A Study in Psalms - Psalm 136

Tonight we're gonna look at Psalm 136 and it's called the Great Halel. I can't, I don't have that Halel, how you say in Jewish, but Halel means praise, so it's the great praise. Psalms 113 to 118 are called the Egyptian Halel and they sing those every Passover because Psalms 113 to 118 are about the exodus from Egypt, so they're called the Egyptian Halel, but what Psalm 136 is called the Great Halel. So I want to start off talking about a little bit about history. I was born in Sudan, Africa, raised in Ethiopia, so history has always been one of my favorite subjects, and then we came back to the United States to study United States history, but apparently history is not very popular in America.

In fact, it's one of the most hated subjects. I don't know, was it for you guys? Did you like history? No, okay. So I read about this poll and I guess it was during the Obama years, but there was this poll tech, a student group in Texas Tech University. They went around campus and they asked three questions to the students. Now these are not fifth graders, these are college students. First question, who won the Civil War?

And they got answers from the South and most didn't know. The second question is, who is our vice president?

And nobody was able to answer that. You know who it was? The current president. So I think he was in the basement then, so they didn't know him then. And the last question is, who did we gain our independence from? And most students could not answer that. I find that shocking, but apparently that's what our history is not well liked. So a lack of knowledge in American history is not limited to college students. They did a study and they asked 2,500 Americans, how many branches, and can you name the three branches of our government in the United States?

And over half of the people could not do it. So history is not well liked by American kids these days, even though I liked it. And it reminds me of that quote by George Santayana, who said, those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. And while American children are forgetting their history and they're starting to learn false history, if you've heard about this 1619 project, Jewish children know their history, especially the Orthodox Jews and the Assyric Jews, they would know their history.

Why? Well one reason is they would have this psalm memorized and they would sing this psalm almost every Sabbath, but they would definitely do it on Hanukkah and especially Passover. This is a salvation history psalm, that's why I'm talking about history. It gives the history of the Jews from creation to the Exodus to the wilderness wanderings to how God provided for them helping in the conquest. So it's called a salvation history psalm. So it just reviews God's saving works among the nation of Israel.

Israel obviously is a special nation in God's eyes and in the history of the world. So we're going to read Psalm 136 like they do in the synagogue, like they do in the temple, and I'm going to be the Levite, I'm going to be the rabbi, and you're going to be the congregation. The problem is there's a bunch of translations of your Bible out there, that's why I put it on the back. Okay, so you know one translation says mercy, another translation says loving-kindness, and another says steadfast love.

So if we all start using our translations it's going to be bad. So I'll read the first line and you'll read the second line.

So let's do it out loud like we would do it in a Jewish congregation and like they would do it on Passover. Okay, Psalms 136, first line, give thanks to the Lord for he is good.

Give thanks to the God of gods. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. To him who alone does great wonders. To him who by understanding made the heavens. To him who spread out the earth above the waters. To him who made the great lights. The sun to rule over the day, the moon and stars to rule the night. To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt and brought Israel out from among them. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm. To him who divided the Red Sea in two and made Israel pass through the mists of it, but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea.

To him who led his people through the wilderness. To him who struck down great kings and killed mighty kings. Sion king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan and gave their land as a heritage. A heritage to Israel his servant. It is he who remembered us in our lowest state and rescued us from our foes. He who gives food to all flesh. Give thanks to the God of heaven for his steadfast love endures forever. Let's pray. Father your steadfast love does endure forever and each of us here is grateful for Jesus for the salvation you provide.

As this is our last psalm tonight we just ask you to open our eyes we could see wonderful things in your law. May we give you the thanks the glory that you deserve in Jesus name. Amen. So I mentioned that this is the great Halal the great praise psalm and it's sung especially at Passover. Where it's placed in the order of the 150 psalms is a little interesting. Psalms 120 to 134 are called the song of ascent psalms. There's 15 of them and they were sung when the three times a year the pilgrims would go to the temple.

