September 20: He helps all who fall

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. The Lord is good to everyone; His compassion rests on all He has made. All You have made will thank You, Lord; the godly will praise You. They will speak of the glory of Your kingdom and will declare Your might, informing all people of Your mighty acts and of the glorious splendor of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; Your rule is for all generations. The Lord is faithful in all His words and gracious in all His actions. The Lord helps all who fall; He raises up all who are oppressed. All eyes look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. (Psalm 145:8-16 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)

This psalm is an acrostic poem, meaning that the first word of each verse begins with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, in consecutive order. Not only did King David have to be inventive as he wrote this psalm, he created a thing of beauty. It wasn’t enough for him to simply write down some nice thoughts about God, he was determined to create a beautiful work of art. Sadly we cannot fully appreciate this psalm by reading it in ancient Hebrew, and yet it is still an amazing passage to read. Challenging, edifying, and determined that God never fails His people, it is a message that this modern world is in sore need of. You might want to read the entire thing and ask yourself how you can do the same, how you can create a beautiful work of art to glorify your God and King.

The psalm begins with the words “I exalt You”. Saying this is a way of praising God, but the specific meaning of this word is “to hold high” or “to hold in high regard”. David could easily have focused on how he should be exalted — as the king and a mighty warrior — but instead looked to God as the exalted One. This must have been his secret to staying faithful to God in the face of so many temptations, and as we know, Satan fell because he exalted himself above God. Three words… but so powerful when we speak them with conviction.

This passage leaves no doubt about God’s power and care for His people — but takes this idea to the extreme: all generations… all His words… all His actions… all who fall… all who are oppressed… all eyes… every living thing. The same man who wrote psalms that cried out to God in times of need and moaned in agony, here praises God to the highest degree. In a world where we are continually confronted by evil people, disappointments, demonic attacks, satanic scheming, and where life is tough, David is determined to affirm that God is good, and that there is no end to His power, His concern, and His willingness to come to the aid of His people. This is one more secret to David’s dogged faithfulness to the very last day of his life, he was determined that God was faithful even when circumstances were screaming the opposite, and was convinced that “all things work together for the good of those who love God” — and because he believed that, it happened.

Now it’s our turn to have the same dogged determination.