Psalms 147:12-20 - Homiletics

National well-being.

Piety and patriotism, that go so well together and were so intimately bound together in the mind of the Jews, are here very closely associated. We, too, are convinced that the future of our country will be determined by its faithfulness or unfaithfulness to the Lord whom it professes to serve. There are four features of national well-being here.

I. SECURITY . ( Psalms 147:13 .) "He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates." Jerusalem was surrounded by its protecting walls ( Nehemiah 2:12 ), and its citizens could work in safety and rest in peace. In our island home, which has known no shadow of fear of invasion for eighty years, we cannot realize how great a blessing is freedom from that great national evil, or from the dread of it. The thought hardly enters into our minds. But we have, if we would think about it, all the more occasion for gratitude that we abide in such continuous safety and security; we have "peace in our borders."

II. PROSPERITY . ( Psalms 147:14-18 .) The wealth of a country depends very largely on the industry, the frugality, and the forethought of its people. If they do not carefully, systematically, and scientifically cultivate its fields, spare and plant its trees, penetrate its mines and its waters, save their resources for renewed fertilization and for enterprise of various kinds, the country will, in these times of competition more especially, certainly decline. But its prosperity also depends on the bounties of Divine providence: on the fall of rain and snow; on the regular return of the seasons in their order; on the cold winds of winter, and the warm airs of summer; on the pulverizing frosts and the ripening sunshine. It is the bountiful hand of Heaven that gives the rich harvest, and fills the garners with the "finest of the wheat."

III. HOMES AND HOME - LIFE . "He hath blessed thy children within thee" ( Psalms 147:13 ). No product of field or mine can be compared with that of the homes of the people. Happy is the nation that dwells in homes of purity, peace, love, piety!

IV. RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGE . ( Psalms 147:19 , Psalms 147:20 .) The distinguishing blessing of Israel was its knowledge of the true God, and its consequent training in all personal, domestic, and social virtues. The people of Israel were acquainted with the "word," and therefore with the will of God, and their life was, to some large extent in their better days, ordered according to his "statutes" and "judgments." In their worship, in their pursuits, and in their homes, they rejoiced before the Lord, and they walked in his ways. This is the crowning blessing. Perhaps we may think that we in this country may adopt the language of the psalmist, and apply it to ourselves: "he hath not dealt so with any nation." That might be the exaggeration of a complacent patriotism, but would it not rather be the right feeling of a grateful piety? With all our sacred edifices, our Christian ministry, our evangelizing and philanthropic institutions (healing, preserving, remedial), our educational advantages, our preservation of the seventh day as a day of rest and worship, have we not received, and do we not retain, a measure of privilege which calls for intense gratitude, which also lays us under very serious obligation? For, from those to whom much is given much will be required; "exalted to heaven" in privilege, let us see that we are not "cast down to hell" in condemnation for not availing ourselves of it, and "knowing the day of our visitation,"