Today’s Passage: Psalm 115
This series reaches its hundredth day with a psalm that begins by refusing to take any credit at all.
As you read, hold this: the psalm’s central argument is a contrast, a living God who “does as He pleases” against idols that cannot do anything at all, and it insists that what you worship eventually shapes who you become.
Psalm 115:1-3 (BSB)
¹ Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness. ² Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” ³ Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
The opening line repeats itself for emphasis, “not to us, not to us,” a double refusal of self-glory before a single word of actual praise has been said.
Context Still within the Hallel
Psalm 115 continues the set of Passover psalms this series entered on Day 98 with Psalm 113, the “Egyptian Hallel” (Psalms 113-118). Some ancient manuscripts actually joined Psalms 114 and 115 into a single psalm, which may explain why this one opens mid-thought, with a “not to us” that reads almost like a direct response to Psalm 114’s trembling earth and fleeing sea.
Psalm 115:4-8 (BSB)
⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; ⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; ⁷ they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats. ⁸ Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
Word study Idols — atsab (Psalm 115:4)
“Idols” translates עֲצַבֵּיהֶם (atsab, ah-TSAV) — Strong's H6091, atsab, an image or shaped object, related to a root meaning “to fashion, to labor over.” The word itself carries a quiet irony: something painstakingly crafted by human hands, then treated as though it could do the crafting instead. The list that follows, mouths, eyes, ears, noses, hands, feet, systematically strips away every capability an idol appears to have but actually lacks.
Study notes The same line, repeated word for word
This psalm’s most unsettling claim, “those who make them become like them,” is not a one-time warning. The identical Hebrew line closes the strikingly similar Psalm 135, later in this series.
"Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them." Psalm 135:18 (BSB)
This exact warning was worth saying twice in the same collection: worship is never neutral. What a person trusts and shapes their life around eventually shapes them in return, whether that object can hear and speak, or whether it cannot.
Psalm 115:9-13 (BSB)
⁹ O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. ¹⁰ O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. ¹¹ You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield. ¹² The LORD is mindful of us; He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron; ¹³ He will bless those who fear the LORD—small and great alike.
The same command, “trust in the LORD,” repeats three times across three different groups, ordinary Israel, the priestly house of Aaron, and anyone who fears the LORD regardless of lineage, as if the psalm wants no one to miss the invitation.
Psalm 115:14-18 (BSB)
¹⁴ May the LORD give you increase, both you and your children. ¹⁵ May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. ¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind. ¹⁷ It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any who descend into silence. ¹⁸ But it is we who will bless the LORD, both now and forevermore. Hallelujah!
The psalm’s closing verses turn praise into an urgent, present-tense task. The dead cannot praise God, verse 17 notes plainly. That work belongs to the living, right now.
Personal Application
- Verse 8’s warning, that people become like whatever they trust and worship, applies well beyond literal idols. What do you currently give the most trust, attention, and devotion to, and what is it slowly shaping you to become?
- The psalm opens by refusing all credit, “not to us, O LORD.” Is there a recent success or answered prayer where you have quietly taken credit that actually belonged to God?
Decision of the day: Identify one thing, other than God, that currently receives too much of your trust or devotion, and take one concrete step today to redirect that trust back to the LORD.
Pray to Close
The truth to carry from this psalm: worship is never neutral. What we trust shapes what we become, and only the living God is worth becoming like.
Praise: for the LORD who does as He pleases in heaven, unlike any lifeless thing human hands could shape.
Confess: any credit quietly claimed for yourself that belonged, all along, to God’s own faithfulness.
Ask: for a heart that trusts the LORD alone, small and great blessings both, rather than anything human hands have made.
Worship for Today
Not To Us · Chris Tomlin
This song takes its title and its central refusal of self-glory directly from this psalm’s opening line, turning a hundred days of this series’ own praise back to the same place this psalm insists it belongs: not to us, but to His name.
Listen: