Psalm 145:14 "The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down"

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Who will God uphold?

"Uphold" appears 18 times in the Bible and in the other verses, God makes clear the category of people He will uphold and those He whom He will not uphold.

Those He will uphold are:

1. The righteous - Ps 37:17 "For the arms of the wicked will be broken but the Lord upholds the righteous". Those who are wicked will find their arms broken, symbolic of weakening strength.

2. The good man - Ps 37:23-24 "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with His hand". It looks like the good man will be "cast down" but he will not be "utterly cast down". Thus even though we may walk with God, we have to expect trials and testing that may cause us to be cast down.

3. The repentant - Ps 51:12 "Restore the joy of your salvation and uphold me by Your generous Spirit". As long as the person is repentant, God will uphold the person. The whole of Psalm 51 is a confession of the repentant or the penitent.

4. Those who believe in Jesus/spiritual Israel - Isaiah 41: 10 "Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand". As a spiritual nation who believe in Jesus, we can be assured that God will uphold us against His enemies.

Isaiah 41:11-13 

"Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced. They shall be as nothing and those who strive against you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them - Those who contended with you. Those who war with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing as a nonexistent thing. For I, the Lord your God will hold your right hand...."

Israel and the men of Jacob are described as "worm" meaning the weakest of the weak. Yet God's promise to His people is that He will make them a threshing sledge with sharp teeth (Isa 41:15)

How does God uphold us?

With His word

Psalm 119:16 "Uphold me according to Your word that I may live.."

Can we uphold others? 

Yes!

How can we uphold others? In our prayers, patience, actions and encouragement.

Isaiah 63:5 "I looked there was no one to help. I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me and My own fury, it sustained Me"

God could not find an intercessor, one who upholds others in prayer. Thus He had no choice but to execute judgment.

Who does God want us to uphold? 

The weak.

1 Thess 5:14 "Now we exhort you brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all"

Psalm 145:13 "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and Your dominion endures to all generations"

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This is the truth and it is a fact:

1. God's kingdom last forever

2. God's kingdom endures from generation to generation

Unlike men's kingdoms coming and going through the ages, God's kingdom will never fade or pass away.

It is because it is a spiritual kingdom and our king is the Lord God Almighty.

God's dominion is "memshalah" meaning His rule, His government, His reign and His power is at work.

It endures throughout all period of history. Generations come and generations go, it endures forever. God is forever in His habitation and His dwelling place.

Caesar dies, Hitler dies, Mussolini dies, Lenin passes on, Chairman Mao dies, Kim Ill Sung dies. Gandhi dies, Mandela dies - one dies and another takes his place. None can achieve establish an immortal kingdom like our God.

This is because God's kingdom is established in men's heart, out of love and free choice! 

SUCH A KINGDOM COMMANDS AN ALLEGIANCE OF LOVE THAT WILL NEVER FADE AWAY! ONE DAY WE DIE BUT OUR LOVE FOR GOD LIVES ON IN OUR SPIRIT WHEN WE SPEND ETERNITY WITH HIM!

Psalm 145:11 "They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power"

Psalm 145:12 "To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts and the glorious majesty of Your kingdom"

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We are not only exhorted to praise and bless the Lord but we are also required to evangelize and make known the glory and majesty of God's kingdom to others!

The psalmist is asking us to speak/talk of the glory of God's kingdom. To talk is "dabar" which is to speak with one another. However we are not just to talk to one another but we are also to talk to others about God's kingdom which is glorious and majestic.

God's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom where He has:

(i) royal power
(ii) supreme reign
(iii) supreme rule
(iv) sovereign power
(v) absolute dominion

If we don't speak or we don't talk, then who will speak and who will talk on God's behalf?

The "sons of men" refers to a member of a group, a nation, youths, young people, children. In other words it refers to people!

Can God's kingdom exist in men's kingdom? Yes of course! Not only exist BUT TO REIGN SUPREME!

Each time we make a stand for truth and righteousness, each time we preach the gospel to others, each time we share our testimonies - God's kingdom is being extended, God's kingdom is being made known to the sons of men!

Psalm 145: 8 "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy"

Psalm 145:9 "The Lord is good to all. His tender mercies are over all His works"

Psalm 145:10 "All your works shall praise You O Lord and Your saints shall bless You"

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The psalmist continues to describe God's attributes towards all His works. Are we all God's works? Yes we are!

(i) gracious - "channuwn" which means merciful and benignant

(ii) compassionate - "rachuwn" which is a verb meaning the compassion of God. Uniquely this word is only used to describe God

(iii) slow to anger - patient

(iv) mercy - "checed" which means goodness, kindness and faithfulness

(v) good - which means pleasant, agreeable, benign

(v) tender mercies - compassion

Indeed God's character and attributes are overflowing in goodness and mercy and should be more important to us than all His acts. We must do all we can to get on God's side so that we can enjoy the blessings of these verses! 

We are God's works. Let us praise Him and bless Him continually!

Psalm 145:6 "Men shall speak of the might of Your terrible (awesome) acts and I will declare Your greatness."

