Our Invisible, Invincible God (Psalms 144–147)

A handshake can hide a dagger. We open Psalm 144 with David surrounded by smooth words and false peace, then watch him reach for the only power that holds—God’s right hand. From there, we walk into Psalm 145’s acrostic of praise, where David stacks verbs like a liturgy of attention: extol, bless, commend, sing. The focus is simple and bracing: God’s greatness is unsearchable, His nearness is real, and His care for the bowed down is why praise won’t end with time.

The journey continues through Psalm 146 with a clear warning that feels tailor-made for our moment: do not trust in princes. Leaders fade; plans perish. The “God of Jacob” does what no ruler can—He frees prisoners, opens blind eyes, lifts the weary, guards refugees, and upholds widows and orphans. Hope set on politics curdles into cynicism. Hope set on the sovereign King grows into resilience, courage, and steady joy.

We close in Psalm 147, where worship moves from future promises to present mercies. God heals the brokenhearted, binds wounds, sends rain, and grows grass on the hills. Even while we look ahead to a redeemed Jerusalem and the reign of Christ, we practice gratitude now for the ordinary graces at our feet. If your week is heavy with loss or noise or nameless pressure, this conversation offers a better center: the unchanging character of God and the reasons to praise Him today.

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Chapters

• 1:36 David’s Plea In Psalm 144
• 3:38 The Right Hand And False Peace
• 4:42 Prayer For Deliverance And God’s Power
• 5:24 Entering Psalm 145’s Alphabet Of Praise
• 8:34 Why Praise Endures Forever
• 11:05 Psalm 146: Don’t Trust Princes
• 13:04 God’s Justice And Care For The Lowly

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:16

As we arrive today at Psalm 144, well, David's enemies are making his life miserable once again, and he cries out to the Lord here in verse 7: Rescue me and deliver me from the many flood waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hand is the right hand of falsehood. The right hand, by the way, symbolizes power, authority. In the ancient days it was typically the hand that held the sword or the knife. It represented the power to hurt or even execute. So shaking someone's right hand was a practice that began in Greece 500 years before the birth of Christ. It became a symbol of peace. By extending your right hand, it showed someone that you weren't holding a sword or a knife in your hand. I've read that the shaking motion was practiced to shake out a knife that somebody might be hiding up his sleeve. So the handshake became a common greeting of friendship that communicated peace. Well, let me tell you, centuries before that handshake custom began, David is pointing out here in this psalm that the right hand of his enemies wasn't peaceful at all. He says here in verse eight, their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. In other words, they probably got a dagger stuck up their sleeve. In this case, however, it's a weapon of words, deceitful words about David, intending to slay his reputation. Now the context of this psalm may be the return of David to the throne soon after his son Absalom attempted to kill him and steal the throne away. Well, David's back now, but he's surrounded still by political intrigue. He's got secret enemies within the palace. I mean, they might be shaking his hand, so to speak, but they're not to be trusted. Well, David does the only thing anybody can in that kind of situation. He prays to the Lord here in verse 7. Stretch out your hand from on high and deliver me. Well, the implication here is that this would be God's right hand. This is God's right hand of power. It's a hand that can deliver David from his enemies. And that's his prayer request in this psalm. Now with that we come to Psalm 145, and this is the last of the nine acrostic psalms collected in the book of Psalms. Now you might remember that an acrostic psalm uses a consecutive letter from the Hebrew alphabet to begin each verse or stanza. So in English that would mean the first verse begins with a letter A, and the next verse begins with a letter B and so on. This poetic device was more than likely used to help people memorize these psalms. Psalm 145 also begins the final psalms of praise, as they're called, these last few psalms. They really form this grand doxology for the entire collection or the book of Psalms. It's like singing the doxology at the end of a worship service where we sing, Praise God from whom all blessings flow. One author comments that the entire book of Psalms has been driving us toward this final destination of praise. Well, now here we are at the gate of that destination. There are multiple words in Psalm 145 for praising God. You'll have the word extol, which means to talk about how great God is, and you have that here in verse 1. I will extol you, my God and king. In other words, I'm going to talk about how great you are. You also have the word bless, which means to speak well of God for his generosity. David writes that here in verse 2. I will bless your name forever and ever. Another word we find here is the word praise or praised, and that refers to glorifying God for his wonderful attributes. That's verse three. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. Now there are more words just piled one on top of another in this grand doxology. David speaks of commending, he speaks of meditating, pouring forth, singing aloud, giving thanks. A total of sixteen times in this psalm, David finds a way to praise the Lord. And he wants to make sure we understand how long he's going to praise God and how long we're going to praise God, because three times here in this psalm he speaks of praising God forever and ever. Well, that's for all of eternity. Why? Why would we praise God for all of eternity? Well, he tells us here in verse 14, the Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. You, God, open your hand, you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him. He also hears their cry and saves them. Think about this, beloved. David is writing this psalm now three thousand years ago. These words are just as true today as the day he wrote them, and that's because the God he's praising hasn't changed for a moment. He is still entirely worthy of all our praise today. Now as we sail along on our wisdom journey and arrive at Psalm 146, praise is essentially still the wind in the sails of the Psalmist. It's still on his mind, it's still carrying him along in this grand doxology. He writes here in verse one, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul, I will praise the Lord as long as I live. Then he he delivers, if you'll notice, this warning here in verse three, put not your trust in princes, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth on that very day, his plans perish. You know, despite that warning, it seems that people are constantly looking for that one person, that one ruler, that one individual who's going to lead them out of their collective misery. I've lived long enough to know that while God appoints his candidates to their political offices, to their thrones, well we can't put our hope in any of them. The Psalmist writes it this way here in verse five. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob. Well look what he can do. Verse seven. The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners. He upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. Beloved, there's nobody in power today who can open the eyes of the blind. There's no human being, no matter what their credentials, no matter what their promises, no matter what their campaign speeches are about. They're no match for the God of Jacob. And let me tell you, the God of Jacob has never been elected to office. He's not up for any re-election. His office is eternal. Why? Well, he's the sovereign king of the universe, and his reign is forever. Now, as you might expect with those truths in mind, that Psalm 147 is going to be filled with praise to God. You'll notice in this psalm here that Jerusalem, as well as Zion, which is another name for the city of Jerusalem, this is the place where the Lord's temple was located. It represents worship and glory related to him. Now, just because Jerusalem might be a long way from where you live today and the temple is no longer standing, well, that doesn't mean that this psalm is out of date. There's a new Jerusalem coming in the future. It's described over in the book of Revelation, chapter 21. It's the place where Jesus Christ is going to reign one day in his thousand-year millennial kingdom. He says here in verse 2, the Lord builds up Jerusalem, that is, he rebuilds it in all its glory. He gathers the outcasts of Israel. Now, in spite of looking forward to that glorious reign of Christ on earth, the reasons that he's giving us here to worship God are actually in the present tense. He says here in verse three, He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Verse six, He lifts up the humble. Verse eight, He prepares rain for the earth. He makes grass grow on the hills. And so it continues on through this psalm. You know what this is doing? This is reminding us today, beloved, that we have many reasons to praise God. If we'll just look around, we have many reasons today to give him praise. Praise him for his saving grace. You might even praise him for that rain shower you had the other day, which meant, well, you had to mow the lawn, but at least it's green. Right now, today, in the midst of your crises, under the weight of your burdens, as you experience perhaps some painful loss, remember that God is present with you. He might be invisible, but his kingdom power, his right hand of authority is invincible. His plans for you, his promises to you, well, they're still true. And all those promises will one day be realized. Well, with that, we're out of time for today. Until our next wisdom journey, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.