Rebuilder of broken dreams
Why would the God who made all the wonders of creation shun the self-sufficient to care for the broken and bleeding? Because he’s not only just, says the psalmist, but also unfailingly gracious.
1 Praise YHWH!
How good to sing praise to our God!
How pleasant, how right!
2 YHWH rebuilds Jerusalem—
he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.
4 He tallies the number of the stars
calling each of them by name.
5 How great is YHWH:
his power is absolute
his understanding beyond telling!
6 YHWH lifts up the downtrodden
and throws the self-serving to the ground.
7 Sing your thanks to YHWH.
Make music to God on the lyre.
8 He fills the sky with dark clouds
sending rain to the earth
and making grass grow on the hills.
9 He gives all the animals their food
even scrappy young ravens when they cry.
10 He takes no delight in the warhorse’s strength
or the warrior’s powerful legs.
11 But YHWH delights in those who revere him
who put their hope in his unrelenting love.
12 Praise YHWH, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates
and blesses your children within your walls.
14 He grants peace within your borders
and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
15 He sends his command to earth
his word travels swiftly!
16 He spreads out snow like a wool blanket
and dusts everything with hoarfrost like ashes.
17 He scatters hailstones like breadcrumbs.
Who can withstand his icy blast?
18 Then he gives the word and everything melts
he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
19 He revealed his words to Jacob
his laws and judgments to Israel.
20 For no other nation has he done this:
none of them have any knowledge of his laws.
Praise YHWH!
The second of the Psalter’s five concluding psalms, this psalm weaves together calls to praise with the book’s two major reasons for praise: God’s sovereignty over creation and his gracious redemption of his people. Between bracketing calls to praise, the psalmist calls individuals and then the community to praise.
YHWH rebuilds Jerusalem by gathering Israel’s outcasts, or exiles, healing their broken hearts, bandaging their wounds. He lifts up the oppressed while judging their oppressors, thus, setting the world to rights. And in doing so, he blesses his people with well-being, satisfaction, and security.
YHWH’s naming each of the stars—still not all counted by us in the 21st century—attests to his incomparable understanding. He, not the Canaanite fertility god, Baal, sends rain clouds to water the earth that feeds earth’s creatures, right down to fractious raven nestlings. His command paints the trees with delicate hoarfrost as well as the harshest icy blast. Then his word melts everything, bringing spring on. And the same speech guided Israel in a way that no other nation was guided.
At the psalm’s heart, the God who is signally unimpressed by military might—the horse’s strength, the warrior’s stamina—delights instead in those who revere him and hope in his unrelenting love. By turning worldly ideas of national power and glory on their head, the psalm would have comforted the struggling post-exilic community, threatened by enemies on all sides.
You poured your life out, Jesus, to gather outcasts, heal their hearts, and bandage their wounds. Because you’re that kind of God. And what excites you is my reverence for you and my hope in your endless grace, however disqualified I feel. I praise you my creator and redeemer God! Amen.
In your free moments today, meditate on these words:
YHWH delights in those who revere him
who put their hope in his unrelenting love.
