Psalm 115:9-15
9 O Israel, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in
the LORD; He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the LORD,
trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.
12 The LORD has been mindful
of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the
house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who
fear the LORD, Both small and great.
14 May the LORD give you
increase more and more, You and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the
LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
The blessings of the LORD do
not just randomly fall upon someone or upon a nation. Yet if there is anything
that we really need it is the blessings of God to be on us. To be blessed by
God means that God’s face is shining upon us. That He is obviously protecting
and providing for us. It means that His presence can be seen and felt in our
lives and in our nation. If a person or a nation turns away from the true and
living God from heaven, He turns away from them. Before God judges and chastens
us, He first begins to withhold His blessings and instead of experiencing peace
and security we begin to see confusion, chaos, corruption and violence.
Jesus first recorded message
in Matthew 5 begins with the qualifications that are needed to enjoy the
blessings of God. The very first requirement to enjoy the blessings of the LORD
is to be “poor in spirit”. This of course is the opposite of being “proud in
spirit”. We must humble ourselves and become beggars, humbly and desperately
seeking after God and His presence and power in our lives.
Remember in Psalm 115 the
Gentile pagan people are asking the question of the Jewish remnant, “Where is
your God”. The psalmist is giving them the answer in this chapter. God is
reigning in heaven over all His creation and is doing whatever He pleases (vv.
1- 3). He next tells them that their idol gods that they worship are nothing
more that a piece of wood covered with some gold and silver that can’t talk,
walk, smell, hear or don’t anything (vv. 4-8).
Now in verses 9-15, the theme is,
"Trust the Lord and He will give His blessing", and how the
discouraged remnant needed that assurance! They needed His blessing on their
crops, and they wanted their number to increase (v. 14). Of course, the Lord
had stated this in His covenant with Israel (Lev. 26:1-13; Deut. 28:1-14), and
all they needed was His reminder. In verses 11 and 13, "those who fear
God" were the ones who qualified for His blessings. God had been Abraham's
"help and shield" (Gen. 15:1), and He will also protect us and
provide for us (Psalm 3:3; 28:7; 33:20; Deut. 33:29). Because Jehovah God is
the "Maker of heaven and earth" (v. 15; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 146:6;
Isa. 40:12-26; Jer. 10:11), we should worship Him and not what He has created
or what we manufacture ourselves.
Next the psalmist reminds the
remnant that our living God deserves our praise (vv. 16-18). The word
"bless" is used five times in verses 12-15, and we cannot live
without His blessing, but it is also good for us to bless the Lord (v. 18). To
"bless the Lord" means to ascribe all glory and praise to Him, to
delight His heart with our joyful and willing thanksgiving and obedience. (See
16:7; 26:12; 34:1; 100:4; 103:1; 134:2.)
God made the earth and gave it
to men and women to meet their needs and give them work to do, cooperating with
Him in the development of His abundant resources (v. 16; Gen. 2:8-25). The
people who worship dead idols are also dead, but we are alive in Jesus Christ
and ought to extol the Lord! After all, if we expect to praise Him forevermore,
we had better start now and be ready when we see Him!
We must fear the LORD and seek
Him with our whole hearts if we want to experience and enjoy His blessings! Are
the blessings of the LORD evident in your life and family to the questioning
pagans around you?
God bless!
