The God Who Remembers vs. The Gods Who Rust Text: Psalm 115:12-15
Introduction: A World of Dead Idols
We live in a world that is jam-packed with idols. Our culture is a vast, sprawling, and noisy idol factory. But unlike the idols of the ancient world, which were at least honestly made of wood or stone, our modern idols are far more insidious. They are idols of the heart, abstract deities forged in the fires of human pride and rebellion. We have the idol of the autonomous self, the idol of sexual liberation, the idol of the secular state, and the idol of material prosperity. And what do all these idols have in common with the silver and gold gods described earlier in this psalm? They have mouths, but cannot speak. They have eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear. They are dead, dumb, and powerless.
The great conflict of our age, and of every age, is not between religion and non-religion. It is between the worship of the living God and the worship of dead things. The world taunts the church with the same old question, "Where is your God?" They see our trust in an invisible King as a foolish crutch, a relic of a pre-scientific age. They put their faith in what they can see, measure, and control: their technology, their political systems, their ideologies. But in doing so, the psalmist tells us, they become like what they worship. They become blind, deaf, and mute to the ultimate realities of the universe. They become spiritually inert, lifeless husks.
Into this contest between the living and the dead, the psalmist pivots from describing the impotence of idols to declaring the potent blessing of the living God. He is not a God who needs to be carried, polished, or propped up. He is the God who carries His people. He is not a God who forgets; He is the God who remembers. And because He remembers, He blesses. This passage is a cascade of covenantal blessing, flowing from the very character of God Himself, who is the Maker of heaven and earth. It is a declaration of confidence, a statement of faith that stands in stark, glorious opposition to the dead-end street of idolatry.
The Text
Yahweh remembered us; He will bless!
He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless those who fear Yahweh,
The small together with the great.
May Yahweh give you increase,
You and your children.
May you be blessed of Yahweh,
Who made heaven and earth.
(Psalm 115:12-15)
The Foundation of Blessing: Divine Remembrance (v. 12a)
We begin with the bedrock of all our hope.
"Yahweh remembered us; He will bless!" (Psalm 115:12a)
When the Bible says that God "remembered," it is not as though He had previously forgotten. God is not like an absent-minded professor who misplaces His keys or forgets an appointment. God's remembering is an anthropomorphism, a way of speaking about God in human terms so that we might understand. For God to remember is for Him to act on the basis of His covenant promises. When God remembered Noah in the ark, He caused the waters to recede. When God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He raised up Moses to deliver His people from Egypt. For God to remember is for Him to move, to act, to save, to bless.
The psalmist is looking back at God's faithfulness in the past, "Yahweh remembered us," and on that solid foundation, he builds his confidence for the future: "He will bless!" This is not wishful thinking. It is not a fingers-crossed kind of hope. It is the logic of the covenant. Because God is who He is, faithful and true, His past actions guarantee His future actions. His character is the collateral on the loan of all His promises. He has been mindful of us, and therefore, the blessing is not a possibility, but a certainty. This is the engine of Christian confidence. We do not look inward to the strength of our faith; we look backward to the strength of His faithfulness.
The Scope of Blessing: The Covenant Community (v. 12b-13)
Next, the psalmist defines the recipients of this guaranteed blessing. It is not a vague, universal benevolence, but a specific, covenantal grace.
"He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear Yahweh, The small together with the great." (Psalm 115:12b-13)
Here we see three overlapping categories of people. First, "the house of Israel." This is the entire covenant nation, the people of God as a whole. In the New Covenant, this promise extends to the Church, which is the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). It is the whole body of Christ, Jew and Gentile, united in the Messiah. God's blessings are corporate. We are saved as individuals, but we are saved into a family, a nation, a kingdom.
Second, "the house of Aaron." This refers to the priests, those who were set apart for the specific work of ministry in the tabernacle and temple. They were the leaders in worship. In the New Covenant, all believers are a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9), but this also has application to those who are called to leadership within the church, the ministers and elders who lead the people in the worship of God. There is a particular blessing promised to those who serve God's people in this way.
