Not To Us, O LORD ... But To Your Name Give Glory
Devotional
Companion to the Psalter
A Devotional Guide to the Psalms
Object:
Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.
Why should the nations say,
"Where is their God?"
Our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands ...
O Israel, trust in the LORD! ...
The LORD has been mindful of us; he will bless us ...
-- Psalm 115:1-4, 9a, 12a
Theme: The power of the Lord and the impotence of idols
Outline
1-2 -- Show your great power and love, Lord; answer the mockery of neighboring peoples.
3-8 -- Our God does what he pleases. The heathen's idols are their own helpless handiwork.
9-13 -- We must trust the LORD and await his blessing.
14-18 -- Prayers for blessing, with resolve, "We will bless the LORD forevermore."
Notes
• Praise -- Creation/History
• One of the Hallel Psalms (113-118).
• Probably written after the exile when, realizing their weakness, they know they must wait yet for a fulfillment to come.
• Ezra 3:10 tells how a psalm was used in worship with priests and Levites stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, cymbals "according to the direction of King David ... sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD ... And all the people responded with a great shout...."
• Verses 1-8 can be chanted by Levite choir, verses 9-11 by a leader and choir responsively, and verses 12-18 by the Levite choir again.
• This psalm was identified by the Latin words, Non nobis ("Not to us"). Henry V "gathering his armie togither, gaue thanks to almightie God for so happie a victorie, causing his prelats and chapleins to sing this psalm ... and commanded euerie man to kneele downe on the ground at this verse: 'Non nobis.' "1
For Reflection
• "Where is God?" has been the big question raised in response to the experience of the Holocaust and the violence in the twentieth century. Christians are challenged to answer. How did the psalmist respond in similar distress?
• "He does whatever he pleases." A wonderful statement reflecting faith in God's power and supremacy, his freedom from all manipulation by anyone, his pleasure in bringing about a great redemption. (See the phrase, "It pleased God ..." in Colossians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 1:21; and Galatians 1:16.)
• By contrast, idols, human ideologies and philosophies, and idolatrous devotions only make us cruel and would enslave us to fate or karma or Allah or drugs, sex, pleasure, greed, and the like. True faith in God issues in a training in righteous living. (See Micah 6:8 and Titus 2:11-14.) The psalmist resolved to trust the Lord and ends up praising him. This is an example for us.
Prayer
LORD God, how good it is to live under your steadfast love and faithfulness, instead of putting ourselves at the mercy of ideology or horoscope or fate or karma. You do what pleases you, and that is the loving gift to us of your best and dearest, your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in whom you are well-pleased. May we enter humbly and gratefully and boldly into your good pleasure for us -- his eternal living fellowship. Amen.
____________
1. Quoted by A.F. Kirkpatrick in The Book of Psalms (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957), p. 683.
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.
Why should the nations say,
"Where is their God?"
Our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands ...
O Israel, trust in the LORD! ...
The LORD has been mindful of us; he will bless us ...
-- Psalm 115:1-4, 9a, 12a
Theme: The power of the Lord and the impotence of idols
Outline
1-2 -- Show your great power and love, Lord; answer the mockery of neighboring peoples.
3-8 -- Our God does what he pleases. The heathen's idols are their own helpless handiwork.
9-13 -- We must trust the LORD and await his blessing.
14-18 -- Prayers for blessing, with resolve, "We will bless the LORD forevermore."
Notes
• Praise -- Creation/History
• One of the Hallel Psalms (113-118).
• Probably written after the exile when, realizing their weakness, they know they must wait yet for a fulfillment to come.
• Ezra 3:10 tells how a psalm was used in worship with priests and Levites stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, cymbals "according to the direction of King David ... sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD ... And all the people responded with a great shout...."
• Verses 1-8 can be chanted by Levite choir, verses 9-11 by a leader and choir responsively, and verses 12-18 by the Levite choir again.
• This psalm was identified by the Latin words, Non nobis ("Not to us"). Henry V "gathering his armie togither, gaue thanks to almightie God for so happie a victorie, causing his prelats and chapleins to sing this psalm ... and commanded euerie man to kneele downe on the ground at this verse: 'Non nobis.' "1
For Reflection
• "Where is God?" has been the big question raised in response to the experience of the Holocaust and the violence in the twentieth century. Christians are challenged to answer. How did the psalmist respond in similar distress?
• "He does whatever he pleases." A wonderful statement reflecting faith in God's power and supremacy, his freedom from all manipulation by anyone, his pleasure in bringing about a great redemption. (See the phrase, "It pleased God ..." in Colossians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 1:21; and Galatians 1:16.)
• By contrast, idols, human ideologies and philosophies, and idolatrous devotions only make us cruel and would enslave us to fate or karma or Allah or drugs, sex, pleasure, greed, and the like. True faith in God issues in a training in righteous living. (See Micah 6:8 and Titus 2:11-14.) The psalmist resolved to trust the Lord and ends up praising him. This is an example for us.
Prayer
LORD God, how good it is to live under your steadfast love and faithfulness, instead of putting ourselves at the mercy of ideology or horoscope or fate or karma. You do what pleases you, and that is the loving gift to us of your best and dearest, your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in whom you are well-pleased. May we enter humbly and gratefully and boldly into your good pleasure for us -- his eternal living fellowship. Amen.
____________
1. Quoted by A.F. Kirkpatrick in The Book of Psalms (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957), p. 683.
