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1 Praise the LORD Praise the name of the LORD; Praise Him, O you servants of the LORD! 2 You who stand in the house of the LORD, In the courts of the house of our God, 3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant. 4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure. 5 For I know that the LORD is great, And our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the LORD pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places. 7 He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries. 8 He destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, Both of man and beast. 9 He sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt, Upon Pharaoh and all his servants. 10 He defeated many nations And slew mighty kings— 11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, And all the kingdoms of Canaan— Ver. 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands. 16 They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; 17 They have ears, but they do not hear; Nor is there any breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them. 19 Bless the LORD, O house of Israel! Bless the LORD, O house of Aaron! 20 Bless the LORD, O house of Levi! You who fear the LORD, bless the LORD! 21 Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, Who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the LORD! This psalm is contrasting the true treasures of the Lord with the false treasures of the idols and idolatry.It is also showing that he does have special blessings which are directed to individuals. The Lord has special treasures for Israel and symbolically those that are with Him in faith. Verse 4 says, 4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure. Correspondingly, verse 6 says the Lord does whatever he pleases and part of what pleases the Lord is the giving of special treasures to individuals. If the Lord has revealed one special treasure to you, there will probably be many other special treasures that abide nearby to this particular special treasure. This is of the Lord's initiative, but you want to key into that first move of the Lord and trace it to all the accompanying special treasures that reside in and around the initial revealed special treasure. If the Lord is waving you on and through to a particular special treasure, you want to heed this wave on and follow through to the treasures found as you proceed further. Take all the initial good cues and follow up on the treasures. There is no reason to hold back on the grasping of the treasures, as the Lord is bringing this about for a good purpose. This verse clearly shows that the Lord has gifts or treasures that are special, and what they might be of course would be diverse and varied and to some degree unknown but they are considered special and given to the one’s who are chosen for these special treasures. Verses 5 through 7 say: 5 For I know that the LORD is great, And our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the LORD pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places. 7 He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries Verse 5 highlights the Lord’s greatness and that he is above it all that is and whatever mankind can come up with, he is and always will be above it and he alone is the giver of true treasures and gifts. Verse 6 shows that the Lord does whatever he pleases, showing the sovereign wishes that are involved with his distrubutions towards any person’s life and with all things. These descriptions show how it is the Lord that controls these treasures. Of course these treasures will also include spiritual gifts. Man can run all over the place and in any direction, but the sun will still come up and the winds will arise as the Lord pleases and the surface of the earth to the depths of the ocean are his domain that is already settled by Him. He got there first. Verse 7 talks of lighting coming with the rain and this shows how the Lord may have companion gifts, or gifts that go along with his special treasures. It is not just rain but also lighting that goes along with it. He brings the wind out of his treasuries, and again this word treasure is used in this psalm as a theme of what the Lord is doing and that there can be the involvement of treasures.. Verse 9 says, 9 He sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt, Upon Pharaoh and all his servants. The ways of the Lord includes signs and includes wonders. These signs and wonders are not in the distance, but come right in the middle as it says in this verse that they were sent “into the midst of you, O Egypt.” Problems can come right upon anyone. It is a skill to get around problems, but sometimes situations classified as problems are directly upon someone and they just can’t get around it regardless of there skill for doing this in other cases.. Here is says,” Upon Pharaoh and all his servants,” and this shows the direct nature of the presence of the Lord and this can be for any cause as He does what he pleases but indeed people have situations that come upon them and cannot be steered away from. 12 And gave their land as a heritage, A heritage to Israel His people. 13 Your name, O LORD, endures forever, Your fame, O LORD, throughout all generations. 