Psalm 80: Praying for Revival

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Del Fehsenfeld Jr., founder of Life Action Ministries, used to ask this convicting question: “If revival in this land depended on your prayers, your faith, your obedience, would we ever experience revival?” (Spirit of Revival [Feb., 1999], p. 11) I confess that while I do pray for revival, it is not with the faithfulness or fervor that I should pray. If you also fall short in this area, then Psalm 80 has a message for you:

We should pray earnestly for revival among God’s people.

No one knows for sure when this psalm was written, but many scholars think that it was around 722 B.C. when the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. (Thus the author would be a descendant of the Asaph of David’s time, a member of the worship guild that he had founded.) The nation had divided over 200 years before under Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom, had set up an idolatrous form of worship in a deliberate attempt to keep his people from going to Jerusalem to worship (1 Kings 12:26-33). None of his successors had heeded the warnings of the godly prophets to remove this idolatrous worship. Finally, the Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians, who deported many of the survivors and imported foreigners to mingle with those left in the land (2 Kings 17).

Psalm 80 may have been penned by a poet in the south who had witnessed the destruction of the north and was concerned that the same enemies not conquer the south. He no doubt saw the same unfaithfulness in the south that had led to the demise of the north. And so he earnestly entreats God to send revival. His prayer, repeated three times (80:3, 7, 19), “O God, restore us and cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved,” is probably a prayer both for those in the north and those in the south. Those in the north needed to be restored to God and to the land. Those in the south needed to be restored to God before they experienced the same defeat and deportation that had happened in the north.

The psalm falls into four sections: (1) In 80:1-3, the psalmist prays for God, the Shepherd of Israel, to restore and save His flock. (2) In 80:4-7, he asks God how long He will be angry and allow Israel’s enemies to taunt them. (3) In 80:8-13, the psalmist gives a short history that pictures Israel as a vine that God transplanted from Egypt to Canaan. At first it flourished and grew (8-11), but now it is neglected and overrun by those that plunder it. (4) This leads to the final impassioned prayer (80:14-19) for God to take care of His devastated people by restoring and saving them.

Rather than follow the order of the psalm, I want to look at it from the practical perspective of how we can develop greater faithfulness and fervency to pray for revival. By “revival,” I’m not referring to the popular image of setting up a tent or putting a sign out in front of the church, “Revival Here This Week! 7 p.m.” A sweaty evangelist preaches hellfire and damnation sermons, urging people to walk the aisle and decide for Jesus. Such “revivals” are manipulative human attempts to produce what only God can produce.

Rather, genuine revivals begin when through the preaching of the Word, the Holy Spirit convicts people of their spiritual apathy and sin. At the same time, He opens their eyes to get a new glimpse of the holiness of God and of His wrath against sin. As they come under conviction, they realize that their sin has separated them from God. This is the cause of the difficulties that they have been experiencing. The troubles may be on a personal or on a national level. But people begin to see their desperate condition. They realize that they are helpless to do anything about it, unless God powerfully remedies the situation. They also realize that their faithless, disobedient lives have dishonored His holy name. And so they repent and ask God to be glorified in their midst.

Such revivals are a sovereign work of God that affect many at the same time. Often in history they have spread around the globe. Christians repent of sins that they have been practicing. Churchgoers who were not truly saved get saved. Many outsiders are drawn to the Lord for salvation as they witness the changed lives of God’s people. Such revivals have literally changed the course of history. Many believe that 18th century England was spared from revolution because of the revival under the Wesley’s and George Whitefield. In light of the past 40 years of increasing degeneracy in our nation, we desperately need genuine, Spirit-sent revival. Psalm 80 reveals three things that will help us pray more earnestly for it:

1. We will pray more earnestly for revival when we sense our desperate need.

God sometimes puts His people in difficult places so that they will see their desperate need and cry out to Him. Psalm 80 oozes with the urgency of the psalmist’s appeal, stemming from his realization of the desperate situation. God’s people have been fed the bread of tears (80:5). They have drunk “tears by the bowlful” (80:5, NIV). Their neighbors contend against them and laugh them to scorn (80:6). They are being plundered by all that pass by (80:12). They are like a vine burned with fire and cut down (80:16). So they desperately need God to restore and save them. We can apply this by noting two reasons that we desperately need revival:

A. We need revival because of the powerful enemies that seek to destroy us.

In Israel’s case, their need for restoration and salvation were both physical and spiritual. They needed physical safety from enemy nations that threatened to annihilate them. But they also needed to turn from idolatry and religious syncretism back to the worship of the one true God.

In terms of physical enemies, the north had either just fallen or was on the verge of falling to the brutal Assyrian army. They later surrounded Jerusalem and were on the verge of conquering the south before God destroyed their entire army in response to Hezekiah’s prayer.

Scholars do not agree on the reasons why the psalmist asks God to stir up His power “before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh” (80:2). Joseph and Benjamin were the only sons of Rachel; Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph’s sons. They were the dominant tribes of the ten tribes of the north, but Benjamin was united with Judah and was spared in the Assyrian deportation. Perhaps Benjamin is mentioned here because Ephraim and Manasseh in the north had already fallen and Benjamin was geographic buffer between the north and the south. Whatever the explanation, God’s people always were threatened by powerful enemies that sought to wipe them out.

In a similar manner, the church has always been threatened by the powers of darkness that seek to annihilate her. Sometimes the enemy has exterminated the church in entire regions, such as Turkey and North Africa. First Peter 5:8 warns us, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” If we kept in mind our vulnerability to this powerful enemy, we would pray more earnestly for God to stir up His power to revive us.

B. We need revival because of the powerful sins that often entangle us.

The psalmist mentions (80:4) that God was even angry with the prayers of His people! The Hebrew literally says that He was smoked with them! There is only one reason that God would be angry with His people’s prayers, namely, that they were tolerating sin in their lives at the same time that they were asking Him to deliver them from these enemies. God promised that if they humbled themselves, turned from their wicked ways and prayed, He would heal their land (2 Chron. 7:14). He hadn’t gone back on His promise. The problem was, the people had not humbled themselves and turned from their wicked ways. God’s vineyard had only produced worthless grapes (Isa. 5:1-7). They needed revival to bring them to genuine repentance for their many sins.

One mark of genuine revival is that God’s people awaken to a new and deeper sense of their sinfulness before Him. Through the Word, the Holy Spirit convicts them of sins that they have been brushing off as no big deal. Maybe they’ve excused their sins by saying, “We’re under grace!” Or they’ve minimized their sins by comparing themselves with those who are worse sinners. In his excellent book, Revival ([Crossway Books], p. 41 [see, also, pp. 101, 156-157, 231]), Martyn Lloyd-Jones says,

When you have a revival you see men and women groaning, agonising under the conviction of sin. They are so conscious of their unworthiness, and their vileness, that they feel that they cannot live. They do not know what to do with themselves. They cannot sleep. They are in an agony of soul.

We also need to note that although we now may enjoy God’s blessing, that does not guarantee the future. Israel had once experienced God’s blessing. The psalmist rehearses (80:8) how God had brought them out of Egypt, drove out the nations, and planted them in the Promised Land. For a while, under David and Solomon, they flourished and spread out even as far as the Euphrates River (80:11). But from that glorious past, they had now fallen into the grim description we read here (80:12, 13, 16). They needed revival because they had become entangled in the sins of the pagan nations around them.

That describes the church in America! Once the church had a powerful influence in this country. Although many of the founding fathers were not born-again Christians, they were greatly influenced by the Bible. They incorporated biblical truth into the founding documents. George Washington said, “Religion [he meant Christianity] and Morality are the essential pillars of civil society” (cited by Iain Murray, Revival & Revivalism [Banner of Truth], p. 114).

But in the past forty or fifty years, the church’s influence in America has been decimated. We are laughed at as hypocrites (which is often the truth!) or castigated as intolerant and ignorant. Much of this has come upon us because we are not much different than the pagans around us. We need revival because we’ve become entangled in sin. Without revival, we will perish at the rebuke of God’s holy countenance (80:16). The church’s desperate need should motivate us to pray more earnestly for genuine revival.

2. We will pray more earnestly for revival when we realize that only God can produce genuine revival.

A. Humanly orchestrated “revivals” are not genuine or lasting in their effects.

It’s possible to get people to walk the aisle and make decisions for Christ through various techniques: emotional music; stories that touch people’s feelings; and powerful closing appeals linked with counselors streaming towards the front. Charles Finney popularized these sorts of gimmicks in the 1830’s. He believed that if you used proper methods, revival would follow (see Murray, ibid., p. 247). But Finney believed that conversion was merely a matter of people deciding to change, not of God changing their hearts. His seriously defective views on conversion and revival, along with his manipulative methods, are still with us today.

B. When God restores us and shines His face upon us, we will be truly saved.

H. C. Leupold (Exposition of Psalms [Baker], p. 581) comments on the psalmist’s repeated refrain for God to shine His face on us, “So potent is God’s good pleasure that, as soon as it becomes operative, deliverance sets in.” There will be at least four results:

(1). Sinners will be saved.

In the Old Testament, salvation often refers to physical deliverance from enemies. But there is also a spiritual element, in that the reason the nation was in danger from its enemies was that they had turned from the Lord. They knew the Jewish rituals and customs and practiced them religiously, but their hearts were far from God. So the psalmist’s cry for God to save them was at least in part a cry for Him to save the people from sin and judgment.

Even so today when God sends genuine revival, people who have attended church for years get saved. Maybe they grew up in the church. Perhaps they are church members who can recite John 3:16 and who say that they believe in Christ. But they have never been born again. God has never changed their hearts. But when the Spirit sends genuine revival, they see their need of Christ, repent of their sins, and are genuinely saved.

(2). God will raise the church from the ashes.

John Calvin certainly saw God revive the church from the deadness of medieval Catholicism in amazing ways. He points out (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Ps. 80:16, p. 306) that even though the church is seemingly hopeless, smoldering in ashes because of God’s judgment on her sin, when we repent, He can enrich and bless us with His unparalleled mercy. Even though the church in America seems hopeless, God is able to work if we entreat Him to shine His countenance on us again.

(3). We will not turn back from the Lord (80:18a).

