Psalm 135:15-21 “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see. They have ears, but they can’t hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them. House of Israel, praise the LORD! House of Aaron, praise the LORD! House of Levi, praise the LORD! You who fear the LORD, praise the LORD! Blessed be the LORD from Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!”

You may think that you’re too sophisticated to trust in idols. But do you realize that anything you put before God in your life is an idol?

Colossians 3:5 “Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

Staying away from idolatry can be difficult, but praise can help. When we give God the praise He deserves, and recognize His place in our lives, and put our trust in Him, we’ll be well on our way to getting any idols off the throne of our hearts!

For additional worship: Christ be Magnified

Psalm 135:8-14 “He struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal. He sent signs and wonders into the middle of you, Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants. He struck many nations, and killed mighty kings— Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan— and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel, his people. Your name, LORD, endures forever; your renown, LORD, throughout all generations. For the LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants.”

God’s sovereignty and work of protection continue to be praised. He vindicates (“judges”) and has compassion on His people. His name continues to be exalted from one generation to another for what He has done for them!

Just as Israel was dependent on God for its position and blessing, so are we. All that we have; all that we are; all that we can do; all that we can be; it’s all because of God. We experience both his vindication and compassion because of our eternal inheritance through Jesus. The Holy Spirit is our down payment, and through the Spirit we experience the gifting, filling, and fruits that lead to abundant life!

Titus 3:4-7 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love towards mankind appeared, not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

For additional worship: Compassion Hymn

Psalm 135:1-7 “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD’s name! Praise him, you servants of the LORD, you who stand in the LORD’s house, in the courts of our God’s house. Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good. Sing praises to his name, for that is pleasant. For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession. For I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps. He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries.”

The Lord is good. The Lord chooses. The Lord protects. The Lord is great. The Lord is God alone. The Lord is omnipotent. The Lord creates. The Lord sustains. Of course we should praise Him! And it should bring us joy when we do.

Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love, having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved.”

Ephesians 5:18-20 “Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father”

For additional worship: God of Wonders

Psalm 134:1-3 “A Song of Ascents. Look! Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the LORD’s house! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Praise the LORD! May the LORD bless you from Zion, even he who made heaven and earth.”

As they head towards Jerusalem to worship, their thoughts go toward those who are standing guard in the temple precincts. “How much greater will your service be if you worship and praise while you’re there? How much more will you be blessed by the God of Zion!?!”

It’s a reminder to us to use idle moments in our lives and find a way to get closer to God during them. Singing in the car. Listening to Scripture while we walk. Praying in the doctor’s office! Insert your own!

For additional worship: Psalm 134 (Poor Bishop Hooper)

Psalm 132:13-18 “For the LORD has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. ‘This is my resting place forever. I will live here, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation. Her saints will shout aloud for joy. I will make the horn of David to bud there. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed. I will clothe his enemies with shame, but on himself, his crown will shine.’ ”

This is our future!

Hebrews 12:18-24 “For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched and that burnt with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, for they could not stand that which was commanded, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.’ So fearful was the appearance that Moses said, ‘I am terrified and trembling.’ But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.”

For additional worship: Hymn of Heaven

Psalm 132:8-12 “Arise, LORD, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. Let your saints shout for joy! For your servant David’s sake, don’t turn away the face of your anointed one. The LORD has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: ‘I will set the fruit of your body on your throne. If your children will keep my covenant, my testimony that I will teach them, their children also will sit on your throne forever more.’ ”

The Psalm continues with a plea for God to reside in the temple, as well as a plea for God to remember His promise to David.

2 Samuel 7:12-13 “When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Although the nation failed to follow God, He still kept His promise. Jesus comes from David’s lineage and we look forward to that eternal kingdom that is yet to come.

For additional worship: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Psalm 132:1-7 “A Song of Ascents. LORD, remember David and all his affliction, how he swore to the LORD, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: ‘Surely I will not come into the structure of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, until I find out a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.’ Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar. ‘We will go into his dwelling place. We will worship at his footstool.’ ”

This Psalm remembers David’s zeal to build the temple, and asks God to remember His covenant with David that would not just bless Israel, but the whole world.

We would do well to emulate David’s zeal, for we have experienced the blessings of that covenant through Jesus!

Hebrews 9:14-15 “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant…”

For additional worship: Worthy of it All/I Exalt Thee

Psalm 131:1-3 “A Song of Ascents. By David. LORD, my heart isn’t arrogant, nor my eyes lofty; nor do I concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me. Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. Israel, hope in the LORD, from this time forward and forever more.”

Hope. Trust. Contentment. Humility. It’s hard. But if we truly believe in the greatness, goodness, and sovereignty of God, we’ll live more restful lives.

Philippians 4:11-13 “Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learnt in whatever state I am, to be content in it. I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learnt the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Hebrews 13:5-6 “Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, ‘I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.’ So that with good courage we say, ‘The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ”

For additional worship: Peace Be Still (Lauren Daigle)

Psalm 130:1-8 “A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I have cried to you, LORD. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions. If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, therefore you are feared. I wait for the LORD. My soul waits. I hope in his word. My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. Israel, hope in the LORD, for there is loving kindness with the LORD. Abundant redemption is with him. He will redeem Israel from all their sins.”

Wow, and wow. After what He’s done for us, how could we not long for Him?

Isaiah 53:3-6 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

For additional worship: The Love of God (Rich Mullins)

Psalm 129:1-8 “A Song of Ascents. Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say: many times they have afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me. The ploughers ploughed on my back. They made their furrows long. The LORD is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked. Let them be disappointed and turned backward, all those who hate Zion. Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up, with which the reaper doesn’t fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom. Neither do those who go by say, ‘The blessing of the LORD be on you. We bless you in the LORD’s name.’ ”

This is a communal lament with vivid imagery. Isreal is battered and bowed, but not defeated! Even in their pain, they turn to God and recognize that He is their refuge and strength. He will avenge them and defeat their enemies.

Prayer: “God, your people have always experienced persecution, and there are many Christians around the world today who are experiencing hatred, torture, prison, and even death. But we trust in your providence, mercy, care and love. Protect your people and put those who wish them harm to shame. May their hatred and nastiness be evident to all, and may it turn others against them.”

For additional worship: The Lord Is Good – Psalm 129