Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Year 2, Day 226: Psalm 92-93

Psalm 92

Psalm 92 gives us three really interesting thoughts today.  The first thought that I read as I looked at this psalm is the obvious desire to praise God in the very beginning.  The psalmist clearly gives us the idea that there is reason to praise God all day long starting in the morning and ending in the evening.  There is reason to sing praises to God with instruments that bring joy into our heart.  The reason for this praise is because the Lord if faithful.  He is true to His Word.  He does wonderful things in our lives and deserves our worship and praise.

Then we get to the second stanza.  This is the stanza that really brought thought about in my mind today.  The psalmist compares the person in the first stanza who knows to praise God with the person in the second stanza who the psalmist calls “stupid” and “fool.”  I think this is a really deep point.

What is it that makes a person stupid and makes them a fool from the perspective of the psalmist?  The person who is stupid does not know why God is great.  The fool cannot understand the ways of the Lord.

Now, I don’t mean to say that people are honestly stupid if they don’t see it God’s way.  Certainly the psalmist is not making a point about people’s intelligence.  Rather, the psalmist is making a point about the person’s overall perspective.  The wise person is someone who can see beyond themselves.  The intelligent person is the person who can see the needs of others and genuinely want to do what is best for others.  The intelligent person is the one who is willing to look at the greater picture and have a motivation besides what the person wants.  For me, this stanza isn’t about a person’s intelligence as much as it is about their worldview.

Finally, we can return to the original point.  The Lord deserves to be praised because of what the Lord promises and what He delivers.  When we are planted in the house of the Lord, we will grow into righteousness.  The righteous ones who are planted in the house of the Lord will bear fruit into old age.  They are ever full of sap and green.  This means that they will be productive in the kingdom of the Lord for as long as they live.  The Lord can work through us for our entire life; why wouldn’t his name be praised?

I think for me this is a great thought on which to end a psalm.  The Lord can use my entire life to bear the fruit of righteousness for His kingdom.  The Lord can do that for you as well.  Isn’t that worth considering?  Is it not better to live a life bearing fruit for God than chasing the elusive and seldom genuinely satisfying dreams of mankind?

Psalm 93

As we turn to Psalm 93, we can really see the praise of the Lord come out firm and strong.  Let’s look at this psalm and see what we can learn about the character of God here.

First of all, the Lord is robed in majesty and strength is His belt.  What is more majestic in this world than the Lord?  Think about it.  From a Christian perspective this absolutely makes sense.  If the Lord brought everything that we know into existence, certainly nothing in creation is more majestic than He is!  What is greater, the creator or the creation?  Who is stronger, the creation or the one who created?  This is the point of the psalmist within this psalm.

Another way of thinking about the Lord is not so much in his strength but in His eternity.  The psalmist says that the Lord’s throne will endure forever.  His throne was established quite a long time ago, and it will never end.  That’s an incredible thought when you think about it.

Today I was sitting in a room talking to my mom and dad about the subject of eternal life.  So often we get all worked up about the eighty or so years that we are here on earth.  But compared to eternity with God, what is the span of a lifetime?  Can anything compare to the span of God’s domain?  Is there anything worth chasing after more than to accept the invitation that He gives to us to partake of His eternal kingdom?

His decrees are indeed trustworthy.  He lives up to His promises.  When the Lord says He can accomplish something, we can trust Him because He has endured forever.  Who else but God can make that claim?


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