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Praise the Lord! He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. Praise the Lord (Psalm 147:1, 19, 20).

Yesterday, Pastor Anthony reflected on this psalm with the devotion called, Hollow Praise. He reflected on Christian traditions, especially musically traditions, that do not take life in this world seriously. Life is often difficult and our worship of God ought to reflect this. Much of today\u2019s Christian music ignores the reality of long-term suffering.

A friend of mine once worshipped with a black congregation in Detroit. The congregants were mostly women and children. The men were either in gangs or in prison. Most of the service was spent in prayer: loud lamentation with weeping. Mothers and grandmothers and wives and sisters demanding that God change things so that their young boys would have spiritually healthy male role models. That is the kind of worship Jesus was talking about when he said God\u2019s worshippers\u2019 worship in spirit and truth.

There are other things worthy of reflecting on in this Psalm. Today, just verse 19, He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. There is a back story to this. The Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness. Think about that for a bit. Forty years in the wilderness. We\u2019ve spent five months in the wilderness called COVID and we have had enough. But what is that to 40 years? What kind of songs were composed on that journey? Psalm 90 appears to have been.

Think about that trip: how many people were there? Hundreds of thousands. And animals. What\u2019s difficult to find in the wilderness? Food! The desert doesn\u2019t offer much for food. I\u2019ve walked that wilderness. There is no food. No crops were planted or harvested. How could all these Israelites survive for 40 years? God fed them. Each day he provided bread! And they lived!

Israel\u2019s experience in the wilderness was all about God\u2019s provision. Though Israel often forgot this season which fashioned them into a nation, the memory kept resurfacing. God reminded them. Their composers kept referring to it as they sang new songs. God builds His people by providing for them.

Psalm 147 is part of the long tradition embedding this truth in the souls of God\u2019s people, then and now. What truth you ask? Moses explains, \u201cRemember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna\u2026to teach you that people do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord\u201d (Deuteronomy 8:2,3).

And so physical provision became combined with the spiritual provision of God\u2019s Word. Isaiah 55:10,11 offers this: \u201cAs the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.\u201d

So, God\u2019s provision is two-fold: physical and spiritual. We learn about one from the other.

But notice this: while in the desert, the Israelites had to gather the food and prepare it before they could eat it. Once in the promised land, they became farmers. Even though they tilled their fields and cared for their flocks, they were to recognize that God provided for them.

Likewise, our spiritual food does not simple fall into our hearts. There is work to be done to receive it. The public gathering of God\u2019s people for worship has always been an essential means for receiving that food. Ah, but the buildings have been closed.

Have you gotten hungry? Have you been wrestling with God like those black women in Detroit, asking that he would nourish their community in new ways? Have you found new ways to feed on God\u2019s word?

How has God provided for you during the past months? Our text says, Praise the Lord! He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel (Psalm 147:1, 19). We are not Jacob or Israel. But we are God\u2019s church. He offers us His Word. Have we gone out to gather and prepare it, so we can eat? Have you gotten lazy? What has this time revealed about what\u2019s in your heart?

Another question this text asks us: how often do we praise God for his spiritual provisions? Do we eagerly reach for it? God provides, so let\u2019s eat. And then praise him for the nourishment he has provided.