In other words, when God works by shining His countenance on us, it is effectual and lasting. It is not based on emotional decisions, but on a real change of heart.

(4). We will call upon His name (80:18b).

“Revive us” means, “give us life” (ESV). When God gives us new life, then we call upon Him, not just to get us out of a difficult trial, but as a way of life to express our dependence on Him.

So we will pray more earnestly for revival when we see our great need and when we realize that we cannot produce revival. Only God can send it as we cry out to Him for mercy.

3. We will pray more earnestly for revival when we desire for God to be glorified.

The psalm begins (80:1), “Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!” The cherubim hovered over the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. God’s glory shone forth from there. But now, because of the nation’s sin, God’s glory has not been seen. Instead, the pagan nations laugh Israel and her God to scorn (80:6). So the psalmist cries out to God to shine forth with His glory. As the Good Shepherd of His people, the Lord has brought them into a desperate situation so that they will obey the words of Psalm 50:15, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.” There are at least five ways that God is glorified when we pray earnestly for revival:

A. God is glorified in revival when He shows His mighty power to save.

We’ve seen this, but three times (80:3, 7, 19) the psalmist cries out for God to restore them and cause His face to shine upon them so that they will be saved. As I said, this no doubt referred to deliverance from their enemies. But it also has the spiritual dimension, because sin and idolatry were at the root of Israel’s problems. They needed for God to save them spiritually.

We need to understand that salvation is not a human thing, where a person of his own free will decides to ask Jesus into his heart. Salvation is when God imparts new life to dead sinners. He changes their hearts so that they believe and obey. Many that have “asked Jesus into their hearts” are not saved. “Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). Because it requires God’s resurrection power (not just a human decision), it glorifies Him.

B. God is glorified in revival when His people obey Him.

God is called the Shepherd of Israel (80:1). Shepherds lead their sheep and the sheep follow, trusting the shepherd to lead them into a place of safety and abundance. Stray sheep get eaten by predators. Once Marla and I were descending from Wetterhorn Peak in Colorado. We were in the trees when we heard an unusual commotion. Suddenly we encountered over 2,000 sheep being led to their summer pasture above tree line. But as we got down almost to the trailhead, we encountered one stray sheep. He ran from us into the wilderness and I said, “That one’s a goner!”

Jesus said (John 10:27-28), “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” God is glorified when Jesus’ sheep follow Him.

C. God is glorified in revival when His people are fruitful.

The analogy of Israel as God’s vine implies that they were to bear fruit for Him. In Isaiah 5:1-7, God complains that Israel as His vine has only produced worthless grapes. So He says that He is going to remove its hedge and let it be consumed and trampled on. Jesus used the vine analogy, saying that He is the true vine and we are the branches. We are to bear fruit for Him. If we do not bear fruit, we will be cut off and thrown into the fire. But, Jesus adds (John 15:8), “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” When true revival comes, God’s people bear fruit for Him.

D. God is glorified in revival when there is genuine unity among His people.

This psalm most likely represents the prayer of a man in the Southern Kingdom for his alienated brothers in the north. He sets aside tribal rivalries and prays earnestly for God to take care of those who are perishing because of the enemy. When revival comes, God’s people set aside petty differences and love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. We do not set aside the essentials of the gospel, such as justification by faith alone in Christ alone. But we set aside our pride over being right on minor points of doctrine and practice. Genuine unity glorifies God.

E. God is glorified in revival when His people come to know Him more deeply.

Did you notice that in the refrain, God is addressed in a progressively deeper way? First (80:3), it is, “O God.” Then (80:7), it is, “O God of hosts.” Finally (80:19), it is, “O Lord God of hosts.” Revival opens our eyes to see more deeply who God really is. He is the only true God. Further, He is the God who commands the angelic hosts. Further yet, He is the Lord God, before whom every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:10). When God revives us, we glorify Him by coming to know Him more deeply.

Conclusion

So let’s pray for genuine, Holy Spirit-sent revival! I must point out that there is a sense in which this prayer was not answered, at least not in the history of Israel. The Northern Kingdom never was restored. The Southern Kingdom saw periods of revival under Hezekiah and Josiah, but it finally went into captivity in Babylon.

But there is a note of hope here. The psalmist asks God (80:15) to take care of the shoot (lit., son) which His right hand has planted, even the son whom He has strengthened. He again (80:17) asks that God’s hand be on the man of His right hand, upon the son of man whom He has made strong for Himself.

Who is this? In the context, it is probably the nation, or the king of the nation (Hezekiah). But many Jewish commentators saw it as a reference to Messiah. In light of Jesus’ frequent reference to Himself as the Son of Man, it is reasonable to see it as a prayer for God to send and strengthen Jesus the Messiah. He is the one who brings true and lasting revival to His people. Like the psalmist, we may or may not see revival in our day. But we should still pray earnestly. The ultimate fulfillment of our prayers for revival will be when Jesus comes in power and glory to reign.

Here is a practical opportunity: On July 5th, 6th, and 7th we’re going to have three evenings of prayer (7-8 p.m.). Put it on your calendar and make it a priority to come and cry out to our Good Shepherd (80:18b-19), “Revive us, and we will call upon Your name. O Lord God of hosts, restore us and cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.”

Application Questions

In a revival, how can we tell the genuine from the false? (Hint: read Jonathan Edwards’ Treatise on Religious Affections.)
Why can’t genuine revival be organized or planned? If it is a sovereign work of God, is there anything we can do to bring it about?
Why is there a difference between going forward (or making a decision for Christ) and being born again? What is the difference?
Why are obedience and fruitfulness better tests of genuine revival than emotionalism or “being slain in the Spirit”?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Spiritual Life, Prayer, Evangelism

Psalm 81: What Might Have Been

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“For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’”

(John Greenleaf Whittier, in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations [Little, Brown and Company, 13th ed.], p. 527.)

I am a saver and I hate to see waste. Once when I was in the Coast Guard, we had steaks for dinner, which was great. The sad thing was, someone had ordered too many steaks. The mess crew was piling three or four steaks on each man’s plate, trying to get rid of them. Since you couldn’t take food from the mess hall, the trash cans were full of wasted steaks. There were many poor kids less than two miles from the base who had probably never even tasted a steak. It was sad.

But worse than wasted steaks are wasted lives. Think of the tremendous potential God puts in every life! Each life can count for God’s purpose. Because of that fact, it is especially sad to see a wasted life.

God is in the business of recycling wasted lives. When a person trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior, there is new hope: sins are washed away, there is a new creature in Jesus Christ, and as the person lives under the Lordship of Christ, God’s potential is unfolded.

The person could become like the Apostle Paul, transformed from a life of hatred and violence into the greatest missionary and leader in the early church. He could become like Augustine, saved from a life of moral impurity to become the man who had the greatest influence in the first 1,500 years of the church, apart from the Lord Himself and the authors of Scripture. He could become like John Newton, the debauched slave-trader who was transformed into a godly pastor and hymn writer, author of “Amazing Grace.”

Or, that potential can be wasted. History is strewn with the wreckage of those who made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but then made shipwreck of their faith (1 Tim. 1:19). I hear all the time of pastors who are out of the ministry due to moral failure. I hear of Christians who once were zealous for the Lord who have cooled off and are living for the things of the world. Their lives are wasted, as far as the kingdom of God is concerned. As you examine the wreckage, you can’t help but think about what might have been.

You may say, “It doesn’t do any good to lament over what might have been. That’s like crying over spilled milk.” But the Bible shows us that even God sometimes laments over what might have been. It’s instructive for us to pause at times to examine the wreckage of the wasted lives of God’s people so that we avoid their mistakes.

In Psalm 81, God laments over what might have been. As He ponders the history of Israel, His chosen people, God mourns over what He could have done for them and through them, if only they had obeyed Him. It’s an inscrutable mystery that while God is all-powerful and nothing can thwart His sovereign purpose, at the same time He limits His power and blessing to the obedience of His people. As we join the Lord in observing the wreckage of these wasted lives, the message to us is:

The way to avoid a wasted life is to walk in obedience to the Lord.

Background:

To understand this psalm, we need to understand the setting. The psalm was to be sung at a feast day (81:3), which most scholars think was the Feast of Tabernacles. The seventh month was ushered in with the blowing of the ram’s horn (Num. 29:1). On the tenth day was the Day of Atonement, and on the fifteenth day, at the full moon (81:3), began the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.

The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated for seven days. The people made little booths and lived in them. The focus of the celebration was to remind Israel of their redemption from Egypt and of God’s protection and sustenance in the wilderness when they did not live in homes. It was also a time for giving thanks for the harvest which had just ended. Following upon the Day of Atonement as it did, the feast was a time of celebrating the joy of forgiveness and reconciliation with God and His bountiful provisions for His people. It was the most joyous of the Jewish feasts. The rabbis used to say that one who had not witnessed the celebration of this feast did not know what joy was (J. J. Stewart Perowne, The Book of Psalms [Zondervan], II:96).

If you’re tracking with me, you may be wondering, “Why did this fellow, Asaph, write a psalm like this to be sung at a festival like that? Was he some sort of spoilsport? When everybody is having a joyous time celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, why have them sing a song that focuses on the dismal record of disobedience of God’s people?”

It seems to me that the answer is that the psalmist realized that it is possible for God’s people to go through the motions of religion outwardly, and yet inwardly to have hearts that are stubborn, self-willed, and disobedient to the Lord God. The psalmist is saying, “Yes, come, rejoice and celebrate the feast. But in your rejoicing, remember the past. Remember what might have been, if only God’s people had obeyed. And let that remembrance strike a solemn note in your rejoicing, so that you do not repeat their mistake.”

As we examine the psalm, we need to keep this historical setting before us. It’s possible for any of us to come and sing praises to God and go through all the outward motions of religion, and yet to be living in disobedience to our God. The psalmist is saying, “Beware! The way to avoid a wasted life is to walk in obedience to God.”

1. Wasted potential is the result of disobedience to God.

A. Religious people can disobey God.

Even though Israel was God’s chosen people and He had miraculously delivered them from Egypt, they continually sinned against Him (81:11). On two occasions, one early and one late in their journey from Egypt to Canaan, the Israelites quarreled with Moses because there was no water (Exod. 17:7; Num. 20:13). Those two places were named “Meribah,” which means “quarrel.” But their real quarrel was not with Moses, but with God who had led them into these places. After He had done the greatest miracle in delivering them from Egypt, couldn’t they trust Him to do the lesser miracle in providing for their needs in the wilderness?

