Psalms 115:9 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, we are all strongly urged to trust in God, and not let the heathen’s mocking over our troubles shake that trust. It is foolish to rely on dead idols, but it is wise to trust in the living God. He is a help and a shield to those who trust in him, helping them with what is good and guarding them from what is evil.

So let Israel trust in the Lord, meaning the whole people as well as each person privately. Let them leave everything to God and believe that he will order all things for their good, and that he will be their help and shield. Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, and all the family of Aaron, trust in the Lord (Psalm 115:10). They are often the most hated and attacked by enemies, so God takes special care of them. They should set an example for others by cheerful trust in God and faithful loyalty to him in the worst times.

Let also the proselytes, those who are not born Israelites but fear the Lord, trust in him, because he will not fail or abandon them (Psalm 115:11). Wherever there is true reverence for God, there can also be confident faith in him. Those who respect his word may rely on it.

We are also given strong reasons to trust in God and rest fully in him. Think first about what we have already experienced: “The Lord has remembered us” (Psalm 115:12). He has not only remembered us at times, but has always remembered us, and especially in special moments. He has remembered our needs, our burdens, our prayers, his promises, and the covenant relationship between him and us. All our comforts come from God thinking kindly toward us. He has remembered us even though we have often forgotten him. That should move us to trust him, because we have found him faithful.

Think also about what we may expect. From what he has done for us, we may rightly conclude that he will bless us. He who has been our help and shield will remain so. He who has remembered us in our low state will not forget us. He is still the same, with the same power, the same goodness, and the same unbreakable promise. So we have good reason to hope that he who has delivered us, and does deliver us, will yet deliver us again. More than that, he will bless us, because he has promised to do so and has spoken a blessing over all his people.

God’s blessing is more than kind words. It is doing good for us in real ways. Those he blesses are truly blessed. He has promised to bless the house of Israel, meaning the nation, in its civil life. He will bless the house of Aaron, meaning the church and ministry, in its religious life. The priests were to bless the people, which was their work (Numbers 6:23), but God himself blessed the priests and gave power to their blessing. He will also bless those who fear the Lord, even if they are not part of Israel or Aaron’s family, for it is true that in every nation the one who fears God is accepted by him and blessed (Acts 10:34-35). He blesses both small and great, both young and old. The greatest need his blessing, and it will not be denied to the humblest who fear him. The weak in grace and the strong alike will be blessed by God, like lambs and sheep in his flock.

It is also promised that the Lord will increase you (Psalm 115:14). Those whom God blesses, he also makes to grow. This was one of the earliest blessings, “Be fruitful and multiply.” God’s blessing brings increase in number, in family strength, in wealth, and in honor. More especially, it brings increase in spiritual things, what the apostle calls the increase of God. He gives growth in knowledge, wisdom, grace, holiness, and joy. Truly blessed are those whom God keeps making wiser, better, and more fit for himself and heaven.

This increase is promised as a steady, continuing growth. “He shall increase you more and more,” so that all your life you keep growing until you reach perfection, like the shining light (Proverbs 4:18). It is also an inherited growth: “You and your children.” It is a comfort to parents to see their children growing in wisdom and strength. There is a blessing on the children of those who fear God, even from their earliest days. “You are blessed by the Lord, you and your children” (Psalm 115:15). Everyone who sees them must acknowledge that they are the seed the Lord has blessed (Isaiah 59:9).

Those who are blessed by the Lord have enough reason to trust in him as their help and shield, because he is the one who made heaven and earth. His blessings are free, since he needs nothing himself. They are also rich, since he has all things ready to give to those who fear and trust him. The one who made heaven and earth can surely make happy those who trust in him, and he will do it.

The psalmist then turns to praise God and ends by resolving to keep praising him. God deserves great praise (Psalm 115:16). His glory is high, for heaven is his home and throne. “The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the Lord.” He is the rightful owner of all the treasures of light and joy in the upper and better world, and he fully possesses them, because he is himself infinitely bright and happy. His goodness is also wide, for he has given the earth to human beings, designing it for their use when he made it, to provide food, drink, and shelter.

Still, he remains the chief owner. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,” but he has handed it over to human care, like a vineyard rented to workers. From them he expects their rent and service. Though he has given them the earth, his eye is still on them, and he will call them to account for how they use it. Calvin complained that wicked people in his day twisted this verse into a joke, and some do the same now, as if God, because he gave the earth to human beings, no longer cares what happens to it or to them on it. But that is a shameful misuse of a beautiful example of God’s generosity and of man’s duty to God.

From the highest heavens, God surely sees all people. He has given the earth to humankind, but heaven belongs to God’s children. The dead are no longer able to praise him, nor are those who have gone into silence, that is, the grave (Psalm 115:17). The soul does live on apart from the body and can praise God, and the souls of the faithful do praise him after they are freed from the burdens of the flesh. They go to a place of perfect light and constant service.

But the dead body cannot praise God. Death ends our public honoring of God in this world of trouble and conflict, and it ends our work here. The grave is a place of darkness and silence, where there is no work or planning. The psalmist uses this truth as part of a plea for deliverance from enemies. He is saying, “Lord, if they defeat us and cut us off, the idols will seem to win, and there will be no one left to praise you, carry your name, and witness against idol worship.” The dead do not praise the Lord in the way we do, in the activities and comforts of this life (Psalm 30:9; Psalm 88:10).

So it is right and urgent for us to praise him (Psalm 115:18). “But we,” the psalmist says, “we who are alive will bless the Lord. We and those who come after us will do it, from now on and forever.” The dead cannot praise the Lord, so we should do it all the more faithfully. Others are gone, and their service has ended, so we should give ourselves more fully to God and fill the gap they have left. “Moses my servant is dead, now therefore, Joshua, arise.” We ourselves will soon go to the land of silence, but while we live, we will bless the Lord. We must use our time well and do the work of the One who sent us into the world, praising him before night comes, because night is coming when no one can work.

The Lord will bless us (Psalm 115:12), meaning he will do good for us, and so we should bless him, meaning we should speak well of him. That is a small return for such great gifts. And we should not only praise him ourselves, but also call others to do the same: “Praise the Lord.” Praise him with us, praise him where you are, as we do where we are, and praise him after we are gone, so that he may be praised forevermore. Hallelujah.