A devotion of Psalm 96 NKJV
A Song of Praise to God Coming in Judgment
https://youtu.be/S-VJEzPf41w this wonderful song starts in Swahili and the following verses are in English. “Sifuni Mungu” means “Y’all praise the Lord.” “Imbeni” means “sing”. “Vyumbe vyote” means “all creatures.” Turn it up!
1 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
This beautiful morning dawns fresh outside my window, awaking from the under a blanket of cozy fog. We’ve never experienced it before. Fresh also are his mercies today. That should bubble up to a vigorous boil within us and erupt in song. A new song. For he is doing new things. Turn your words of praise into melodies. (htk)
Photo by Ian Beckley on Pexels.com
Last night my son James was practicing some sweet karate moves. I guess that when you’re cooking mac and cheese it’s a good time to practice moves because there’s significant down time. He knocked gently on my bedroom door to wake me up. To hear him tell it, “I was doing a tornado which turned into a crescent kick, into another crescent kick which hooked the metal part of the bar stool, which went flying across the room. I was praying it doesn’t fly through the sliding glass door. It was a really good crescent kick, just so you know.” The offending foot didn’t look or feel marvelous, so we prayed, iced, wrapped, medicated, and elevated it for the night.
This morning, I’m praising Jesus because it looks great, saying,
“Creator and Healer of flying feet.
I bless you for James and his awesome moves.
His tornado persona, a weapon for your kingdom
Will expedites his victims to your mercy seat
His foot looks amazing which only proves,
You’re abounding in mercy and wisdom and then some.”
Now if one of you would strum me a tune and some additional lyrics, we’ll be in business.
Who is to sing to the Lord? All the earth – All people, all creation (trees, rivers, slugs, meadows, rocks, everything!)
2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
God’s salvation is his deliverance over our lives. Satan comes but to kill, steal, and destroy, Jesus daily snatches us from his snare. Proclaim, basar, means to publish, announce, to gladden with good news. That’s not the preacher’s job for 30 minutes on Sunday morning. That’s our job 24/7. Tell someone what he’s doing in your life. Do it till you’re annoying. (Many of us are hardly at risk of being annoying in this area and yet excel at it in others.)
3 Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
In this day of internet super-communication, the world has shrunk to the size of a village. We have access to the nations and the good news that they need. In our group alone, we have folks representing 3 continents. That’s a glory and a wonder right there. Holy Spirit help us reach the world with the good news we have. You have expanded our territory – help us take it for you! Give us a heart to start where we are and spread it till the whole world knows.
4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
Our great God, clothed in glory and arrayed in splendor is to be vigorously praised and feared. He is a consuming fire, the ferocious roaring Lion of the tribe of Judah, the dread champion warrior. He is not just to be merely “respected” as many westerners translate this term, yare’, though that applies. It means to quake in our pants in astonishment and terrible fright. That is the grand wonder that he loves us and that we can approach his presence with confidence.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
The word idol is eliyl and derived from the root ‘al. The latter means no, not, neither, nothing. Eliyl thus means of nought, worthless, a thing that is good for nothing. So we go to our idols as a replacement for God and we find – nothing. No comfort, no joy, no lasting pleasure, no effective escape, no hope, no purpose. Nothing.
7 Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
9 Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.
To give, yahab, means to provide or ascribe. There isn’t much we can give to someone who made and has everything. Yet he invites us to ascribe to him glory and strength; the glory due his name (don’t short-change him,) an offering and our presence. Isn’t that great? He likes our presence. He says to us, Oh come!
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
The world is not at risk of decomposing despite man’s careless use of it. I’m not saying we should abuse our amazing earth. It makes my heart bleed to see the atrocity we’ve made of it. A few years ago I visited a tropical beach that was covered with high piles of plastic garbage. We’ve trashed this awesome gift we were given. Left to our own devices, we would have self-destroyed by now.
Whether you believe climate change is real or not, God will fit it right into his plans for us. Despite our best intentions, eventually the earth will go up in a ball of fire, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. That will happen whether it’s pristine or wrecked. The climate we need to change is one of despair and complaining to one of praise! Let’s hold global summits about that.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.
13 For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.
There is joy unspeakable and full of glory. It brews and bubbles from the Holy Spirit on earth and in our hearts and flows out of our mouths as it does all creation. It makes for a raucous. It’s the greatest dance party on earth. All creation anticipates His Majesty. The ultimate Judge cometh to judge the world.
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Malachi 4:1-3, 5,6.