Video Transcript: Thank Psalms

As we look at the variety of Psalms, one of the most interesting collections is a very small  collection that I like to call the thank Psalms. Now, it may seem as if this is an unusually small  collection for the idea of thanks itself, which is central to both Old and New Testament  theology and worship life and practices. There are a variety of different kinds of Psalms, we've looked at a number of them in the past individual laments when the individual cries out to  God, for deliverance in a particularly difficult difficult situation. Communal laments when it's a whole community, or the gathering of the people that assemble and address God and say,  Why is this happening to us? And how can we get out of this? And what should we do about  this? How can we think about this, hymns of praise in which God's glory is lauded, and the  celebration of God's presence and creation and redemption is identified songs of confidence  in which we talk about how certain we are that God will take care of us royal Psalms, in which  there's a connection made between God's divine rule and the rule of the King on the throne of David in Jerusalem, and through Israel, Psalms of Zion, which prays the manner in which God  has chosen Israel to be the vehicle by which God restores and renews God's relationship with  all nations of the earth, wisdom or priestly instruction, which contain elements of wisdom to  pass along from generation to generation. And these, these thank songs now really, there are  three of them in the whole collection of 150 psalms, that doesn't mean that they're the only  ones which express thanks, but they have a unique way of doing it, because they use a  particular Hebrew tongue term term that you pronounced Toda, which means to thank in a  special way, they are expressions of appreciation for Yahweh as deliverance, and confidence  in that trajectory as being true for the future as well. And these psalms are 75, 115, and 136.  Psalm 75, we praise You, oh God, we praise You for Your name as near people tell of your  wonderful deeds. You say I choose the appointed time, it is I who judge with equity. When the  earth and its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm, to the arrogant I say boast no more, and to the wicked, do not lift up your horns, do not lift up your horns against Heaven do not  speak so defiantly. No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves  it is God who judges he brings one down and exalts another in the hand of the Lord is a cup  full of foaming wine mixed with spices, he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it  down to its very dregs. As for me, I will declare this forever I will sing praise to the God of  Jacob who says, I will cut off the horns of all the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be  lifted up. Now at first glance, this psalm may not seem to be very thankful. But there's a  special formula for thanking that is more evident in the Hebrew language. And each of these  psalms use the term Toda or thanks in it, in order to rehearse a specific set of things by which  YAHWAH has done something for which we give things. And because of that we count on his  favor for the future. This becomes evident in Psalm 75. When reading verses one and nine.  Each of these verses is about declaring God's saving activities. And this is the thanks that is  being offered not merely an offhanded. Thank Thank you, thank you, thank you something  like that to someone who has opened the door who has stepped out of the way this thanks  has to do with the huge things of life the the meaning of life itself, where rival perspectives  and powers are at stake when God asserts divine authority. It is over the petty powers at work in human society that seek to destroy and demean and diminish and dehumanize us in so  many ways. And you know those things in your life and society generally, when God acts over against those powers, goodness, and care and delight erupt once again, and the life of  everyone shimmers with some significance. So this thanks is not an offhand tossed out  comment. It's named and identified on the basis of the clear and direct actions of God who  reclaims and redeems and renews life on planet Earth. This is why thankfulness happens, not  because somebody did a nice thing today, but because life itself has been turned around by  the actions of God. Second example of these things. Psalm 118. Give thanks to the Lord for  He is good, his love endures forever. Let Israel say his love endures forever, let the house of  Aaron say his love endures forever, let those who fear the Lord say his love endures forever.  You notice the repetition of calling others to say something about God then becomes very  personal. When hard pressed, I cried out to the Lord, he brought me into a spacious place.  The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid, what can mere mortals do to me, the Lord is with me,  he is my helper, I look and triumph on find my enemies. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in the humans it is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to trust in princes, all 

