SERMON TITLE: Psalm 33
TEXT: Psalm 33:1-22
SPEAKER: Jon McKanna
DATE: 5/24/2020
You can watch the sermon here.
Hello everyone my name is Jon and I’m the Campus Pastor and Worship Leader at our North Main Campus, it’s great to be with you today. I want to welcome those of you joining us that usually attend one of our campuses — and I especially want to welcome everyone else joining us who isn’t regularly a part of Gateway Church. I’m thankful for the technology that allows us to do this each week and for those of you that have seen me out in public and introduced yourselves. I’m thankful for your encouraging words and to be able to put faces with names, for those I don’t normally see at the North Main Campus. It’s great to be sharing from God’s Word with each of you today even though this may not be our first choice in how we gather.
Last week we had Pastor Matt Ginter with us from the University of Findlay. He was teaching from Psalm 32 looking at the forgiveness of God. This week we are going to be looking at the following chapter, so go ahead and turn in your bibles to Psalm 33. While you’re doing that, I want to give a shout out to my friends Dave and Julie. They reached out to me last weekend and let me borrow a 10 string harp for the solo Pastor Matt was hoping for. I wanted to come through for him and I have a song for you. So here we go...Please hold your applause and just share in the comments what song I was just playing. If we reach 100 comments, who knows maybe Pastor Josh will play a saxophone solo next week! Enough of that, as bad as that may have been I want us to go in a completely different direction and focus on someone so much greater today.
So to get us heading in that direction, do me a favor. Think of the greatest place you’ve ever been or the greatest thing you’ve ever seen. Share that with us by commenting on whatever platform you are joining us through, if that’s FaceBook or LiveStream. Maybe name it for those you are with right now. For me it happened last Summer when my family was able to travel up to Grand Marais, MI. Some friends of ours have a house on Lake Superior and they invited us to come up. We had been to the UP before but never that far North. So before the trip we did some research on what all we could do or experience while visiting. One thing was for sure, we had to experience Pictured Rock. So we got tickets and went on a boat tour. Can I just tell you, if you’ve never been there...GO! It was so much greater than any picture I had seen online. It was so much more amazing than any of the stories I had been told by those who had been there. None of the pictures or stories came close to experiencing it first hand. It was greater than I ever could have imagined. And what I hope we will all see today is how it’s the same with God - that God is Greater. Even greater than our circumstances right her and right now. Let’s jump into our text, Psalm 33.
Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. 10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! 13 The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; 14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. 16 The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. 18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. 22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. (Psalm 33:1-22, ESV)
Right off the bat we can see a number of commands in this passage. It says to “shout for joy” “give thanks” “make melody” “sing to him” “play skillfully” and in some translations there are more. The author (which many would say is David) is telling a specific group of people repeatedly to praise God and gives us some idea of what that looked like in their setting. Psalm 33 begins right where 32 left off. We have the same instruction. That’s one reason why many think it was written by David. Let’s go back and look at it, starting in Psalm 32:11 through 33:3.
11Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! 1Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. (Psalm 32:11-33:3, ESV) This group of verses right here is part of the reason why “at least ten ancient Hebrew manuscripts combine Psalms 32 and 33.” (Gerald H. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 173-81.) The theme continues almost seamlessly, with a call to joyfully praise God.
Notice who these commands are for...the righteous and upright. There isn’t any age, gender, or nationality spoken to. It is for those who are living their lives in obedience to God’s commands. This would be true today as well, for those who have experienced the life changing mercy, grace, and love of Christ. Those who follow Him are called to use the voices and the instruments God has given to return praise to Him. As I’m reading I can almost feel the excitement in these verses.
I have been coaching ever since my kids were old enough to play sports. As I read through these verses and see the excitement in them, I can’t help but think of the early little league years known as coach pitch. This when the kids are around 6 or 7 years old (many of them are playing for the first time) and the coaches are pitching to their team. When the batters step up to the plate, the coaches are doing all they can to hit the bat with the ball, knowing the swing plane of each player. Then after 47 pitches and multiple pep talks, the bat and the ball collide! You talk about JOY. The batter is full of joy and so is everyone else at the game. It’s followed by a lot of shouting and cheering as they take off running, hopefully towards first base. That is the kind of joy I picture when reading through this passage, when it speaks to the joy we are supposed to have as we praise God.
Then notice who the object of our praise, of these shouts for joy, is intended to be. It’s God. We ARE NOT called to sing the praise of all the material things we enjoy or to focus all of our attention on obtaining the resources that allow us to have those material things. We ARE called to praise our provider, our sustainer. We ARE NOT called to sing praise to the created things in our lives, including the people God has placed around us. We ARE called to praise the very creator of these things. Because He is creator, provider, and sustainer of all things, we can see that God is Greater. God is worthy of our praise.
