Daily Meditations

Psalm 97:5 The mountains melt before Him Mountains are glorious structures that dominate vast areas of the earth. Countless people pull back the curtains every morning and there are the familiar scenes, towering peaks that reach to the heavens and that proclaim stability and strength. Throughout the ages, many have believed that the higher up a mountain you climbed, the closer to God you became. Moses and Elijah both discovered this, but it was not only believers in Elohim who took this view. Many, if not all the ancient religions, built their altars and their temples on high places to symbolise the difference between earthly men and heavenly gods. The Israelites, of course, pitched the Tabernacle at Shiloh for many years (near Mt Ebal and Mt Gerizim), David moved it to Zion and Solomon built his Temple on Mt Moriah. Jesus was transfigured probably on Mt Hermon and He left this world from the Mount of Olives. All of these peaks are familiar in the Biblical accounts, and they all have a

Psalm 97:3-4 The earth sees and trembles At first sight these verses put us in mind of a fire-breathing dragon sweeping away all that stands in its way and causing terror and panic wherever it goes. Our God is not quite like that although there are good reasons for many to fear His wrath! Lightning bolts are mentioned in verse 4, giving us a clue as to the power of the Lord God and the striking force of His anger. Just as the sun, moon and stars speak of His love and faithfulness, so thunder and lightning and storms are the natural symbols of God’s judgements.  “Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before Him, and around Him a tempest rages.”  Psalm 50:3.  “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”  Deuteronomy 4:24. This same God uses fire as an analogy for His future judgements, the following verses sound like they should come from the Book of Revelation!  “For a fire will be kindled by my wrath, one that burns down to the realm of the dead below. It

Psalm 97:2 Clouds surround Him Job 22:14 says, “ Thick clouds veil Him, so He does not see us as He goes about in the vaulted heavens.”  When Moses ascended Mount Sinai he was enveloped by a thick cloud and hidden from the sight of the people who believed that the Lord Himself was present within that heavenly canopy. The cloud of God’s protection covered the people during the daytime hours throughout their wilderness wanderings, clouds and the sanctity of God’s presence are a regular feature in the Scriptures.  I was driving to Heathrow Airport last evening and the western sky was filled with towering clouds, suddenly the setting sun broke through below them, just at the moment that the Aaronic blessing was playing on my car radio, “ May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”  The vaulted heavens still protect us from the full glare of His face for who could bear to see Him? However, occasionally He allows us a little glimpse of His glory and how our hearts are

Psalm 97:1 The Lord reigns This psalm is a wonderful celebration of God’s reign over the earth, a reign characterised by two of His familiar attributes, namely righteousness and justice. It has to be a prophetic Psalm for it describes a time when all people will see God’s glory although Israel, of course, were meant to reveal Him to the world after their establishment in the Land of Promise.   The words we are about to meditate upon not only involve the whole world and Israel but have a special significance for the righteous, those who are called and chosen to be the Lord’s people on the earth. That’s you and me! Let’s enjoy this Psalm together!   V1        In Zechariah 14:9 we read,  “The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.”  This is a constant theme throughout the Scriptures, and it occurs again and again in the Psalms. Whilst human kingdoms and rulers and nations and empires wax and wane, whilst all creation suffers

Psalm 96:13 He will judge the world in righteousness At the introduction to this Psalm, we described it as a song of praise for the whole world. Psalm 96 has turned out to be a call to all nations on every continent to proclaim God’s glory and honour. We have seen that the praises of God are not just limited to mankind but that all creation joins in acclaiming the honour and glory of its Maker. But the Psalm ends on a sombre note for those who do not or will not believe in Him.  While all living things that honour the Lord will rejoice at His coming, we are warned that this tumultuous event will bring about His judgement. For if He comes to reign then He must reign in righteousness and with faithfulness. He will not be able to turn a blind eye to or ignore those who are in rebellion against Him. The world will have a ruler who reigns without corruption or partiality or bias, every man and woman will be treated alike, and all will be called to bow the knee to the Lord.  Later Biblical t

