#DailyDevotion Give Praise To The Name Of The God Of Israel
135 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD’s name! Praise Him, you servants of the LORD, 2who stand in the LORD’s temple, in the courts of the temple of our God! 3Praise the LORD — the LORD is good. Sing to His name—it is delightful. 4The LORD chose Jacob to be His own and Israel to be His treasure.
Psalm 135 if the first psalm after the Psalms of Ascent. Perhaps it is not one of those because this was sung having completed the ascent to the Temple and they are already there. The opening verses here certainly seem to have the character of those psalms. It opens up with calls to praise Yah, one of the LORD’s names. Then there is a call to praise the name of Yahweh. This is followed by calling upon the servants of Yahweh, who are most likely the levitical priests, to praise Yahweh. This triple call to praise is similar to when we rise in church when we glorify the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Then in verse three we begin to hear about why we should praise Him. He is good. Most other gods are just humans with supernatural abilities with all our failings. The LORD is not like them. He is good in and of Himself. We know He will always deal rightfully with us. There is a call to sing to His name because it is delightful. The name of the one we love and who loves us is always delightful to us. His name is delightful because He has given it to us to call upon in every trouble, trial and tribulation knowing He hears us. He has given us another name that is above all other names, the name of Jesus, who bids us to use this name to come before the Father in John 14 and 16.
He is to be praised because He chose Jacob to be His own and Israel to be His treasure. Through him, He would join Himself become his Descendant and save the world. We praise Him because He has chosen us to be His own and to be His treasure through the Word and Sacraments. In 1 Peter 2 he writes, “9But you are a chosen people, priests of the King, a holy nation, a people saved to be His own and to tell of the wonderful deeds of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Jesus tells us in John 15, “16You didn’t choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that doesn’t pass away and to have the Father give you anything you ask Him in My name.” In almost of all of Paul’s letters he reminds us that God has called us to be His saints, His separated ones in Christ Jesus. His calling and choosing of us to have faith in Christ, to receive eternal life through Him and to enter into His glory when He reappears is enough for us to give Him thanks and praise all the days of our lives now and when we enter that glory on the Last Day.
Heavenly Father, grant us faith to praise Your name, the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, recognizing all Your goodness to us and trusting in Your calling us to be Your own treasured possession. May Your name always be delightful to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.