So that leaves in Psalm 135 and Psalm 136 this one. And they would sing Psalm 135 and Psalm 136 together in the worship at the feasts. And we'll look at Psalm 135 in a minute because there's a lot of parallels a lot of common verses.

Psalms 135 contrasts the Lord to the idols. Psalms 136 just expounds the steadfast love of the Lord. I mentioned this is a salvation history psalm. There are I think five history psalms. Psalm 78 which has 72 verses. History maybe that's why a lot of people don't long. Psalm 105 which has 45 verses. Psalms 106 which has 48 verses. So those three are kind of the longest psalms. And of course Psalm 135 and 136. They focus a review on the history of God's savings works among the people of Israel and especially focus on the deliverance from the bondage in Egypt.

You notice like last week's Psalm 112 there is no superscription. We don't know who write it. Most commentators feel this is a post-exilic when they came back from Babylon this was written but you really can't prove that. So you have an outline on the other side. Five points and we'll go into point number one.

Thanks to the one true God. So we have three beautiful verses here. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. Give thanks to the God of gods. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. And we have three sub points the great command there. So we have a command to give thanks. There are three other psalms that begin like this. Psalms 106 one says praise the Lord. Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good for a steadfast love endures forever. Psalms 107 one. Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good for a steadfast love endures forever.

And Psalm 118 one. Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good for a steadfast love endures forever. Derek Kinder said giving thanks is not the whole meaning of the word. It basically means confess or acknowledge and it therefore calls us to a thoughtful and grateful worship spelling out what we know or have found out about God's glory in his deeds. So you notice each of the first three verses it says there's a cry to give thanks.

And if you notice verse 26 finished with a cry to give thanks. So this is another inclusio where the first verse and the last verse say the same thing.

So you've got it like bookends quite common in this psalm. So it says give thanks. The last verse says give thanks to the God of heaven and we'll talk about that later. Then it says sub point B not only is it a great command the command is to give thanks to the great God. You notice a threefold description of God.

We have Lord capital L or D. Then we have the God of gods and then we have the Lord of lords. The psalmist may have got this the second least the God of gods and the Lord of lords from Deuteronomy 10 17 Deuteronomy 10 17 says for the Lord your God is a God of gods and a Lord of lords the great the mighty and awesome God who is not partial and takes no bride.

Now when you see that expression God of large God of small God large Lord of small lords it does not mean there are other gods. It just means that the false religions called them gods. It doesn't mean that the gods they're false gods. When we looked at Psalm 29 if you were here with us we looked at 10 different names of God in the Psalms and you notice here tonight we have three of them.

In English it would be it would be Jehovah God and Lord. In Hebrew it's Yahweh Elohim and Adonai. So the first one is obviously LORD capital that's Yahweh.

That's the self-existent God. That's what God calls his name I am. Then we have number two God of gods that's Elohim and Elohim is the supreme deity.

He's the powerful ruler of all and then you have small LORD and that's Adonai. It means Lord or master who exercises control. So such descriptions of God show a clear emphasis on his uniqueness. He is the one and only true God of Israel and Israel would give thanks to that one true God and we quoted time after time the psalmist would say give thanks to God. So not only is a great command it's a great God there's great praise. Notice what verse 1 says for he is good give thanks to God for he is good.

