THE PHILOSOPHY AND PROPRIETY OF ABUNDANT PRAISE – Charles Spurgeon
THE PHILOSOPHY AND PROPRIETY OF ABUNDANT PRAISE
“They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.” – Psalm 145:7.
This is called “David’s Psalm of praise,” and throughout it, we see that he is filled with a strong desire that God may be greatly magnified. He uses a variety of expressions and repeats himself in his holy fervor. If you read through the Psalm, you’ll notice words like, “I will extol You,” “I will bless Your name,” “Every day will I bless You,” “I will praise Your name forever and ever,” “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised,” “One generation shall praise Your works to another,” “I will speak of the glorious honor of Your majesty,” “Men shall speak of the might of Your terrible acts,” and many other similar expressions. By the last verse, he declares, “My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless His holy name forever and ever.”
David is not satisfied simply declaring that Jehovah is worthy of praise or pleading that His praise should be felt in the heart. He wants it publicly declared, openly spoken, plainly uttered, and joyfully proclaimed in song. The inspired Psalmist, moved by the Holy Spirit, calls upon all flesh, and indeed upon all the works of God, to sound forth the praises of the Most High! Will we not heartily respond to this call?
In his pursuit of praise, David speaks in verse five of God’s majesty as the glorious King. His eyes seem to be dazzled by the splendor of the august Throne, and he cries, “I will speak of the glorious honor of Your majesty.” Then, he considers the power of that Throne and the force with which its just decrees are carried out. In verse six, he exclaims, “Men shall speak of the might of Your terrible acts, and I will declare Your greatness.” Here, he briefly speaks of both the majesty and might of the dread Supreme, but when his thoughts turn to the Divine goodness, he expands and uses words that show the emphasis he places on the subject and his desire to linger over it. “They shall abundantly utter,” says our text, “the memory of Your great goodness.”
This morning, our desire is to praise and magnify the name of the Infinite Jehovah without limit, and especially to have our hearts enlarged and our mouths opened wide to speak abundantly of His great goodness. Oh, that in this whole congregation, the text may become true—“They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great goodness.” Having uttered it in plain speech, may we all rise a stage higher and, with gladsome music, sing of His righteousness!
You see our objective, an objective in which I trust you all sympathize. Come, one and all, and praise the Lord! Is the invitation too wide? Observe the ninth verse: “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall praIse You.” I will not limit the invitation of the Lord, for you all drink from the river of His bounty! Render to Him, all of you, the praises that you can. But there is a special invitation to His saints: Come and bless His name with spiritual, inward, enlightened praise. “Bless the Lord, O house of Israel. You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord.” In your heart of hearts, extol, adore, and make Him great, for it is written, “Your saints shall bless You.” Verily, this shall not be written in vain, for our souls shall bless the Lord this day as the Holy Spirit moves within us!
We shall speak upon two things to promote the objective we have in view. First, the method of securing the abundant utterance of God’s praise regarding His goodness, and second, the motives for desiring to secure this abundant utterance.
I. THE METHOD OF SECURING THE ABUNDANT UTTERANCE OF THE DIVINE PRAISE CONCERNING HIS GOODNESS
Our text gives us the mental philosophy of abounding praise and shows us the plan by which such praise may be secured. The steps are such as the best mental philosophy approves. First, we are helped to abundant praise by careful observation. Notice the text: “They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great goodness.” Now, for memory to work, there must first be observation. A person does not remember what they never knew! This is clear to all, and the point is virtually implied in the text. The more a fact or truth makes an impression upon the mind, the more likely it is to remain in the memory. If you hear a sermon, that which you remember afterwards is the point that most strongly impacted you while listening. At the time, you might say, “I will jot that down so I don’t forget it,” for it resonates deeply with you. Whether you use a pencil or not, memory obeys your wish and makes a record. The same applies to the dealings of God with us. If we want to remember His goodness, we must let it strike us—we must notice it, consider it, meditate on it, estimate it, and allow it to have its due influence upon our hearts. Only then will we not need to say, “We must try and remember,” for it will come naturally. The impression, once clearly and deeply made, will not easily fade, but we shall see it after many days. Therefore, the first step toward plentiful praise of God is a careful observation of His goodness.
