Embrace the Word for Monday, September 7, 2026

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Psalm 113 expresses praise to the LORD for His exalted status, but also for the attention He gives to the lowly. Psalm 113, like Psalms 111 and 112 opens with a call to praise the LORD. Psalm 113 also shares many common words or phrases that are used in Psalm 111 and Psalm 112. However, Psalm 113 differs in that it also ends with a call to praise the LORD. Psalm 113 begins and ends with a call to praise. This ending call to praise the LORD will be picked up in Psalms 115-117.  Psalm 113 begins with a call to praise the LORD (113:1-3), then it states two main reasons. The LORD is to be praised because He is high and exalted (113:4-6), but the LORD is also to be praised because He attends to the lowly (113:7-9).

Psalm 113 opens with a call to praise: “Praise the LORD” (113:1a). Once again, as with Psalms 111 and 112, the call is plural, reflecting the sense that a worship leader is inviting those who are gathered for worship to join in and praise the LORD. But the call to praise in Psalm 113 is much more emphatic. After the first line starts with “praise,” the next two lines follow suit: “Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD!” (113:1b-c). The first and third lines specify who is to be praised. The LORD, that is the personal covenant God is to be praised; it also states that “the name of the LORD” is to be praised. The mention of the “name” of the LORD probably underscores that the call is not to worship somebody, somewhere; the One who is to be praised is the One who has revealed Himself to His people. Worship is a response to revelation—the LORD reveals Himself and His people respond with worship. The second of the first three opening lines specify who is to do the praising: “O servants of the LORD.” This is the first usage of this phrase in the Psalter, but it will appear again later. The LORD summons His people to praise Him, for the term “servant” suggests covenant language. The ones whom the LORD brings into covenant relationship with Him are His servants, for they have specified covenant obligations. 

As the opening of Psalm 113 continues, the call to praise is further clarified: “Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised!” (113:2-3). Verses 2-3, which form a substructure, begin and end with a call for “the name of the LORD” to be “blessed” and “praised.” In between these calls are two lines that set forth the dimensions that define the call to praise. The first dimension of praise that is addressed is time: “from this time forth and forevermore!” Praise is to start now and it is to never cease. Praise is to go on forever. The second dimension of praise that is addressed is space (or place): “From the rising of the sun to its setting.” Praise is to occur everywhere the sun rises and sets. Praise is to be throughout the whole earth. Praising the LORD is fitting at all times and in all places. The requirement of praising the LORD anytime and everywhere prompts a reflection on what is so astonishing, extraordinary, and remarkable about the LORD that warrants such a requirement. When this question is answered rightly, praise is the rightful response.

As Psalm 113 opens with an emphatic call to praise, it next speaks to the reasons why such praise is fitting. Praise to the LORD is fitting because of His exalted status: “The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens!” (113:4). The LORD is above all nations. Speaking of matters such as status, as well as power and authority, the LORD has no rivals. The LORD is high above the nations in the sense that He is undeterred by, never successfully changed by, and always sovereign over all that He has made. The glory of the LORD transcends anything and everything that He has made throughout the universe. In fact, the LORD is not like what He made; He is in an altogether distinct category. The LORD is not slightly superior to what He has made; He is infinitely and eternally superior to and even distinct from His creation. Or to underscore the exalted status of the LORD in a different way, the Psalmist rhetorically asks: “Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?” (113:5-6). No one is like the LORD our God! No one is seated or rules on a higher level than our God! Speaking metaphorically, no one has to stoop so low so as to locate His creation. And yet, there is a hint at something that will get clarified shortly: no one cares for what He has made as much as the LORD, that He is willing to stoop so low to pay careful attention to them. Even though the LORD is transcendent, that is, He is unbound by His creation, comes from a different order of being than His creation, and is beyond His creation’s complete comprehension, He attends to it. 

The God who is transcendent is also immanent, that is, He is present with, closely active with and deeply involved with His creation: “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people” (113:7-8). Even though the LORD is not in need of anything that His creation could provide, He is attentive to the needs of His creation, for He knows that what they need the most is Himself. The LORD does not simply stoop low to take a look, He comes down to help. The first example that the Psalmist provides of the attendant care that He provides for His creation is what He does for the “poor” and “needy,” those languishing in “the dust.” Perhaps the Psalmist’s words are not statements merely about those who are faced with financial or economic troubles, but a much more deeper and universal condition resulting from the curse of sin’s judgment: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (See Genesis 3:19). That the LORD should “raise” up and “lift” up is graciously wonderful enough, but that He should “make them sit with princes” shows the extravagance and potency of His grace. From the dust heap to the throne of princes is a profoundly great reversal. The second aspect of the LORD’s attentiveness for His creation is perhaps a more specific illustration: “He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children” (113:9a-b). Barrenness receives special attention as the LORD grants a childless mother the joy of children. While this is not an absolute promise in every instance of childlessness, there is ample examples of this that run throughout the Scriptures: Sarai, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, Samson’s mother, and Elizabeth. The Psalmist may have had in mind the words of Hannah’s song: “The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor” (See 1 Samuel 2:7-8). But the prophet Isaiah borrows the imagery of barrenness to give hope to an exiled peoples that their time of captivity would come to an end: “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD” (See Isaiah 54:1). Whatever the lowly state, the highly exalted LORD sees and cares. The LORD is to be praised because of His exalted status; the LORD is to be praised for His attention to the lowly: “Praise the LORD!” (113:9c).

As we reflect on Psalm 113, we should consider the profound irony of the total reversal that is contained in the details of the Gospel’s message. First, the Gospel’s message with its focus on Christ, communicates a great reversal. Christ, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (See Philippians 2:6-8). Christ died a humiliating death in a location of rubbish outside of the city. But He was raised up: “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (See Philippians 2:9-11). And what God did for His Son, Jesus, the Gospel declares, He does for all who belong to Jesus: “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (See James 2:5). The God who exalts His Son who was brought low, also exalts those who are made alive in Christ: “even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (See Ephesians 2:5-6). What should we say to this? How about: “Praise the LORD!” (113:9c).

That’s all for Embrace the Word for Monday, September 7, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Wednesday, September 9, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 114.