God is good and kind to his people the children of Israel and the whole psalm is basically about the goodness of God and how he took care of Israel. I'll quote Spurgeon a few times tonight if you love this psalm Spurgeon has a six volume commentary called the Treasury of Psalms and I probably quoted Spurgeon a couple times but his 136 this one was probably my favorite of Spurgeon that I've liked and Spurgeon said God is good beyond all others indeed he alone is good in the highest sense he is the source of good the good of all good the sustainer of good the perfecter of good for this he deserves the constant gratitude of his people it is divine goodness that has been showered upon us upon us and the nation of Israel so God is good and then the line that you just said 26 times for his steadfast love endures forever this phrase is used 41 times including the 26 times here in the Old Testament it's a very famous chorus a few weeks ago we sang forever right I don't know Chris Tomlin's probably my favorite Christian artist and he has a song called forever and ever since Tim sang that I've been going through my head and all week long I've been playing it it's a very neat song called forever and it's from Psalms 136 now we have different words here the ESV says for his steadfast love endures forever the NIV which is I think what Chris Tomlin took the song from says his love endures the NASB says loving kindness the LSB the new translation says loving kindness and the King James Old King James New King James say mercy now why are there so many words well it's because there's not a single word in the Hebrew word has said or has said there's no single English word that can capture the meaning of that Hebrew word some commentators argue about whatever word and whatever translation they do dr.