Now, let’s focus on what we are to observe—God’s goodness. Too many are blind to this blessed object. They receive the blessings of His liberality and are under His care, yet they attribute all they receive to themselves or to secondary agents. God is not in all their thoughts, and consequently, His goodness is not considered. They have no memory of His goodness because they have no observation of it! Some, in fact, instead of observing the goodness of God, complain of His unkindness and imagine that He is needlessly severe. Like the unprofitable servant in the parable, they say, “I knew You, that You are an austere man.” Others sit in judgment upon His ways, as recorded in Holy Scripture, daring to condemn the Judge of all the earth! Denying the goodness of Jehovah, they attempt to set up another god, one more suited to the modern, enlightened 19th century.
However, in this house, we worship Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—and none other than He. Many today adore new gods, recently risen, who are foreign to the God of the Old Testament. But we, like David, proclaim, “This God is our God forever and ever.” “O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hands.”
As we see the Lord revealed both in the Old and New Testaments, we behold His abundant goodness. Alongside the justice we would not wish to deny, we see surpassing grace, and we delight that God is Love. He is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. We have no complaints to make against Him! We wish to make no alteration in His dealings or His character! He is our exceeding joy, and our whole heart rejoices in the contemplation of Him. “Who is like unto You, O God? Among the gods, who is like unto You?”
We are to consider, therefore, what many will not so much as believe—that there is great goodness in Jehovah, the God of Creation, Providence, and Redemption—the God of Paradise, of Sinai, and of Calvary. We are to thoroughly acquaint ourselves with Him as He has made Himself known and continually consider His great goodness, so we may retain the memory of it. If we are willing to see, we shall not lack for opportunities to behold His goodness every day. His goodness is evident in Creation—it shines in every sunbeam, glitters in every dewdrop, smiles in every flower, and whispers in every breeze. Earth, sea, and air, teeming with innumerable forms of life, are all full of the goodness of the Lord! The sun, moon, and stars affirm that the Lord is good, and all terrestrial things echo the proclamation.
His goodness is also seen in the Providence that rules over all. Let rebellious spirits murmur as they may, goodness is enthroned in Jehovah’s kingdom, and evil and suffering are intruders. God is good toward all His creatures, especially toward the objects of His eternal love, for whom all things work together for good. However, it is in the domain of Divine Grace that the noblest form of Divine goodness is seen. Begin with the goodness that shines in our election and follow the silver thread through redemption, the mission of the Holy Spirit, the calling, adoption, preservation, and perfecting of the chosen—and you will see riches of goodness that will astound you! Dwell within the kingdom of redemption, and you will see rivers, even oceans, of goodness!
I leave it to your own minds to remember these things and to your own lips to abundantly utter the memory of the Lord’s great goodness in the wonders of His salvation! It is not my design to speak for you, but to stir you up to speak for yourselves! The point which struck the Psalmist and should strike us all is the greatness of this goodness. The greatness of the goodness will be evident when we consider the person upon whom it falls. “Why me?” is often the utterance of a grateful heart. That God should be good to any of His people is mercy, but that He should make me one of His own and deal so well with me—here His goodness exceeds itself! Why me? What am I, and what is my father’s house?
The greatness of the goodness becomes even more apparent when we think of the greatness of God, the Benefactor. “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You visit him?” That God Himself should bless His people. That He should come in the form of human flesh to save us. That He should dwell in us, walk with us, and be our very present help in trouble—is not this a miracle of love? Is this not great goodness?
When we consider the evil from which God rescues us, we also see His greatness. For instance, no one knows the blessing of health like someone who has recently been tormented with illness. Then, they bless Jehovah Rophi, the healing Lord. None know what salvation from sin means like those who have been crushed beneath the burden of guilt. Did you ever feel condemned by God and cast out from His presence? Did the pangs of hell seize your conscience? Did you long for death rather than life, while thick clouds and darkness enveloped your soul? When the Lord has put away your sin and said, “You shall not die,” and brought you out of the prison of despair, you have known the great goodness of God in your life.
God’s goodness is also made manifest in the greatness of the benefits He bestows. He gives like a king, no, like a God! He does not merely give you minted coins of gold, but the mines themselves! He does not give you a cup of cold water but brings you to the flowing fountain and makes the well, itself, your own. God Himself is your Portion, and the lot of your inheritance!