14 For the LORD will judge His people, And He will have compassion on His servants Here it is the name of the Lord that rings supreme and is enduring throughout all generations. His judgments towards those who serve him are judgments that will show his compassion. This is not judgment in the sense of disfavor, but judgment in terms and matters that show his enduring love and compassion for his servants, as he judges what they need and desire. The judgment is part of his beneficial watch for them, for example he might judge that an individual needs the help and aid of angels and in the manner of judgment he will send these angels. Verses 15 through 18 talks about idols and how they offer false treasures and hopes: 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands. 16 They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; 17 They have ears, but they do not hear; Nor is there any breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them. Not having the Lord in the equation of things in the first place is a good start towards idolatry as something always tends to fill in for that void and it usually is not good and it certainly isn’t correct or accurate. The Lord is the source period. It is interesting that the type of idolatry mentioned here talks of silver and gold and the unfolding of images made out of silver and gold. Even today, if you have a lot of silver and gold, this represents wealth and the ability to buy things if conditions are not in chaos, which of course is no guarantee either. There can be a mistaken trust in money or a mistaken trust in focusing too much attention on money, wealth or getting things, we you already if you are on track have the presence of the Lord and recourse to the Lord. Idolatry can take many forms, even say the worship of beauty, can be one form. Beauty is a good thing but not to be elevated higher than what it is. The Lord needs to be kept in the forefront of everything you deal with and there needs to be a sense of detachment that if you must, you can let go of things that need to be let go of and avoid attachments that begin to trip you up into idolatrous thinking. There is the call to travel lightly, even if you have a lot of possessions and even if you have a lot of good things, you must be able to keep them in their proper place in your thinking and let go and let the Lord in whatever ways he may call. But this psalm is less of a warning and more of a revealing, a revealing that the Lord has special treasures and to focus and the Lord and also to grasp upon and understand what these special treasures might be, how He may be calling you to use them and have wisdom about them. The warning is the idolatry is looking away from the true treasures and awesome gifts of the Lord. Egypt at the time, was awash in wealth and treasure, which at first indicates the Lord’s goodness to all. However they did not know the Lord and understand his “special treasures” and what that meant. If they know of his “special treasures” they would have immediately reacted to presence of signs and wonders directly upon them and understood there source and meaning. They had their chance to turn to his ways and seek and find his special treasures. But their own ways and mighty ways had formed into idolatrous paths which tripped them up as they totally lost their way and couldn’t even get back on track with the direct presence of the Lord upon them with majestic signs and wonders. This is the example not to follow but to be aware that other forms of idolatry exist and anything that overtakes you other than the Love of the Lord is in danger of being just that.The communication of prayer and meditation with the Lord should be attentive and ongoing as there is a lot to discern and beware of that can trip someone up and keep them from good blessings. Anything that actually takes the lead in your life other than the presence of the Lord has dangers of forming into idolatry. 19 Bless the LORD, O house of Israel! Bless the LORD, O house of Aaron! 20 Bless the LORD, O house of Levi! You who fear the LORD, bless the LORD! 21 Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, Who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the LORD The final verses of this psalm speaks of the house of Israel, the house of Aaron, the house of Levi all of which represent spiritual houses as seen by the Lord. The Lord will have his house of blessings as he sees this particular house in the spiritual realms only manifested from the spiritual into the physical realms. . When someone drives the lane in basketball the defending might say, ” not in my house as they block the attempt at the basket.” This psalm is saying, yes in this house, as it extends onward and through the generations, there will be special treasures seen from the hand of the Lord and the Lord will dwell with them that are of this house. For the here and now, the principle is to dwell in the presence of the Lord with the tools we know, study of his word, prayer, meditation and spending personal time in his presence and at times seeking fellowship with the saints of the Lord.. Within the discussion of prayer, which will include intercessions and prayers for many others close at hand and also in far off lands, the discussion can include the reality of the “special treasures of the Lord.” and we can ask that the Lord bless both ourselves and others out of the goodness of his special treasures and whatever they contain. You can begin to look and seek for these special treasures of the Lord not only for yourself but for many others in the wider world through the gift and agency of intercessory prayer, where the idea of ” special treasures” can be addressed to the needs of others. But the truth must be known, that there are special treasures, and these treasures should be discussed in the depths of the prayer relationship and towards the understanding of these ” special treasures” as they may unfold in the light of his love for you and others.. In the striving for everything that is out there, there is the need to pay careful attention to the possible erroneous ways of idolatry as anybody is subject to the possible insidious approach of idolatry and that this can be a slow moving and creeping presence that can obscure and steal away the true and forthcoming gifts of the Lord which should always be known and cultivated in the context of the ongoing personal relationship with him and His angels and saints. We keep a close watch mainly on the presence of the Lord but also watching for his wonders and special treasures as they are part of the reality of his still unfolding wondrous presence to us.
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