bill barrack who's got some wonderful things in Psalms they're out there and if you want to look them up online you can free online just look up dr. bill barrack and Psalms but he would say loyal love would be the best translation but I think the for us the NASB use of kindness loving kindness says a lot to us we know God is love but God is also kind to us kind to the nation of Israel one commentator said when this is applied to God it speaks of divine commitment and loving concern which remains unchanging in the face of all human frailty and fickleness it is so beautiful his steadfast love it endures forever and ever the first use in the Bible is in 2nd Chronicles 5 3 when they brought the ark into the temple this is the song they're singing then at 2nd Chronicles 7 3 they dedicate the temple they sing this song Ezra 311 when they lay the foundation for the second temple they sing this song and when there was no temple in it was destroyed in Jeremiah 33 11 Jeremiah is prophesying that a new temple will be built and they sing give thanks to the Lord of hosts for the Lord is good his steadfast love endures forever so it's a very famous song among the Jews Spurgeon said talking about the mercy of God here for his mercy endures forever God mingles mercy with his justice and reigns for the benefit of his subjects he pities the sorrowful protects the helpless provides for the needy and pardons the guilty and this he does from generation to generation never weary of his grace because he delighteth in mercy let us arouse ourselves to laud our glorious Lord so the question is we know the nation of Israel has been given the command to praise the Lord to give thanks to the Lord in Psalms over 50 times it tells us to give thanks that's why probably the most convicting I've had in this summer of series in my study which began a few months ago is am I praising God enough it's so easy to complain God about the politics California taxes whatever but am I giving him thanks enough the New Testament says in Ephesians 5 for let there be no filthiness or foolish talk or crude joking which are out of place but instead let there be Thanksgiving Philippians says do not be anxious about anything Philippians 4 6 but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your request be made known to God Colossians 112 give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the Saints in light for Cecily's 518 says give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you first Timothy 2 1 says first of all I urge that supplications prayers intercessions and Thanksgiving be made for all people so if you're not going to thank God here on earth you are if you have Jesus Christ in your heart you're going to heaven you will be thanking him in a lot in Revelation in heaven because Revelation 11 16 says and the 24 elders which Lance says is a church who sit on the throne before God fell on their faces and worship God verse 17 saying we give thanks to you Lord God Almighty who was in his and was for you have taken your great power and began to reign so we should thank God not no way to get to heaven we should be thanking him now all right let's move to point 2 and point 2 is thanks to the God of creation you know Henry Morris who's really big on creation and Genesis but he also wrote a nice book about Psalms he loves the Psalms too and he says the creation of the universe stands out among all the religions of the world as unique to the God of the Bible not Islam not Hinduism not Buddhism but the God of the Jews and the God we have is is the all about creation we study this in depth in our study in Psalms 8 God wants you to know that he is the God of creation Psalms 115 15 says may you be blessed of Yahweh who made heaven and earth Psalms 121 to my help comes from Yahweh who made heaven and earth Psalms 124 8 our help is in the name of Yahweh who made heaven and earth Psalms 134 3 may Yahweh bless you from Zion who made heaven and earth Psalms 146 who made the heaven and earth the sea and all that's in them Proverbs 319 says the Lord by wisdom founded the earth by understanding he established the heavens and Jeremiah 10 12 says it is he who made the earth by his power who established the world by wisdom and his understanding stretched out the heavens so we have four points here great wonders great wisdom great lights and great no three points in this one sorry so remember this is poetic language this is not scientific language so let's look at great wonders verse 4 says to him notice we already talked about the three names of God Yahweh Elohim and Adonai now eight times it says to him to him to him speaking of Yahweh but use just using a personal pronoun so he says that God has done great wonders he means creation here and God alone did great wonders or great miracles here and then God did those great wonders because he has great wisdom in verses five and six two more to him to him who by understanding made the heavens to him who spread out the earth above the waters so creation reveals the great wisdom of God you know how the water comes down when it rains it flows into the river it goes out to the ocean and evaporates goes back up in the clouds the cycle no evolution could not do that so verse 5 and ESV says understanding and maybe your translation of your Bible says with skill with skill God made the heavens and he made it with great skill Isaiah 44 24 says thus says the Lord your Redeemer who formed you from the womb I am the Lord who made all things who alone stretched out the heavens who spread out the earth by myself so then we have great lights versus seven to nine another to him he made great lights and it says that the Sun to rule over the day the moon and stars to rule over the night we we quoted Psalms 19 quite often that says the heavens declare the glory of God the skies proclaim the work of his hand so he talks about the Sun and just I'm not going to go into the science but the Sun is the closest star to earth right it's a star it's 150 million kilometers away from earth but the gravitational pull of the Sun holds planet earth in its orbit and the Sun gives light it gives heat which makes it possible for our life to exist on earth so the great light the second great light is the moon