“I will extol You, my God, O King, and I will bless Your Name forever and ever.” Psalm 145:1
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from God. When earthly sources fail us, it is wonderful to have the help of the God who created the heavens and earth.
He created us. He loves us. I want to praise Him every day.
In essence, David is saying to God, “I will speak well of You. I will tell others about Your Name.” Usually, when people are happy with a service or a product, they tell others about it. To speak honorably about God, is an act of praise and worship unto His Name.
“Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your Name forever and ever.” Psalm 145:2
David wants to bless and praise God not only during weekly formal worship services but also in his everyday conversations. When our hearts are full of God, our mouths will naturally speak about Him with reverence and praise. [1]
Praising God should be part of our daily lives. No day should pass without giving God praise—not even a busy day or a difficult and sorrowful day. We should consider praising God one of the most important things we do each day and one of our greatest sources of comfort. [2]
When David says, “I will bless You for ever and ever,” he intends to continue praising God throughout the rest of his life, and then, beyond that, forever and ever in heaven. [3]
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.” Psalm 145:3
God is greatly to be praised. How greatly do we praise Him? Though the height, depth, width and breadth of God’s greatness is beyond our ability to fully understand, we should never stop trying to understand just how great God is.
“One generation shall praise Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts.” Psalm 145:4
Thankfully, though I do praise the works of the Lord and declare His mighty acts, I need not worry that this practice will come to an end when God takes me to be with Him. His Word says one generation after another will continue to praise His works and declare His mighty acts.
“I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness and shall sing of Your righteousness.” Psalm 145:5-7
If you are like me, your mind may tend to wander from one interest to another. David meditated, that is focused his mind, on the majestic glory of God. His thoughts about God overflowed from his mouth. They were good thoughts that made him feel like singing to God.
Proverbs 15:13 says, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance...” Psalm 34:5 says, “They looked to Him [the Lord] and were radiant...” Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine....” In 3 John 1:2, the apostle prayed, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” A soul that is filled with meditations on God’s glory and praise for His Name, prospers and so does the soul’s earthly body.
“The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” Psalm 145:8-9
God saves us according to His grace, great mercy, and compassion. His saving help and loving favor are not something we must earn or merit from God. God gives to us out of the abundance of His generosity and love.
We might behave like His enemy and still receive great blessings from Him. In Romans 5:6-8, it is written, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This may be hard for us to receive. God loved me when I had nothing to offer Him but sin and pain? Yes, He did. This is why God is so great!
God shows kindness to all His creatures, from the greatest angel to the smallest creature. His care extends throughout His creation. His tender mercies are over all his works. [4]
“All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, and Your saints shall bless You.” Psalm 145:10
All of God’s works praise him in some way, just as a beautiful building honors its builder or a well-painted picture honors its painter. [5]
For what should we praise God?
“They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power, to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.” Psalm 145:11-13
When by faith we see God’s glorious kingdom, we want to talk about it and let others know about it. Let us not overly focus on dying things rather than on the things which are forever.
Hebrews 11:10 says of Abraham, “He waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Hebrews 11:26-27 says of Moses, “He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.”
Earthly kingdoms rise and fall, but God’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion endures throughout all generations. [6]
“The Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down.” Psalm 145:14
It is God’s glory to help the weak. Our Lord Jesus still heals the sick and mends broken hearts.
God keeps us from temptation and delivers us from evil. He prevents our fall or quickly restores us back to Himself through forgiveness. He forgives sin and removes the guilt of it.
“The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” Psalm 145:15-16
Every creature depends upon God. He gave them life, and sustains them. Animals search for food according to the instincts God has given them. As Matthew 6:26 reminds us, they do not sow or reap, yet God provides for them. [7]
“The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works.” Psalm 145:17
God makes us sinners right with Him by placing our sin on Christ and by graciously giving to us the righteousness of Christ. After He has redeemed us, He fills us with His Spirit. This is a divine work of grace. We don’t deserve it, but God does this work for us because He loves us.
“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. He also will hear their cry and save them.” Psalm 145:18-19
God is ready to answer our prayers. He draws near to us when we pray. He not only comes near to us when we pray, He answers our prayers to Him in greater ways than we asked or imagined.
“The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.” Psalm 145:20
We may experiences tribulations in this world, but God preserves us who love Him. When the wicked are destroyed, it is because they rejected a relationship with Him. [8]
“My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh shall bless His holy Name forever and ever.” Psalm 145:21
There is always more to say about God. Thus, David began his psalm with praise to God, and ended it with praise to God. [9] May we, like David, have God’s praise continually in our mouths!
[1-9] Material developed and edited from Matthew Henry’s Commentary
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