Psalm 33 - Pt 1: The Symphony of His Steadfast Love
How many of you remember hearing the phrase, “the steadfast love of the Lord”? The words of that phrase carry deep implications. Think about its powerful implication: the steadfast love of the Lord. Did you know that this poignant and powerful phrase appears 196 times in the Old Testament and 127 times in the Psalms alone? Now, the English words "steadfast love" are a translation of the Hebrew word "hesed." Hesed appears in the Old Testament over 220 times and has a profound breadth of definition with incredible implications. Hesed is a significant concept in the Hebrew Bible that refers to loyalty, steadfast love, and devotion in interpersonal relationships. It can also mean "compassion," "faithfulness," "unfailing love," "trustworthy," and "ever-enduring." Hesed implies a relationship between two people that requires certain behaviors. It’s not just an emotion or feeling but involves action on behalf of someone in need. The steadfast love of the Lord NEVER fails. This concept finds its translation in the New Testament. The idea speaks of mercy and enduring love that manifests in action. We see this partially revealed in 1 Peter 1: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” We see the steadfast nature of His love revealed in the words of Paul in Romans 8: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We see the embodiment of that ACTIVE, enduring love and mercy in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Now, why do I bring this all up now? Today, we are beginning a new series unfolding the 33rd Psalm, and the concept of hesed, God’s unfailing love, is woven into the chapter in several places and is particularly relevant for our study today.
Turn with me to Psalm 33, starting in verse 1:
“Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.”
This passage tellingly ends with “the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord,” and as a result, the implication is THAT’S why ALL the preceding verses and concepts exist. In other words, all of the other truths, all of the other instructions hinge on the reality that the earth is full of the unfailing, undeniable, unwavering, merciful, and expressed love of God. There is a lot to unfold from that reality.
So, he says the earth is full of the steadfast love of God, and it’s first manifested in the reality that… The word of the Lord is upright. How can the psalmist say the earth is full of the steadfast love of God? Because His word is upright. What does that mean? You can trust everything God says to you; He will never lie to you. What He’s said is upright; it’s right, always right, always helpful, always good. Listen, this is a foundational truth revealed in His word and in its application. God’s way, God’s word, God’s truth, and instruction are always right, always helpful, and always good. The Bible says there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is destruction. This is a truth that is SO evident in the world around us. If anyone can look at the path of human hedonism that dominates godless values, the path of self-service that defines godless living, and tell me it has produced health, joy, happiness, and wholeness, you are simply deceived. But the truth of Romans 8 becomes more and more self-evident as we see the world around us: “...we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” The word of the Lord IS upright and bears fruit and life and hope and peace. What a great evidence of the fullness of God’s steadfast love.
The second evidence of God’s steadfast love manifested in our midst is… The Lord is faithful in His work. I love this. He will never fail to do what He’s promised you He will do. And when you’re on your worst lazy day, He still works. In fact, the Psalm says that He never ever sleeps. The central work of the Lord is the salvation of His people. From the dawn of man, He has been working to redeem man from his sins, and He has shown Himself faithful through all the generations to bring to bear the redemption of mankind. Ephesians 2 expresses this in this way: “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Expound… He is always faithful in His working. He doesn’t rest; He doesn’t stop, and we can see His hesed, steadfast love, revealed in this faithful work.) There is a song we sing that always reminds me of this with words that say: “Even when I don’t see it, You’re working; Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working, You never stop, You never stop working, You never stop, You never stop working.” The Lord is faithful in His work, and it reveals His steadfast love.
The psalmist says the third evidence of God’s steadfast love that fills the earth is… The Lord is committed to righteousness and justice. Because He’s holy in every way, what He fights for is what’s good and right. And He fights for those things on our behalf all the time. The psalmist declares the righteous inclination of God in the 11th Psalm, declaring: “For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.” And He connects the ideas of righteousness and justice, showing their great value in the 21st Psalm when He says: “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” God is constantly at work from a place of righteousness and justice because it’s not simply what He does but who He is. Deuteronomy 32 says: "He is the Rock; his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." And Revelation 16 declares: “You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; 6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets… “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”
His commitment to righteousness and justice is such an expression of His steadfast love. We NEVER have to doubt that God will do what is right and just. We can trust ALL His judgments and do what is true and right.
So the psalmist, to this point, has said the earth is full of His steadfast love. We see it in His commitment to righteousness and justice, we see it expressed in the faithfulness of His work, and we see it manifested in the truth and dependability of His word. Because of all that, the psalmist makes the declaration: “Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.”