and the moon's gravitational pull on earth is the main reason we have low tide and high tide in the oceans and the moon orbiting around the Sun marks out our year our months and the seasons okay God designed that then he says stars the stars have been used for thousands of years you can go back to Amos 4 8 and I think it's Job 28 you know Job was probably one of the first books ever written possibly before Genesis was hard to know but Job they knew the constellations you know we know the Big Dipper but they knew the Orion why did they know them from three four five thousand years ago because they traveled with them the sailors would navigate with the stars help sailors traffic travelers and sailors to navigate throughout earth for many years so God wants everyone to acknowledge that he is the creator the maker of heaven and earth and we as the children of Israel also need to give thanks for his wonderful creation let's move into point three and you notice point three point three is thanks for God conquest and it's it's 13 verses it's half the psalm so this is the the history here of the nation of Israel so go back go back to Psalm 135 just before the psalm we're looking at and notice the parallel go to Psalm 135 verse 8 and you'll notice it's almost exactly like Psalm 136 verses 10 to 22 so Psalm 135 verses 8 to 12 says he it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt both man and a beast who in your midst of Egypt sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings sigh on King of the Amorites and odd King of Bashan and all the kingdoms of Canaan and gave their land as a heritage a heritage to his people Israel so so it's almost exactly like Psalm 135 verse 8 to 12 like Psalm 136 verse 10 to 12 because they would sing these two psalms together on the special days of Passover Hanukkah for sub points great exodus great wanderings great kings and great lands so the great exodus so there's two points kind of beginning he's going to talk about verses 10 to 12 about the exodus and then he's going to go in about the Red Sea so the great exodus first there's a verse in Deuteronomy 434 and I love it because it basically says what God does God is speaking and God says has any other God attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation by trials by signs by wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and by great deeds of terror all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes so God asked rhetorical question is there any other nation any other God ever attempted to do that and obviously the answer is no so God here in the Exodus demonstrates his omnipotence by delivering Israel from the bondage in Egypt notice that the psalmist doesn't talk about plagues one to nine he just talks about plague 10 which was the worst plague the plagues got more fierce and fierce and fierce you know at first it was just the blood and gnats and flies but then the animals were destroyed crops were destroyed but here he talks about the worst plague and that's the 10th plague where if they did not have blood on the mantle of the Lord struck down the firstborn of Pharaoh in all Egypt that was the final plague that Pharaoh said get out get out notice verse 12 he says with a strong hand and outstretched arm that's a metaphor for the hand of God that's a metaphor for God's great power on behalf of his people so there was a great exodus and then they exited they went and waited by the Red Sea and here you have I think you're in the seventh to him verse 13 says to him who divided the Red Sea in two and verse 14 and made Israel pass through the midst of it verse 15 and overthrew Pharaoh and host of the Red Sea the greatest demonstration of God's power in the New Testament is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead the greatest demonstration of God's power in the Old Testament is the exodus from Egypt and especially the parting of the Red Sea and Israel walking through on dry lands because God showed Pharaoh that his gods were false and that he was the one true God and he destroyed Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea so once they got through the great exodus they were supposed to go to the promised land about 11 day journey it would they would have been there 11 days if they had obeyed God but you know what happened they didn't obey God right so then they had great wandering so great wandering is just one verse verse 16 says to him who led his people through the wilderness okay 40 years 11 date what was supposed to be 11 day journey became a 40-year journey the children miserable would wander through the wilderness but even in the punishment God was always with them now they did a lot of you can call it the wanderings or the complainings they would complain about water they'd complain about food a lot of problems but God was always with them even in disobedience remember they had a pillar of cloud by day to follow them to guide them they had a pillar of fire to protect them overnight they had manna they had quail they had water the Bible tells us that even the sandals on their feet did not wear out after 40 years so there was a great wandering for 40 years then we have great kings great kings verses 17 to 20 we'll spend a little bit of time here because this is a very very famous theme in the Old Testament so I think we have the last to him and what did him God struck down great kings we already talked about striking down Pharaoh Pharaoh's the king he already struck down Pharaoh in Egypt but if you go to the book of Joshua chapter 12 you don't have to turn them tonight but it just lists all the battles and it lists the two battles we're going to talk about now and then it lists 31 kings that God destroyed so altogether 33 kings were destroyed in Joshua 12 now most these kings are small like the king of Jericho the walls found out not a lot a lot of big land but the two here Sion and Og they have huge swaths of land okay these are mighty kings okay so in Exodus we have 14 chapters of about Pharaoh but in the Old Testament we just have a few verses about Sion and Og so numbers 21 our psalm says Sion king of the Amorites so what do we know about him numbers 2121 says Israel sent messengers to Sion king of the Amorites saying