the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord, I cut them down. They surrounded  me on every side but in the name of the Lord, I cut them down, they swarmed me like bees,  but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns in the name of the Lord. I cut them  down. I was pushed back and about to fall. But the Lord helped me The Lord is my strength  and my defense, he has become my salvation. shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents  of the righteous. The Lord's right hand has done mighty things. The Lord's right hand is lifted  high, the Lord's right hand has done mighty things I will not die but live and will proclaim what the Lord has done. The Lord is chatened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.  opened for me the gates of righteousness, I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the  gate of the Lord, through which the righteous may enter I will give you thanks for you have  answered me You have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done this,  this very day for, let us rejoice. Let us rejoice today and be glad. Lord, save us, Lord, grant us  success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord from the house of the Lord, we  bless you, the Lord is God and He has made light shine on us. With bows in hand. Join in the  festival procession up to the horns of the altar, you are my God, and I will praise you, you are  my God and I will exalt you give thanks to the Lord for He is good, his love endures forever.  Notice that this song begins and ends with a toda thanks theme. It spells out a number of  historical actions by which Yahweh has delivered the people generally, and also this individual songwriter. And the thanks that is due Yahweh is precisely because of God's deliverance. The  psalm becomes the usual final song and the Jewish Passover service so precisely tells the  story or recounts the history of Israel in a summary form. Therefore we ought to give thanks  because of what God has done in our past our shared past our historical past, as well as in our individual lives. Now, Jesus and his disciples likely sang the psalm after the meal together and the night before Jesus died. So it took takes on even deeper meaning in the New Testament,  because Jesus is in fact the stone which the builders rejected, who now becomes the corner of the great palace of God, the one who rules heaven and earth. So it's a very powerful psalm in  so many ways. The third among the thank Psalms is Psalm 136, much longer, but notice the  structure of Psalm 136. In our verses are translations of it. There is a line at the beginning of  each verse and then a chorus, a repeated chorus at the end of each verse. The lines at the  beginning of the verse go through a litany of things in which God has championed the right  cause has done the right thing has brought the right deliverance. And then the last half of  each verse is about how God's love therefore endures forever. We acknowledge this, and give  thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods His love endures forever Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever give thanks to  Him alone who does great wonders, his love endures forever. And then comes a litany of the  acts of creation, followed by the actions of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt in the great  exodus and goes all the way through the end and sort of throws it up and says, He gives food  to every creature His love endures forever Give thanks to the God of heaven, his love endures forever. Notice that this psalm was intended to be sung by a soloist and acquire a  congregation sort of like if you've ever seen a gospel choir perform with its lead singer and  the choir standing behind swaying from side to side or even a soloist who's leading a  congregation response, the soloist sings the first line of each verse and the choir or  congregation respond with a refrain, his love endures forever. So this is a psalm you can  actually see how it was performed or participated in the life of worship for ancient Israel, and  probably how it ought to be done even today. Notice that the psalm rehearses much of the  early history of Israel, right from the creation itself through the Exodus, and the deliverance  and the wilderness encounters on the way to the promised land. So the psalm shows  thankfulness for specific actions rooted in the history of God's redemptive activity. And that's  how it all ties back to us today. The final solo Testimonies link God's saving activities of the  past to those that we need and experience in our contemporary settings, because God has  acted this way. So we can count on God to act this way today. And we give God thanks for  that. Toda. Thanks. Thanks, Psalms. Among the Psalter. While many of the Psalms Express  general thankfulness or even specific thankfulness for unique situations that the psalmist has  gone to, through these Psalms use a particular Hebrew term and style to give thanks to God, 

generally, but generally for a particular line of thought. The key element to current  thankfulness, each of them say, is a recognition of God's past track record of deliverance for  God's people, coupled with the confidence that this remains the desire of God's heart with  God's current people. Here's what God did. Here's what we need, God will do it. These are  some of the most popular Psalms, and some most often used and repeated psalms in the  worship of the Israelites, but also in Jewish and Christian worship, and they continue to  express our thankfulness to the God who saves more on these things in my book, Hear Me Oh  God and my book, Covenant Documents.