ-follower fellowships of guys and gals today – as they do things to satisfy numbers instead of for pleasing God, are missing out on God’s blessings.
Psalm 115 (1016)