Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Praising the Greatest of All Time | The Writings | Psalm 135

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

Who is the greatest of all time? Have you checked God's resume? Why did our powerful God take on the weakness of a baby? In today's episode, Jensen shares how Psalm 135 encourages us to worship the God who was great, is great, and will always be great. Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. 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 135

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 people say that Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast of all time, when she wears a goat necklace, when she receives praise and applause as she walks into a room, it's not undeserved. It's based on something. All of it is because of her record. her past performances, her accomplishments, her gold medals,

the things that she's done to defy gravity, the record she's broken, the move she's created. Her history speaks for her. There's no competition. She's a cut above the rest. But we can't really say that she's the greatest of all time, because we don't know what the future holds. Someone else was the goat before she came along.

See, the greatest nations in the world haven't always been on top. Kingdoms and empires rise and fall. Realistically, we should say that things are the greatest at the moment. But who knows what's coming? But that isn't the case with God. When the psalmist in Psalm 135 wrote out 21 verses of praise to the Lord, he doesn't include any caveats. He does do what you would expect anyone making a case for why someone deserves

praise. He lays out God's stats, you could say, his record, his history of faithfulness and power. Verses 1 through 4 exclaim, praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Praise him, you servants of the Lord. You who minister in the house of the Lord in the courts of the house of our God. Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. For the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own Israel to be his treasured possession. Praise the Lord for he's chosen us. Then he makes a claim that his God is greater than all the idols of the world. In verses 5 through 7 he gives us the ways that he's greater. He does what he pleases. He's in control of the natural world. He created it. Then in verses 8 through 12, he backs up his claim with historical record.

Verse 8. He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, the firstborn of people and animals. He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings, Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, the king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan. And he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people, Israel. So our psalmist is pointing to real historical occurrences. Look, look what God has done. You cannot argue with his greatness, his power, his worthiness of our praise.

He harnessed nature in the plagues. He delivered his people out from the grasp of Pharaoh, the ruler of the most powerful nation. Then we hear that he's struck down mighty kings, conquered nations, taken their lands as his rightful possession and graciously given it to his people as a gift. He is powerful, generous, loving, worthy. But then, in verses 13 to 14, he switches from recounting the past, from sifting through the historical evidence, to making a future claim. Your name, Lord, endures forever.

Your renowned Lord through all generations. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion. on his servants. The Lord will. He will do these things. He will endure forever through all generations. There will never be another like him. No one will overtake him as the greatest of all time. You can't make a claim like that about anyone or anything else. You get the best iPhone wait a year. A greater one is coming. You live in the greatest nation of the world. Just hold tight for a couple hundred, maybe thousand years, and chances are the political landscape will change. Just ask Rome or Greece or Egypt. Simone Biles won't always be the greatest of all time. But the Lord? There is no caveat given, no disclaimer. He will endure forever,

reign forever. He will always be faithful and powerful and creator and sovereign and mighty and worthy of our praise. See, the proof is in his name. You can't see it unless you're listening with your Bible open in front of you, but where I've read the word Lord today, it's been written in a specific way, capital L-O-R-D. When you encounter Lord capitalized in this way in the Bible, it's because you're reading not the title Lord, but the name of God. You're reading the Hebrew word Yahweh. And the two verses that I just read verses 13 and 14, the verses that make absolute claims about God's greatness, allude back to another chapter in the Bible. Exodus 3, 14, 15, the verses of the Old Testament where we see God first announce himself to his people. He gives them

his name. God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say to the Israelites, the Lord, the the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. The name you shall call me from generation to generation. God's name forever is I am who I am. The Hebrew word Yahweh is derived from the ancient Hebrew verb to be, or being, or he will be, or I am. In these two verses, God is telling his people, I am who I am. I always have been. I always will be. Who I am is stable. It is constant. It does not change. Why will God always be worthy of our praise? Why will he always reign? Why will he never be overtaken by another?

Because he is. He is creator. He is good. He is powerful. He is great and worthy of praise. always, forever, from generation to generation. And so, in our psalm, it shouldn't surprise us that Yahweh is used. But the language of verses 13 and 14 reflect that found in Exodus 3. The psalmist is harking back. He's giving us greater context, more firm evidence for why he knows he can say with absolute certainty that God always will be renowned, compassionate, and worthy of praise. It's in his nature. He cannot change. He will never be anything less than king over all of

creation. He holds all things in his hands. He sustains all things. All power from all of creation found in every created being comes from him. He is the only thing that was not created. He always has been. There is none like him, living, self-sustaining, all-knowing, all-powerful, all good, wonderful, compassionate, kind, loving. And he's nothing like the idols. If you've been listening and reading along with us, then you may recognize verses 15 through 18. See, there are almost an exact replica of verses found in Psalm 115. In contrast to the image of God as the great I am, the psalmist reminds us of the lifeless nature of the idols, their powerlessness, the temptation to follow them that leads us to death and dullness. And then, he ends with the final reminder

to praise God. Praise him because he's worthy. Everyone. Praise the Lord. Praise Yahweh. Praise the I am. See, it's at this time of year as the Advent season has begun as we await the birth of Jesus, the coming of our king into human form to establish his kingdom, to bring light to a dark world. I can't help but praise God for who he is and what he has done. This God, the God who gave us his name in Exodus 3, the great I am, the one who never changes, whose all-powerful became a baby. He humbled. He humbled. himself? Why take on the neediness, the restriction, the pain of becoming human, limited, and weak? Well, because it was the only way, the only way to deliver his beloved creation from the bondage of sin and death, the only way to bring light to darkness, the only way to bring lasting freedom like he did for the Israelites out of Egypt. See, the same God who has been faithful, whose record is full of power and might and faithful deliverance was faithful to his people. He became a human and was faithful even unto death on a cross.

As you celebrate the Christmas season, remember who you're celebrating. Remember what it means for Yahweh, the great I am, to become a baby for you, for creation for everyone. How beautiful! How incredible. Yahweh is faithful. He is worthy of your praise. So celebrate him. Praise him, give all that you are to your king who is worthy, to the one who outshines and outlasts all other powers and grates of this world. In the dark hours of the night, remember that it's in his nature to be faithful. He will deliver his people into his kingdom one day. We celebrate and remember that Jesus came as a baby and we look forward with hopeful, steady, and sure expectation that he will return and bring us home with him once again. The Lord is steadfast. His name endures forever,

his renown through all generations. Praise the Lord, you who fear him. Praise the Lord.