Psalm 145 is the only psalm that, in the original Hebrew, has the heading tehillah, which means simply “a psalm” or, more plainly, “a praise.” It is also the last of David’s psalms—and in some ways, it seems to gather together all of David’s experience of God to express his thanksgiving and adoration:
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever. (Psalm 145:1–2)
True praise is always a celebration of who and what God is. The whole of the Bible reverberates with that truth. Five times in Psalm 145, David uses a form of the verb to be to introduce a description of God. As we consider each of these occurences, we will find reason—every day, forever and ever—to extol God along with him.
The Lord Is Great
In verse 3, David begins, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”
Great men and women make their mark on our world and have done so throughout history—but their greatness has its limits. The human mind and spirit, David says, cannot see to the end of God’s greatness. Not all the great minds of all the centuries could ever lay hold on it. He is greater than our greatest thoughts, more compassionate than the kindest saint, lovelier than the most outstanding beauty. He is incomparably superior.
True praise is always a celebration of who and what God is.
When this reality grips our hearts, it will change us. When we think of God’s greatness, then we dwindle—and many of us, preoccupied with ourselves, are in need of dwindling. We need now to have our gaze lifted up and to say, “God, You are greater than anything I could achieve, anything I could enjoy. Truly, Your greatness is unfathomable.” Big men have little gods, but a big God does not despise little men.
God’s greatness, David reminds us, is displayed in His “awesome deeds” (v. 6). Marvelous works like creation, election, justification, sanctification, glorification, and the particular day-to-day mercies God shows us reveal His greatness and should stoke our praise.
The Lord Is Gracious and Good
In verses 8–9, David next asserts, “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” In other words, “The LORD is good to all.”
The language here mirrors that in Exodus 34:6 , where God proclaims Himself in His glory to Moses. His graciousness is essential to who He is, and “every good gift and every perfect gift” that we experience in our life comes down from Him (James 1:17). How often have we known ourselves to be suffering, weak, and foolish—yet here we are today, still drawing breath, still pressing forward! Why? Because “the LORD is gracious.”
Big men have little gods, but a big God does not despise little men.
God is not like earthly fathers. How prone they are to anger! How prone are even the best of fathers to dismiss their children! Yet God never says, “I’m too busy.” He never says, “Would you go away?” When we need Him, He lifts us up, and He sets us on.
God has grace for the guilty. He has compassion for the miserable. He has forbearance for the headstrong. He is “good to all.” And He has given to all men the gift of life and the gift of love. He’s given us the order of the universe, the warmth of the sun, the freshness of the rain, and the provision of food. Man in his arrogance may deny Him (Rom. 1:21), but He shares His blessings on the just and the unjust alike (Matt 5:45). For this we should extol Him.
The Lord Is Faithful and Kind
In verse 13, we see that “the LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.” Friends have and will let us down, but God is there every morning when we wake up and every night when we put our heads on the pillow.
God is faithful not only in his presence but also to His promises. When we are under pressure physically, emotionally, or spiritually, God’s arm can lift us up and set us on. So much may seem to go wrong for us when we’re looking at our status, our bank balance, or our career progress. Yet when we look on the purposes of God for eternity, we will have cause to praise Him. “All things”—even hard things!—“work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). He has begun a good work in us who believe, and He will carry it on to completion (Phil. 1:6), to the praise of His glory.
The Lord Is Righteous
In verse 17, we read that “the LORD is righteous.” Whatever God does, we may be sure of one thing: It is right. We may not like it, but it’s right. That’s why we can sing,
Ill that He blesses is our good,
And unblessed good is ill,
And all is right that seems most wrong
If it be His sweet will!1
“This God,” David writes elsewhere, “his way is perfect” (Ps. 18:30). His right doing and His love are perfectly combined. Isolate righteousness and love, and you will be left on the one hand with austerity and on the other hand with sentimentality. In God, we have both combined perfectly—one who fulfills all righteousness even as He gives Himself sacrificially at the cross.
The Lord Is Near
Finally, verse 18 tells us, “The LORD is near.”
Do you believe that? The Lord is so near that He knows when we sit and when we stand (Ps. 139:2). He knows the words of our mouth before we even speak them (Ps. 139:4). He knows the number of the hairs on our head (Matt. 10:30; Luke 12:7). Our names, as believers, are graven on the palms of His hands (Isa. 49:16).
But David doesn’t just say God is near; he says, “The LORD is near to all who call on him in truth.” Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). The “wicked” (v. 20) are those who have not called upon Him in truth. But to those who call on Him, “fear him” (v. 19), and “love him” (v. 20), He says, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
Praise Him!
It’s not surprising that the psalm ends with a call to “speak the praise of the LORD” and “bless his holy name forever and ever” (v. 21). Surely our great Lord—who is faithful and good, who is gracious and kind, who is righteous, and who is near at hand—is worthy of our praise. As we meditate on who He is, our hearts ought to exalt Him. And when we find our hearts reluctant to praise Him, we will do well to meditate on His “wondrous works.”
This article was adapted from the sermon “We Thank You, Lord” by Alistair Begg.
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Frederick William Faber, “I Worship Thee, Sweet Will of God” (1849). ↩︎