let us pass through your land we will not turn aside to the field or vineyard we will not drink water we will go on the Kings Highway so they didn't want to mess with the Amorites they just wanted to go through to get to the promised land this side of the Jordan so they're on this they're on the east side of the Jordan now they want to get up and go over that side but Sion would not allow Israel to pass through his territory he gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to J has and fought against Israel and numbers 2124 says and Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from Arnon to the job book as far as the Ammonites for the border of the Ammonites was strong it just says Israel defeated them we have no not a lot of details about the battle and this was a huge nation a huge army Sion was a very famous and powerful king if you look on the map Moab is down here Sion conquered Moab and there's songs in the Bible about Sion conquering Moab so they were they were very proud about their army and the fact that they had conquered Moab but he would not conquer Israel so then you get to verse 20 of our psalm and it says ogg ogg king of Bashan so what do we know about ogg well if you're in numbers 21 it says then Israel turned and went up by way of Bashan and ogg king of Bashan came out against them he and all his people to battle at in Edry but the Lord said to Moses do not fear him for I have given him into your hand and all his people and his land and you shall do to him as you did to Sion king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbron and the verse 35 just says so they defeated him and his sons and all his people until he had no survivor left and they possessed the land that's all numbers 21 says doesn't tell us about the battle doesn't tell us how many big the armies were but when you look at Chronicles and other we find out about ogg ogg was the king of Bashan was from a race of Giants they were called the rep the the refium and this is the guy that had that iron bed that was 13.5 feet long you remember that so this is that guy he ruled 60 cities 60 cities and these the Bible tells us these cities were fortified with high walls gates and bars but God doesn't tell us how Israel conquered all those high maybe the walls fell down like Jericho I don't know God doesn't tell us but Israel destroyed them one commendator said that ogg was a giant but in God's eyes he was a pygmy and God gave God gave victory to Israel now how many of you read through the Old Testament like once a year any of you guys okay does that term Scion King of the Amorites and ogg King Bashan it comes up a bunch of times doesn't it it's kind of crazy it comes up in numbers 21 comes up in Deuteronomy 1 2 3 4 29 and 31 it mentions these two kings in Joshua 2 Joshua 9 Joshua 12 Joshua 13 judges 11 first Kings 4 Nehemiah 9 and Psalms 35 in Psalms 130 that's 16 times so God keeps talking about through the Holy Spirit keeps talking about Scion King of the Amorites and ogg King of Bashan Israel God conquered them so you know children of Israel were to learn this this was their history these great battles so I think it was important because God conquered these two mighty kings these were big kings I wish I had a map but I couldn't find one in the Sunday school rooms but you remember the map and some of you have maps in the end of your Bibles and they have the the twelve tribes of Israel so when you look at the right side of the Jordan there's three tribe half tribe of Manasseh then you have the Reubenites and you have the Gadites right two and a half tribes it's a huge piece of land just a massive piece of land and it's a good land okay we'll talk about that next so great lands verse 21 says and gave their land as a heritage in verse 22 a heritage to his servant Israel so two times it says the land was a heritage originally they were just going to go through the land up to the Kings Highway because they were going to cross the Jordan and that was supposed to be the promised land well now they've conquered just thousands upon thousands of acres of land here and and God says I'm going to give that to you as your property as your heirs of mine so God gave that land and you know the these two the land was apparently very good because the Bible tells us that the Reubenites the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh came to Moses and said we've got a lot of cattle we've got a lot of sheep and this is very good grazing land can we stay on this side of the land and Moses at first thought they weren't willing to go with their brothers but they were so the women and children and the animals stayed but the army of those two and a half tribes went and you remember at the end of Joshua they came back so this was apparently great lands you know I was I was reading that the Bible tells us that the promised land was a land flowing with milk and honey you know that phrase 20 times it says a land flowing of milk and honey in seven different Old Testament books that was the promised land that's how it's described so it's great lands for the children of Israel so I think that defeating these two kings these very large kings even though we don't have a lot of history about the battle it gave the children of Israel great strength great courage because then they crossed the Jordan and then it was Jericho a high you know it can sin but then it was boom boom boom boom 31 kings consecutively were conquered the only drawback was the sin of at a high but because God gave him the victory over these great kings I think it gave him encouragement when they crossed the Jordan and went to the west side and defeated 31 more kings so let's move on to point four thanks to the Savior of all and I think we we and the children of Israel can relate to verses 23 to 25 notice the change in verse 23 it says it is he who remembered us us so this is the first time the psalmist utilizes the personal reference with first personal pronouns the the psalmist if he's the worship leader if he's the Levite he identifies with the worshipers in these verses so we have great grace here we have great Redeemer and we have great food so let's talk about great grace is said he who remembered us in our lowest state God