September 18, 2022 Text: Psalm 113
Dear Friends in Christ,
What did the seven dwarfs do for a living? They worked in a mine, where they mined rubies and diamonds. They seemed to enjoy their work so much they sang on the way home. “Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s home from work we go.” All my life I thought they sang, “off to work we go” but a lyrical check shows they indeed sang, “it’s home from work we go.”
Maybe you feel like singing when you go home from work. Work songs have been a part of life for centuries. Building railroads, the singing kept the workers in rhythm. Farm hands and textile workers and other vocations had work songs. The singing united everyone and kept everyone engaged in their tasks at hand.
Today we are going to look at Psalm 113 – known as the “praise Psalm.” It was sung at the beginning of the Passover celebration. While not exactly a work song, it does convey something important . . .
“GOD’S GRACIOUS WORK”
“Heigh ho, heigh ho, we look to this work and go.” God’s gracious work. The great thing about the work song is how it can tie together an enjoyable thing to do – singing – with something not as fun – a difficult task.
Our text also brings two separate things together. In the opening of the psalm, we start to see attributes that make God – God. The Lord is enthroned in eternity. The leaders of nations, kings and queens come and go but the rule of God never ends. It just always is. His rule extends everywhere. East, west, north, south, the Lord is in control.
But the Psalm also points out how near God is. He cares for the poor and needy. Those who get dinner from a garbage can are those the Lord Almighty notices. The people who seem insignificant in the world are the ones He marks and claims as His own.
We are instructed to praise the Lord. Is this easy for you to do? Do you have a song in your heart when you look to your Creator? God the Father Almighty gives you so many things in which to sing His praise. He sent Jesus, as a man, to pay for your sin and my sin. He brings joy to the world with his gift of salvation. He comforts us in suffering and carries our painful burdens. He chose you. He chose me. We are all significant people in the eyes of the Lord. Sometimes it might seem to us that the good things of the world are overwhelmed by the bad. But the Lord is not overwhelmed. He is exalted on high, and He reaches down low with His salvation.
“Heigh ho, heigh ho, we look to our work and go.” This psalm guides our work. Work songs strengthened the bonds of the workers. This psalm of praise brough together the Jews at Passover. This psalm invites us to be a part of the community of faith.
What events in Scripture would make your top ten list? The salvation story of Jesus, creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark, the father/son drama of Abraham and Isaac, Moses and the Israelites, David and Goliath, maybe add in Samson, Joseph and his brothers, King David’s life and Paul’s conversion. Most of us would not include Hannah and the gift of her son Samuel.
Hannah was barren and in distress. She went to the temple to pray and was accused by as priest of being drunk. What she was doing was pouring out her heart to God. Although her husband did not hear her, though the priest did not understand her, God could hear her and He understood what was happening in her life. He answered her prayer. The joy of this child, Samuel, being born brought forth a song of praise to God. We have a line from that song in our psalm, “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.” (v. 7-8)
A minor character from the Bible, through the gracious work of the Lord, binds Israel together. They saw how He works in the smallest ways to extend His gracious care to His people.
“Heigh ho, heigh ho, it is off to work we go.” Martin Luther knew nothing about the seven dwarfs, but he knew the value of songs as God’s people work. In our Small Catechism, as Luther teaches people to pray in the morning, he encourages them, after finishing their prayers, to “go joyfully to your work, singing a hymn, like that of the Ten Commandments, or whatever your devotion may suggest.”
God gracious work – heigh ho, heigh ho. He rules over all things. He graciously loves and cares for us. We sing God’s praise, and He leads us into service for His Kingdom. “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!” (v. 3)
Amen.