Psalm 96:11-12 All Creation sings! The teaching of the previous verses is now brought into full perspective because the kingdom of God is one, it all groans under the burden of His wrath and His righteousness. The created world groans at this very moment under the effects of what many call “climate change”. But the key to the current disasters is not the burning of fossil fuels but man’s greed, corruption, lack of a moral compass and rejection of His Creator! We can now see before our very eyes, that the judgement of creation is at one with the judgement of humanity, we are not separated, if one suffers then the other must suffer too. If one is liberated, then the other is liberated too. As people say, “it is written in the stars.” (But not in horoscopes!) So, this Psalm points forward, prophetically, and anticipates a day when the Lord will come and, as Paul wrote in Romans 8:22-24, all the groaning will cease and the whole of creation will rejoice. We will discover on that day that t

Psalm 96:10a Creation and Humanity There is a deeper point to be made from this verse and I hope I can explain what I mean. We have commented before on the couplings here in this Psalm and in many others. “Love and faithfulness” are like identical twins and “righteousness and justice” are another pairing that go together when we try to understand the character of God. Thus, when we look at creation and then compare with human affairs in this world, we find the same qualities are in operation. For instance, creation is a product of God’s love and in it He reveals His faithfulness day after day.  “The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.”  In human affairs God has revealed His redemption and the process of new birth as parallel acts of His love and faithfulness, we are His new creations. The Apostle Paul picks up on the twin effects of God’s righteousness and justice in Romans 8:22-24; “ We know that the whole creation has been groaning   as in the pains of childbirth right u

Psalm 96:10 The Lord reigns This is a powerful verse, and it starts with a simple request to God’s people,  “Say among the nations, “The Lord Reigns.” ” I was only thinking, a few moments before reading this, that we can make the gospel so complicated at times. I mean, where do you start to explain faith to people who know nothing? How do you open the door for them to receive the good news of God’s love and faithfulness? Our culture has drifted so far away from the truth that we cannot assume that people know anything about this God of ours. So, perhaps this is the place to start, “Tell them that the Lord reigns.” With all of the problems that the world faces today, it is becoming more and more evident that events are outside of man’s control. A lady said to my wife and I yesterday that she has confidence that the next generation will do things differently and will be able to rectify our mistakes! We should have told her that she doesn’t have to depend on the next generation for,  “The

Psalm 96:9 The splendour of His holiness “The splendour of His holiness.”  It sounds very grand doesn’t it, until we ask ourselves what does it actually mean? Is this a description of God Himself or does it describe the throne room of heaven where He dwells? Is the Jewish writer thinking about the beautiful Temple in Jerusalem and the robes and adornments of the priests as they serve before the Lord?  The context seems to be the Temple rituals, as we saw yesterday, but then the verse embraces all the earth, most of whom would never go to worship the Lord in Jerusalem.  It seems to me that this is a universal call to all nations and individuals to recognise who the Lord God is and to pay Him the respect He deserves. To do so we must have a realistic and honest view of ourselves, we are stained by sin, we are corrupt and evil, easily led and constantly under the influence of the Satan. By contrast, God is pure and true, untainted and perfect in character, in His attributes and in His dee

Psalm 96:8 Come into His courts We can easily forget that the spiritual lives of the Jews were all bound up in religious practices, in law-keeping and in formal devotion. The highlights for them were the visits to the Tabernacle / Temple in Jerusalem, especially at the times of the festivals, when great crowds gathered from across the land and their religion become a corporate celebration. Thus, to give God glory involved bringing offerings and joining with countless others in the Temple courts. This is as near as any of these people ever came to their God for, of course, they believed Him to be present in the Holy Place, the inner sanctuary where only the High Priest was allowed to enter, on the Day of Atonement. Where does that leave us? Do we need to make pilgrimages and celebrate annual festivals? Do we need to follow religious rituals and to stand in awe in temples or cathedrals if we wish to meet with God? Is our faith one of formal routines or is it something very different? We

