Psalm Photos - 135 - Expiration
Psalm 135
Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; give praise, O servants of the Lord,
you that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for he is gracious.
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.
For I know that the Lord is great; our Lord is above all gods.
Whatever the Lord pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both human beings and animals;
he sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.
He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings—
Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel.
Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.
For the Lord will vindicate his people, and have compassion on his servants.
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see;
they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths.
Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.
O house of Israel, bless the Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!
O house of Levi, bless the Lord! You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who resides in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
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So many of the things in our lives are temporary. Nearly every food we have is stamped with an "expiration" or "use by" date. Appliances and devices that used to be built to last for decades now last for just a few years or less. Consumer Reports has a chart in many of their issues that is their "repair or replace" chart - Is it still worthwhile to repair some device or does it make more financial sense to just replace it? We live in a disposable society and it is shown in the environmental damage we have inflicted upon our planet with landfills swollen with trash that will take centuries to degrade, metals and chemicals polluting the ground and water, and the list could go on. It even is a part of the relationships we have with our faith communities. In the past, when churches were more of a parish-based model, people would stick with their church through more than is often the case today. Why not just go down the street to the other church or across town to the mega-church? I remember a member of a congregation I used to serve who said that she would never leave that church because that church was her family - for good and for ill.
All this leads into what we read in verse 13 which speaks of the name of the Lord enduring forever and renown through all ages. Peterson translates it as "God, your name is eternal. God, you’ll never be out-of-date." God never expires. God never wears out. God never needs to be replaced. God 2S isn't released mid year in a product unveiling. The idols spoken of in this passage are made of that which was created and will ultimately break down. But God, the Creator, does not have a use-by date. Thanks be to God, the eternal.