The Steadfast Love of the Lord (Psalm 33:1-22)
Rev. David Huffman, January 19, 2025Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
Psalms are the hymnbook of the Old Testament, compiled under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. John Calvin describes them as an anatomy of all parts of the soul, including despair, crying out to God in faith, joy, thankfulness, adoration and praise. They contain the words we should sing and pray back to God. The word PSALMS means praises. We must praise Him, because He is faithful. Psalm 33 stirs our hearts to robust fire. Psalm 32 is a confession. Some think that Psalm 32 and Psalm 33 were intended to be united; one personal and the other corporate. They tell us that the righteous live by faith, and affirm God's covenant promises and His steadfast love. Psalm 33 is a call to worship, an accounting of reasons He is owed praise and what our response to praise should be. The psalmist urges the congregation to shout for joy; this is fitting for the upright, and from the heart and not just the lips. The people are to make skillful melody with instrumentation. Our new songs to God are made out of a fresh awareness of His grace, rejoicing in our salvation. Only those born again can truly do this. Verses 4 and 5 praise the trustworthiness of God. There is no contradiction with God; what He does is right and just. Since His word is trustworthy, He is owed our praise. The psalmist then praises God's creative power. God made all things from nothing; commanding things into existence. Verse 8 proclaims that the whole earth should fear the Lord and praise the great God of wonders. We bow before and rejoice in His sovereign providential will. For man to usurp the power of God, as with the tower of Babel, is worthy of God's laughter (Psalm 2). The counsel of the Lord stands forever. We praise Him for His redeeming grace; He has known us from eternity past. There will be blessings wherever a people honor God, who fear Him. He delivers where great armies cannot. God is in charge, and our hope is in Him. Prayer is a right response to the truths of the Psalm, especially prayer for His steadfast love that brings us perseverance in challenges. Is fervent praise the song of our hearts?
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Psalm 33 (Listen)
33:1 Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the LORD is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
13 The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
(ESV)