Psalm 96:7 Ascribe to the Lord The writer of this Psalm obviously sees himself with a calling way beyond his compatriots! Israel has not excelled in winning the world over to God, as a nation they have often appeared to be exclusive and arrogant in their faith. They have been engrossed in arguing over the minutiae of the Scriptures rather than sharing their spiritual heritage with other peoples. The Lord has intervened in this process and opened the door for the Good News to be made available to the whole world, remember it was to the Jewish Apostles that Jesus said,  “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ..…”  Matthew 28:19. So, the Apostles achieved something their forbearers and descendants had not, the families of the nations have been given the opportunity to hear of God’s salvation and His love for the whole world.  Maybe this verse is a prophetic anticipation of the world mission that was to come thr

Psalm 96:6 The glory of His sanctuary We have noticed in previous Psalms that the writers love to use couplings to describe the attributes of the Lord God. The most familiar is “love and faithfulness”, closely followed by “righteousness and justice.” Here we have two more of these descriptive pairings, “splendour and majesty” and “strength and glory.” These attributes are depicted here as divine attendants that serve before God’s throne and are present within His Holy Sanctuary. This amazing, singular Being that we call our God, is surrounded by such qualities, He is exalted far above all other gods and only those virtues that are holy and true are found within His presence. These are not statues or icons forming some kind of corridor of power, these are the adjectives flowing from the pens of godly men who are struggling to give us some kind of indication of the character and nature of the God we call Father. As we approach Him we are surrounded by love – faithfulness – righteousness

Psalm 96:5 The Lord made the heavens The word “idol”, in our vocabulary, immediately provokes images of statues and man-made icons that are venerated by misguided human beings. Our Garden Centres all sell Buddhas nowadays and a lot of people superstitiously place these ugly effigies in their gardens as some kind of symbol of peaceful mediation! So what is an idol? Most people would define it as an object to which we give our worship. The Bible seems to go further and suggests that an idol is a ny person or thing that consumes your thoughts, words, time, energy, or money, other than God . Ancient peoples did, of course, have their statues and symbolic images of their gods. They also worshipped natural phenomena such as the sun and moon and stars. Their gods had names, and temples and altars were built on high places so that sacrifices could be made and praise and prayer could be offered. Ancient religions had priests and ceremonies and the superstitions generated by these cults overshad

Psalm 96:4 Feared above all gods. Firstly, let’s be clear, the Lord is great and because of that He is worthy of all our praise. Who else is like Him? Who or what else is worthy of our adoration? Who or what can we name in this world that is more powerful, more glorious and greater than He? What’s the point of worshipping anything or anyone unless we offer our praise to the One who made all things? Everything that was ever created, from the minutest micro-organism to the far-flung galaxies in the universe, all of these came about at the word of His command and we humans are merely little ants crawling around on the surface of His beautiful planet. Yes, He is most worthy of our praise because, instead of stamping all over us, He welcomes us into His presence and bends to hear our songs of joy. He goes further, He invites us to be His children and shows His heart of love by willingly dying for us! He is, indeed, most worthy of praise. Once again, the Psalms do not shy away from the reali

Psalm 96:3 Declare His glory This verse gives us two things that are to be proclaimed by our praises, the glory of the Lord and His marvellous deeds. These two sources of wonder are not to be kept under wraps or even contained under lock and key in our churches, they are to be declared to the nations and among all peoples. The whole world needs to hear of God’s glory and His marvellous deeds!  Wherever God is at work His glory is revealed. Creation reveals His glory. The heavens declare His glory. Out of the lips if children and babies God ordains praise and reveals His glory. Remember the words of the Apostle John at the opening of His Gospel?  “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John 1:14. Later, after Jesus had turned water into wine, John was to write,  “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of His signs through which He revealed His glor

