Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - I'd Like to Thank... Me | The Writings | Psalm 115

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

Do you thank yourself or your God? Are you worshipping lifeless idols? Do you recognize the magnitude of who God is? In today's episode, Jensen shares how Psalm 115 encourages us to worship the God who breathed life into existence. Prepare your heart this Advent with the 2024 TMBT Advent Calendar! Each day, receive a new prompt for Scripture, prayer, and reflection—designed to help you slow down and reflect on the Hope, Love, Peace, and Joy that Jesus offers. Sign up now to receive your free Advent calendar! Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 115

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. When Snoop Dogg received his Hollywood star, he famously thanked, not his friends, not his family, not as producers or managers, but himself. He said, I want to thank me for believing in me. I want to thank me for doing all this hard work. I want to thank me for having no days off. Now you can understand the sentiment. Snoop Dog knows that without himself, his hard work, his commitment, quite literally, none of his success could have possibly happened.

You've probably heard the actual audio clip before it's gone viral a number of times as people make videos showing their different accomplishments they'd like to thank themselves for. Some serious showing off the businesses or homes they've built. Some more lighthearted, thanking themselves for the hard work they put. put into making themselves dinner, or basically just doing the bare minimum to stay alive. It's fun, it's silly. But the belief system that it's held up by is one that runs deep through the Western world. It's a prideful belief system. It's a belief system that's built around self-focus and identity building. See, we spend our lives hyper-focused on ourselves, what we can accomplish, what we can buy, what we can share on Instagram or TikTok to signal to the world our successes,

our beauty, our sense of humor. We build these identities we've crafted for ourselves based on whatever suits us and we do whatever we can to show the world what we've built so that we can get the likes, shares, and praise that we deserve for it. We tire ourselves out, building up these platforms we can hoist our accomplishments onto. We'll do anything for the praise, for the eyes and approval of others. We sell our lives to picture perfect families, skin care routines, renovated houses, and stacked resumes. We can't stop because we've built our identity and our value around these things. We all want our little star in the proverbial pavement that says, other people think I'm awesome too. We all want to look back at our accomplishments and be able to say,

I want to thank me, because my hard work got me here. But Psalm 115 paints a completely different picture. It's a Psalm of praise that the people of God would have sung together, and it displays a picture of the people of God who are marked by a radically different view of self of what should be at the center of our lives. It begins. Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your. Your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness. Glory to God. To God, not us, not me, not my accomplishments. No glory to God. In the first verse we can already hear the stark difference in tone.

The me, me, me, symphony of our world is replaced, not us, not us, you. What motivates the people of God to replace the me-centric narrative that isn't new to our world with this humble, other-focused worldview? While they answer that question in their praise, it's because of God's love and faithfulness. God deserves the glory not us because He has been faithful to us. This love and faithfulness of God has to be something greater than just casual love or ordinary faithfulness. to change the narrative so drastically from me, me, me to you, it must be something spectacular.

And it is. The rest of the chapter lays out a case for why when given the chance to offer thanks and praise, we don't say, I want to thank me, I want to praise me. We say, I want to thank and praise and give glory to God, because he deserves it. Verse 2. Why do the nations say, where is their God?

Our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases. So the nations are taunting Israel. Where is their God? Because the Israelites don't have carved idols of their God that they bowed down to. Their worship, the way that they praise looks different. It's countercultural to the world around them. Where is their God? They can't see him. Well, their God is in heaven, and he does whatever he pleases because he is creator. He's all powerful. The one they worship is worthy, unlike the nations around them. They continue on, but their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears but

cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. So the rebuttal to the nations is that while they cannot see the Israelites God, he is unmatched. He is above all things in heaven living, breathing alive, and the nation's gods, their idols, the things they worship and devote themselves to, they're made by human hands, dead, unmoving, powerless. The psalmist's response to the nations ends this way. Those who make them, the idols, will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. psalmist knows that to worship something dead, lifeless and powerless, is to devote yourself to a life of dullness. Eventually, as you pour yourself into something that cannot give back to you,

cannot support the weight of your devotion, you will empty yourselves out on an altar, becoming just as useless, lifeless and powerless as a thing you've worshipped, praised, given everything to. But not those who give their praise, who gave their devotion to God, know all you Israelites, trust in the Lord. He is their help and shield. House of Aaron, trust in the Lord, he is their help and shield. You who fear him, trust in the Lord. He is their help and shield. The Lord remembers us and will bless us. He will bless his people, Israel. He will bless the House of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord small and great alike. May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children.

May you be blessed by the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind. It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence. It is we who extol the Lord both now and forevermore. Praise the Lord. Do you hear the juxtaposition? The nations, they worship idols, dead things. crafted by man made, hands, and in return they gain nothing. They continue on to their grave,

dead, dull, lifeless. But those who worship the Lord, the creator of the heaven and earth, those who glorify him and trust in him and fear him, they receive. The Lord is their help and shield. He remembers them. He blesses them. He causes them to flourish. He brings them. He brings forth life for them because he is the creator of life, the creator of all goodness of all things. He provides and blesses his children. He is all powerful, generous, kind. He is loving and faithful. It is not the dead who praise the Lord. The ones who seek after things that cannot give life that are dead themselves know it is the people of God. The ones who know who their God is, the giver of life. They praise him because they know of his greatness, the magnitude, the blessing and beauty of his love and faithfulness.

Next to him, the people of God know to rightfully say, not us, not us, but to you be the glory, God. Because of your love and faithfulness, I will praise you now and forevermore. I want to look like the people of God in the Psalm. I want to be the one praising and recognizing the magnitude of who, My God is. And yet I cannot help but see myself in the nations. I may not be so far as to be the one taunting, but there are days and weeks and months where I reflect and I see that my praise and worship, the glory of my life has been aimed at myself. I do what I want. I ruminate on others' opinions of me. I post pictures on social media and tell stories to friends that paint a picture that my life is

together, that my hard work is paying off, that I have value and am worthy of respect and praise because of my knowledge or design skills or parenting wins. Me, me, me. Pouring my life into building an image and identity that cannot give me life back. It can only drain, only take, never deliver. I always need more. It's always happy to take more. Disatisfied, discontent, wandering. dying. No one is taunting me where is your God because just like everyone else, if you look at my life, you'll see my gods, my idols, the things I offer, my praise, my time, my life, my glory to. It's a sobering reality, and it isn't what I want. I want life. I want to bask in the love and faithfulness of my creator. And I think it begins with really recognizing who he is. I have breath in

my lungs because he gave me life. I have food on the table because he gave me the body and mind needed to work and buy food. He caused the rain to fall on the crops. He created the farmer that nurtured the seed. He upholds. He sustains. He cares for and loves all things. I want to give my life to building his kingdom. One that will last, one that produces life. You will never be tempted to trade me, me, me for you, God, unless you realize the reality of who he is, until you step back and see the big picture. Do you want to devote your life to a man-made piece of stone or to the creator and sustainer of the universe? Do you want to rest in the presence of social media likes or the warm embrace of a father who tenderly cares for your needs and gave up

everything so that he could be with you. You have a chance for life, for blessing, a chance to build something that is full of life, something that never ends. What will you devote your life to? What will you seek after? Who will you praise?