This Bible Study is is provided by http://www.theseason.org/ and shared with permission from it's author R. Christopherson

This Psalms 115 is focused of Israel's deliverance from idols. Idols, false religion and it goes on today. Have you been delivered from it? Idols are anything that you put ahead of God.

Psalms 115:1 "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But unto Thy name give glory, For Thy mercy, and for Thy truth's sake."

God's truth is so very precious, it is His Word. What this is saying is that we are not worthy of it, but within God's Word is the promise that they would be saved.

Psalms 115:2 "Wherefore should the heathen say, "Where is now their God."

The heathen discard everything that is of God, they even doubt that He even exists.

Psalms 115:3 "But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased."

Our God is in heaven, that is an absolute statement. Our Heavenly Father controls everything in the universe, and He will do exactly what pleases Him. He He opens the Jordan river, that is exactly what He will do. He can give life, and He can take it away. He can give blessings, or He can withhold it. He created all things, and they are created for His pleasure.

Revelation 4:11 "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created."

Psalms 115:4 "Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands."

On the other hand, the heathen's idols are made of silver and gold, or what ever materials they so choose, but they are created from the hands of flesh man.

Psalms 115:5 "They have mouths, but they speak not: Eyes have they but they see not:"

Sure you carve a mouth on that stick, but the idol says nothing. The eyes are just holes in a piece of wood or stone, gold or silver: They can't see a thing. That idol could even be in the form of a car or house. It is anything that you place of importance over our Heavenly Father. It is whatever your mind is focused on in the day. Is your mind set on your collections, or the God's Word.

Psalms 115:6 "They have ears, but they hear not: Noses have they, but they smell not:"

What ever that idol is, it is just a dumb chunk of the elements it is made of. God can snuff out that idol or you over night. That idol can't talk to you, nor does it have one thought for you or your problems.

Psalms 115:7 "They have hands, but they handle not: Feet have they, but they walk not: Neither speak they through their throat."

When someone askes you about where your Father is, then ask them about their dumb idols.

Psalms 115:8 "They that make them are like unto them; So is every one that trusteth in them."

Did you get what this is saying? Those men that make their idols and set them up are just as dumb as their idols. Not only are those idol makers dumb, but so is everyone that puts an ounce of thought towards those idols. That idol can't see, can't talk, Can't think, and even has to be propped up.

Friend, there is nothing complicated about our Father and His Word, it is only when man brings in his confusion that it becomes complicated. God is not the author of confusion, but man causes the distrust: God doesn't cause confusion, but bring peace. He gives you peace of mind when you use common sense. So this sums the entire part of Idolatry with the fact that idols can't speak, walk, talk, or even think, so why would anybody with intelligence bow to a dumb idol?

Psalms 115:9 "O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: He is their help and their shield."

There is no other source that you can count on. You can trust Him for the help, for your shield is your faith.

Ephesians 6:16 "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked [of Satan]." Your faith will shield any evil that will come against you, using common sense of course. Trust your heavenly Father for He is real, and Christianity is a reality for our every day life.

Psalms 115:10 "O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord: He is their help and their shield."

The name Aaron, in the Hebrew means "means teacher". Of course Aaron was also the one that established the priesthood of ancient Israel. So what this is saying is "O huse of the teachers, trust in the Lord:" If you are getting your material for teaching from any other source, you are not trusting in the Lord. Your not a teacher of Almighty God, but of some man's traditions.

Psalms 115:11 "Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: He is their help and their shield."

Again this is saying, "If you revere the Lord then trust in the Lord". It's given a second time for emphesis. You need the instruction that God gave Aaron to stay on the course that God would have you, in your life. That instruction is recorded in all of the Word.

Psalms 115:12 "The Lord hath been mindful of us: He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron."

Our heavenly Father is always in tune with your prayers, when you are in need and cry out to him. God is minful of you, for He is a reality in your life. God will bless the house of Israel, of all the tribes, and he will bless the house of the teachers; the true teachers of God's Word. This is a promise that you can count on at all times. God blesses those that believe on Him, and if your spiritual eyes are open, you can see the work of our Father in your everyday life. God is real, he works to bless you every day of your life, when you love and trust Him of those blessings. Learn to expect them, for this is a promise to you that love Him.

Psalms 115:13 "He will bless them that fear the Lord, Both small and great."

God is mindful of those that revere Him, and He wants to bless you for you are His child. Do you tell the Father that you love Him? That really pleases Him.

Psalms 115:14 "The Lord shall increase you more and more, You and your children."

When you love and serve the Lord, and try to live your life in the way of the Lord, these promises of blessings go out not only to you, but your entire family. God's blessings are personal, a gift from God to those that love Him. His blessings go to them that believe on Him, and know that He is real, and to their children also. No, it doesn't say that your children will pay for your sins, for your sins will not fall on your children, but your blessings will.

Psalms 115:15 "Ye are blessed of the Lord Which made heaven and earth."

Think of this for a moment: The creator that created this entire universe, and created you soul, wants to bless you. He created this earth above all other planets, to be inhabited by His children. He gives us water and food to sustain our lives, and He controls and protects this earth from all of the other heavenly bodies. This same God, our Heavenly Father has promised you that He will bless and keep you from harm, if you will trust Him. Your soul that resides within your flesh body, happens to be one of His children, and He cares for you, His child.

