On the glorious splendor of Your majesty
And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,
And I will tell of Your greatness.
They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness
And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
The LORD is gracious and merciful;
Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
A Childhood Lesson in Uninhibited Joy
A few years ago, I went through a phase where I wanted to know more about what I was like as a child. The result was a smattering of stories from my mama about all my antics, adventures, and misadventures from the time I could talk until we moved to North Carolina when I was eight.
One of my favorites is from the first time I got to fly in an airplane without being an infant in arms. I’m not sure exactly how old I was, but I couldn’t have been much older than five. My family was going on vacation, so we boarded the plane, found our seats, and settled in.
I apparently acted much like a normal child as we taxied to our assigned runway. I stayed glued to the window, watching everything pass by. Pointing as other planes went by and people in neon vests drove vehicles with luggage this way and that.
But when we finally took off… I could not contain my excitement and joy. A resounding “Woohoo!” escaped my lips (I’ve never been good at being quiet), and my hands flew up as if I were on a rollercoaster. There was just so much excitement bouncing around in my little body that I couldn’t hold it in. My poor mama was left to try to shush me before I drew the ire of the other passengers.
Psalm 145 and Christmas
We see a similar kind of outpouring in our final Psalm of the season. Although mine was just an overabundance of excitement and fun, this outpouring is an outpouring of praise.
The Christmas connection in Psalm 145 comes in verses ten through thirteen. These verses focus on the glory and majesty of the kingdom of God. Even more exciting, however, they refer to the spread of the kingdom of God.
In verse ten, David says the godly ones (the saints) will bless God. And over the course of the next two verses, those godly ones start to spread the word to “make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts.”
Hundreds of years before Christ took His first breath, David predicted how the kingdom of God would spread. And, of course, that process began when Jesus was born.
The Next Step in the Process–Praise
One of the things I enjoy about this psalm is that we get to see the entire process we’ve been walking through with this series. In verse five, we see David adoring God by meditating on who He is and resting in that knowledge.
In verses six and seven, we see a reflection on what God has done and the resulting shouts of joy. And by verse eight, David declares that God is “gracious and merciful” and “great in lovingkindness.”
After going through this process–adore, rest, and rejoice–the natural reaction, the natural overflow, is praise.
From Private Meditation to Public Proclamation
The first three steps in this process are the setup. They are the internal prep work that creates the right spiritual posture for the external outpouring of praise. And this last step is a crucial part of the process.
Every step leading up to this overflow of praise has been for our own benefit. While there is also much to be gained psychologically from praising God, this is the part of the process that fulfills the prophecy in verses eleven and twelve. When we praise God, we are making our adoration and joy public. We’re spreading the gospel by making known the mighty acts of God.
Making Your Joy Public This Christmas
That’s our challenge this week. Now that we’ve spent three weeks preparing our hearts for Christmas, let’s share that joy with others by praising God and letting God use our testimony to draw others to Himself. What better way to honor the coming of the Messiah?
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