But we do the same thing when we grumble about our trials. God has done the greatest thing for us in saving us from bondage to sin. Can’t we trust that He will provide for our other needs as well? All grumbling is really against the sovereign God. Instead of affirming His goodness toward us in Christ, it attributes evil neglect to Him.

Israel was also guilty of idolatry (81:9). Although the commandment of God was clear, the people made the golden calf and bowed before it. Later, they adopted many of the false gods of the land. Although our idolatries may be more subtle, in that few American Christians make statues to bow down to or pray to, idolatry is no less rampant among us. Christians put self, pleasure, money, power, and a host of other gods before the living and true God. It is shocking to me that studies have shown that there is virtually no difference between Christians and non-Christians in either the amount (about 21 hours per week) or content of their TV viewing habits. And yet, most American Christians would protest if you told them that they worshiped idols!

Furthermore, God laments that His people did not listen to Him with a view to obedience (81:8, 11, 13). God told them how to live, but they ignored Him and lived as they wanted to (“walk in their own devices,” 81:12) or as the pagans around them lived. In our day, God has spoken clearly to His people through His Word. It tells us how to live in this evil world so as to please God and avoid the things which would destroy us. But when Christians spend perhaps no more than one hour a week reading their Bibles and 21 hours watching TV, is it any wonder that our lives look more like those we see on TV than like those prescribed in God’s Word?

What is the result when people disobey God?

B. The result of disobedience is wasted potential.

God says, “I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices” (81:12). These are chilling words! Calvin (Calvin’s Commentaries, [Associated Publishers & Authors], 2:727) says, “Nothing ... is more to be dreaded ....” Spurgeon comments, “No punishment is more just or more severe than this.... It were better to be given up to lions than to our hearts’ lust” (Treasury of David, [Baker], IV:30). It reminds us of Romans 1, where Paul shows how God gave wicked people over to their own lusts (Rom.

God did what parents sometimes must do. When your children insist on having their own way and in going against your commands, there comes a point where finally you say, “O.K. Go ahead and do it, but you will pay the consequences.” You know that it’s not for their good, but sometimes there is no other choice. God knew that they would not experience His blessings in the land of promise, but finally He said, “Have it your way!” That stubborn generation died in the wilderness.

At this point we need to ask an important question: Why did Israel want to disobey God? Why does anyone want to disobey God? If disobedience results in wasted lives, why do it? The answer is:

C. Religious people disobey God because it seems like disobedience will get them where they want to go.

Sin deceives us into thinking that we can get what we want apart from God. What did Israel want? The comforts of life. It was a bad goal, but a common one among fallen, self-centered sinners. God’s Word is clear that we should seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and He will take care of our comfort needs. But we often get it backwards and seek first our own fulfillment.

Israel had been slaves in Egypt, so they called out to God for deliverance (81:7). God answered and miraculously brought them out of Egypt. Then they went into the wilderness and ran out of water. God was testing them (81:7) to see whether they would obey Him. He had done the big thing; could they trust Him for this lesser thing?

Obedience is often initially more difficult but it results in God’s blessing in the long run. Disobedience usually looks like a quick fix to get what we want, but leads to ruin. At every point Israel was inclined to take the easy route back to slavery rather than to endure the discomforts of going God’s way which ultimately would lead them to His promised land. They were deceived into thinking that their disobedience would get them where they wanted to go.

There is a principle in God’s Word that goes like this: When you disobey God, you don’t get where you want to go, and you pay the fare. It won’t seem so at first. At first everything seems great. But disobedience is deceptive, because ultimately it does not get you where you want to go, and you pay the fare anyway!

We see this in the life of Jonah. God told Jonah, “Go to Ninevah and cry against it.” Jonah reasoned, “The Assyrians are the enemies of Israel. If I go and preach to them, they might repent. If they repent, God probably will forgive them. I don’t want that to happen to our enemies, so I’m going to Tarshish.” We read, “So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3).

You know the rest of the story. He paid the fare and thought it would get him where he wanted to go, but it didn’t. He wound up in the belly of the fish and was vomited up back on the beach in Israel. (You can’t keep a good man down!) When you disobey God, you don’t get where you want to go and you pay the fare.

But that’s not the end of the story. The next verse says, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time ...” (Jonah 3:1). The second time! God is the God of the second chance! When we sin, it doesn’t get us where we want to go, and we pay the fare. If we keep disobeying, we will waste our lives. But God is abundantly gracious. He disciplines us by letting us pay the consequences of our sin. But His purpose is not to discard us, but to restore and bless us. And thus we read, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.”

And, in our psalm, we read of God’s discipline in giving His people over to the stubbornness of their hearts (81:12). But we also read of His abundant grace in the verses that follow (81:13-16). These verses show that ...

2. Fulfilled potential comes through walking in obedience to God.

God is waiting to pour out His richest blessings if we will obey Him. We need to feel the longing of God’s heart in these verses. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but would rather that he should turn from his ways and live (Ezek. 18:23). Like any loving father, it pains God to discipline His children. But His love will not let those who are truly His children continue in sin without chastening them (Heb. 12:5-11).

One reason we have trouble with obedience is because we have a faulty concept of God. Satan tempted Eve by getting her to think that God is not really good. “He’s withholding that which you need to be really happy!” We often buy his same line, that God is harsh, austere, and unloving. Satan whispers, “God doesn’t want you to enjoy yourself.” But our psalm shows us that ...

A. The goodness of God is the motive for obedience (81:6-10).

The psalmist reviews how God delivered Israel from bondage to Egypt. They were in trouble and called out, and He answered them (81:7). Then he goes on to list the requirement that the people listen to and worship God alone. At the climax of the section, when you expect to hear the rest of the Ten Commandments, you hear instead, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” (81:10).

There’s the goodness and grace of our God! He saved us from bondage to sin and has commanded us to walk in His ways. Why? To take away our fun? No! So that He can fill us with His blessings! Moses told Israel that God commanded these things “for our good always and for our survival” (Deut. 6:24). God’s commandments are like the traffic laws. They are not designed to take away your fun, although you may sometimes think so. They’re designed to protect you and everyone on the road from danger and death. If everyone obeyed those laws, there would be no fatal accidents. We violate them to our own peril. God’s laws stem from His goodness. He wants to bless us. That should motivate us to obey Him.

B. The blessings of God are the result of obedience (81:10, 14-16).

If we will obey God, He will bless us. As Matthew Henry puts it, “There is enough in God to fill our treasures (Prov. 8:21), to replenish every hungry soul (Jer. 31:25), to supply all our wants, to answer all our desires, and to make us completely happy” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary [Revell], 3:549). Note briefly three ways God blesses when we obey:

(1) Satisfied hunger (81:10): “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” In California, we had a bird feeder that attracted a baby flicker and its mother. The baby (which looked the same size as the mother) would sit right there in front of the birdseed and squawk with its mouth open. The mother would feed herself for a minute and then she would take a beak-full of seed and stuff it down that open mouth. The young bird would be quiet for a few seconds and then would squawk again. I would have thought that the mother bird would get tired and say, “There’s the food. Feed yourself!” But the baby kept opening his beak and the mother kept filling it.

That’s the picture here. God will fill the open mouth. The problem is, we don’t open our mouths. We think we can operate without the Lord, so we don’t look to Him to fill us. We get self-sufficient and aren’t aware of our total need for God.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6). Are you hungry? Is your mouth open? I affirm from my own walk with God what Spurgeon said: “Are you growing conscious of your own power? If so, pray against it with all your might. A much better thing is to become conscious of your own weakness. You will not open your mouth wide if you do not realize how weak you are. If you feel that you are strong, you will cease to cry to God for strength” (Spurgeon’s Expository Encyclopedia [Baker], 12:377). This verse impressed George Muller as a young man and became one of the foundational promises upon which he saw God build five orphanages and support over 10,000 orphans in response to prayer alone. The same God wants to satisfy your hunger. Is your mouth open toward Him?

(2) Subdued enemies (81:14): I hope that no one is seeking your life physically! But we all battle a number of enemies of the soul that seek to do us in spiritually: pride, envy, lust, anger, anxiety, foul speech, selfishness, greed, and others. God will subdue those enemies as we obey Him. There may be fierce battles; such enemies don’t give up easily. But if we would listen to God, He would turn His hand against these adversaries.

(3) Sweetness in adversity (81:16): If His people will obey, God promises to satisfy them with honey from the rock. Rocks are harsh, unpromising things when it comes to feeding the hungry. The desert where Israel wandered had a lot of rocks and not much else. Who would expect anything satisfying from a rock? But God can bring honey from the rock to satisfy His people. The bees would go into the cracks of the rocks and store their sweet honey which oozed out. It’s a picture of how the Lord can bring sweetness and nourishment for His people even out of adversity. He doesn’t always take away the rocks, but He can make them drip with honey.

Conclusion

The way to avoid a wasted life is to walk in obedience to the Lord. Notice all the occurrences of the word “would” in 81:13-16. It’s a word of desire and contingency. It shows God’s desire to bless, if only His people would obey. It shows what might have been.

But also, it shows what can be. This psalm is here not just to get us to look back and lament. It’s here to get us to look ahead with hope. Even though we may grieve over wasted years in the past when we disobeyed the Lord, if we will turn from our sin and begin to obey Him now, He will feed us with the finest of the wheat. He will satisfy us with honey from the rock. He is gracious and compassionate. He forgives all our sin through Christ when we turn to Him.

Discussion Questions

Some Christians view obedience as “legalism” and put it in opposition to God’s grace. Why is this fallacious?
Is it legalism to obey God when we don’t feel like it?
Spurgeon says that a good test of a person’s spiritual maturity is his own sense of his spiritual poverty. What does he mean? What are the implications of this?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Spiritual Life, Discipleship

Psalm 84: How Blessed!

