Psalms 113:1-9
1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.
4 The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelletha on high,
6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!
7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
8 That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.
9 He maketh the barren woman to keepb house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.
the Mighty God Uplifteth the Lowly
We detect the song of Samuel's mother in the first of these psalms. She sang the Old Testament “Magnificat” and it was embalmed by the psalmist here. Thus it passed into the psalter of the Church. Note the universality of this ascription of praise. For all time, Psalms 113:2; through all the earth, Psalms 113:3; and above all heavens, Psalms 113:4. What a wonderful God is ours! Heaven cannot contain Him, but He lifts the poor and needy out of the dust. Largeness is not greatness, and the babe in the cot is more important than the palace.
In Psalms 114:1 Egypt represents the tyranny of sin; but we have been redeemed. Like Israel we have gone forth. We belong no more to the present world with its strange tongue. Ours is the language of Canaan, our home. This exodus of ours has made us the temple and sanctuary of God. If once the Church realized that she is God-possessed, she would become irresistible. Seas would divide, rivers would start back, mountains would cleave, and the hills would remove. “Impossible” would be blotted from our vocabulary. The power that made Sinai tremble gave earth water-springs. When the soul finds its all in God, the world ceases to affright or attract it, and the rocks yield refreshing streams.