remembered us God remembered Israel God chose them in Genesis 12 okay he promised to make them a great name and a great nation he promised to give them a great land he never forgot about them even when he disciplined them even when he punished them he would always promise restoration if they put their idols and way in return to the Lord the psalmist says that we were in a lowest state now Deuteronomy 7 says that Israel wasn't a great nation it says that the Lord God chose you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth and then Deuteronomy 7 7 says it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord said his love on you and chose you for you are the fewest of all peoples but it's because the Lord loves you and is keeping his oath that he swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeem you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh so the psalmist says they were in a lowest state then and God brought them out God God remembered the children of Israel in lowest state and he remembers us in our lowliest state first Peter 2 9 says that God chose us like the nation of Israel but he chose us to be a chosen people to be a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation of people for his own possession that we might proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light you just need to come to Christ with humility and admit you're a sinner and and separate yourselves and and then ask God Romans 5 8 says God demonstrates his love to us in this while we were sinners while we were in a state he sent Christ to die for us so there's great grace for the children of Israel and there's great great for us for us let's look at verse 24 the great Redeemer it says he rescued us from our foes God rescued us like the nation of Israel you know and you look at the book of Judges one of the gloomiest darkest but I don't really enjoy reading that book a lot especially the last chapter of Judges just how bad it is seven cycles of sin right seven times they they had it good then they went to idols then they cried out to God God sent him a deliverer and then they then the judge would win and then they'd have 40 years 80 years but then they'd go right back into sin God would always rescued him by sending him a deliverer Spurgeon says in our case of redemption which is in Jesus Christ it is an eminent reason for giving thanks to the Lord sin is our enemy and we are redeemed from it by the atoning blood Satan is our enemy and we are redeemed from him by the Redeemer's power the world is our enemy and we are redeemed from it by the Holy Spirit we are ransomed let us enjoy our liberty Christ has brought our redemption let us praise his name God rescued Israel and he rescued us from the pit of sin and continues to rescue us 2nd Peter 2 9 says the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials there's probably many times in my life in your life that you didn't even know about it that God rescued you so not as he a great grace a great Redeemer but he gives great food okay verse 25 just says he gives food to all flesh God gave the children of Israel manna quail water for 40 years in the wilderness and then once they entered the promised land it stopped why because they inherited orchards vineyards fields gardens that they did not plant and that's why it's called a land flowing with milk and honey God is not just kind to the nation of Israel but he's kind to all mankind Psalms 104 another history Psalm says verses 14 says you cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart Psalms 104 verses 27 28 says these all look to you to give them their food in due season when you give it to them they gather it up when you open your hand they're filled with good things Psalms 145 says you give them food in due season Psalms 146 7 says that God gives food to the hungry you know we are so blessed here in the United States aren't we I think the most complicated decision most of us have each day is where are you going to eat or what do you need for dinner right you know we think of Afghanistan you think of the countries we prayed about on Sunday we are so blessed here with the food that we have but the children of Israel were to be thankful for the food that God gave them and now we finished with 0.5 it's only one verse the conclusion and we have another beautiful verse here thanks to the God of heaven it just says give thanks to the God of heaven the psalm began with three names of God right Yahweh Elohim and Adonai here's the fourth name of God in this psalm it's called the God of heaven and in Hebrew it's L hash Miami I'm if I can pronounce it hash shami I am if our you say it okay it means God of heaven and this is the only place in the Bible that it's actually used there are verses that say God of heaven but they don't use this exact word it means means that God is the supreme deity over all and he's the God of heaven so the psalm begins with a call to give thanks and here we have one final call to worship and praise God in view of all that God has done we have no option but to raise our voices and thanks and praise him so the God of heaven is a supreme deity alone as God so what do we learn here in the history you know I it's not really about history you know I began tonight talking about history the children Israel knew their history and they were to give thanks for God's goodness verse 1 we should do the same there to give thanks for the God of creation verses 2 to 9 they were to give thanks for delivering them verses 10 to 22 the conquests and finally they were to give thanks for God rescuing us and providing us how about you are you ready to give thanks I mentioned earlier my conviction through these 12 weeks of the Psalms is I don't give God enough thanks I know I need to praise him more I mean I love studying the names of God but it's all about giving thanks so I'm just gonna ask you one more time when you leave here tonight start reading one Psalm a day okay one Psalm a day and at the end of two years you will read through the book of Psalms five times and you'll start to learn verses you'll start to study them okay the Psalms teach up teach the children Israel to give thanks and praise the Lord and it's still applicable to us today