Psalm 89:18

Psalm 89:18

The Holy One of Israel

We are reminded here that whilst this Psalm could be viewed as a very personal description of God’s dealings with us, it was written primarily to describe Israel’s relationship with Him. This is a brief but very powerful account of God’s dealings with His people and particularly with the royal line. Central to the whole Psalm is the place held first by David, and then his successors. The fate of Israel lay in the hands of these God-appointed rulers, and they symbolised the spiritual state of the nation. It cannot be emphasized enough here, that the failure or success of the whole country lay in the hands of the appointed sovereign, if that person obeyed the Lord and sought His will for the people, they would prosper. If the king / queen was godless and rebellious, everyone suffered. That is why the long lists of kings in the book of second Chronicles describes their exploits with the addenda, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,” or “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Those two statements tell us everything we need to know about the reign of that particular sovereign.

When any leader blasphemes the name of the Lord, or ridicules His people or His laws; when any rulers believe themselves to be above God’s will and purpose and are driven by pride and corruption, they bring judgement on their whole nation. These men and women are the “shields” of their people and if they do not realise their responsibility is to the Lord, their rule will bring disaster upon their land. They belong to Him, power and authority belong to Him, their nation belongs to Him, they have no position in the world except He allows it! Whilst it could be argued that these principles had special relevance to Israel, history shows that it is incumbent on all rulers to recognise the God who gave them power in the first place. Hardly any do, that is why the world is in the mess it is in today. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 4:1 Smear campaigns

Psalm 4:1    Smear campaigns   The background to this Psalm is so familiar; David is being slandered and maligned by his detractors.  It seems that some calamity has befallen the nation and the king is getting the blame! Lies are being told, a smear campaign has begun, and the reputation of the Sovereign is under threat.  As usual, if something goes wrong, culpability is laid at the feet of the one in charge.  David, quite rightly, turns to the Lord his God and prays for relief and for mercy. The Satan is a master of such campaigns and his emissaries gleefully turn on Christians in leadership positions although the whispering campaign can affect all of us. The whispering starts in our own heads, but it can also come from the lips of our detractors. It goes something like this: - You’re the reason it went wrong You messed up again You should have seen it coming Surely you know better You are not worthy You don’t know what you’re doing Someone else ought to be in c
Read more
Psalm4:8        I will lie down and sleep                Th ere are times, in the life of all believers, when we no longer have control of situations. We can do nothing more. We have given our all, we have tried every possible solution and now it is out of our hands. As someone has wisely said, “It is time to let go and let God.” If we truly trust Him, if our faith will allow us, we can turn our backs on our enemies. We can block our ears to the threats. We can ignore the lies and the deceit and say,  “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone Lord, make me dwell in safety.” I should imagine that the devil, having sent a hurricane our way is not amused, when we settle in our beds in the midst of it all and drift off into a peaceful sleep! But that is our right and privilege once we let the Lord God Almighty take control. These spiritual attacks are like whirlwinds, they blow with terrifying intensity and threaten to turn us upside down; the disciples witnessed one of thes
Read more

Psalm 74:16

Psalm 74:16 God established the sun and the moon “ In  the beginning   God created   the heavens   and the earth.   2  Now the earth was formless   and empty,   darkness was over the surface of the deep,   and the Spirit of God   was hovering over the waters. 3  And God said,   “Let there be light,” and there was light.   4  God saw that the light was good,   and he separated the light from the darkness.   5  God called   the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”   And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” These, so familiar, words from Genesis 1 remind us of who is in charge! There would be no light without God. There would be no day or night without God. There would be no earth without God. And there would have been no living things unless God had created order out of chaos. The sun, moon and stars would not be fixed in their orbits without God and you and I would not exist unless He ordered our conception. It is because we see God as glorious, righteous
Read more