I urge you to remember the great goodness of God in your life. What we have been given by Him is beyond measure. Take note of His mercies, observe His goodness, and speak of it constantly. The more you speak of it, the more your memory will be strengthened, and your praise will increase.
The first two processes for securing abundant praise are observation and remembrance. The next is utterance. “They shall abundantly utter”—this signifies the idea of bubbling up like a fountain. We are called to speak constantly of God’s goodness, to let our praises pour forth and to express our gratitude freely and fervently. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” and when our hearts are full of His goodness, our words will flow with praise.
Finally, the last stage is to sing. As we move from utterance to song, we find that the heart naturally rises in joy, singing of God’s righteousness. What a beautiful expression of the union of mercy and justice, as seen in the Atonement of Jesus Christ—our great Substitute! The memory of God’s goodness moves us to song, and that song reflects the righteousness of God in all its splendor.
May we all, like David, abundantly utter and sing of His great goodness and righteousness forevermore!
Parnassus is Outdone by Calvary!
The Castalian spring is dried, and Jesus’ wounded side has opened another fountain of song! The goodness of the Lord to us, in all the blessings of His providences, we gladly chant. But when we tell of the grace that led our Lord Jesus to bleed and die, “the Just for the unjust to bring us to God,” our music leaps to nobler heights! Incomparable Wisdom ordained a way in which God should be righteous to the sternness of severity and yet should be good—illimitable good—to those who put their trust in Him! Lift up, then, your music until the golden harps shall find themselves outdone!
Thus, we have explained the method of securing an abundant utterance—may the Holy Spirit help us carry it out.
II. The Motives for This Abundant Utterance
These motives are right at our fingertips. The first is because we cannot help it. The goodness of God demands that we should speak of it. If the Lord Jesus Himself should charge His people to be silent about His goodness, they would scarcely be able to obey the command. They would, like the man who was healed, blaze abroad the mighty work He had done. But, bless His name, He has not told us to be quiet—He allows us to abundantly utter the memory of His great goodness! The stones of the street would cry out as we went along if we did not speak of His love!
Some of you good people seldom speak of the goodness of God! Why is this? I wonder how you can be so coldly quiet. “Oh,” said one in his first love, “I must speak or I shall burst.” And we have sometimes felt the same when the restrained testimony was as fire within our bones! Is it not a sacred instinct to tell what we feel within? The news is too good to keep! Indulge to the fullest the holy propensity of your renewed nature! Your soul says, “Speak,” and if etiquette says, “Hush, they will think you a fanatic,” regard it not, but speak aloud and let them think you a fanatic if they please! Sir, play the organ very softly when the subject is your own praise, but when you come to the praises of God, pull out all the stops—thunders of music are all too little for His infinite goodness!
Another motive for abundantly uttering the praises of God is that other voices are clamorous to drown it. What a noisy world this is with its conflicting and discordant cries. “Lo here,” cries one. “Lo there,” shouts another. This uproar would drown the notes of God’s praise unless His people uttered it again and again! The more there is said against our God, the more should we speak for Him. Whenever you hear a man curse, it would be wise to say aloud, “Bless the Lord.” Say it seven times for every time he curses and make him hear it. Perhaps he will want to know what you are doing, and you will then have an opportunity to ask him what he is doing—and he will have more difficulty in explaining himself than you will in explaining yourself. Try, if you can, to make up for the injuries done to the dear and sacred name of God by multiplying your praises in proportion as you hear Him spoken ill of. I say unless you give forth abundant utterance, God’s praise will be buried under heaps of error, blasphemy, ribaldry, nonsense, and idle talk! Abundantly utter it so that some of it, at least, may be heard!
Praise the Lord abundantly because it will benefit you to do so. How bright the past looks when we begin to praise God for it! We say, “I am the man who has seen affliction,” and we are to fill the cup of memory with gall and wormwood. But when we see the goodness of God in it all, we turn the kerchief with which we wiped our tears into a flag of victory—and with holy praise, in the name of our God, we wave the banner!
As for the present, if you think of God’s mercies, how different it seems. A man comes to his dinner table and does not enjoy what is there because he misses an expected dainty. But if he were as poor as some people, he would not turn his nose up, but would bless the goodness which has given him so much more than he deserves! Some I know, even among Christians, are grumblers in general and always find fault. The best things in the world are not good enough for them. Ah, my Brother, abundantly utter the memory of God’s goodness and you will find nothing to grumble about—nothing to complain about—but everything to rejoice in!
