Psalm 147:12-20 (NKJV)
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;
He has blessed your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders,
And fills you with the finest wheat.
15 He sends out His command to the earth;
His word runs very swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
He scatters the frost like ashes;
17 He casts out His hail like morsels;
Who can stand before His cold?
18 He sends out His word and melts them;
He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He declares His word to Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any nation;
And as for His judgments, they have not known them.
Praise the Lord!
The life of the Christian is always one of repentance first, then thanks and praise to God who freely offers and delivers forgiveness for all sin. By nature, we are faithless, but He is faithful. By nature, “we are weak, but he is strong” as the famous Sunday School song says. We are helpless and destined for eternal destruction because of our sinful nature and continuous evil inclination away from God. But He has offered up His own Son, Jesus, as the full payment for all sin, and promises that whoever believes on Him will be saved and spend a sinless and glorious eternity with Him in heaven.
This saving trust and reality is the driving force and inspiration behind recognizing the giftedness of our good and gracious God, and that He is the giver of all victories, sustenance, and life. The psalmist says as much in today’s reading. God is praised for strengthening Jerusalem’s gate bars, blessing its inhabitants with children, giving fine wheat, providing peace within it borders, and providing literally everything needed for life.
Perhaps this psalm portion, certainly along with many other parts of Scripture, were the inspiration for Martin Luther when he wrote in the meaning to the First Article of the Creed, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures, that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. De defends me against all danger, guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of Fatherly, divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in me.” And all faithful Lutherans know the rest.
Thank God for everything you have, dear Saint, as you enjoy God’s earthly gifts and look forward to the life of the world to come. Let us pray: Lord Jesus, help me always to thank and praise, serve and obey You. Amen.