Year 5, Day 231: Psalm 98-99

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Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

This is a great pair of psalms to look at this issue of God’s character.  As we’ve seen in the last several psalms, it is easy to see these psalms in a way of praise and joy and celebration.  But there is a deeper depth here than just praise and celebration.  In these psalms, that praise concretely leads us something.  Praise and celebration leads us to the character of God.

Of course, Psalm 98 is pretty straightforward in the character that it presents.  God is savior.  He has brought salvation to us.  He has remembered us.  God is a God who is true to His word.  He goes above and beyond His obligations and His commitments.  He saved us when we were not righteous enough to deserve salvation.  That is the character of God.

In Psalm 99, we get a different highlight on the character of God.  Of course we get the praise and celebration for God as we expect.  But look at where this particular psalm takes us in the end.  We are reminded of the guidance that the faithful before us have received from God.  Moses and Aaron were God’s priests and God walked with them.  Samuel was his priest and God answered him.  God walks with His people.  We do not pass through this life alone, we pass through this life walking with God.  That is His character.  He does not abandon His own.

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