February 13: Psalm 145
An acrostic song of praise about the Lord—
a meditation upon God’s character and attributes
Long Meter 88.88 D Before the Throne of God Above
In Christ Alone
Guidance (He Leadeth Me), p. 110
Sweet Hour of Prayer, p. 119
I will Thee praise, my God, O King, and I will ever bless Thy name;
I will extol Thee every day, and evermore Thy praise proclaim.
The Lord is great; He praise exceeds; His greatness can be searched by none;
Age shall to age extol Thy deeds, and tell Thy mighty acts, each one.
Upon Thy glorious majesty, and wondrous works my mind shall dwell;
Men shall recount Thy awesome deeds, and of Thy greatness I will tell.
They shall tell forth abundantly the mem’ry of Thy goodness great,
And shall sing praises joyfully while they Thy righteousness relate.
The Lord is gracious, merciful, and from Him does compassion flow;
In lovingkindness He is great, and unto anger He is slow.
O’er all His works His mercies are; The Lord is good to all that live.
Praise, Lord, to Thee Thy works afford; Thy saints to Thee shall praises give.
Thy works Thy glorious kingdom show, and of Thy power they do tell;
That so men’s sons Thy deeds may know, Thy kingdom’s glories that excel.
Thy kingdom has no end at all; it does through ages all remain.
The Lord upholds all them that fall; those cast down raises up again.
The eyes of all upon Thee wait; Their food in season Thou dost give;
Thine opened hand does satisfy the needs of all on earth that live.
The Lord is just in all His ways; in all His works His grace is shown;
The Lord is near to all that call, who call in truth on Him alone.
He will the need of those fulfill who fear and trust in Him indeed;
Their cry regard, and hear He will, and save them in their time of need.
The Lord does safely keep all those who love Him with a heart of joy,
But those who dwell in wickedness, with all their deeds He will destroy.
Then with my mouth and lips I will Jehovah’s name with praise adore,
All flesh will bless His holy name, forever and forevermore.
I will Thee praise, my God, O King, And I will ever bless Thy name;
I will extol Thee every day, and evermore thy praise proclaim.
This psalm of exuberant praise is also the last one composed in the original Hebrew as an alphabetic acrostic, and perhaps it is the one that best illustrates the intent of that rhetorical medium. In the book of Psalms, this device serves (in addition to a catechetical function) to state an aspiration to a truth—namely, that God is to be praised by every sort of sound, that every conceivable formulation of our throat and tongue and lips is to be directed to the divine glory, that no kind of intonation should be deprived of His presence. And Psalm 145 conveys this verity in grand style. It is sumptuous and extravagant. It is an earthly taste of the very joy of heaven. Psalm 145 is the voice of the new life within us, that life of which Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Each mounting crescendo of this psalm abounds with the life of the victorious Christ. The Kingdom of Christ is not of this world; it is truly eternal and transcendent and belongs to heaven. Accordingly, the words and sentiments of our psalm repeatedly raise the mind above earthly things to the realm of eternal life. (Reardon, p. 289-290)