Psalm 96:2 Sing, praise and proclaim And yet a further injunction to just keep on singing! Hopefully, what we read is really obvious, but I am going to elaborate on it a little! There are three separate components to this verse:- Firstly, it is to the Lord that we sing. As we have learned previously, the Hebrew word for Lord is a four-letter word (tetragrammaton) that was not used in normal conversation for it was considered too sacred. The Hebrew language did not include vowels (in fact Hebrew newspapers today still use just consonants) and so YHWH became the name of the LORD. It was probably pronounced Yah’weh. It literally means, “I was, I AM, I always will be.” So, how do you sing to One whose name you dare not speak? It must have been difficult and whilst we applaud the Jewish sentiments, I think that it is fair to assume that the LORD does not mind His children speaking and singing to Him. In fact, He commands it! Secondly, and this bears out what we have just said, He commands t

Psalm 96:1 Sing a new song The psalms of praise that we have previously studied have tended to be attributed to individuals or have focussed on the nation of Israel. We are about to encounter a number of songs of joy and this one is a call to all nations on every continent to proclaim God’s glory and honour. Remember that the Israelites had a world mission, to be a nation of kings and priests that would draw all others to obey and worship the Lord. A similar commission was given to the Apostles,  “To go into all the world and preach the Gospel and to make disciples of all nations.”  Perhaps in that sense, this is a prophetic Psalm that embraces the mission of the church but also the time when Christ reigns upon the earth and all nations will come and worship Him.    V1        I think we have commented before that the Lord loves new songs! We played  “So will I / 100 Billion X” by Hillsong on Sunday morning at church and nobody seemed to know it but how they loved it. This week the Lord

Psalm 95:11 Let's enter His rest This is a fierce and brutal end to what, in many ways, has been an uplifting Psalm. It is quite clear that the Promised Land was to be God’s place of rest for His people. Deuteronomy 28:1-14 gives details of the blessings that would come upon the people if they obeyed and served the Lord God faithfully in that land. They would produce descendants and their livestock would flourish and be healthy. The wilderness would bud and flower. Rains would come and go with the seasons. Their enemies would be defeated and there would be peace in the land. They would never be in debt, and they would be God’s holy people before all nations. Such is the land of God’s rest. To attain such blessings, they must be a people who obeyed the Lord and who lived by faith in His provision and also those who stopped their labours for 1 day each week and gave thanks to the Lord. Yes, they must work hard and obey the God’s commandments, but the blessings that ensued would not b

Psalm 95:10 Their hearts go astray This verse should send a shudder through us. Would God abandon us for 40 years for going astray and abandoning His ways? Much of this Psalm is repeated in Hebrews 3:7-11 and the writer of that New Testament book seems to have no doubt that unbelief can still cut us off from God’s blessings, as he goes on to say in verses 12-19 where we are exhorted to not copy Israel’s example,  “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage on another daily, as long as it is called “Today”, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”    In Israel’s case unbelief led to disobedience and to rebellion which themselves led to 40 years of misery and the postponement of their arrival in the Land of Promise. Unbelief – disobedience – disinheritance. Hebrews 4 goes on to explain that although we do not have an earthly land for our inheritance, we do have a Sabbath rest to

Psalm 95:8-9 Do not harden your hearts The Israelites have left Egypt and are on their way to the Promised Land, the Lord God has proved His love and care and protection by liberating the people and providing them with everything they need. But it was not enough, they grumbled and complained, especially when their water supply ran low. They quarrelled with Moses and demanded water; the rebellion grew so venomous that Moses feared for his life and pleaded with the Lord to help him. The problem was not just the lack of water, it was their lack of faith. The Israelites did not believe that the Lord would provide for them, they judged the situation from a human perspective and left God out of it. They doubted His care and that He was actually with them in the wilderness, despite previous miracles of deliverance and provision of food and water. On this occasion Moses was instructed to speak to the rock of Horeb and, of course, water flowed and continued to do so throughout the next 40 years