As for the future, if we remember God’s goodness, how joyfully we shall march into it. There is the same goodness for tomorrow as for yesterday and the same goodness for old age as for youth—the same God to bless me when I grow gray as when I was a babe upon my mother’s breast. Therefore, forward to the future without hesitation or suspicion, abundantly uttering the loving-kindness of the Lord.
Again, I think we ought to do this because of the good it does to other people. If you abundantly talk of God’s goodness, you are sure to benefit your neighbors. Many are comforted when they hear of God’s goodness to their friends. Draw a long face and lament the trials of the way—sit down with somber brethren and enjoy a little comfortable misery and see whether crowds will ask to share your vinegar. “While here our various needs we mourn, united groans ascend on high,” says Dr. Watts, and I am afraid he speaks the truth. But very few will be led in this way to resolve, “We will go with these people, for we perceive that God is with them.” Is it good reasoning if men say, “These people are so miserable that they must be on the way to Heaven”? We may hope they are, for they evidently need some better place to live, but then it may be questioned if such folks would not be wretched even in Heaven!
You smile, dear friends, as if you say you would not be much attracted by sanctimonious misery, nor do I think you would. Therefore, do not try it yourselves. Instead, talk much of the goodness of the Lord! Wear a smiling face! Let your eyes sparkle and go through the world as if you are not slaves under the lash, or prisoners in bonds, but the Lord’s free men! We have glorious reasons for being happy—let us be so and soon we shall hear persons asking, “What is this? Is this religion? I always thought religious people felt bound to be down in the dumps and to go mourning and sighing all their days.” When they see your joy, they will be tempted to come to Christ! There is a blessed seductiveness in a holy, happy life. Praise, then, His name! Praise His name forevermore! Abundantly utter the memory of His great goodness and you will bring many to Christ!
Such happy utterance will also help to comfort your own Christian friends and fellow-sufferers. There is a deal of misery in the world—just now more than usual. Many are sorrowing from various causes. Therefore, my dear friends, be happier than you ever were. That venerable man of God, now in Heaven, our dear old father Dransfield, when it was a very foggy morning in November, used to always come into the vestry before the sermon and say, “It is a dreary morning, dear Pastor. We must rejoice in the Lord more than usual. Things around us are dark, but within and above all is bright. I hope we shall have a very happy service today.” He would shake hands with me and smile till he seemed to carry us all into the middle of summer.
What if it is bad weather? Bless the Lord that it is not worse than it is! We are not altogether in Egyptian darkness—the sun does shine now and then—and we are sure it is not blown out. So, when we are sick and ill, let us thank God that we shall not be ill forever, for there is a place where the inhabitants are no more sick.
And now, today, if your harps have been hanging on the willows, take them down! If you have not praised the Lord as you should, begin to do so! Wash your mouths and get rid of the sour flavor of murmuring about bad trade and bad weather! Sweeten your lips with the pleasant confection of praise. I will tell you this, Brothers and Sisters, if any of you shall confess to me that you have sinned by going too far in blessing God, I will, for once, become a priest and give you absolution! I never tried my hand at that business before, but I think I can manage as much. Praise God extravagantly if you can. Try it! I wish you would say within yourself, “I will go beyond all boundaries in this matter,” for there are no boundaries to the deserving of an ever-blessed God!
Lastly, let us praise and bless God because it is the way in which He is glorified. We cannot add to His glory, for it is infinite in itself—but we can make it to be more widely known by simply stating the truth about Him. Don’t you want to give honor to God? Would you not lay down your life that the whole earth might be filled with His glory? Well, if you cannot cover the earth with His praises as the waters cover the sea, you can at least contribute your portion to the flood!
Oh, keep not back your praises, but bless and magnify His name from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same! It will lift earth upward and heavenward if we can all unite in praise—we shall see it rising as it were beneath our feet—and ourselves rising with it until we stand on the top of some lofty Alp that has pierced the vault of Heaven! We shall be among the angels, feeling as they feel, doing as they do, and losing ourselves as they lose themselves in the eternal hallelujah of, “Glory, and honor, and majesty, and power, and dominion, and might be unto Him that sits upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.”