Praising God: The Power of Psalm 108:3-4

February 16, 2025

Psalms, Study

Abba, faithful, god, hesed, jesus, Mercy, praises, Psalms, truth

Psalm 108:3-4 NKJV

I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples,
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.

For Your mercy is great above the heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the clouds.

My Thoughts:

When we come to the Lord to give Him the praise which is due Him, we need to remember what He has done. First for our forefathers, for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For the deliverance He brought about for the Jewish people in Egypt with miracles showing how powerful He truly is. Secondly, giving us His son, Jesus, as our Savior. Jesus who sacrificed Himself and took all of our sins and sicknesses upon Himself so that we could have eternal life in Heaven with Him. Thirdly for the Holy Spirit who is available to us every day to show us how to deal with this thing we go through called life. These things alone should allow us to raise up and sing praises to our Abba Father, either in the still of the morning or when we are going about our business during the day or when we come to the end of the day. It’s another way God gives us to stay in touch with Him and to be in a relationship with Him, praising and praying about anything and everything. What an awesome God we serve……Bill

All my life You have been faithful

All my life You have been so so good

With every breath that I am able

I will sing of the goodness of God

Lyrics from “Goodness of God”

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Charles Spurgeon

“And I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.” This is written, not only to complete the parallelism of the verse but to reaffirm his fixed resolve. He would march to battle praising Jehovah, and when he had conquered he would make the captured cities ring with Jehovah’s praises. He would carry his religion with him wherever he pushed his conquests, and the vanquished should not hear the praises of David, but the glories of the Lord of Hosts. Would to God that wherever professing Christians travel they would carry the praises of the Lord with them! It is to be feared that some leave their religion when they leave their homes. Nations and peoples would soon know the gospel of Jesus if every Christian traveler were as intensely devout as the Psalmist. Alas, it is to be feared that the Lord’s name is profaned rather than honored among the heathen by many who are named by the name of Christ.

“For thy mercy is great above the heavens,” and therefore there must be no limit of time, or place, or people when that mercy is to be extolled. As the heavens overarch the whole earth, and from above mercy pours down upon men, so shalt thou be praised everywhere beneath the sky. Mercy is greater than the mountains, though they pierce the clouds; earth cannot hold it all, it is so vast, so boundless, so exceeding high that the heavens themselves are overtopped thereby.

“And thy truth teacheth unto the clouds.” As far as we can see we behold thy truth and faithfulness, and there is much beyond which lies shrouded in cloud, but we are sure that it is all mercy, though it be far above and out of our sight. Therefore shall the song be lifted high and the psalm shall peal forth without stint of far resounding music. Here is ample space for the loudest chorus, and a subject which deserves thunders of praise.

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Enduring Word

I will praise You, O LORD, among the peoples: David directed his praise to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel. Yet he was praising Yahweh in the presence of the people of Israel (the peoples) or among the nations. His praise was not secret, but open and public. (Guzik)

For Your mercy is great above the heavens: The large audience was appropriate because of the large nature of God’s great mercy (hesed, lovingkindness, loyal love, or covenant love). David understood that the mercy of God was so great that if it were to be measured, it would extend above the heavens, and His truth would reach to the clouds. (Guzik)

i. “God is exalted above the heavens. His glory does fill the earth. The goal of history is that God might be known as God and be honored for it.” (Boice)

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Matthew Henry

We must praise God publicly, as those that are not ashamed to own our obligations to him and our thankful sense of his favors, but desire that others also may be in like manner affected with the divine goodness (v. 3): I will praise thee among the people of the Jews; nay, I will sing to thee among the nations of the earth. Whatever company we are in we must take all occasions to speak well of God; and we must not be shy of singing psalms, though our neighbors hear us, for it looks like being ashamed of our Master.

We must, in our praises, magnify the mercy and truth of God in a special manner (v. 4), mercy in promising, truth in performing. The heavens are vast, but the mercy of God is more capacious; the skies are high and bright, but the truth of God is more eminent, more illustrious. We cannot see further than the heavens and clouds; whatever we see of God’s mercy and truth there is still more to be seen, more reserved to be seen, in the other world.

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A.R. Fausset

For thy mercy is great above the heavens—Hebrew, ‘from above the heavens’ [מֵעֵל]. In Ps. 57:10 it is “… unto the heavens.” Not only doth God’s mercy reach above the heavens, but it comes down from above the heavens to us, the lowest of all. and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. Hammond translates, ‘unto the ether’—viz., where the heavenly bodies are.

A. R. Fausset, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Job–Isaiah, vol. III (London; Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited, n.d.), 341.

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Cross-References

Micah 7:18-20 New Living Translation

Where is another God like you,
    who pardons the guilt of the remnant,
    overlooking the sins of his special people?
You will not stay angry with your people forever,
    because you delight in showing unfailing love.

Once again you will have compassion on us.
You will trample our sins under your feet
and throw them into the depths of the ocean!

You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love
as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago.

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KJV W/ STRONGS BIBLE – PSALMS 108

108:3 I will praise 3034 8686 thee, O LORD 3068, among the people 5971: and I will sing praises 2167 8762 unto thee among the nations 3816.

108:4 For thy mercy 2617 [is] great 1419 above the heavens 8064: and thy truth 571 [reacheth] unto the clouds 7834.(clouds: or, skies)

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Geneva Bible 1560

Psalm 108:3-4

3 I wil praise thee, ô Lord, among the (b)people, and I wil sing unto thee among the nations.

4 For thy mercie is great above the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.

(b) He prophecies of the calling of the Gentiles: for except they were called, they could not hear the goodness of God.

Jude:

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

And to present you faultless

Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

25 To God our Savior,

Who alone is wise,

Be glory and majesty,

Dominion and power,

Both now and forever.

Amen.

Posted on 2/16/2025 by Bill Stephens

Follow me on twitter – @billstephens_59