The psalms weren’t collected and put together randomly. There is wisdom and beauty in the way they have been arranged, and we see this with today’s psalm. The last of the Songs of Ascents (Psalm 134) called on God’s people to praise Him. However, that psalm didn’t explicitly give us reasons for praise. Appropriately, Psalms 135 and 136 give us the “why” of praise.

Psalm 135 is carefully constructed. It begins and ends with calls to praise. First, all who serve in the temple are summoned to praise God (vv. 1–3). Finally, all the people are invited to join in the praise (vv. 19–21). After the opening lines of the psalm, two reasons are given to praise God. First, because He has chosen Israel as His treasured possession (v. 4), and second, because He “is greater than all gods” (v. 5). The rest of the psalm elaborates on these two reasons for praise (vv. 6–18).

Israel should praise God because He chose them, saved them, and gave them a home. The psalmist begins by declaring that, because He is God, He can do whatever He wants (v. 6). Further, He has at His disposal, almost as if stored away in His warehouse, all the power He needs to bring to pass what He desires (v. 7). This serves as a backdrop to all the good He’s done for His people. This power was used to crush Israel’s enemies and to give her the land which was her inheritance (vv. 8–14).

The Old Testament frequently mocks the foolishness of people who make idols of wood and stone (see Isaiah 44:9–20). Such empty things can’t speak, see, or hear because they have no existence. To cry out to such a “god” is useless. On the contrary, God’s people praise Him because He sees, hears, speaks, and powerfully comes to their rescue (vv. 14–18).

Psalm 135 gives Christians many wonderful reasons for praise. We, too, have been saved by God’s power. However, the great irony of our salvation was that it was through weakness that God displayed His power to save. It was through the suffering and death of Jesus that Satan was defeated, the power of sin over us broken, and the fear of death taken away. That’s why the hosts of heaven sing this song of praise: “You are worthy . . . because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons fromevery tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

We, too, praise God, for He is greater than empty idols. Today’s idols are sometimes more subtle and deceptive than structures of wood and stone. We confront idols of money and possessions, fame, or sport. They promise to satisfy our needs and desires, yet cannot. Instead, let’s praise a God who knows our needs before we ask and “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).