Psalm 95:7a Let’s pick up on the last part of verse 7,  “Today, if only you would hear His voice.”  It follows the reminder that those who believe in and who serve and obey the living God are the sheep of His pasture. We are His flock. A shepherd’s role in eastern lands is rather different to what we are used to in the west where there are large areas of green pasture inhabited by flocks of sheep who are rounded-up by well-trained sheepdogs when the shepherd needs to attend to them. Not so in ancient times or even today in many parts of Israel. Here the flocks are small and mixed with goats and the occasional donkey. Sheepdogs are rarely seen because the rustic shepherd stays with his flock, and he leads it. The sheep know his voice and follow him, the dogs are unnecessary. The shepherd takes his animals across the rugged ground and stops when there is sufficient grass for his animals to feed. Then they all move on to the next spot. While he watches over his animals the shepherd talks

Psalm 95:7 The people of His pasture In ancient times, kings and rulers were often referred to as the shepherds of their flock or their people. It was a fitting analogy for their subjects relied on the rulers to protect them and feed them and guide them and prosper them etc. Consequently, the kingdom or realm became known as the pasture of whoever happened to rule over it. Modern animal farmers still refer to their fields as their pasture, as opposed to the land of the neighbouring occupant. When we come to faith in the living God and are numbered amongst His sheep, we become the people of His pasture and are immediately offered the exceptional benefits that come from being honoured in this way.  “The Lord is my Shepherd”  writes David in Psalm 23, a phrase that is pregnant with meaning and that has blessed so many over the centuries. The Shepherd Psalm spells out the privileges that come from being cared for by the Good Shepherd and they are numerous. Here, in today’s verse, the flock

Psalm 95:6 Let us kneel This verse demands something that I would not have understood in the earlier years of my life. It asks us, firstly, to bow down in worship. Having been in Japan recently, it is not so onerous as you might imagine! Everyone there bows their head to colleagues, friends and total strangers; it is a form of respectful acknowledgement, a way of saying “thank you” without words, a recognition of the deference that another human being is due. Some denominational church members still bow to an altar or to a cross, I’m sure that many do that out of reverence and not just habit. For us all, an attitude of reverence is important when we are in the presence of the Lord, sometimes the shouts and the noise of the earlier verses of the Psalm need to be exchanged for respectful silence and acknowledgement that we are in the presence of One far greater than ourselves.  But we are encouraged to go further, to kneel in submission and complete humility before the Lord our Maker. To

Psalm 95:4-5 It's all His, He made it! To the ancient mind the world was a mysterious place, so much of it was unexplored and so many places were beyond the reach of men. It was impossible to plumb the depths of the oceans or to imagine being able to swim deep beneath them. No one understood the moods of the tides or what lay beyond the vast horizons. The Mediterranean Sea was one thing but the Indian Ocean another. It’s not clear if, at the time of writing, anyone in the civilised world had even set eyes on the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans!  And then there was the earth beneath; how deep was it? What lay beneath the feet of men? In truth we still don’t know! The mountains of the north and the east towered over the peoples who lived in their shadows, but few dared to climb them, and no one had the equipment or the expertise to tackle the greatest heights. So, our Psalm writer does not pretend to understand the vastness of all of this, nor does he claim that it was possible to calcula

Psalm 95:3 The King above all gods The words in this verse seem to repeat what has been said so many times before in the Psalms." God is exalted, He is the great God, He is the King above all gods ." There was a time, not so long ago, when I believed that there were no other actual gods. I believed that there were effigies of gods, idols and statues and figments of men’s vivid imaginations but actual gods - no! Yes, people have (and still do) worshipped the planets, they have paid homage to beings greater than themselves, they have acknowledged the possible presence of spiritual entities who cannot be detected by normal human senses, but to call these gods surely is a misrepresentation? The Bible does not think so. Psalm 82 taught us that the Lord God rules over a great assembly of gods or spiritual beings. The Hebrew is “beney elyon” or the sons of God, as in  “Who is like unto You, Oh Lord among the gods. ” Exodus 15:11. Many of these beings exercise their power through the

