115
📚Not to us, O LORD, not to us,but to your name give glory,
because of your mercy
and because of
your truth.
115:1 This psalm gives us a contrast between the LORD (Jehovah God) and the idols worshiped as gods by the nations. He is in heaven; they are on earth. He is the possessor of all things, for He is the Creator; idols have been made by men, and have made nothing and can possess nothing themselves. He does whatever He wishes; they can do nothing at all. His worshipers will be blessed forever; their worshipers will be as useless to God as the gods they worship. On this solid foundation the psalmist exhorts God’s people to trust God and praise God. The desire of all of God’s true servants is that glory might come to God in everything. Those who serve to obtain fame, money, position, or glory from men are not true servants of God at all (and, alas, there are a great many such people even in Christian circles). God should have all the glory for He is a God of grace and truth who alone saves, protects and blesses His people and enables them to serve.⚜
2 📚Why should the nations say,
“Now where is their God?”
115:2 See Ps 42:3. All true children of God will be sad at the reproaches of godless people. Because they cannot see our God, some people will vainly imagine that we have none.⚜
3 📚But our God is
in heaven.
He does whatever he pleases.
4 📚Their idols are silver
and gold,
the work of men’s hands.
5 📖They have mouths,
but they do not speak.
They have eyes, but
they do not see.
6 📖They have ears, but they
do not hear.
They have noses, but they
do not smell.
7 They have hands, but they
do not feel.
They have feet, but they do not walk.
Nor do they speak with their throat.
8 📚Those who make them
are like them;
so is everyone who trusts
in them.
115:8 Idol worshipers become like their idols. They are unable to speak God’s messages, see God’s truth, hear God’s voice, or do anything at all for God. They have no spiritual understanding or ability, just as idols have none. And in God’s eyes they become worthless, just as their idols are worthless – Jer 2:5.⚜
9 📚O Israel, trust in the LORD!
He is their help 📖 and
their shield 📖.
10 📚O house of Aaron,
trust in the LORD!
He is their help
and their shield.
11 📚You who fear the LORD,
trust in the LORD!
He is their help and
their shield.
115:4-11 Compare Ps 135:15-20. Here we can see the folly of worshiping what man has made rather than the God who made man. It is seen also in Isa 40:18-26; 44:9-20, and 2 Kings 19:18.⚜
115:9-11 No one then or now has ever had any need to turn to idols. The living God is there to trust. He is someone Who can come to our aid in every circumstance of life and give us perfect protection.⚜
12 📚The LORD has kept us
in mind.
He will bless us.
He will bless the house
of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 📚He will bless those who fear
the LORD,
both small and great.
14 📚The LORD will increase you
more and more,
you and your children.
15 📚You are blessed
by the LORD
who made heaven and earth.
16 📚The heaven, the heavens above,
are the LORD’s,
but the earth he has given to the
children of men.
17 📚The dead do not praise the LORD 📖,
no one who goes down to silence.
18 📚But we will praise the LORD
from this time on and forevermore.
Praise the LORD!
115:17-18 That is, the dead do not praise God on earth (which is the viewpoint of the psalmist). The saved dead do praise God in heaven – Rev 7:9-17; 14:1-3; 15:2-4.⚜