Psalm 115

¹ Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.
² Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?”
³ Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
⁴ But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;
⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell;
⁷ they have hands, but cannot feel feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them and so will all who trust in them.
⁹ O house of Israel, trust in the LORD –he is their help and shield.
¹⁰ O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD –he is their help and shield.
¹¹ You who fear him trust in the LORD – he is their help and shield.
¹² The LORD remembers us and 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 – small and great alike.
¹⁴ May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children.
¹⁵ May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man.
¹⁷ It is not the dead who praise the LORD those who go down to silence;
¹⁸ it is we who extol the LORD, both now and forevermore.

Praise the LORD.

In chapter one of his book Knowledge of The Holy, A.W. Tozer writes:

That our idea of God corresponds as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creed statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are, we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.

By studying God’s Word daily, we get to look into his mirror of truth. It is amazing how the first impression of the people we meet are later changed as we grow to know the other person better. If we get pass the first impression our personal relationship with that person will usually deepen and grow richer. This is also true of our idea of God. This relationship grows once we learn the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. In today’s reading the phrase fear of the Lord or fear the Lord is used in Psalm 111, Psalm 112, Psalm 115 and Proverb 23. So, as a starting point in developing a better relationship with God ask yourself this question “What does the fear of the Lord mean to me?”. Therefore, as I study the Psalms and the rest of God’s Word I must start off with a fear of the Lord that looks at God as creator of this universe and a God that does whatever pleases Him.

Verses sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen gets us the focus of our praise. Our praise goes to the Lord of heaven, not to men on this earth. No matter how powerful a man becomes, no matter how rich a man becomes, no matter how famous a man becomes; he will die. Those who gods are created by man will die and go down in silence; however, we who extol the Lord will praise the Lord both now and forever. Yes, we have life eternal.