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One of Satan’s most insidious lies is that the Christian life is void of pleasure, whereas pursuing sin brings real satisfaction. For example, the cynical H. L. Mencken said, “Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy” (cited by Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints [Academie/Zondervan], p. 1). Another cynic said that Puritanism “damages the human soul, renders it hard and gloomy, deprives it of sunshine and happiness” (Langdon Mitchell, ibid.).

Leland Ryken, who cites these quotes, goes on to show how false they are. For example, Puritan Thomas Gataker “wrote that it is the purpose of Satan to persuade us that ‘in the kingdom of God there is nothing but sighing and groaning and fasting and prayer,’ whereas the truth is that ‘in his house there is marrying and giving in marriage, … feasting and rejoicing’” (ibid., p. 2). “William Tyndale described the Christian gospel as ‘good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that maketh a man’s heart glad, and maketh him sing, and dance, and leap for joy’” (ibid., pp. 2-3).

But we don’t need the citations of the Puritans to refute Satan’s lies. The Bible itself repeatedly proclaims the soul-satisfying joy of knowing God. As we saw, David exults (Ps. 16:11), “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” The list could go on for pages, but here are a few more:

Psalm 34:8: “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

Psalm 36:7-8: “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.”

Psalm 63:3-5: “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.”

Those verses do not sound like a deprived soul who was enduring a life devoid of pleasure! Over and over the Psalms tell us how blessed we are if we follow the Lord. And Psalm 84 is another example. It begins by exclaiming, “How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!” Then, three times the psalmist exclaims, “How blessed!” In verse 4, “How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You.” Verse 5: “How blessed is the man whose strength is in You….” And, verse 12, “O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!” These repeated exclamations teach us that…

The pleasures that God gives to satisfy our souls should fuel our desire to be in His presence.

In other words, God motivates us to seek Him with the pleasures and satisfaction of being in His presence. And those pleasures are not all delayed until we arrive in heaven. They begin now. As Jesus proclaimed with reference to His sheep (John 10:10b), “I came that they may have life; and have it more abundantly.”

We can’t be sure about the author of Psalm 84 or the historical circumstances in which he wrote it. Some respected commentators (Calvin & Spurgeon) think that David wrote it. I do not agree. The picture of the swallows building their nests in God’s house would point toward Solomon’s temple rather than the tabernacle. Swallows build their nests under the eaves of permanent buildings, but not on tents. So it was written after David’s time.

Also, although some (e.g., James Boice) disagree, most think that the psalmist was not able to be at the temple, although he wanted to be there. Derek Kidner (Psalms 73-150 [IVP], p. 302) writes, “Longing is written all over this psalm. This eager and homesick man is one of the Korahite temple singers, and the mood of the psalm is not unlike that of Psalms 42 and 43, which are a product of the same group.”

J. J. S. Perowne The Book of Psalms [Zondervan], 2:115) suggests that the parallels between those psalms and this one point to the same author. For example, in 84:2, the psalmist says, “My soul longed for and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy [or, cry out] to the living God.” In 42:1, 2 we read a similar cry, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?” Psalms 84:2 and 42:2 are the only times in the Psalms that God is referred to as “the living God.” In 84:4, the psalmist says of those who dwell in God’s house, “they are ever praising You.” In 42:5 he cries, “for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.” In 84:7, he mentions concerning these pilgrims, “Every one of them appears before God in Zion.” In 42:2 he asks, “when shall I come and appear before God?” In 84:1, he mentions God’s dwelling places. In 43:3, he asks God to send out His light and truth so that they will lead him “to Your dwelling places.”

There are a few differences between Psalms 42-43 and Psalm 84. In the earlier psalms, the psalmist was being taunted by his enemies, whereas in Psalm 84 there is no mention of this. In the earlier psalms, the author was battling depression, whereas here his mood seems to have changed to joy. But in both the earlier psalms and in Psalm 84, the author strongly wants to be at God’s temple, and more, to be in the presence of the living God Himself.

Let’s look at the three blessings, which show us the pleasures that God uses to fuel our desire to be in His presence:

1. The pleasure of being in God’s house should fuel our desire to be in His presence (84:1-4).

The plural, “dwelling places,” may refer to the various parts of the temple where God manifested Himself, or it may just be a poetic form (the plural is also in Ps. 43:3 & 46:4). “How lovely” is an expression of love poetry (Kidner, p. 303), expressing the attractiveness of God’s house. “O Lord of hosts” (see also 84:3, 8, 12) designates God as the Sovereign over all the spiritual forces in the universe, who can easily defend His people.

Verse 2 indicates that the psalmist longs to be at the temple, but is not able to be there. In the context, the verb translated “sing for joy” might better be rendered, “cry out” (Kidner, ibid.). The psalmist’s total being (soul, heart, and flesh) are crying out to the living God that he might join the worshipers at the temple.

In verse 3, he recalls being in the temple and seeing the swallows flitting around the courtyard. They made their nests high on the temple buildings. The psalmist now envies these little birds, because they are at the temple, but he is not. Although they were insignificant creatures who could not rationally worship God, they had found the right place for their nests, there in the temple. Spurgeon preached an entire sermon on verse 3 (“The Sparrow and the Swallow,” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Pilgrim Publications], 53:253-264), developing the idea that just as these little birds found homes for themselves and nests for their young, so Christians find the same in Christ and His church.

After again addressing God as the Lord of hosts (84:3), the psalmist reflects his personal relationship with this Sovereign, “my King and my God.” Although God is the awesome power who commands all the powerful angels of heaven, He is also our personal King and God through Jesus Christ. Then the psalmist exclaims, “How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You.” Perowne (p. 119, italics his) comments, “The blessedness of God’s house is that there men praise Him. This it was that made that house so precious to the Psalmist. And what Christian man can climb higher than this—to find in the praise of God the greatest joy of his life?”

The Bible reveals that we may enjoy God’s presence individually or corporately, in any location. It may be in a church building or it may be at a beautiful outdoor scene. We may be alone or we may be with a stadium full of believers. As New Testament believers, we need to be clear that there are no longer any sacred buildings. God doesn’t dwell in cathedrals, but rather in His people, who are now His temple, both individually and corporately (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; Eph. 2:21-22). But the psalmist’s point here is that he longed to gather corporately with God’s people so that he could praise God with them and experience God’s presence together.

Do you share his longing? Do you look forward to gathering with the saints in worship, with the desire to be in God’s presence? I think that we tend to be too laid back about gathering with the church. Do you come really looking for God to show up? We should come eagerly with the prayer that we might encounter the living God in the midst of His people, His temple!

2. The pleasure of experiencing God’s strength in our weakness should fuel our desire to overcome hindrances to get to God’s house (84:5-9).

Instead of putting his “how blessed” at the end of the section (as in 84:4, 12), the psalmist leads with it (84:5-7): “How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings. They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion.” These verses make the point that…

A. God gives us His strength in our weakness so that we can overcome hindrances to worship Him in His house.

The psalmist pictures a band of pilgrims making their way towards the temple through difficult terrain. The last phrase of verse 5 is difficult (literally, “in whose heart are the ways”), but in the context it seems to mean that these pilgrims have such a desire to be at God’s temple that they make the rough desert paths into highways (see Isa. 35:8). They pass through the valley of Baca, which probably means, “tears.” It is symbolic for a place of affliction or difficulty. But their anticipated joy at being at the temple turns this desert valley into a place of springs. God sends rain to provide for them as they travel. As a result, they go from strength to strength (God’s strength, not their own), arriving safely to appear before God in Zion. Meeting with God in the company of His people is the joyous goal.

Regarding the blessing of having God as our strength, John Calvin observes (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], p. 358), “To lean with the whole heart upon God, is to attain to no ordinary degree of advancement: and this cannot be attained by any man, unless all his pride is laid prostrate in the dust, and his heart is truly humbled.” In other words, we won’t know God’s strength until we see our own weakness. As long as we proudly think that we can live the Christian life in our own power, we will not know God’s power.

Calvin (pp. 359-362) goes on to apply these verses as a rebuke to those who are too lazy to inconvenience themselves to go to church. In his day, people either had to walk or ride a horse to get to church, often in stormy weather. He might be a bit more forceful in rebuking those today who can drive to church in comfortable cars! I was touched when I was in Nepal and Barney asked the men how long it had taken them to come to the meetings. Some of them had walked for hours and then ridden on their crowded busses for more hours to get there! They sat on the hard floor for hours to listen to the teaching of God’s Word. And yet we often skip church because we don’t want to be inconvenienced to get out of bed and drive across town to sit in our comfortable chairs!

Verses 8 & 9 seem to be a parenthesis in the flow of the psalm: “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed.” But they may fit into the context by showing that…

B. Prayer is the means of laying hold of God’s strength in our weakness.

There seems to be some sort of national crisis behind this psalm (Willem VanGemeren, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. by Frank Gaebelein [Zondervan], 5:545). Some think that the psalmist was the king, praying here for himself. But he just as well could have been a member of the Korahites, unable to get to the temple because of some national crisis. Perhaps a foreign army was threatening the land, so he couldn’t travel. So he cries out to the Lord God of hosts, the God of Jacob, to behold their shield and to look upon the face of His anointed. The shield and the anointed both refer to the king (see Ps. 89:18). The psalmist and his fellow pilgrims needed the king’s protection in order to make their journey to the temple in Jerusalem.

Jesus Christ is God’s supreme Anointed One (Christ means anointed one). He is our Shield and King, through whom we have access to the God of Jacob. Jacob was a weak, undeserving man who wrestled with God and prevailed. Thus the God of Jacob is the God of weak and undeserving people who put their trust in Him. His house (now, His people) should be a house of prayer (Matt. 21:13), where we appropriate His strength for our weakness.

Thus the pleasure of being in God’s house should fuel our desire to be in His presence. The pleasure of experiencing His strength in our weakness should fuel our desire to overcome hindrances to get to God’s house for worship and prayer.

3. The pleasure of enjoying God Himself and His abundant goodness should fuel our desire to be in His house (84:10-12).

The psalmist makes three points in these wonderful verses:

A. The pleasure of being even at the doorstep of God’s house is far better than all the pleasures of sin.

“For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (84:10). As Spurgeon puts it (The Treasury of David [Baker], 4:66-67), “The lowest station in connection with the Lord’s house is better than the highest position among the godless…. God’s worst is better than the devil’s best.” H. C. Leupold (Exposition of Psalms [Baker], p. 608) astutely observes: “It may seem to be a strong statement to describe those who are disinclined to worship the Lord as being guilty of wickedness. But that is where the root of all wickedness lies, shunning fellowship with God.”