Verse 7 "They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great goodness and sing of Your righteousness"

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These 2 verses talk about 2 things:

1. God's acts and character

2. What men is doing about God's acts and character

1. God's acts and character

God's acts

God is doing terrible or awesome acts ("terrible" is used to describe God's acts in the NKJV whilst "awesome" is used in the NJKV).

God's acts is "mighty" and "terrible" or "awesome". Why is it mighty? The word "might" is "ezuwz" meaning strength and fierceness in battle. God has won many battles for the children of Israel. The psalmist describes the victory in battles as mighty.

In fact, God's acts are so mighty that they verged on being "terrible". The acts are terrible because they are to be feared by the all.

To Israel's enemies, God's acts can be considered "terrible"but to those who obey, His acts can be considered "mighty"! So its 2 different ways of looking at the same thing (depending whose side we are on)!

God's character:

(i) Great (verse 6)
(ii) Good (verse 7) 
(iii) Righteous (verse 7) - "tsedaqah" refers to righteousness as God's attribute. It also refers to God ensuring that that we get justice in a case or a cause. Other meanings is to be ethically right or to be vindicated in a matter or thing.

2. What is men doing about the above?

(i) They are speaking of God's awesome acts and character
(ii) They are declaring of God's awesome acts and character
(iii) They are abundantly uttering the memory of God's awesome acts and character 
(iv) They are singing ("ranan" meaning to "sing, shout for joy, overcome, rejoicing") of God's awesome acts and character.

Offering & Evangelism

This short message was shared as part of the offering exhortation in church on April 27.

What has evangelism to do with offering? The difference is this:

Offering - the giving of our money to do God's work.

Evangelism - the giving of ourselves to do God's work.

Last Saturday I was at my usual coffee shop for morning tea. An elderly lady in her 70s shared my table as the shop was full. Before I knew it, I had paid for her coffee and before I knew it I had taken out the tract "Steps to peace with God" which I normally carry around with me and shared with her the gospel (in broken Cantonese)!

She was very open. She told me that she was staying at the Old Folks' Home in BBA and that she had been to church but that she was a not a Christian. She told me that her mother died when she was young and she never married, that was how she ended up in the Old Folks' Home. She took the tract I gave her happily even as I invited her to church for Easter.

I went away that Saturday thinking to myself that it was good for me to do this random act of kindness i.e. pay for her drink to feed her body but that it was even more fulfilling for me to share the gospel with her as I had given her the precious message of salvation to feed her spirit!

2 weekends ago I was at Macau for my holiday. Although this small nation state had many casinos (in hotels, shopping complexes) there was also something special about Macau.

I realized that it had a rich Christian heritage. As I researched deep into its history, I realized that the first Protestant missionary to China actually went to Macau.

Robert Morrison in the 1890s felt God's call to go to China. He went to Macau as his posting under OMF. He tried to live like the Chinese. He kept his hair and nails long, he dressed in long robes and he learned to use chopsticks. He even engaged Chinese tutors to teach him the language.

Although he was cheated many times by the local Chinese and suffered a great deal in his 27 years of missionary work in Macau (going home to Britain only once), he persevered in his work. He faced many obstacles as he was viewed with suspicion by the local Chinese. He was overcharged for his lodgings and the tutors he employed to teach him Chinese cheated him of his money. He was also sickly and his first child died while he was in ministry. He seemed to make little progress in his missionary work.

However I was amazed that this 'orang putih' or white man was actually the first person to translate the King James Bible into Chinese! Now this is something like a revelation to me because I would have thought that the Chinese Bible would have been translated by a Chinese!

He was also the first white man to translate the first Chinese dictionary! What about converts? Apparently he brought to Christ the first 10 Chinese converts in Asia and baptized them. They stayed faithful to the end. The rest of the time, he spent giving out literature to the merchant classes in Macau and Guangzhou. 

I wonder - did this man accomplish anything in his 27 years of missionary? He must have if not Macau would not have been described as a city state having more churches per square mile than the Vatican! Everywhere there are churches. The churches do not seem to be restricted to buildings but services are also held in hotels!

Even the 5 star hotel where we stayed had a service ongoing that Sunday. Is there anything good to come out of Macau despite its reputation of being a place where gambling thrived?

I believe Robert Morrison left behind an unparalleled heritage. I believe that because of his perseverance despite countless obstacles he faced in ministry, Macau's Christian community had thrived to what it is today.

What lessons can I learn from this today?

That where darkness is greatest, the glorious light of the gospel is marching on! 

THERE IS NO STOPPING THE KINGDOM OF GOD IF GOD HAS MEN AND WOMEN SOLD OUT FOR HIS KINGDOM!

Psalm 145:5 "I will meditate on the glorious wonder of Your majesty and of Your wondrous works"

The Psalmist meditates on 2 things:

1. God's character and nature (God's ways)

2. God's works (God's acts)

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The word "glorious" means "kabawd". It signifies honor, glorious, abundance, dignity, reputation and reverence. It speaks of the very character and nature of God.

The word "majesty" actually means "vigor".