Psalm 95:2 Thanksgiving, music and song I think there must be an order to the methods of praise and worship that are highlighted in the opening two verses of this Psalm? ·        Let us sing for joy to the Lord ·        Let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation ·        Let us come before Him with thanksgiving ·        Let us extol (exalt) Him with music and song Whatever the context, it is not a quiet celebration, is it? There’s shouting, singing and music and joyful thanksgiving and what is the purpose of all of this? ·        It is to exalt or extol the Lord.  ·        It is to elevate Him to the Highest place.  ·        It is to give Him the glory that is fit for the King of Kings and the God above all gods.  ·        It is to recognise our dependency and humility in contrast to His greatness and might.  ·        It is to acknowledge that He is above all and in all, that life and death and everything in between comes from Him.  ·        It is to praise the One who made us and

Psalm 95:1 A call to corporate worship Imagine yourself at the entrance to the Temple at the time when its ceremonies and rituals were respected and obeyed by the nation of Israel. A great throng has gathered, called from the farthest corners of the land, eager and yet respectful as they draw close to the dwelling place of Almighty God. A Priest or a Levite addresses the crowd and reminds everyone that they have come to worship but also to remember that this is a solemn duty as well as a joyful one. The Priest reminds the Israelites that they have a history of rebellion and that their God has, at times, been forced to display His anger. Those who are listening bow their heads and recall that their God is not to be taken for granted or to be treated lightly. Their joyful worship is now tainted by a deeper respect and their voices are hushed as they enter His courts. This is the backdrop to Psalm 95. V1        As we have noted in earlier Psalms, there are a number of Hebrew words for “ro

Psalm 94:23 He will destroy them This Psalm ends on a sobering note. I’m not sure if our view of our enemies should be to wish destruction upon them? In truth, Jesus told us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. That word of wisdom should be our guiding principle, we are not the judges of the wicked. We may hate their lies, their greed, their abuse of our fellow men. We may hate their blasphemies, their rebellion, their constant attacks upon our faith and our God but, at the end of the day, we are not appointed to make the final decisions about their perverted behaviour, their acts of violence and the rest of it. Absolute justice is founded on absolute righteousness and only God can be the final arbiter in these things.  He will repay the wicked for their sins, because He alone knows the full extent of their wickedness and also, He alone will know if they will die unrepentant. Imagine if we were to exact vengeance and then be reprimanded by the Lord, “Why did you

Psalm 94:22 My fortress and my rock “The Lord has become …..”  I’m not saying that it always the case but, generally speaking, younger men and women can find it very hard to make the Lord their fortress and their rock. The energy, passion, strength and optimism of youth often leads the young to believe that they can conquer all and that nothing is too hard for them. The real troubles and trials do not kick in for many until family and work responsibilities begin to mount up, even then it’s possible to carve out our own way, believing that we can overcome all obstacles. Experience and maturity prove this to be untrue, and if we have been walking with the Lord for many years, we will know that our dependence on Him grows daily. Only yesterday, I was talking to a group of older believers about the state of our world and the cultural changes that we find hard to accept and that seem to be a direct attack on the commandments and moral standards of our God. We all realised that we cannot fig

Psalm 94:231 The innocent are condemned to death It’s an unfair world, isn’t it? I recently studied the lives of the Apostles, particularly the eleven who remained faithful to Jesus during His 3 years of ministry and that were the first to see Him after His resurrection. The same men who were in a locked room and who saw Him alive. The same ones who were in a house at Pentecost and witnessed the effects of the Holy Spirit being poured out from heaven. These men became faithful servants who could not keep quiet about the Lord Jesus, they testified about Him in many countries and to their own people until they dropped, or more correctly, until they were martyred for their faith. James, the brother of John, was put to death by the sword early in the life of the church. Herod Agrippa had him killed as a lesson to the rest of them. Acts 12:1-2. Church traditions suggest that many of these gallant followers of Christ were treated the same way. In just a few years Nero was throwing believers