Psalm 115

Psalm 115 is a song of triumph and victory that belongs only to the Lord God. It declares that God is our help and our shield. If we trust in Him we will be blessed, but those who trust in idols and false gods are under His curse.

The exiles had returned to Israel after spending seventy years in captivity in Babylon. Now they praise God for bringing them a great deliverance. He had kept His word because He has been a faithful God even when they were faithless and disobedient. The opening verse is a shout of praise for they realised that it was not by their own strength or power that they were back in the Land. All the glory and honour belonged to God (:1).

For seventy years they had been mocked by the Babylonians. They felt the sting of their words when they declared that Israel’s God was not powerful enough to save them, therefore the gods of Babylon must be greater than Jehovah (:2).

Now they were free they could mock the false gods of the heathen (:4-8). In their own land, in complete freedom, they were bold enough to taunt the heathen over the foolish gods of stone, wood, and paint that they served. These statements found in verses four to eight could not have been spoken while they were still captive in Babylonia.

They declared that the true God is the God of Heaven (:3). He that created all things rules over men and is greater than any god that man can make (:15-16). All the glory belongs to Him. Such glory cannot be challenged by manmade gods or man himself.

Those who trust in anyone or anything other than the true God are fools. They are as foolish as the idols that they bow down to. This Psalm is basically saying that idolaters are as brain-dead as the statues and images they worship, that they obviously leave their brains at the door of the temple they worship in (:8). The Jews had learnt this lesson the hard way. Prior to the captivity they had for centuries engaged in idolatrous practices. They came to see that all of these false gods brought them no benefit whatsoever. They found their faith again in the true God.

The blessings of God comes upon those who follow Him alone. The Jews had been living under the curse prophesied in Deuteronomy 28 whilst in Babylon, but now they were experiencing the blessings of God (:12-15). The exile taught them that it is far better to live for the Lord than to follow their own heart’s desire. Now they knew the Lord as their Shield and Protector once more (9-11). The Lord was not their God in the same way as the heathen had their gods. Idolaters only have their gods as long as the stone or paint lasts, but Israel’s God is eternal. Also they had a covenant relationship with the Lord.

The Lord God of Israel is not dead, and neither are His people (:17). They were living proof that Jehovah was the true God. He had saved and delivered them. Those who trust in Him are not without hope as are those who worship false gods. This is another part of the lesson the Jews had learnt in Babylon; before the captivity they stubbornly refused to worship Jehovah, now they would praise Him eternally (:18).

Man is just as idolatrous today. If a psalm was to be written to mock the idolatrous practices of modern man the following world have to be included:-

a) The idolatry of non-Christian religions. The religions of the world are full of idolatry with their statues, pictures and other images. They worship anything from elephants to insects. Even a monotheistic religion like Islam would be condemned for the worship of the moon god Allah (depicted on every mosque as a crescent moon). All the so-called holy books would have to come under the fire.

b) The idolatry of Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Greek Orthodox and others who use images, relics and icons in church worship would be mocked. These people think that because they make images of the true God that they are accepted by Him.

c) The modern day cults would be seen as foolish also. Each one trying to find a way to God other than that described in the Holy Bible.

d) The psalmist would have to deal with the personality idols that the Church promotes in these days. The Church now follows charismatic teachers who teach things other than what is contained in the word of God. Therefore there would be some ridicule of the prosperity, self-esteem, and faith teachers). Many so-called Christian ministries would have to be laughed at in the light of God’s pure word.

e) Today so many are given over to fortune telling, horoscopes, and other occultic practices. It is foolish to put trust in these things.

f) Those who worship nature (New Age Movement) and other satanically designed theories would be condemned.

g) A modern day psalmist would also have to add materialism to his list of idols. Man has become a lover of possessions. Today television, radio, and other media has replaced the need for God in countless homes.

h) People today would rather worship a film star, sports star, or some other glamorous person than consider the Lord God. It is stupidity to praise the flesh since it is only dust anyway.

The psalmist would see all of these and more as being totally empty of any value. He would say that everything that man makes to represent or replace God will lead him to eternal destruction. Only those who live by the purity of God’s word will be saved, happy and blessed eternally.