THURSDAY 11th
Psalm 33 (1)
NIV (v1) – ‘Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.’
ESV (v1) – ‘Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.’
As I read through this Psalm, there were some thoughts that came to my mind which led me to break it up into four parts with headings as if I were preparing a sermon, so a mini sermon is what todays devotion will be, another mini sermon tomorrow as I continue in this chapter and maybe in the future the mini sermon can become a longer sermon with more meat added to the bones.
I see here the following four thoughts.
- The Creative Work of God
- The Communal Worship of the saints
- The Counselling Wisdom of the Almighty
- The Confident Waiting upon the LORD
Today we will consider the first two.
In verses 8-9 we read ‘Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.’ In an earlier Psalm, ‘The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.’ The world is the creative work of God, and although creationism is looked upon as being an old fashioned view today, it is as relevant as it has ever been, for we firmly believe that God created, he founded and established all that there is, therefore it belongs to him and he has the right to rule as sovereign over it all. The psalmists often referred to God as the Creator and as the one who rules over all, there was no doubt of this truth as far as they were concerned, we see it in Psalm 8: 3-8,19:1-6, 74:13-17, 95:3-5, 102:25, 104. For those of us who recognise the creative power of God it leads to the communal worship of the saints (‘Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.’ vv1-5) as we acknowledge who God is, what he has done, not only in the realm of the original creation but in his recreative work in all who have come by faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thus as new creations we lift our voices and sing, we sing as in the words of a hymn, ‘My heart and voice I raise, to sing Messiah’s praise; Messiah’s praise let all repeat; the universal Lord, by whose almighty word creation rose in form complete.’
Just as creations sings out in praise, praise is also an essential part of the life of those who have been recreated, and again the psalmists record the necessity of praise from the lips of those who have come to know the Creator as Saviour. For example: ‘Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!’ Psalm 47:6-7. And Psalm 95:2-7 that also speaks of him as Creator, ‘Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.’ We could mention so many more psalms, but I close today with these words from a song, ‘Let me sing for the glory of heaven, like a sunbeam has swept o’er my heart, I will praise thee for sins all forgiven, for thy love which shall never depart. A song of a sinner forgiven, and a song that is music to thee; a song of a pilgrim to heaven, yes, a song from a sinner like me.’
We may not be able to have the communal worship of the saints at present, it will return, but praise God there is going to be an even more wonderful day coming when we shall all be found around his throne singing a new song, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.’