A couple of weeks ago I was asked to preach on Psalm 135 at my home church. Although I no longer have time to write daily bible study notes, I thought I’d share it here in a few posts this week, since I found it to be more thought-provoking than it appeared on first reading.

Psalm 135:1-7

Psalm 135 starts off with a call to praise God.

135:1 Praise the LORD! [Hebrew: Hallelujah!]
Praise the name of the LORD

It’s a call to praise God for his name: his character and reputation. More specifically, it was a call for those whose role it was to lead worship to do their job in leading the people in worship.

135:2 praise him, you servants of the LORD,
you who minister in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God.

And why should we praise God?

135:3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.

So we’re to praise God, because he’s good. Fair enough! But still, it’s a bit vague. Specifically, why is he good? What aspect of his goodness are we focussing on?

135:4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,
Israel to be his treasured possession.

God is good, because he’s chosen Israel to be his special people. But again, why? Why did God “play favourites” with Israel, as it were? The next verse—and the rest of the Psalm—lets us know that the context of this is the idolatry of the surrounding nations. Worshiping other gods they’ve made for themselves, rather than the one true God who made them!

135:5 I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods.

Originally, humanity was created to bear God’s image to the rest of creation. To be his deputies. Ruling over the world he made. Caring for it. Using its resources to sustain life. (See Gen 1:26-29.)

But by Genesis chapter 3, it had all gone horribly wrong. Instead of reflecting God’s loving care and rule over creation, we decided that we wanted to call the shots. To be the ones who get to decide what’s good and what’s evil. To “be like God,” as the serpent put it (Gen 3:5). So God stepped back and left us to the consequences. And hasn’t that gone brilliantly…

Although we wanted to be our own gods, that didn’t last long. We ended up making gods for ourselves, by our own hands. Literally: making carved images of stone and wood; or casting idols of silver and gold. And metaphorically: idolising the work of our hands and the ideas of our minds. So that what we made to serve us has ended up ruling over us. (We’ll talk more about that later in the Psalm.)

So the reason God chose Israel to become the people of God—which now, post-Jesus, includes us— wasto demonstrate what it’s like when you stop trusting in the idols of the world and instead worship the one true God. To show the nations around what it’s like to have God on your side; when we place our confidence in God, rather than the product of our own ingenuity.

Again, why? Why is God trustworthy? Why is he greater than all the other gods we’ve devised for ourselves?

God provides for his people

Firstly, it’s because God can provide for us. He made the world. He designed it to sustain life. He knows what he’s doing with it.

For the most part, idols in the ancient world were worshipped out of the superstitious belief that they controlled the elements. Particularly the Canaanite god Ba’al. He was the god associated with fertility. Ba’al was the one who was thought to bring rain, which is essential to grow food and sustain life.

That’s why, back before they even entered the promised land, God warned Israel not to take his provision for granted. Or be influenced by the Canaanites who lived there into thinking that Ba’al was the one looking after them! God said:

Deut 11:13-14, 16-17 “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul —then I will send rain on your land in its season… [But] Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce.”

Today, we might not think carved idols have anything to do with keeping us well-fed. But where do you place your trust that you’ll be able to feed yourself and your family tomorrow? God? Or some combination of your bank balance, the local supermarket, and the supply chain it relies on? Yet If the pandemic taught us anything, it reminded us that supply chains can topple in an instant. And we were left chastened, praying “give us this day our daily toilet paper.”

God provides, not idols like Ba’al.

Back in the ancient world, Ba’al was usually depicted holding a thunderbolt. Like an off-brand Thor; probably played by Luke Hemsworth. (Who, I think we can all agree, is the budget Hemsworth.) And Ba’al was said to keep all his spare thunderbolts in a “storehouse” somewhere. Like a doomsday prepper in Arkansas. But Psalm 135 says this—not about Ba’al, but about Israel’s God:

135:7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

God is the one who’s to be praised for giving us fields of plenty. God is the one to be trusted to provide when our hands are empty. Not some pagan deity; nor Woolworths, the fresh food people.

The first reason God is greater than idols that he’s the one who’s able to provide for his people. (We’ll look at the second one tomorrow.)

To think about

What are the other sources of trust you are tempted to rely on to provide for your needs? (e.g. as noted above, supermarkets, your job, superannuation, insurance). At what point do these good things become idolatrous?

What habits or practices might you put in place to remind you that your ultimate source of security is God?