Psalms 115:15

Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.

The Lord blessing His saints

I. A blessing belonging to a peculiar people,

1. A people whom God has blessed because He willed to do so.

2. A people to whom this first will of God to bless them has been certified by countless acts of indisputable love. Gethsemane and Calvary speak volumes concerning the reality of the blessings which God has given to His chosen, for there they were loved to the death and redeemed by blood. An incarnate God, a Mediator covered with bloody sweat, a Redeemer wounded and slain,--What say you to this?

3. The people to whom this blessing comes are, after their conversion, known by their character. They “fear the Lord.”

4. It is very sweet to notice that this benediction is common to all Godfearing persons,--“both small and great;” and the small are put first, lest they should think they are forgotten.

II. A blessing from a peculiar quarter. “Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.”

1. This is a blessing from one peculiarly related to us, and therefore it is the more to be prized. All other blessings are only blessings in proportion as they contain the essence of this blessing; God’s blessing is the sea, and others are but drops; that is the sun, and others are but sparks.

2. This blessing comes not from an idol-god. The psalm leads us to make that observation. The gods of the heathen had mouths, but they spake not; ears, but they heard not: any benediction from them would be a mockery: but the children of God are not blessed of Baal or Ashtaroth, but of Jehovah, the self-existent Lord of all!

3. This benediction comes from the omnipotent Creator, “who made heaven and earth.” This intimates that the blessing is almighty in power. Have I the blessing of Him who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light? Then He can speak into my darkness, and cheer the gloom of my despair. Does the blessing of Him who brought order out of chaos rest upon me? then He can speak to the confusion of my circumstances, and the turmoil of my desponding mind, and charm all things into harmony. The blessing of Him who clothed the earth with beauty, piled the hills, and digged the channels of the sea, must have in it a fulness unrivalled.

4. It is a blessing from the All-wise One “who made heaven and earth.” His infallible counsels shall conduct thine affairs to a blessed issue.

III. A benediction with a peculiar date. “Ye are the blessed,” etc. This verb is in the present tense, and, indeed, it may be said to be in all the tenses put together, in a tense that is not a tense, a time that hath no time, but lasteth on evermore, till time shall be no more.

1. This blessing embraces all circumstances. You are laid low and pining away with consumption, but “You are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.” You are smitten down in the very heyday of your usefulness, and laid aside, but “You are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.” Oh, that your faith may lay hold of this when you are very sorely exercised, for happy is the man whom God correcteth, and blessed is the man whom thou chastenst, O Lord!

2. Our text reaches to all time and beyond all time, because it runs thus: “Ye are blessed of the Lord that made heaven and earth.” While I am on earth, this shall console me: “I am blessed of the Lord that made the earth;” and He Himself has said of His servants, “Blessed shalt thou be in the city,” etc. When I have to go out of this earth into another world, this shall console me: “I am blessed of the Lord that made heaven.” I shall still dwell in a place which my Father made. I am not going into a foreign country when I leave the warm precincts of this house of clay. I shall emigrate to the country where flowers never fade, and winter never chills.

IV. A blessing with a peculiar certainty. Scripture does not lie, or utter “perhapses” and “ifs” and “buts.” “Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.” Oh, ye that fear God, this is a matter of fact, ye daily and continually abide under a true and real blessing. Some blessings are vain words: the utterer is a hypocrite. Other blessings are sincere, but the person pronouncing them has no power to fulfil them. Such blessings are wells without water, or barren fig trees bearing leaves but no fruit. The Lord blesses not in word only, but in deed; not in futile wishes, but in omnipotent acts. We may fail to obtain the benedictions which our friends invoke upon us, but God’s blessings are sure to all the seed.

V. This blessing involves a peculiar duty, for, if God has blessed us, the succeeding duty is that we should bless Him (verse 18). “Praise Him from this time forth.” If the past has been marred by any other talk, now “from this time” bless the Lord. Wash thy mouth of all complaining, take the cup of gratitude to sweeten thy soul, and bless His name from this time forth. What, dumb till now? An heir of heaven speechless? May a sight of God’s blessing open thy mouth. From this time forth begin to bless Him. Then the psalmist resolves to praise the Lord “for evermore.” Our adoration of God is never to cease. As long as there is breath in our body let us praise Him who gives it to us. “Dum spiro spero,” said the heathen, “While I breathe, I hope.” But the Christian says, “Dum expire spero,” “When I die, I will still hope in God.” While we exist we will adore. (C. H. Spurgeon.)