Psalm 147 has no author listed, yet it seems to carry on the theme of Psalm 146. What is God like? Who is God to us? Before it starts to tell us what God is like, Psalm 147 begins with encouragement for us to praise God and reasons why we should praise Him. “Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.” (Psalm 147:1) Praising God is delightful and sweet and is the suitable thing to do.
One reason to praise God is His love for Israel. Verse two of Psalm 147 says, “The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.” This Psalm seems to have been written during the time the children of Israel were in Captivity, or perhaps when they were coming out of captivity. One of the cross references given was to Nehemiah. During the time of Nehemiah, the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates of Jerusalem were burned with fire. Yet, God sent Nehemiah to lead many of the people of Israel back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the walls and to gather many of the people together again. This also looks forward to a day when Jerusalem will be built up forever and God gathers all the remnant of Israel back to Himself, never to stray or go into captivity again. That day is yet in the future.
Another reason to praise God is for the spiritual, mental and emotional healing that He brings. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3) Do you have a broken heart? Has it been opened by wounds and hurts? Jesus is the healer of broken hearts. Isaiah 53:4,5 says, “4) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Jesus carried all our sins, griefs, pains, and wounded heart with Him to the cross. When He was here on earth, Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” (Luke 4:18)
“He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.” (Psalm 147:4) Do you ever wonder if God cares about you, if He thinks about you? There are billions of people in the world. Why would He think about you, about me? God not only thinks about people, but also about all the things He created. Scientists have never been able to count the stars, but God knows how many there are. Man has given names to a few stars; God calls all the stars by their names. Matthew 10:30 says, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” God knows so much about you that He knows exactly how many hairs you have on your head. To learn more about how much God cares for you, study Psalm 139. You will see that there is not one thing about you that God does not know; and yet He loves and cares for you.
“Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.” (Psalm 147:5) We praise the Lord with our mouths and with our song because there is none greater in power than He and His understanding is infinite.
“The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.” (Psalm 147:6) In Psalm 3, David said, “But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” (verse 3) We can look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith and “consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself,” lest we be wearied and faint in our minds. We can “lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths” for our feet so that which is lame can be healed and we can continue faithful in running and finishing the race of life. (See Hebrews 12:1-13)
“Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God.” (Psalm 147:7) He is our Healer and the Lifter up of our head. Praise the Lord!