In a day when Christians frequently skip church to pursue recreation, I wonder how many could honestly say that one day of gathering with God’s people to worship Him is better than a thousand days of other pursuits? Was the psalmist using hyperbole? Maybe, but don’t shrug off his point: His pleasure in enjoying God in the company of God’s people was greater than anything that the world has to offer. If we can’t join him in these feelings, maybe we need to re-examine our values!

B. The pleasure of enjoying God Himself and His abundant goodness is incomparable.

“For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (84:11). There are probably several sermons in this one rich verse (Spurgeon has three!). I can only touch on it:

(1). The Lord God is a sun to us.

This is the only time in the Bible that God is directly referred to as the sun (but see Mal. 4:2; Luke 1:78-79). In Psalm 84, the metaphor is in the context of travelers. There were no lighted streets or cars with headlights. When you were traveling in the wilderness and it got dark, you had to stop. It got cold when the sun went down. Wolves howled in the darkness. So the travelers huddled together and waited for the dawn. The rising sun meant that you could see your way again. It brought warmth and cheer. It brought a new day that would take you closer to God’s lovely dwelling place, the temple.

The sun sustains all life on earth. It is a never-ending source of energy. It cheers our sagging spirits when it breaks through the clouds after a storm. Even so the Lord God is a sun to us.

(2). The Lord God is a shield to us.

The sun gives light and nourishes life, but the shield gives protection from enemies. Without the shield, we would be vulnerable to all sorts of dangers in our pilgrimage to heaven. The sun and the shield balance each other. With the sun only, a band of pilgrims would be more conspicuous to their enemies. So God also is a shield for them, keeping them safe to their journey’s end.

(3). The Lord gives grace to us.

Grace humbles us because God only gives grace to the undeserving. If you earn it or deserve it, it is not grace, but a wage that is due (Rom. 4:4-5). Salvation is entirely due to God’s gracious choice, apart from any foreseen faith or works, which would nullify grace (Rom. 11:6). We receive God’s grace at salvation, but we also need His grace daily in order to walk with Him. God’s abundant grace in Christ motivates us to serve Him (1 Cor. 15:10).

(4). The Lord gives glory to us.

This may refer to the future glory of heaven, but here it probably means (as Calvin explains it, p. 364-365), “that after God has once taken the faithful into his favor, he will advance them to high honor, and never cease to enrich them with his blessings.”

(5). The Lord will not withhold any good thing from us.

Maybe you’re thinking, “No good thing? How about a million dollars, Lord?” But that may not be a good thing for you! “How about good health?” That may not be a good thing, either! We have to interpret this promise in light of the many trials that the Bible shows God’s saints enduring (Heb. 11:35b-39). This is where faith must operate. Although we may not understand God’s purpose for our trials, “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). In that sense, He does not withhold any good thing from us. But, there is a condition in our text:

C. The requirement for enjoying God and His abundant blessings is to walk uprightly and to trust in Him.

The promise of God’s not withholding any good thing is for those who walk uprightly (84:11). His blessing is on those who trust in Him (84:12). To walk uprightly is to live before God with integrity. It does not imply perfection, but it does mean that you walk openly before God, confessing your sin. You trust in His grace and strength to overcome sin. You seek to please God by obeying His commandments. To such people, the Lord will not withhold any good thing. They will join the psalmist (84:12) in exclaiming, “How blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

Conclusion

In 1714, Matthew Henry, the well-known pastor and Bible commentator, was on his deathbed at age 52. He was relatively young and had not finished his commentary (others finished it from his notes). He had endured the loss of his first wife and of three of his nine children. He could have complained about his hard life. But he said to a friend, “You have been used to take notice of the sayings of dying men. This is mine—that a life spent in the service of God, and communion with Him, is the most comfortable and pleasant life that one can live in the present world” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible [Revell], p. 1:xiv).

Don’t believe Satan’s lie that following God is a drag. Following the Lord is the most blessed life possible. The many pleasures that the Lord gives to satisfy your soul should fuel your desire to be in His presence, both individually and when His people gather to worship Him.

Application Questions

Many professing Christians say that they do not need the church. Is this a dangerous view? Why/why not?
Since in the NT, believers (not buildings) are God’s temple, is it wrong to design church buildings to enhance worship?
Suppose that a Christian admits that he finds more pleasure in recreational pursuits than in church. How should he fix this?
If someone challenged you that verse 11b (“no good thing”) is not true, how would you defend it?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Spiritual Life, Worship (Personal), Sanctification

Psalm 86: A Lesson on Prayer

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A man who worked as a messenger for a photo lab got a message on his beeper instructing him to pick up a package at an unfamiliar company with a long, difficult name. He looked skyward and exclaimed, “God, where am I supposed to go?” Just then, his pager came on, this time with the client’s exact address.

A man nearby witnessed this scene. Raising his arms to the heavens, he cried, “Why don’t you ever answer me?” (Adapted from Reader’s Digest [April, 1991], p. 127.)

Do you ever wish that prayer worked like that? You pray and instantly a voice gives you the answer you’re looking for! Sign me up! But I find prayer to be a much more difficult process. I need all the help I can get on how to pray more effectively.

Psalm 86 gives us a helpful lesson on prayer. It is the only psalm in Book 3 of the Psalter labeled as written by David. In many ways, it is not a very original psalm. It’s like a mosaic, piecing together verses and phrases from other psalms and Scriptures. That has led some to think that David himself did not write it in this form. But it seems to me that David easily could have taken things he had already written and used them in this prayer. We don’t need originality in our prayers, but rather, reality with God. And Psalm 86 is the earnest, heartfelt cry of a man of God in a desperate situation laying hold of the God whom he knew well.

The psalm is peppered with 15 requests, some of them repetitive, fired at God with a strong sense of urgency. It falls into four sections: In 86:1-7, David cries out in great need for God to hear and act on his behalf. Then (86:8-10), in a deliberate statement of praise, David extols God as the only true God, the Lord of the nations. The praise is deliberate, says Derek Kidner Psalms 73-150 [IVP], p. 311), “because the final verses reveal no abatement of the pressure, and no sign, as yet, of an answer.” In 86:11-13, David asks God to teach him His way and to unite his heart to fear God’s name, so that he will glorify His name forever. Finally (86:14-17), in light of his fierce enemies, David again appeals to God’s mercy and grace to deliver him.

Although there are many lessons on prayer in this psalm, which could comprise a sermon series, the main lesson is simple:

Our great needs should drive us to pray to the great God, who alone can deliver us.

I want to explore four questions: Why should we pray? To whom should we pray? How should we pray? And, what should we pray for?

1. Why should we pray? We should pray because we have great needs.

David begins (86:1), “Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me; for I am afflicted and needy.” The fact that he cries out for God to save him (86:2, 16) shows that David knew that he could not save himself. In 86:7 he mentions that he is in “the day of trouble.” In 86:14, he specifically mentions the band of arrogant, violent men that were seeking his life. David was deeply aware of his great need, which drove him to earnest prayer.

It sounds obvious to say that we have great needs that should drive us to prayer. But the truth is, our pride blinds us to how needy we really are, so that we rely on ourselves or on other people or on some godless method to get us out of our troubles. Finally, when nothing else has worked, we say, “We’ve done all that we can do. The only thing left is to pray!” It’s our last resort. But, as John Bunyan said (source unknown), “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” Prayer should be our first resort!

The main reason that people do not cry out to God to save them from their sins is that they do not see their great need as sinners before the holy God. They see themselves as basically good. Sure, they know they’re not perfect, but they aren’t evil sinners! They compare themselves with terrorists and child molesters and think, “I’m doing okay.” Not seeing their desperate need, they don’t cry out to God to save them.

But, even once we are saved, we fall into this same trap. We’re oblivious to the power of the enemy, who prowls about as a roaring lion, seeking to devour us (1 Pet. 5:8). We overlook the strong appeal of indwelling sin that lurks within us (Gal. 5:17). We don’t recognize our own selfishness, which undermines our relationships in the family and in the church. And so, we don’t pray. So perhaps our first prayer should be, “God, show me my great needs that only You can meet.”

2. To whom should we pray? We should pray to the only true God, great in power, love, grace, and mercy.

This psalm shows that David knew the God to whom he was praying. Knowing God’s attributes and His promises gives us hope and endurance in prayer. To approach God’s holy throne, we must know that He is good, ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon Him (86:5). We must know that He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth” (86:15). In this prayer, David basically pits who God is against his enemies and leaves the outcome to God.

A. God is the only true God, great in power.

David exclaims (86:8-10), “There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours. All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your name. For you are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God.”

Seven times in this psalm, David uses the name, Adonai, or Lord (3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 15). It emphasizes God’s lordship and sovereignty. He made the nations. He has ordained that they will all come and worship before Him. He is great and does wondrous deeds. The Lord alone is God.

By referring to “the gods,” David means the idols or demons that the heathen worship. Satan is called the god of this world (or, “age,” 2 Cor. 4:4; John 12:31). The whole world lies in his power (1 John 5:19). Paul, referring to the demons, says that there are many gods and many lords in heaven and on earth (1 Cor. 8:5; 10:20). These demons are spirit-beings, organized under Satan, with great power over individuals and entire nations (2 Thess. 2:9; Acts 19:13-16; Dan. 10:13, 20).

But, at the time which God determines, He will bring fire down from heaven to destroy His enemies. Satan and all of the demons will be thrown into the lake of fire, where they will be tormented forever and ever (Rev. 20:9-10). And even now, before that time, we are assured (1 John 4:4), “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

This should give us great confidence to pray. Although the forces of darkness are powerful, none of them can compare to God. Because God has willed that all the nations whom He has made will worship Him, we can pray for the lost peoples of the world, knowing that God will bless our missionary efforts. There may be temporary setbacks, as there often have been in church history. But ultimately and finally, God will prevail. We can pray to Him as the only true God, great in power.