What about wondrous works? It speaks of something "marvelous, wonderful, surpassing, extraordinary, separate by distinguishing action, difficult to understand"

"Works" means speech, word, utterance, acts, business, occupation in Hebrew. 

Thus our meditation on God is not just on His deeds but also on His goodness. Indeed the Psalms constantly speaks of the importance of both the character and the acts of God.

May we be like the Psalmist who is also like Moses, may we also know His face and not just His works alone! The children of Israel knew God's acts but Moses knew God's ways! May we know both His acts and His ways!

Whilst meditating on this I also realized that something difficult to understand may also be wonderful. I realized that something sad may also be something wonderful or something bad may also turn out to be something good. The hour of pain is also the hour of joy. The hour of defeat is also the hour of victory. The hour of failure is also the hour of success.

My son got involved into an accident while we were on holiday in HK and Macao. Of all people he knocked it was a policeman on his big bike! What good can come of it I wonder? 

God's works is difficult to understand. Something seemingly bad can turn out to be seemingly good!

Yes...it was a bad experience of my son as we were not around to help him but it was a good experience too as I was able to teach him defensive driving which is driving and anticipating people's mistake. It was a bad experience for him as he had to take the policeman to the clinic and file the police report. It was a bad experience for him as he had to pay for the damages of the car and the police bike from his pocket money. Maybe it will take years for it to be settled.

But it was a good experience because I could really talk to him about defensive driving and about the disadvantages of traveling fast. It was a good experience as he had to humble himself. He was crying when he shared with me about the accident. It was a good experience as we have become closer after what happened because he knows that his mother will always be there for him no matter what happened to him.

I will meditate on God's wondrous works. 

God's ways are not my ways neither are my ways God's ways. 

Perhaps this is the way God has answered my prayers for safety and protection of all my children especially this young man who likes to drive fast.....

Psalm 145:4 "One generation shall praise Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts"

I realized that the Hebrew consistently translates the word "generation" as a "period of time" or "those living within that period". In other words the word "generation" refers to all those:

1. who are alive in this day and age because only the living can praise God's work and

2. who are of different ages, who knows the Lord and who are worshipers of the living God.

Therefore one generation means the children, the youth and the adults living in this age!

Indeed one generation will praise (laud, boast) God's work to another generation. 

The other day while cleaning up my library I realized that I had in my possession so many books on the works of the Lord passed on from the generations before me.

From the time of the Welsh revival to the time of George Mueller to the time of the Asuza street revival to the times when great men of God get on their knees and pray until nations turn to Christ. These are the reports of God's works presented to us in written form and passed on from generation to generation. Now God's works even come to us on the internet and google!

All the works of God (His mighty deeds, achievements of deliverance and judgment) are printed and preserved for future generations like mine! Awesome!

How do we "make known His works to another"? 

We "make known, announce, declare, report, tell, proclaim, publish". In recording this blog I am doing my part to "make known God's work" in my life and in my family.

What about God's mighty acts? It refers to acts of might, bravery and valor. 

To the children of Israel it would the time when they cross the Red Sea or the time when the walls of Jericho fell flat. To me God's mighty act may be the time my father accepted Christ as His Lord and savior.

My father accepted Christ in church during a healing rally but dared not go to church for fear of my mother (who was a very strong Buddhist at that time although she has mellowed over the years). My dad was healed of arthritis and also experienced God's divine healing of a heart attack. I remember when he was crying out in pain and clutching his heart in my car and I immediately prayed in the Spirit. The attack left him immediately.

However that which he escaped from became the cause of His death later on. My father died of another heart attack in my house but he died calling on the name of Jesus three times "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!"

My brother saw an angel dressed in white standing beside my father who was also dressed in white. The angel put out his hand as though saying to us "All is well".

At first I doubted his salvation as he was not baptized. God spoke to me about the thief on the cross who could not make it in time for the baptism pool. 

To me this is indeed a "mighty work of God" worth passing on to my children and grandchildren!

Psalm 145:3 "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable"

Great

The word "great" means something large in number, older, loud, intensity and IMPORTANT.

Lord

The word "Lord" is Yehovah or Jehovah which means "the existing One". He existed before the world was made or formed.

Greatly

"Greatly" does not mean important in Hebrew but it means "exceedingly" or "to a great degree".

Thus to paraphrase this verse:

"IMPORTANT is the Lord and EXCEEDINGLY to be praised"

Greatness

What about the word "greatness"? It means "geduwlah" in Hebrew which refers to the greatness of God as His attribute.

Unsearchable 

God's greatness is also unsearchable which means we cannot make inquiry or investigate or search out why He does what He does!

Of all the words in this verse, the one that touched me the most is "unsearchable". I realize that sometimes things happen to me for a reason but I don't know what it is. When I tried to make inquiry of God, there is silence/no answer. 

Sometimes we wonder why our loved ones have to die at a certain age, we wonder why our plane carrying 200 passengers just disappeared from the radar, we wonder why with the rain falling and falling the dams are still not full, we wonder why sicknesses and calamities happen why....I have given up wondering, I just accept things as they are.

God's greatness is unsearchable. He is allowing all these things to happen for a reason. I will continue to hope in Him.