Third, and most broadly, "He will bless those who fear Yahweh." This is the defining characteristic of the true child of God. The fear of Yahweh is not a servile, cowering dread. It is a profound, soul-shaking awe and reverence for the majesty, holiness, and goodness of God. It is the beginning of wisdom. It is to take God as seriously as He is. And notice the beautiful inclusivity of this promise: "The small together with the great." In God's covenant family, there are no tiers of importance. The blessing is not reserved for the wealthy, the powerful, the intelligent, or the influential. It is for the day laborer and the king, the child and the theologian, the new convert and the seasoned saint. Before the throne of God, the ground is level. The only distinction that matters is whether or not you fear Him.
The Nature of Blessing: Generational Increase (v. 14)
The psalmist then specifies the nature of this blessing, and it is profoundly generational and optimistic.
"May Yahweh give you increase, You and your children." (Psalm 115:14)
This is the heartbeat of the covenant. God's promises are not just for us as isolated individuals for the duration of our short lives. They are for us and for our children after us. This is the promise made to Abraham, to be a God to him and to his seed. It is the promise Peter reiterates on the day of Pentecost: "For the promise is for you and for your children" (Acts 2:39). The Christian faith is a relay race, not a solo sprint. We are to receive the baton of faith and pass it on, faithfully, to the next generation.
And the nature of this blessing is "increase." This is a postmillennial prayer. This is not a prayer to just hang on by our fingernails until the rapture. This is a prayer for growth, for multiplication, for dominion. It is a prayer for more souls to be saved, more churches to be planted, more families to be raised in the fear of the Lord, more of the earth to be brought under the lordship of Jesus Christ. This increase is both spiritual and physical. God blesses his people with children, and those children are to be raised as disciples, swelling the ranks of the kingdom. The blessing of God is not static; it is dynamic, expansive, and victorious. It flows downhill through the channels of covenant faithfulness from one generation to the next, gaining momentum as it goes.
The Source of Blessing: The Creator God (v. 15)
Finally, the psalm anchors this entire avalanche of blessing in the ultimate reality: the identity of the one who blesses.
"May you be blessed of Yahweh, Who made heaven and earth." (Psalm 115:15)
Why is our trust in Yahweh's blessing so secure? Why is it not just whistling in the dark? Because our God is the one "Who made heaven and earth." This is the ultimate trump card. The idols of the nations are the works of men's hands; they are creatures of the creation. Our God is the Creator of all of it. He is not a localized, tribal deity who has to negotiate with the god of the weather or the god of the harvest. He owns the weather and the harvest because He made them.
The one who promises to bless you is the one who holds every molecule in the universe together by the word of His power. The one who promises you increase is the one who told the stars where to hang and the oceans where to stop. There is no power in existence that can veto His blessing. There is no circumstance, no enemy, no political upheaval, no economic collapse that can thwart His covenant purposes. His resources are infinite because He created all resources. To be blessed by the Maker of heaven and earth is to be blessed indeed. It is to be on the winning side of history, because the one who wrote the first page of history has already written the last, and it ends with the triumphant increase of His kingdom.
Conclusion: Live the Blessing
This passage is more than just a beautiful piece of ancient poetry. It is a foundational declaration of how the world works. The world is divided into two camps: those who trust in man-made idols that lead to death and dissolution, and those who trust in the living God who gives life and increase.
Therefore, we must live as a blessed people. We must reject the barrenness of secularism and embrace the fruitfulness of the covenant. This means marrying, having children, and dedicating them to the Lord. It means catechizing them, disciplining them, and launching them into the world as arrows for the kingdom. It means building things, creating things, and working with a long-term, optimistic vision for the future, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.
God has remembered us in Jesus Christ. He has acted decisively on our behalf, sending His Son to die for our sins and rise for our justification. Because He has remembered us, He will bless us. He will bless His church. He will bless our families. He will bless our work. He will give us increase, us and our children. Let us, therefore, live in the full confidence of that blessing, giving all glory to Yahweh, the Maker of heaven and earth.