The introduction of the 33rd chapter of Psalms is an encouragement to see the nature of God’s unfailing love and be moved to the freedom of worship, to be SO convinced, so overwhelmed by the truth of His unfailing, merciful, expressed, and embodied love that you SHOUT for joy in the Lord, give thanks skillfully and loudly with instruments, and let your understanding of His deep love become so sewn into your spiritual consciousness that you overflow with praise and worship to Him.
Do you see what this is? The unfolding of the great nature of God’s unfailing love, His hesed, is simply expressed by the Psalmist David. You know David, the songwriter, the musician, the worship leader whose songs soothed the troubled mind of Saul and who was criticized by his wife for his unbridled worship of his God when he was king, is saying: “The earth is FULL of the steadfast love of the Lord; it is manifested in the upright nature of His word; it is revealed in the faithfulness of His work; it is expressed in His commitment to righteousness and justice. SO shout for joy in the Lord, give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.”
David is giving you insight into how and why he worshipped God so freely and in a way that caused his own wife to think he was making a fool of himself. When the ark of the covenant was brought back to Jerusalem, the VERY expression of all we see here—the upright nature of God’s word, the faithfulness of His work, His righteousness and justice—David expressed himself in worship fully, and his wife criticized him. He said, “I was worshipping before the Lord, and I will worship EVEN more than this, humbling myself EVEN more before Him because of all He has done for me.” It seems his wife’s criticism caused her to become barren according to 2 Samuel 6:23.
The response to knowing, deeply knowing, the truth of God’s steadfast love is to worship Him with EVERYTHING we have. I understand that, in total terms, we talk about worship being more than singing songs—total worship is our total lives—but the psalmist here is speaking specifically about singing, playing music, and shouting with joy before God. In our beings, we express with our mouths and bodies an expression of joy and delight in our God. When the truth of His hesed, His steadfast love, grips us, it becomes the impetus for expressions of worship.
What should that mean for us on a daily, weekly basis? In a very real sense, pure worship is not about ANYTHING else but God: who He is and what He has done. It should always transcend our preferences, our attitudes, our feelings, our circumstances, our moods, or our wants and flow from our conviction of God’s goodness.
Let me share a story from high school chapel...
Understand something, and I say this because this is ALWAYS, in 30 years of ministry, this is ALWAYS an issue in church. I am not preaching at anyone in particular; I am not preaching at any group of people. I guarantee you there are people in our church today, right now—and I don’t say that about particular people, but because in 30 years of ministry and every pastor I have talked to, this is always a thing: too loud, too soft, too dark, too bright, too old, too new, too fast, too boring. Every time. I get it, and I am not trying to be critical. I don’t want anyone to feel attacked. I am simply trying to get you to understand that the impetus and the foundation of worship come from a deep conviction that God’s steadfast love has been manifested in our lives, so everything else shouldn’t matter.
The psalmist in the Old Testament expresses this, and here’s maybe the greatest truth to grasp: the psalmist does not have nearly the foundation for worship we have. We have received Jesus, the full manifestation of the steadfast love of God.
Is not the gift of Jesus Christ the greatest expression of the uprightness of God’s word? Is He not the embodiment of the trustworthiness of God’s declaration?
Is not the gift of Jesus Christ the greatest expression of God’s faithfulness in work, specifically the work to redeem His people, His church?
Is not the gift of Jesus Christ the greatest expression of righteousness and justice? Christ comes to make right all wrongs, to establish righteousness and justice as Redeemer and Judge. Therefore, is not the gift of Jesus Christ the greatest expression of the steadfast love of the Lord manifested in this world? His love is perfected in the gift of Jesus Christ.
We gather here today in light of the manifestation of all that the psalmist says is the reason to shout with joy, to lift up worship, to praise the name of God. This place is filled with the steadfast love of God because this place is filled with people who have experienced the hesed, the unmerited mercy, the all-consuming grace, the never-ending love of God because we have received Jesus Christ and the deposit of His Holy Spirit. This is why every one of us, with joy, should worship.
There is nothing greater than God’s steadfast love for those of us who are its recipients, and so we rejoice. For those who do not know or have not received, know today that you can know His never-ending love, His unconditional mercy, His unmerited grace, and join us in praising Him.
Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”
Let’s offer our praises continually, fully aware and deeply moved by the steadfast love of our Lord.