Psalm 99

Beginning at Psalm 93 we have been reading psalms acknowledging and praising God’s kingship over all peoples, all places, and all things – on Earth and in the Heavens, over all creation. I don’t think any other Psalm reflects that praise as fully as today’s Psalm 99. Like Psalm 97 it begins, “The LORD reigns…” Then Psalm 97 continues with “…let the earth rejoice…” while Psalm 99 continues with “…let the peoples tremble!” (v. 1) Both psalms reflect submissive peoples’ responses to their King – rejoicing and trembling. Both show the love and the fear in the peoples’ hearts, acknowledging the might, the strength of that King.

The LORD reigns…! Holy is He! (vv. 5, 9) and Exalt the LORD our God, and worship…; for the LORD our God is holy! (v. 9) No comment here ; just something to reflect on…

Psalm 98

I saw “steadfast love” (lovingkindness) and “faithfulness” in verse 3 and I remembered a few days back when one of the psalmists called us to consider God’s lovingkindness in the morning and His faithfulness in the evening. And I took a moment to think of God’s love for us, especially so early in the morning when my day has only begun, when all that I’ve done is brewed my coffee. Our Lord has loved us through the night, He loves us first thing this morning, and He will love us the whole day through – no matter what we’ve done by the end of the day. His faithfulness assures us of His love for us.

An echo here on Carol’s comment on Psalm 95 about singing and worship. Today’s Psalm is all about singing and worship! Even the sea, the rivers, and the hills/mountains join in praise to their Creator. Twice the psalmist asks us to “make a joyful noise” (vv. 4, 6). That’s a real encouragement to those of us whom the Lord did not bless with much musical ability. But we certainly enjoy the fruit of that labor of love from those around us who do have those abilities – thankfully they drown out our joyful noises!! And God smiles.

Psalm 97

All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship Him, all you gods! (v. 7)

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:19-25)

Psalm 96

I was struck by all the collective nouns: peoples (vv. 3, 5, 7, 10, 13); nations (vv. 3, 10); world (vv. 10, 13); earth (vv. 1, 9, 11, 3); some of the uses of “world” and “earth” could refer to the physical created order, which is also called forth to praise God. See also the heavens, the sea, the field, the trees in vv. 11-12. Truly the Lord is a universal King – King over the heavens, other gods, the created order, and its peoples.

I love the images of the created order praising God. For me, praise from the fields stands out: …let the field exult, and everything in it! (v. 12a) We sing of “amber waves of grain”, but I’ve also seen the glory of fields of sunflowers and rapeseed in full bloom. Even now we can look upon the lush green of soybeans and tobacco soon to be harvested and corn standing taller than the tallest men on earth. What a beautiful created order in which we live!

Psalm 95

Today, a very personal Psalm 95, a psalm that Carol and I treasure. A singer/songwriter/evangelist/pastor/author friend of ours put this psalm to music. He and his wife were the leaders and hosts of the Bible Study where Carol and I met. Later he sang at our wedding. Of all his music, I think we treasure Psalm 95 the most.

We continue the Kingship of our Lord that we began a few days ago. He is King of all creation (see vv. 3-5). He is also our personal King: For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. (v. 7a)

To me this Psalm is a great gathering song for our Eucharistic celebration this morning: Oh come, let us sing to the LORD … Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! (vv. 1-2) and Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! (v. 6) Come. Worship. Bow down. Kneel. And SING!! Glory!!

Psalm 94:16-23

Today, the personal side of Psalm 94.

If the Lord had not been my help… (v. 17a). Finish the sentence, folks. Was there a time when you were facing a major problem, where the end result did not look promising, but you (and others) prayed and the Lord delivered you? I can think of one, in particular, in my life. How about you?

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me… (v 19a) The key word here, for me, is “multiply”. When we are troubled by one thing or two things, that’s pretty normal. But when those issues multiply, it can become a lot more fretful. I used to think of students as having three lives – academic, financial, and social/personal. When they came to me for academic help, I could often sense that they had further problems. Then if I asked and they opened up, their academic problems diminished somewhat, knowing that they had an adult authority figure who would actually listen to their problems. We have the ultimate Authority Figure, who desires that we open up to Him. He does not want our anxious thoughts to burden us.

Psalm 94:1-15

We have read most of these psalms of late in their entirety, even though they might be a bit longer than our average of thirteen verses per day. Today’s Psalm 94, however, is justifiably split, not only because of length, but also because of content. In today’s first fifteen verses the psalmist is speaking very generally, seeing evildoers acting upon individuals (the widow…, the sojourner…, the fatherless… in v. 6) and against the nation (Your people, O LORD…, Your heritage…, His people…, His heritage…, vv. 5, 14). In tomorrow’s reading (the rest of this psalm) the psalmist gets more personal, speaking in first-person words (me, I, my). Very different perspectives in these two days’ readings.

Today I see the Lord, the King as judge, specifically in verse 2 (Rise up, O Judge of the earth…) but also implied through the writer’s chastisement against the wicked (vv. 3-11) and his call to justice in verse 15. The verse that spoke to me today probably speaks to a number of you: He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see? (v. 9) It’s God’s hand in creation, not simply from the beginning of time and His creation of our natural order, but also His hand in the formation and birth of every human being. He formed MY ears and MY eyes in my mother’s womb – His personal hand on MY creation! And His continual watch over all that I am and all that I do. For ME and for all of YOU! He is a mighty, all-powerful God – but let Him also be personal to you.

Verse 1: The Lord reigns. (ESV) The Lord is king. (NLT)

Psalm 93 begins a series of eight psalms extolling the Lord as king. Today He is king of all creation, eternal, from everlasting, …established from of old. (v. 2) Yet we, mere dots in this grand scheme, are loved by Him with a depth of love that we will never fathom. Ponder that.

Psalm 92

…to declare Your steadfast love in the morning, and Your faithfulness by night… (v. 2) What the psalmist is saying is such a simple thing. When we wake up in the morning, we recognize that God loves us – completely, eternally, for nothing that we have done – simple steadfast love. Then when we go to bed at night we ponder the day and look for His many acts of faithfulness; where would we be without the Lord in our lives? From the beauty in the flowers and trees and clouds around us to His work in our lives – these things that we have come to know as “glory sightings”. At St. Andrew’s our reports of glory sightings have come to be the big things that we’ve seen – healings, miracles, answers to prayer – but there is every bit as much glory in everything big and small around us. Love in the morning, faithfulness by night. It’s a good pattern to follow!

Psalm 91

God: When he calls to Me, I will answer him… (v. 15a)

Again: Call to Me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. (Jeremiah 33:3) I heard once that “Jeremiah333” was God’s telephone number. Now I see that “Psalm9115” also works!