PSALM 33

ME
Good Evening, Everyone! Welcome to our midweek service.
***Insert story during TGIF

 Who among you hear came from a broken family?

 What do you find in a broken home? Broken things …
 The feeling of not liking to go home because it feels heavy and sad

When it was during our time, the rate of Young people coming from broken family is very minimal, we
were just 2 back then. But today, the number has grown and there are many factors to it.

WE
In situations such as this, how do we completely rely on the Lord?
In times of hardships, and difficult moments, how do we rely on the Lord?

GOD
Psalm 33
We don’t know who wrote this psalm. But we can actually see that it is between two psalms that David wrote.
David certainly had learned the lesson that the psalm communicates.
 David was known as someone who continually praise God and is full of thanksgiving. There were many
times that he was tested and placed into an edge, making him completely rely on the Lord. When God
did deliver him, he was full of thankfulness and praise.
The psalm begins with an active call to praise God in song and with musical instruments (vv. 1-3). Then, the
psalmist gives the reason to praise God (vv. 4-5), because of His word and His work. Then verses 6-12 develop
the theme of God’s word as seen in His creation (vv. 6-9) and in His counsel (vv. 10-12). Verses 13-22 then
develop the other theme of how God works. He does not work through man’s strength or schemes (vv. 13-17),
but rather through those who fear and trust in Him (vv. 18-19). The psalm ends with a final affirmation of trust
in the Lord (vv. 20-22).

If the answer to having a thankful heart is full reliance in the Lord, How do I learn to rely completely on the
Lord?”

1. Recognizing His Power through His Word (v. 6-12)

 The psalmist reminds us of God's creation of the world because until we believe that He created
everything, we will not believe that the world is under His control and wisdom. In other words,
believing that God created the world leads us to the truth of His providence in ruling the world, as
developed by the psalmist in verses 10-12. This is directly related to our belief that He is in control of
our lives and that everything is working together for our good according to His plan (Rom. 8:28). So, in
order to cultivate a thankful, worshiping heart, we must bow in awe before the Lord, realizing His
immense power in creating the universe (Ps. 33:8-9).

 We can actually see in Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth.
 He said it with a word and the creation obeyed. He said let there be light and there was light.

The conclusion is: (v.8-9) “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of
Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast.”

A. Also, His power can be seen through His Counsel

 The psalmist first develops the theme of God's word (33:6-12), then shows that God does not work
through man's strength or schemes (33:13-17), but rather through those who fear and trust in Him. Verse
4 says that we should thank and praise the Lord for His word, but also because "all His work is done in
faithfulness" (33:18-19). So, we put our faith and hope in Him (33:20-22).

So the point of verses 6-12 is that when we see the power of the Lord's word as seen in His creation and in His
counsel or sovereign plan, we will learn to rely completely on Him. We can rely on Him with confidence
because His word is impenetrable to all opposition.

2. We can rely on Him because of His Works (v. 13-17)

The psalmist first develops the theme of God's word (33:6-12), then shows that God does not work through
man's strength or schemes (33:13-17), but rather through those who fear and trust in Him. Verse 4 says that we
should thank and praise the Lord for His word, but also because "all His work is done in faithfulness" (33:18-
19). So, we put our faith and hope in Him (33:20-22).

A. GOD DOES NOT WORK THROUGH MAN’S STRENGTH OR SCHEMES (33:13-17).

Yesterday, I was reminded of this through the speaker of our devotional during the District Forum.

That even in the Biblical times, God uses people who are imperfect, unqualified in man’s standard, full
of flaws so that others will know that it was not them but Him.

“The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men; from His dwelling place He looks out on all
the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works.
 The king is not saved by a mighty army; a warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false
hope for victory; nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.”

Even as redeemed people, our human tendency is to perfect our methods and then trust in them. We live
in a time when there are numerous methods and techniques for living the Christian life, having a happy
family, and building a successful church. Of course, many of these techniques are beneficial because
they are founded on Scripture.

To be sure, God's normal way of working is not faith plus nothing, but faith plus the use of specific
methods or means to accomplish His will. However, the constant danger is that we plug in the methods
and trust in them to work, rather than using the methods while trusting in God to work. The writer of
Psalms says that God does not work through man’s strength or schemes, because the man credits the
glory to himself.

***GOD WORKS THROUGH THOSE WHO FEAR AND TRUST IN HIM (33:18-19).

The psalmist just said (v. 13) that the Lord sees everyone on earth. But now (v. 18) he states that the eye
of the Lord is on those who fear Him. What does he mean? He means that God looks with favor on those
who fear Him and trust in Him to deliver them from overwhelming situations. In other words, God’s
means of working is not to find people with slick methods and bless them, but rather to find people who
trust in Him and bless them.

Note that these people are not described as strong and self-sufficient. In fact, they’re in grave difficulty.
They are facing death and famine (v. 19).

People who learn to be thankful must first learn to trust in God. And people who learn to trust in God
must at some point be stripped of every human prop so that they look to God alone for deliverance.

3. Full reliance in the Lord results from a Worshipping Heart.

Thankfulness and worship are bound up with trusting in the Lord. When you have no human means of escape
and you cry out to God as your only hope and He delivers you, your heart overflows in thankfulness and praise
to Him. When a slick method works, the method gets the praise. When God works, then He gets the praise.
The secret to heartfelt praise and thanksgiving is to recognize that you were in a desperate situation. You could
not save yourself from God’s righteous judgment. You cried to the God who spoke the universe into existence,
the God who sent His Son, to save you by His grace. Because now you have experienced His great love and
grace, you delight in Him and His great salvation and you can’t help but sing for joy!

YOU
My brothers and sisters in Christ, what is stopping us from fully and completely relying on the Lord?
Is it the material possessions that we have?
Is it the relationships that we are in?
Is it the fear of losing but never gaining?
Is it anxiety that nothing ever would work for us?
Is it our past?
Whatever it is, let us be reminded that we can always trust God because of who He says He is thru His
Word, the works that He has done, and through a thankful and worshipping heart.

WE
***Insert the story of the Mother and Son
- Mother who was faithfully and passionately serving God and knowing Him, and he would always write
her prayers in her prayer journal.
- He had one son, and her gift to his son on his 17th Birthday was a Bible (But never opened it)
- On that same year, her mother was diagnosed with Leukaemia.
- The son started to ask God and prayed for her mother to be healed.
- On December of that same year, her mother died and lost her battle to leukaemia.
- He became bitter towards God.
- But one night, when he was going through her Mother’s stuff, he found a note that says “Lord, I pray for
a miracle.”
- And he started reading the journal of her mother, and how thankful she was because of her relationship
with the Lord.
- That intrigued him and poke an interest in him to start reading his Bible that her mother gave him.
- The following year, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour.
- And all along, he realized, that He was the miracle that his mother was praying for. He was the answered
prayer of his mom.