B. God is great in love, grace, and mercy.

Twice (86:3, 16), David entreats God to be gracious to him. Twice again (86:5, 15), he cites Exodus 34:6-7, where God revealed Himself to Moses. Here is how God disclosed Himself: “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished….”

This great self-revelation of God is one of the most frequently quoted texts in the Old Testament. It is referred to in Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 103:8 & 145:8; Joel 2:13; and Jonah 4:2. Here, in 86:5, David uses it to appeal to God to answer his prayer: “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.” Again (86:15), David prays, “But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.”

Since this is God’s repeated revelation of Himself to us, it provides us with a sure basis to approach His throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in our times of need (Heb. 4:16). If you have never come to God through Jesus and His shed blood to receive forgiveness for your sins, He invites you to come and ask. You will receive His abundant mercy and grace.

If, as a Christian, you have failed God by sinning, He invites you to come for forgiveness, mercy, and grace. When David asks God to preserve his soul and adds (86:2), “for I am a godly man,” he does not mean that he deserves for God to answer based on David’s godliness. David sinned often, sometimes in major ways, as you know. Rather, the word godly stems from the Hebrew word (hesed) for lovingkindness, or God’s loyal covenant love. It means that David is a loyal follower of the Lord (H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Psalms [Baker], p. 618). David is not being self-righteous, but simply stating the fact that he was committed to the Lord.

If you’re following the Lord, but you’re struggling with overwhelming problems beyond your ability to handle, He invites you to come as you are to His throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help in your time of need. And in case you’re worried that your problems are too great or that you’ve bugged Him once too often, He repeatedly reminds you that His lovingkindness is abundant! You can’t exhaust His love!

God’s abundant love, grace, and mercy should motivate us to come to Him in prayer with all our needs, whether great or small. Suppose that you were poor and a superrich billionaire said to you, “I’ve got more money than I can ever spend. Any time you have a need, just ask and I’ll meet your need.” Wouldn’t you ask often? Maybe you’d feel like you were imposing on his time, but God is not bound by time. It’s not like signing up for welfare: There is no application to fill out to justify your need. There are no lines to wait in to present your case. Just come to the gracious, loving Father with your needs. If you’ve sinned, He’s ready to forgive. If you feel you don’t deserve His blessing, grace is for the undeserving. He is abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon Him. Just call!

So, we should pray because we have great needs. We pray to the God who is great in power, love, and mercy.

3. How should we pray? We should pray earnestly, continually, thankfully, in humility, and in faith.

David’s close relationship with God permeates the entire prayer. He knew God intimately and personally. So he felt free to pour out his heart as he does here.

A. Pray earnestly.

David’s earnestness and intensity oozes out of the entire prayer. It stems from his awareness of his great need. If God doesn’t answer, David knows that he is doomed. So he cries out from his heart for God to save him from these powerful enemies.

The point is, he wasn’t mumbling through a formal liturgy. He wasn’t just going mindlessly down a prayer list. Like a starving beggar, he was entreating God to give him food. John Bunyan (“On Praying in the Spirit,” The Works of John Bunyan [Baker], 1:633) pictures two beggars that come to your door. One is poor, lame, wounded, and almost starving. The other is healthy and robust. They both use the same words in asking for food. They both say that they’re starving. But the first man speaks out of his misery and pain, whereas the second more calmly sets forth his need. You will be more inclined to give to the first man, not to the second. Even so, Bunyan says, it is with God. Those who come to Him out of custom and formality, going through the motions of prayer, are less likely to be heard than those who earnestly pray out of the anguish of their souls.

B. Pray continually.

David says (86:3), “For unto You I cry all day long.” Again, his continual prayers were driven by his intense awareness of his great need. Paul tells us (1 Thess. 5:17), “pray without ceasing.” He does not mean that we should pray non-stop, which would be impossible. Rather, the word was used of a hacking cough and of repeated military assaults. The idea is, keep coming back to prayer over and over again, all throughout the day.

C. Pray thankfully.

David writes (86:12), “I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart.” Similarly, right after telling us to pray without ceasing, Paul says (1 Thess. 5:18), “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We cannot give thanks to God from the heart unless we are submissive to His sovereign hand in our circumstances and we believe that He is working even our trials together for our ultimate good.

D. Pray in humility.

David’s prayer is permeated with humility. He doesn’t angrily demand better treatment in light of the fact that he is God’s chosen king. He doesn’t complain, “After the way that I’ve served You all these years, I deserve better than this!” Rather, he prays for God to be gracious to him (86:3, 16). He refers to himself as God’s servant, the son of His handmaid (86:2, 4, 16). He admits that he is afflicted and needy. He admits his weakness by asking God to grant him strength (86:16).

These were not “cool” things for a king to put in print for everyone to read! Kings have an image to maintain. Kings need to convey that they’re in control of the situation. Kings want everyone to think that they know how to solve problems. But David humbly acknowledges his weakness and his need for God’s strength. Even so, prayer is not asking God to give us a little boost. Rather, it is acknowledging to Him and anyone who is listening that our need is total, not partial.

E. Pray in faith.

David affirms his trust in God (86:2). He knows that God will answer him (86:7). His affirmation (86:13), that God has delivered his soul from the depths of Sheol, may be referring to a past deliverance, or it may also be a statement of faith about his present need for deliverance, viewing the future as if it is already accomplished (Kidner, p. 313). His request that God would show him a sign for good (86:17), does not stem from doubt. David is not saying, “Lord, if you give me a token for good, then I’ll trust in You.” Rather, David has been in this trial for some time now, without any hint of God’s deliverance. His enemies are gloating, “Ha! He trusted in God, but God hasn’t delivered him!” So David asks for an encouraging sign that God is going to answer him and shame his enemies, who were really mocking God Himself.

Faith is not a matter of closing your eyes to reality and leaping into the dark. Rather, faith rests on God’s revealed character and on the many revealed instances of how He has answered prayer in the past. Faith does not presume to command God, as many modern, irreverent preachers claim to do. Even Jesus prayed, “yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). But faith rests on God’s power and abundant love. Faith knows that if something is for our good and God’s glory, He will do it.

So why should we pray? Because we have great needs. To whom should we pray? To the only true God, great in power, love, and mercy. How should we pray? Pray earnestly, continually, thankfully, in humility and in faith. Finally,

4. What should we pray for? Pray for salvation; for joy in trials; for a teachable, obedient, single-minded, reverent heart; and for God’s glory and supremacy over all.

That’s enough for another sermon, but briefly…

A. Pray for salvation.

David asks God to save him (86:2, 16), which in the context obviously refers to being delivered from his enemies. But in New Testament terms, pray for God to save you from His judgment. Jesus came as the Savior (Matt. 1:21; Luke 19:10). He didn’t come to save decent people who just need a boost in their self-esteem! He came to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). If you’ve never cried out to God for salvation, that is your main need!

B. Pray for joy in trials.

David asks (86:4), “Make glad the soul of Your servant.” That was a bold request at a time like this (Kidner, p. 313). C. H. Spurgeon said (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit [Pilgrim Publications], 34:630), “We ought either to be rejoicing in the Lord, or pining after him! Ask God to make you miserable, unless his conscious presence makes you happy.”

C. Pray for a teachable, obedient, single-minded, reverent heart.

Here I’m focusing on the wonderful request of verse 11, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.” In any trial, a teachable heart is essential. Ask God what you should be learning about Him and about yourself in the difficult situation. Most of us instinctively pray for quick deliverance, but David prays that he will learn God’s ways so that he will walk in obedience to God’s truth. He prays that his loyalty will not be scattered or divided, but rather be united or single-minded. He wants to be wholly devoted to God. And the end result is that he will fear or reverence God’s name.

So often in trials, people who professed faith in Christ when things were going well, quickly turn to whatever they think will get them out of the trial. They aren’t interested in learning more about Christ and His sufferings (Phil. 3:10). They don’t want to hear about walking in His truth. Their hearts are grabbing for anything, even false gods, that will give them relief. Rather than submitting reverently to God, they rail angrily at Him for allowing their suffering. But these reactions are indicative of the seed sown on the rocky soil. Not having any roots, it withers under trials.

D. Pray for God’s glory and supremacy over all.

David prophesies that all nations will worship before God and glorify His name (86:9). He also affirms that he will glorify God’s name forever (86:12). One reason that God brings trials into our lives is so that we will call upon Him and then glorify Him when He rescues us (Ps. 50:15). So in all of our troubles, we should be looking for ways to magnify the Lord, so that others will be drawn to Him. In the midst of life-threatening situations, such as David was in, we can still affirm (86:5), “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.”

Conclusion

President Lincoln came to know Christ personally through the burdens that he faced during the Civil War. He later said, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.” (Cited by Ray Stedman, Jesus Teaches on Prayer [Word], p. 51.)

We live in a time where our city and our nation desperately need God’s salvation! This weekend, our city has flaunted degradation with the “Pride in the Pines” festival, celebrating what God calls shameful. President Obama proclaimed June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.” He lauded what he called the determination and dedication of the LGBT movement.

But what might God do if we pray for His mercy to be poured out on this evil country? We certainly have great needs. But He is great in power, love, and mercy. Let’s come before Him and ask Him to pour out His Spirit on the churches and on this land, so that sinners will come and worship before Him, glorifying Him for His great mercy!

Application Questions

To what extent is our prayerlessness due to our not seeing our great needs? How can we be more aware of our true needs?
How does your view of God stack up with Psalm 86:5, 15? How would believing this biblical view change your prayer life?
How can we develop true joy and thankfulness in the midst of trials? Are we supposed to fake it when we don’t feel it?
Why is a teachable heart essential when we’re going through trials? How does a defiant heart block God’s mercy and love?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Psalm 90: Eternal God, Ephemeral Man

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In the barren Mojave desert of California rests a monument to futility. A single man, “Burro” Schmidt, spent over 40 years digging a tunnel more than 2,000 feet long through solid granite, using only hand tools. Schmidt was a gold prospector who had settled on the north side of Copper Mountain. Gold had been discovered on the south side. Thinking that he might strike it rich and that he would need a route for sending his ore to the other side, he began his tunnel.