Psalms 115:16 "The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: But the earth hath He given to the children of men."

The heaven and all three of the heavens are the Lords. "Men" as used in this verse, as recorded in the Hebrew text is "adam", man made of the "clay" of the earth. This earth, God is telling you, was created just for the flesh people. He placed the animals and fish for man to have dominion over, not the other way around.

Psalms 115:17 "The dead praise not THE LORD, Neither any that go down into silence."

When your clay body dies and returns bact to the elements it is made of, it will not praise God. The corpes of a dead man is useful for nothing. The soul at death returns to the Father that placed in into that little embryo at conception, but the soul at the death of that flesh body is reclaimed by God, for you are one of His children. Paul instructed us of this in I Thessalonians 4:13 for He did not want us ignorant as the heathen are.

I Thessalonians 4:13 "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as other which have no hope."

"Them which are asleep", "koimao" in the Greek text: "Decease, to be dead". Paul does not want you ignorant as the heathen are about what happens to your soul at the death of your physical body.

I Thessalonians 4:14 "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."

Just as sure as our Lord Jesus Christ came out of the tomb, at your death your soul will be brought to Him immediately. No soul is buried in the ground with its dead decaying flesh body. Today the church world has take this passage to prove a fly-away story that came from the lips of a mentally ill woman way back in 1830. And from this false report, many will be led into Satan's camp because of their beliefs in false doctrine and traditions, that are not in His Word.

I Thessalonians 4:15 "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep."

We know from I Corinthians 15:50-52 that the "coming of the Lord" is at the seventh and final trump. At that moment in time, all flesh on the face of this earth will be changed instantly to their spiritual or incorruptible bodies. Of course if no man or being can prevent those that die in their flesh bodies, from being with the Lord, because they are already there with the Lord. Somehow the church world has allowed the Kenites and Satan's spirits to twist this into a rapture doctrine, to give a false hope, that has cause them to stop taking the entire Word of God.

We read in Ecclesiastes 12:6 "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cestern."

When that silver cord of life that connects your soul and spirit to that lump of clay you call flesh body, is broken, you are dead. There is no longer any life within that golden bowl that goes to make up you flesh body. At that moment, life in this dimension of flesh man is over.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it."

Then shall the physical body made of clay from this earth, return to the elements it is made of, and your spirit and soul shall return to the Lord that placed it at conception. Remember that the spirit is the intellect of the soul, and where the spirit goes, the soul goes also. The physical body will never praise the Lord, for all praise comes from your soul and spirit.

I Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:"

We know that at the seventh trump, The Lord Jesus Christ will descend from heaven, just as He departed, as written in Acts 1:11. Then Paul added a clause that he expect that followers of our Lord would have enough common sense to apply some of His prior teaching to, as he added; "and the dead in Christ shall rise first:" When that silver cord of life is cut of from that golden bowl of their flesh body of clay, instantly their soul and spirit returns to the Father that gave it.

We know that right after Paul wrote this first letter to the Thessalonians, he hurriedly wrote the second letter. Paul expected us to be smart, "and not as the heathen". But then God knew that His people were a little dense as we read from Jeremiah 4:22 "For My people is foolish, they have not known Me; they are sottish [a celtic word for stupid] children, and have not understanding: they are sie to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." Many Christians today like to chase after visions of the mentally ill and form their own ways to heaven. There is nothing new under the sun, and this false doctrine proves it.

I Thessalonians 4:17 "Then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

When that seventh trump sounds, instantly, faster than you can wink your eye, all flesh on the face of the earth shall be changed instantly from their flesh and blood corruptible bodies, into the incorruptible bodies as the angels have. Like Paul said in Hebrews 12:1 that these men and women will be in a great cloud of whitnesses, as they see our Lord's return. We will not be in our flesh bodies, but in the air, the soul bodies as the angels have. Out of the dimension of the flesh and blood and into the dimension to where where there is no flesh and blood.

"The dead in Christ shall rise first:" Of course they have already risen, they are with Him already. In the greek is specifically states that "we that live cannot prevent the dead, can not preceed them..." Why? Because they are already there. They are the ones in the Lord's army that shall return with Him at the seventh trump. Yet people run to the grave sites to talk to the ground, expecting some soul to hear and come out of that grave site at a time in the future. Those that teach such dogma as the rapture theory to children of God, are teaching non-sense. That false tradition of men is not what Paul wrote in his letter.

Psalms 115:18 "But we will bless THE LORD, For from this time forth and for evermore. Praise THE LORD."

Did you get that, how can you bless God and still be in a hole in the ground? You can't. So that means that you are not going into the hole in the ground. Sure your flesh body of clay will, but your spirit that is housed in your soul will ascend to the Father, just as our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. "Your soul will continue to the Father that gave it," and "you will bless the Lord from this time [of death] forth, and for evermore."

How dense men can get at times, where their faith goes only as far as they can see and touch. When they will not take the Word by faith, they are agnostics. Though they talk faith, they teach only that which can be seen and reasoned. They see the dead body, and they assume that the soul is somewhere within that box that is buried in the ground until the seventh trump sounds. Friend, the soul of your loved one that has passed away is not in box in the ground, but with our Heavenly Father.