BLESSED BE THE LORD
Psalm 68:19, 20
19] Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
[20] He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.
With a text like this, where does one start? This wonderful text speaks of the LORD who is the God of our salvation, who loads us with every blessing and He does it every day. Even more than that, to Him belong the very issues of death.
What are those benefits that the Lord loads on us? The greatest is, of course, the salvation of our souls;” For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. What makes this blessing so great is the fact that we don’t deserve it. Think of who we are by nature! We “were dead in trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:1, with as little ability to help ourselves as a dead man has to walk. Think of who we are now! We are God’s dear children, on whom He showers every gift of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.” Galatians 5:22. Could anything make us more thankful?
The benefits of our Lord, however, don’t stop there. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32. The temporal benefits that the God of our salvation loads on His dear children are limitless. What He promised to ancient Israel He promises to you and me today: “And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” Exodus 23:25. God not only loads our tables with food and drink, but He blesses every bite we eat. Without His blessing, we would soon waste away and die. Think of the other blessings in your life and mine, the blessing to get up in the morning, the blessing of life and breathe and strength. How many days or years has God done this for us? Some can talk of ten years or thirty years, and some of eighty or ninety, and none of us can complain that God has ever been niggardly about His gifts. One of His greatest blessings is our church family, where we hear and learn and study His word together, and find in that word mutual strength and comfort, and the encouragement to continue on as His faithful children.
If, in His grace, He should choose to permit us to suffer pain and illness, this, too, is a blessing. Perhaps no concept is more difficult, than that on a Thanksgiving Eve we should thank God for allowing us to suffer. God nowhere in scripture promises His children that once they come to faith, all suffering will disappear. Instead, He reminds us “that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:23. There are sectarian churches that deny that. They teach that once you come to faith, you won’t sin any more and you won’t have any more suffering. If you do, they claim, it is because you don’t have enough faith. The truth of the matter is that God permits suffering in our lives so that He can load us with the benefits of His care and protection.
Pain and suffering are meant to turn our attention away from ourselves to our divine Helper. “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” 1 Peter 4:19 Look what He promises in Psalm 23, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4. As we grow older, we learn that many things in our lives won’t go away. We have pains and afflictions that we may have to live with as long as we are here on earth. This is no reason to be sad, but rather an excellent reason for thanksgiving, and even for joy because our loving Lord would focus our hearts from this imperfect body of sin to a better life, yes, a perfect life that awaits us in heaven. ”I reckon,” writes St. Paul, “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18.
Finally, “unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.” The greatest issue of death is fear. The unbelieving world is terrified, not so much because of dying, but because of the uncertainty of dying. What is going to happen after death? How will God judge them on the last day? This fear underlies every religion in the world. Men create images or set up human beings in the place of God. They do good deeds and may even go to war to make their god happy. All the while the devil laughs, because He has succeeded in deceiving people into believing that their works are more powerful than Jesus’ blood. As a result, when the unbeliever dies, it is all over forever. There is no hope of a resurrection unto eternal life, no second change, no opportunity to argue with God about how good you are. Peace with God is impossible and all that remains is weeping and gnashing of teeth. So great is the power of the devil.
In contrast, look what we have to be thankful for. Had Jesus not come, the prince of death would have claimed us all. Jesus’ whole purpose in coming to earth was to die. At Christmas time, we learn how Jesus was born, a real baby from a real mother, so that He could fight the devil in our place and suffer real pain and die a real death. All this so that He could destroy “him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”. Hebrews 2:14, 15.
The devil has no control over us, neither in this life nor in the life to come, because unto God belong all the issues of death. Our heavenly Father assures us that temporal death is not the end, but that moment when the angels of heaven shall carry our souls to spend eternity with Him. When will that happen? Not until God says, “Return.” Some of us may never die. The end may come first. Does it matter? Whether living or dying, we are the Lord’s and have the promise of our Savior that He will raise us again.
The real issues from death won’t happen until after life here on earth is over. We belong to Him now: we live with Him now, and death will never take that away. When Christ descends, and the trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ rise, then we will be united with Him forever. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” Psalm 103:2
This sermon was preached by Pastor Robert Dommer on November 21, 2007