In 1910, with his tunnel half finished, the Southern Pacific Railroad completed a line through the area which rendered Schmidt’s tunnel useless. But by then the tunnel had become his obsession. He kept digging for another 28 years until he broke through into daylight. He operated the tunnel as a tourist attraction until his death in 1954. Over 40 years to build a useless tunnel through a barren, out-of-the-way desert mountain--what a waste!

But who is to say that Schmidt’s tunnel was a waste of his life? A person might conquer the world, only to die in his thirties, like Alexander the Great. So what? A person might become a famous doctor, discovering the cure for cancer. So he helps people survive a few more years, only to die of something else. He, too, will soon go to his grave. So what?

Are you ever overwhelmed with the feeling that life is futile? You can amass a great fortune, only to be cut down in the prime of life. You can’t take it with you. You can work all your life looking forward to retirement, only to die and never enjoy it. Almost anything you choose to put your hopes and your efforts in can suddenly be brought to nothing through that great common leveler: death. As George Bernard Shaw wryly observed, “The statistics on death are quite impressive: One out of one people die.”

We avoid thinking about death in our culture. We’re uncomfortable talking about it. We would rather just brush it aside with a nervous laugh and change the subject. But we can’t brush it aside for too long, because we and everyone we know will die. As you think about death, whether it be the death of others or your own death, you have to wrestle with the question, “How can my fleeting life have purpose or value?” “What makes life significant and worthwhile?”

It seems to me that there are only two possible answers. One is the philosophy of the hedonist, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” That view is flawed if there is a resurrection of the dead. The other view, which takes this fact into account, is the view of the Bible, that we must be linked vitally to the eternal God if we want our fleeting lives to have significance.

Moses was a man surrounded by death. He led Israel out of bondage in Egypt to take them to the promised land. But because of their disobedience, God determined that that generation should not enter the land, but die in the wilderness. Even Moses died; only Joshua and Caleb lived to enter the promised land. If God’s judgment applied to everyone 20 and older when they came out of Egypt, over 1.2 million men and women died during the 40 years in the wilderness (Num. 1:45-46). There were a lot of graves in the desert!

As Moses saw these people whom he knew and had worked with over the years dropping like flies, he reflected deeply upon the question, “How can this fleeting life have meaning and value?” Instead of being driven to despair and cynicism, as many are who reflect on this question, Moses, being a man of God, was driven to worship and prayer. The result is the majestic Psalm 90, the oldest of the psalms, the only one in the psalter known to have been written by Moses. (He wrote other poetry; see, “The Song of Moses,” Deut. 32:1-43.) Moses’ inspired answer to the question of how this ephemeral (= lasting only a short while) life can have value is,

Our fleeting lives can have value only if we live wisely before the eternal God.

The psalm falls into four stanzas:

(90:1-2)--The eternal nature of God.
(90:3-6)--The ephemeral nature of man.
(90:7-11)--God’s wrath over man’s sin as the cause of man’s ephemerality.
(90:12-17)--A prayer for God’s mercy and grace in spite of man’s sin.

First I want to look at the second and third stanzas, which reveal two things which make life futile apart from God; then we will look at the first and fourth stanzas, which show how life can have meaning and value; then, I’ll conclude with some practical lessons.

1. Life is futile apart from God because of its shortness and uncertainty and because of God’s wrath on our sin.

A. Life’s shortness and uncertainty make it futile apart from God (90:3-6).

When he talks of God bringing man back to the dust, Moses goes back to the fall and the curse which God imposed (Gen 2:17; 3:17-19). When he refers to “a thousand years,” he may be recalling the life span of those before the flood, who lived almost that long. He is saying, “Even if a person lives to be a thousand years old, it is nothing to God. It’s like a day to Him, or like a watch in the night, which passes by almost instantly while we sleep.”

Think of that! Think of all of the history that has occurred in the past 1,000 years! America is a mere babe of 217. Columbus discovered America 501 years ago, just half way to 1,000! A 1,000-year-old man would have been half way through life when the Renaissance and Reformation came on the scene! To God, that’s only a little blip on the horizon of time. We average 70 or 80 years, some a few more, some less, and we think we’re so great! But none of us has the certainty of waking up tomorrow.

Moses describes our helplessness in the face of death as being swept away by a flash flood that suddenly bursts upon us and takes everything in its path (90:5a). We’re like the grass of the field (90:5b-6), which sprouts in the morning and looks promising. But after a day in the blistering desert sun, it lies withered. How soon the promise of youth is gone and life fades away!

It may be uncomfortable to think about, but it’s true. Think of how short and uncertain our feeble life is. A number of years ago, I mentioned in a sermon the fact that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. That very day, a dear couple who had moved from our town, but who were back for a visit that Sunday, were driving home when a man high on drugs crossed the center line and hit them head on. The wife was killed instantly; the husband was crippled.

It just isn’t all that difficult to die! We heard of a man who went with his wife for a weekend away in Palm Springs. As he was getting out of the jacuzzi, he felt dizzy, lost his balance, and hit his head as he fell. He died a few days later. Who would have thought that climbing into a jacuzzi would lead to death! I once did the funeral for an 11-year-old girl who had a headache, went and lay down and died, of a brain aneurysm. None of us knows how long we have to live. I want you to feel the anxiety Moses intends us to feel by his words. Life is short and uncertain. Apart from being rightly related to God, it is futile.

B. God’s wrath on our sin makes life futile apart from God (90:7-11).

Moses had “exhibit A” before his eyes: People were dying like crazy. For 1.2 million people to die in 40 years, 30,000 were dying every year (if evenly spaced). That’s about 82 per day! It didn’t happen that way, because on some days thousands were killed because of their rebellion and sin (Num. 16:49; 25:9). But Moses saw a lot of corpses!

He is making the point that death is the result of God’s wrath on our sin. People say that death is just a natural part of the life cycle, that all living things die, so we should just accept it as normal. But that’s a humanistic lie that minimizes the horror of death and disregards the clear teaching of the Bible, that death entered this world as God’s direct judgment on the sin of the human race (Gen. 2:17; 3:19). The reality of death ought to make people face the reality of their sin and the fact that they will shortly stand before a holy God.

In our day we tend to minimize the horror of God’s wrath. It embarrasses us in our sophisticated, scientific day to suggest that the AIDS epidemic could be God’s wrath on the immorality of our land. We’d rather see it as a medical problem which science will solve in a few years. But as Moses contemplated the plagues which God had brought about on Israel, he exclaims (90:11), “Who understands the power of Your anger, and Your fury, according to the fear that is due to You?”

I first read Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” for a college philosophy class years ago. The professor castigated Edwards as a cruel sadist who took great pleasure in scaring ignorant people with the supposed horrors of hell. But I rather think that Spurgeon was correct when he said that no poet or prophet could ever go too far in describing the terrors of hell. Rather, he said, “The wrath to come has its horrors rather diminished than enhanced in description by the dark lines of human fancy; it baffles words, it leaves imagination far behind” (The Treasury of David [Baker], IV:203).

If you struggle with how a good and loving God can also be a God of wrath, I suggest that you read Edwards’ sermon, “The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Banner of Truth], 1:668-679). He shows that our problem with hell stems from the fact that we think too lowly of God and too highly of ourselves, and thus we look upon God as having little right to do as He pleases, and upon ourselves as having great rights (p. 679). Edwards exonerates God and leaves you lying in the dust, examining your heart to make sure that you are not under God’s condemnation!

Moses’ point is that the fact of death, which we see all around us (remember, “one out of one people dies”!) should make us aware that the wrath of the eternal God is upon the sinful human race. If we do not truly know this eternal God as our personal dwelling place, life is futile.

If you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, then He has saved you from the wrath of God (1 Thess. 1:10). Though we will die physically (unless Christ returns in our lifetime), we will not face the second death, which is to be forever separated from God in hell (Rev. 20:14-15). But if you are apart from Christ, you are under God’s condemnation and life is futile. Thus in stanzas two and three, Moses shows that apart from God, life is futile because of its shortness and uncertainty and because of God’s wrath on our sin, as seen in the fact of death.

But the psalm does not leave us in despair. The first and fourth stanzas show how our fleeting lives can have meaning and value:

2. Life has meaning and value if we have a relationship with the eternal God and if we have God’s blessing upon our life and work.

A. A relationship with the eternal God gives life meaning and value (90:1-2).

Moses, in a few deft strokes, paints a picture of the eternality of God. He works his way back, from the previous generations, to the formation of the mountains, to the creation of the earth, and to eternity past (“from everlasting”) and then moves swiftly forward to eternity future (“to everlasting”). Verse two might better be translated, “Even from everlasting to everlasting, you are, O God.” The point is, God is eternal.

In and of itself, that truth can be rather unsettling and awesome. But Moses makes it clear that it is altogether possible (and was, in fact, the case) that we, the finite creature, can have a relationship with this eternal God. The personal pronoun “our” occurs in relation to God both in verses 1 and 17. The eternal God is our God. He is our dwelling place. We live in Him through Christ!

There is nothing that can give meaning and value to life like the reality of a personal relationship with the eternal God of the universe. As Augustine put it, “Thou hast created us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” To know that in spite of our finiteness and sin, we can know the infinite holy God in a personal way provides a sense of stability and substance to life that cannot be found in any earthly thing or relationship. But, also,

B. God’s blessing upon our life and work gives life meaning and value (90:12-17).

In the last stanza of the psalm, Moses prays for a reversal of what has gone before. Whereas God has said to man, “Return” (to dust, v. 3), now Moses says to God, “Return” (to forgive and bless, vv. 13 ff.). God’s “repentance” (90:13), a frequent phrase in Scripture, looks at God from the human perspective: He appears to us to change. Moses prays, “May the favor (delightfulness, pleasantness, beauty) of the Lord our God be upon us” (90:17).

The blessings of the world are so fleeting and fickle! You can gain fame and fortune, but you can’t take them with you and in the end, they never satisfy. Witness the unhappiness and emptiness of so many famous and wealthy people, especially in Hollywood. But God’s blessings do satisfy. There has never been a person who has walked with God who has reached old age and looked back on life, no matter how filled with trials, and said, “I wish I hadn’t lived this way. I’ve wasted my life!” Impossible! A person who has known God’s joy and peace is a satisfied person!

