This psalm opens with a request most people would never think to make — not for blessing, not for victory, but specifically that credit for whatever good happens next should land anywhere except on the one asking for it.
A study in Psalm 115 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 12 min read
Not Unto Us, O LORD
“Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?”
Psalm 115:1-2
The phrase is repeated twice in a single breath, “not unto us” and then “not unto us” again — a deliberate refusal, stated emphatically enough that it could not possibly be mistaken for false modesty.
“From age to age it was echoed by the prophets and singers of Israel, testifying that Jehovah is the strength and deliverance of those who trust in Him… ‘Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth’s sake.’… Such was the spirit that pervaded Israel’s song of deliverance, and it is the spirit that should dwell in the hearts of all who love and fear God.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 289
White ties this exact verse to the Song of Moses, sung at the Red Sea, and traces its echo forward all the way to Revelation’s own “song of Moses… and the song of the Lamb” — the same refusal to take credit still being sung by the redeemed at the very end of the world’s story.
Eyes Have They, But They See Not
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.”
Psalm 115:4-7
Every human sense is listed here, and every single one is denied — a deliberately thorough catalogue, systematically stripping these idols of any actual capacity to see, hear, touch, or speak, despite having the exact features that would suggest otherwise.
They That Make Them Are Like Unto Them
“They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.”
Psalm 115:8
This is the psalm’s sharpest warning, easy to read past quickly — not that idol worshipers merely believe something false, but that they actually become like the lifeless, senseless thing they worship.
“The psalmist describes the effect produced upon the worshiper by the adoration of idols. He says, ‘They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.’… It is a law of the human mind that by beholding we become changed.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 91
White identifies the actual mechanism behind this verse — not a punishment inflicted from outside, but a genuine law of the mind, that whatever a person steadily beholds and worships gradually reshapes them into its own likeness.
He Is Their Help And Their Shield
“O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.”
Psalm 115:9-11
The exact same refrain repeats three times, addressed in turn to the whole nation, then specifically to the priesthood, then to anyone at all who genuinely fears God — the same trust available at every level, with no group excluded and none given a shortcut around it.
The Dead Praise Not The LORD
“The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.”
Psalm 115:17-18
“Go down into silence” describes death honestly, as an actual cessation rather than continued consciousness elsewhere — which is exactly what makes the psalm’s final resolve so urgent: praise belongs specifically to the living, and so it must be given now, while there is still a voice able to give it.