There is one word in there that I don’t want us to miss...the word skillfully. Regardless of what the task may be, to do it skillfully is going to take some work. There is going to be some amount of preparation involved as well as great attention to detail. It’s not something to be done with minimal energy or effort. Every season I coach I let the team know my expectations in the very first practice. I tell them that everyone needs to listen (with their eyes and ears) and they have to hustle. They are expected to give me their best all the time. I don’t expect them all to perform at the same level and definitely not at the level of a professional athlete. But I expect their best and as their coach I know what their best is, whether the player knows it or not. It’s the same for us, we need to be giving God our best when we praise Him, when we shout for joy. If we’re doing it skillfully it doesn’t have to be anyone else’s best, but our best. So we prepare ourselves daily, studying His Word and spending time in prayer. We create space in our day to be able to see where and how God is at work around us and then join in that work. We don’t simply give God the leftovers of our time, energy, and resources. We give Him our best. If nothing else, this quarantine has allowed us the time to create space in our day and to prepare ourselves by spending time with God.
Now let’s move on to why we’re supposed to do these things. Start in verse 4 and read through verse 9. 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. (Psalm 33:4-9, ESV)
As we read through this section, you can’t help but see the greatness of God, as we are given a short list of His attributes. We see that He is worthy of praise, He is right - just - true, He is faithful, He is love, He is righteous, He is powerful, He is creator - just to name a few - all found in this group of verses. God is worthy of our praise simply because of Who He is. But if that is not enough we get a glimpse of what He has done to deserve our praise. We see that His word, his breath, his commands can not only be trusted but that His word is very powerful. We see in verse 6 that it was by His word that all things were created. We see that God has the power to speak all things into existence. Not only that, in verse 9 we see those created things obey the words spoken.
And what should our response be to this kind of God? We are to stand in awe of...to fear the Lord. We are to respect the Lord’s power and His authority. And we demonstrate this awe, fear, and respect through our obedience. We have a choice each day and many times each day, to either choose to do things our way or we can submit ourselves to the authority of this great God by living according to His Word. That is what David is speaking of in verse 8 as there is a call for all the earth to fear the Lord. It has the idea that everyone is to demonstrate respect for the Lord’s power and His authority, the power and authority of His very words. This respect is shown as we live our lives in obedience to Him.
Let’s read on starting in verse 10 and reading through verse 15: 10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! 13 The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; 14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. (Psalm 33:10-15, ESV)
I’ll be honest, I can’t think of a greater example of this section right here than the year 2020. Everyone had plans for this year that have been altered in one way or another. There are companies of all shapes and sizes who prepared budgets and individuals who worked through investment portfolios. Then March came and that was all thrown out the window. There were great wedding plans made, with celebrations looking nothing like the original hopes. There were several high school basketball teams in this area who had their sights set on a State Championship only to have their season brought to an abrupt ending. On a bigger scale, foreign and domestic leaders have been faced with day to day decisions that impact more lives than we can imagine. Regardless of what is decided each day they are met with criticism from all sides. In situations like this, it’s so easy to forget that God is Greater. It’s easy to lose hope. But we can’t stay focused on vs 10 where the plans of men are frustrated. We have to see the hope of verse 11 - 12. We have to remember how great and powerful God is, as well as remember His faithfulness and steadfast love for us.
Let’s look at verses 13 through 15 again, but in the New Living Translation: 13The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. 14From his throne he observes all who live on the earth. 15He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do. (Psalm 33:13-15, NLT)
I’m amazed in reading this, that our great and powerful God who sustains all things, looks down and gives individual attention to each heart He created. I can’t help but understand the mindset of Psalm 8:3-4 where David said, 3When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers — the moon and the stars you set in place— 4what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? (Psalm 8:3-4, NLT) Yet another reminder that God is Greater, greater than anything we can imagine. Not only am I amazed, but I’m also convicted in reading over these three verses. I am convicted of my need to be more intune or connected with God. Maybe some of you can relate to this.
There are times where I am frustrated with circumstances or struggle to show grace to the people around me. I don’t always see the circumstances or the people through God’s eyes. But I need to. He made their hearts. He knows and understands why they’re doing what they’re doing - He understands what is causing my frustration or requiring me to show grace.
If you’re like me, we need to be more intune with God so the people and circumstances we face are easier to respond to in a way that reflects His work of grace in our lives. We need to remember how powerful He is. We need to remember that He is faithful, right, just, and true. We need trust in Him and rely on Him no matter how great the struggle, the trial, the enemy, or the pandemic may seem. This becomes easier with time as we see Him at work, we come face to face with who He is and experience His faithfulness.
Let’s read on. 16 The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. 18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, 19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. (Psalm 33:16-19, ESV)
Verse 17 goes back to the outcome of relying on our own plans or on our own efforts to get us through. It doesn’t matter who we are, what position we may hold, or how great our strength may be. If we live according to our own plans and our own efforts it will only provide a “false hope for salvation”. And that hope will only last for so long. The author concludes the verse with three definitive words, “it cannot rescue”. He is speaking of the war horse, a representation of our great and powerful plans.
In reading that verse I am reminded of a movie that we watched during this quarantine entitled, The Finest Hours. It’s a true story about the Coast Guard and a movie I would recommend you watch. But there is a point in the movie where a freighter is literally split in half during a storm. The men on half of the ship were doing all they could to stay alive. Through some struggle and disagreement they ended up focusing on a plan. They were going to run the ship a ground in hopes of buying some time. But no matter how well they worked together or executed this plan, it would not save them. This hope would only last for so long. They needed something greater. They needed someone to rescue them.
We need to rely on God’s power. The power that was able to create everything from nothing with a spoken word. We need to follow His guidance - His plans for us. The next two verses show the hope that we can have when we do that. Verse 18 refers to God watching over “those who fear him”. According to one commentary (Gerald H. Wilson, The NIV Application Commentary: Psalms - Volume 1, p. 560.), this “is not fear or terror but an awareness of one’s absolute dependence on him.” This goes against the grain of our culture today and all that we are told. In fact, I did a quick search for a definition of dependence and here are the three words listed as synonyms, “helplessness, weakness, and vulnerability”. Those aren’t exactly words that any of us would want used to describe our lives. Most of us would prefer terms like self-sufficient, self-sustaining, or self-made. Those of course being synonyms for the word independent. But we must depend on God, not just to get us through today but to deliver us - to rescue us.
Verse 19 says that God is not only watching over those who live their lives honoring Him, but it says God will “deliver their soul from death”. This deliverance from death the author speaks of, may very well be a physical death. They have hope for rescue from the enemies they are facing. But we know that God is Greater. We know that for those who respond to the Gospel, placing our trust in and depending on Christ, He delivers us of eternal separation from Him.
Colossians 2 speaks of this life that we have because of Christ and what was done through Him on the cross: 13You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14, NLT) Through Christ God gives us new life. God has rescued us through Christ’s death on a cross. So while the attributes of God, who He is, is more than enough reason to sing praise and shout for joy to Him...we can add rescue...we can add new life to the list of reasons. And I have to ask, how much more joy and hope should we have because of this?
Let’s finish out the passage, reading verses 20-22. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. 22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. (Psalm 33:20-22, ESV)
We are able to wait for the Lord because we know that God is Greater. He is greater than the things we are facing. Remember He spoke all things into being and they obey His every word. And don’t miss the fact that our hearts can be glad in that waiting.
Not to ruin the movie or anything, but you have to know the men on the freighter get rescued when the title of the movie is The Finest Hours. But I’m reminded of the scene where the Coast Guard turns their spotlight on and sees the torn freighter. All the men on the freighter run to the railing and begin to wave. Their rescue had come. This is what they had been waiting for and there was now confidence that they were going to live. There was an excitement that could be felt as we watched the movie. But those were actors following a script. Can you imagine the excitement of those men when it actually took place, when they were actually rescued?
The work God did through Christ on the cross, is what allows us to be glad, sing and shout for joy. We have confidence in God. We have confidence in His rescue. In this waiting we are trusting in Him and in His plans. No matter what our circumstances may look like. No matter how great the downward spiral may seem. We are confident in who God is. We are confident in all that God has done and will continue to do for us. We are confident in God’s rescue. Because we know that God is Greater. He is greater than [pause]______ you fill in the blank. Fill in the blank with that place or experience you thought of earlier. Fill in the blank with what is consuming your mind or capturing your attention even now.
I know some of you have heard the phrase, God is Greater, repeated today and question it. You question how I can say that during a time where everything seems to be out of control. You don’t see any way God can be in control and how He can be greater when you’ve lost your job, you’ve lost 100’s of 1,000’s of dollars in investments, or maybe some listening have even experienced the tragedy of losing a loved one. Experiencing any type of loss can be life altering. We experience all kinds of emotions and may never really get over it. I can understand where you’re coming from.
But God experienced separation and loss of His Son as He died on the cross. It’s that same cross that gives us the hope and confidence to get through times like this. It’s that sacrificial work that I spoke of earlier that gives us new life. And it’s that new life that causes people to step up and serve in times of great need like we are in. It’s that new life that causes some to risk exposure to a virus so that others can receive much needed treatment to fight the effects it’s having on their bodies. It’s that new life that causes people to risk exposure as they deliver food to individuals or to schools so others don’t go hungry or don’t have to be at risk. It’s that new life that causes others to stay home sewing masks, writing cards, and calling to check in on those who may be lonely during this time. It’s that new life that allows us to look beyond our own circumstances so others can be connected to Christ. So others can know that God is greater. So they too can experience that new life.
Today I pray that we don’t stay focused on verses 10 where the plans of man are frustrated. But we are able to move onto verse 11 - 12 (really the rest of the chapter) and have a great hope in God and in the fact that God is greater. I pray that we are able to shout for joy because of who God is and all that He has done for us, as we read throughout this chapter. I pray that we are able to sing a new song, some even for the first time because of the new life we’re given in Christ. Let’s pray.
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