DECEMBER
WEDNESDAY 1st
Psalm 97
NIV & ESV – (v6) ‘The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.’
If there is something the psalm writers understood, it was the fact that the LORD God reigned! They were surrounded by nations that served the gods of the world, the idols that they had carved out of stone and wood, and the writer of this psalm makes the statement ‘All worshippers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods!’ (v7) He continues later to say, ‘For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted above all gods.’ Take note, ‘above ALL gods’.
The other nations served many gods, many of the religions of the world have multiple gods, a god for this and a god for that, but at the end of the day they are just idols which we dare to say as the psalmist said, ‘are worthless.’ They have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, mouths but cannot speak.
We join today with the psalmist and say ‘The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad’ for today we are living in an age which has become filled with many gods and with many idols, there is only One true and living God and he is the One who is the creator of all things, the One who was the God of Abraham, and of Isaac and of Jacob. The One who came and delivered the children of Israel from the hands of the Pharaoh, the One who displayed his power in the wilderness, the One who came to the aid of the Hebrew lads in the fiery furnace and to Daniel in the den of lions, the One who spoke through the prophets of old, the One who came in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to die for sinners. Our God is the living God, he is the active God, he is the One who can hear, see, and speak, he is the One who has reached out to fallen humanity to offer eternal life, he is the One to which one day we will have to give an account.
Yes, many religions, many gods, and they are all worthless for there is still only One true God, and only ever will be One true God and he allows us to come before him as verse 12 says to ‘rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!’ Verse 6 reads ‘The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory’ Every living being can look into the heavens and see the manifest glory of God displayed in all that he has created, and yet so few are willing to acknowledge his glory, they see it but just cannot accept him, may we who have come to a knowledge of the truth, never fail to pray that the eyes of the blind will be opened that they too will come to see the glory of God and discover the wonder of his incredible love that caused him to send his Son into the world to save sinners. That those who serve the gods of this world, will turn to serve the true and the living God.