Psalms

This Psalm along with the next 5 are a collection of praise Psalms commonly referred to as the Egyptian Halel.  These were praise songs sung at Passover, Pentecost (Festival of Weeks) and the Feasts of Tabernacles.  By tradition, Psalm 113 and 114 were sung before the Passover meal. 

The Majesty and Condescension of God

¹ Praise the LORD!
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
Praise the name of the LORD!
The servants of the Lord are all those who know the Lord.  When we once come to know the Lord we find that He is high and holy and creator of all.  We come to the knowledge of a eternal nature and that He is sovereign over all.  Suddenly, we feel small.  When we understand He is perfect, we come to know how fallen and imperfect we are.  Yet he loves us anyway.  In His perfect love He made a way for us.  When we come to this knowledge we desire to serve Him.  To know Him is to serve Him. 

The 'name' is the reputation or the fame of the Lord.  God's glory is His identity.  There is no other God .  He is one.  All false gods and idols attempt to compete with the reputation and glory of the One and Only.

² Blessed be the name of the LORD
From this time forth and forevermore!

To bless the name of the Lord is to pay tribute to Him.  It's to humble our self before Him and give Him the highest of honors.  With each day we know Him more and we continue to grow in our understanding of His worthiness of praise.  The more we understand Him the more we realize how far short our praise falls.  Yet, we praise him, more today than yesterday, from this time forth into eternity.

This brings to mind the words of the hymn written by the Nazarene Pastor, inspired by the words found written on a scrap of paper in the cell of an insane asylum after the patient had died.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above,

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure

The saints' and angels' song.

³ From the rising of the sun to its going down
The LORD's name is to be praised.
Our praise isn't just a general direction of our life.  It's not an overarching theme that can get lost in the day to day shuffle of life.  This praise is part of every day.  From sunrise, before we swing our feet out of bed there should be praise on our lips.  At the setting sun, we can praise Him and thank Him for another day.

Ephesians 5

²⁰ giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁴ The LORD is high above all nations,
His glory above the heavens.
⁵ Who is like the LORD our God,
Who dwells on high,
⁶ Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?
It is a step down for God to deal with the heavens and the earth.  In our sinful minds, especially before we understand God, we often conclude God is much like we are.  We create an understanding that is comfortable to us.  A low God, much like us.  But this is idolatry, it's creating God in our own image. 

The God of the bible is high above all nations.  His glory is above and beyond the vast heavens.  We don't know where the heavens start and stop, yet we can conclude God is higher than the vastness we can't begin to comprehend.  Who is like God?  Nothing, no one, no thing, no collection of things.  No idea, understanding or concept.  We can't even create a false God higher than the God of the bible because we are incapable or truly grasping Him from our sinful state.

Philippians 2

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

⁷ He raises the poor out of the dust,
And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
⁸ That He may seat him with princes-
With the princes of His people.
⁹ He grants the barren woman a home,
Like a joyful mother of children.
Praise the LORD!

Each of us were spiritually dead before we came to Christ.  By His grace and mercy and love, He raised us from the dead.  He gave spiritually life where there was none.  We were destined to eternal separation from God with no way to help ourselves.  God humbled himself to come down and help us.  He is the hope for the poor that lives in the dust.  He lifts up the needy.  And he doesn't just clean the dust off the poor and lift up the needy, no, he cleans us all up, white as snow.  Then He sets us among the princes of His people. 

A barren woman offered little value to the culture of that time.  She was looked down on.  This left her feeling useless, without a purpose and without a home.  God looks at this woman and brings her into a home as if He were a mother of children. 

The Lord is concerned for the least of us in the least of ways.  That is a great source of comfort and blessing on our life.  This brings us to praise Him.