Not only does Moses pray that God’s blessing would be upon His people, but also that God would confirm the work of their hands (90:17). He doesn’t just mean “spiritual” work, such as the priests did, but all the work that they did--farming, business, and family life (see Deut. 14:29; 16:15; 24:19; 28:12; 30:9). When you have the eternal God as your dwelling place, all of life becomes sacred. So whether your work is to be a pastor or missionary or garbage truck driver, you can do it all to the glory of God!

Chuck Swindoll tells of ministering at a family camp where the entire week was spent emphasizing the importance of God’s hand in every calling and profession. He encouraged each Christian to realize that his or her vocation was ordained of God. At the end of the week, a man came up to share how much the week had meant to him and his family. The camp director asked him what he did for a living. He answered, “My work? I’m an ordained plumber!”

If God is your dwelling place and His hand of blessing is on your life, then whatever you do you can do to His glory. Even the mundane takes on significance when you belong to the Lord. Our fleeting lives can have value if we live wisely before the eternal God.

Conclusion

I conclude with three practical lessons from this psalm:

1. Live in light of eternity. Moses prays (90:12), “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” One day you will present something to God. He has entrusted certain gifts and abilities to you and you are to manage them for Him in such a way as to make a profit for His kingdom. The Hebrew verb in verse 12 is the same word used in Genesis 4:3-4 to refer to the offerings of Cain and Abel. What will you offer to God when He calls for an account? Remember, it was the fellow with only one talent who buried it and was upbraided by his master. Not having the greatest abili-ties is no excuse for not using them.

I read an interview with Jerry Falwell a number of years ago when he was the head of Moral Majority, the president of Liberty University, and the pastor of a church with over 15,000 members and a national TV audience. The interviewer asked him what he wanted to be remembered for. His stock went up in my ratings when he answered, “A godly husband, father, and pastor, in that order.” He wasn’t carried away with worldly acclaim. He was living in light of standing before Christ some day. I try to conduct everything I do in my life and ministry in light of the goal of one day hearing Jesus say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

2. Labor for the lasting, not the passing. There is so much that we work for that doesn’t remain! I know, we need a certain amount of worldly things to live comfortably and to function efficiently in our modern world. But never forget that “the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17).

The only things God is going to reclaim off this planet are His Word and people. And yet so often we value things above God’s Word and above our relationships with people. Remember what Paul wrote in light of the truth of the resurrection: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). The work of the Lord involves His Word and people. Put your efforts there and you will not be disappointed.

3. Avoid the waste that comes from sinful living. This was our theme from Psalm 81, but it bears repeating. Israel was consumed by God’s anger (90:7-10) because of their disobedience. Sinful, self-willed living always results in waste. While those who are in Christ need not fear God’s condemnation (Rom. 8:1), we do need to fear the Lord and avoid sinning. The law of sowing and reaping (Gal. 6:7-8) applies even under grace. Don’t be deceived: Sin always has adverse consequences in your life. Obedience always results in God’s blessing. Israel’s experience in the wilderness was written for our instruction, so that we don’t repeat their mistakes.

I read of a young man who, in 1981, was flown into the remote Alaskan wilderness to photograph the natural beauty of the tundra. He had photo equipment, 500 rolls of film, several firearms, and 1,400 pounds of provisions. As the months passed, the entries in his diary, which at first detailed the wonder and fascination with the wildlife around him, turned into a pathetic record of a nightmare. In August he wrote, “I think I should have used more foresight about arranging my departure. I’ll soon find out.”

He waited and waited, but no one came to his rescue. In November he died in a nameless valley, by a nameless lake, 225 miles northeast of Fairbanks. An investigation revealed that he had carefully mapped out his venture, but he had made no provision to be flown out of the area.

That was a bit shortsighted of him, wasn’t it? And yet, how many people live their lives without making any plans for their departure to face eternity? You know you will be departing (the statistics on death are quite impressive!). The only way for your fleeting life to have value is to live it wisely before the eternal God and to avoid His wrath against your sin by taking refuge in the mercy He offers in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Discussion Questions

Do you think we give proper biblical emphasis to hell and its horrors? How can we do this in our secular culture?
Should we use the shortness of life and hell in witnessing? How? Biblically, which receives more emphasis in evangelism: Fear of judgment or the love of God?
How can we think profitably about the shortness of life without becoming morbid and depressed?
Does God get angry with Christians or is His wrath limited to unbelievers? Give biblical evidence.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Man (Anthropology), Wisdom, Character of God

Psalm 92: It is Good to Give Thanks to the Lord

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Bruce and Jan Benson are Bible translators, serving in Peru. Several years ago, they were driving down an Andean road with their 14 year-old son when they came around a switchback and came bumper to bumper with a truckload of people. Suddenly, these people brandished rifles at the Bensons, who realized that they had encountered the brutal terrorist organization, Shining Path. Jan thought, “This is it! This is the end of our lives!”

The terrorists forced them out of their car and transported them to a nearby town. On the way, fearful and bewildered, Jan felt the need to pray and even to sing praises to God. Jan described it,

It began as a trickle. A presence that said, “The Lord inhabits the praises of His people.” “But Lord, I don’t know how to praise you right now.” “Sing,” came the thought. “At least you can sing.” The words were there as I needed them: “You are my hiding place. You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance. Whenever I am afraid I will trust in you… Trust and obey… Jesus, name above all names… Emmanuel, God is with us…”

Suddenly I felt as though I was the only person alive on earth, just me and God. The others were simply part of an unreal puppet play, dangling from the strings of the Enemy… I felt an all-encompassing love. God reassured me that He was in control, that nothing could remove me from His loving presence—not even death itself.

That night the terrorists unexpectedly released the Bensons—but not without first confiscating their car, their portable projection equipment and film reels of the “New Media Bible,” which is based on the book of Luke (the same film material that makes up the “Jesus” film).

One year passed. The Bensons had moved to the capital for safety and to take on administrative roles. Jan received a phone call. One of their captors had become a Christian and wanted to meet with them. Face-to-face he told them he was an experienced killer, and that he and the others had planned on killing them all. But, for some reason they just could not do it and instead released them.

He told Bruce and Jan that soon after arriving at their base, the rebels set up the projector and watched the film, eventually many times. At one viewing, several hundred terrorist rebels were watching! The Word of God in the film, understood in their own language, reached into the men’s hardened hearts. Many were so moved that they wanted to lay down their arms right there and leave “The Shining Path.” Now, standing before them as a fellow believer, their former enemy asked forgiveness for what he had done to them that day. Eventually, Bruce and Jan were able to go back into the mountains to do a final “read through” of the entire New Testament in the Huamalies Quechua language, the last key step before it went to press (told by Roy Peterson, Wycliffe Bible Translators newsletter, 11/27/2001).

Sometimes it is very difficult to praise the Lord. Sometimes you just don’t feel like it. Probably none of us have ever been in the kind of frightening, life-threatening situation the Benson’s were in. But even in the most difficult of situations, the psalmist would still tell us (Ps. 92:1), “It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.” You may wonder, “Why is it good to give thanks to the Lord when you face difficult trials? Why is it good to sing praises to His name when evil people seem to be prospering?” The psalmist here gives us three reasons:

It is good to give thanks to the Lord because of who He is and what He has done; because He will triumph over the wicked; and, because He causes the righteous to flourish.

He makes the first point in verses 1-5; the second point in verses 6-9; and, the third point in verses 10-15. We don’t know the author of the psalm. Many think that it was David. Others think that it was written after the exile, when the Jews returned to the land. It is titled, “A Psalm, A Song for the Sabbath day.” I’m not sure why this psalm was better suited for the Sabbath than many other psalms, but the rabbis designated it to be sung especially on that day when the Jews gathered for worship. Derek Kidner observes (Psalms 73-150 [IVP], p. 334), “This Song for the Sabbath is proof enough, if such were needed, that the Old Testament sabbath was a day not only for rest but for corporate worship … and intended to be a delight rather than a burden.” John Calvin (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Psalm 92, p. 493) says, “The Psalmist would teach us that the right observance of the Sabbath does not consist in idleness, as some absurdly imagine, but in the celebration of the Divine name.”

The psalm addresses the problem of the prosperity of the wicked, a frequent theme in the Psalms (37, 49, 73). But here, rather than being troubled by it (as was the author of Ps. 73), the psalmist confidently portrays the wicked as growing up like grass, flourishing briefly, and then being destroyed forever. But the righteous will flourish into old age to declare God’s praise. The solution is the same as in Psalm 73. There the author was troubled by the prosperity of the wicked, until he came into the sanctuary of God, where he perceived their end of destruction. Here, the author is in the temple already, praising God from the vantage point that the earlier psalmist had to struggle to attain.

1. It is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord because of who He is and what He has done (92:1-5).

Good seems like too weak of a word for giving thanks and praise to the Most High God. In what sense is it good? It’s good in the sense of Psalm 147:1, “Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and praise is becoming.” Or, Psalm 33:1 exclaims, “Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; praise is becoming to the upright.” C. H. Spurgeon said (The Treasury of David [Eerdmans], 4:263), “It is good ethically, for it is the Lord’s right; it is good emotionally, for it is pleasant to the heart; it is good practically, for it leads others to render the same homage.” J. J. S. Perowne (The Book of Psalms [Zondervan], 2:178-179) said, “It is a good thing, i.e. a delightful thing, not merely acceptable to God, but a real joy to the heart.” The psalmist gives us five ways that it is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord:

A. It is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord because He rightly deserves it.

God is Yahweh, the covenant-keeping Lord. Yahweh is used seven times in this psalm for the seventh day. He is also the Most High, which translates the Hebrew, El Elyon, a name frequently attributed to God. Melchizedek, the mysterious king who blessed Abram, was a priest of “God Most High, the Possessor [or, Creator] of heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:18-19). Psalm 97:9 proclaims, “For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods” (“gods” refers to idols or demons).

This leads me to ask, “Is the Lord God your Most High?” Is He the highest, most important, most central and controlling Being in your life? If not, why not? He is the one who spoke the universe into existence. It all belongs to Him. He is over every created thing. If you do not thank and praise Him as your Lord Most High, you are guilty of horrible ingratitude! He alone rightly deserves all praise and glory because He is the Lord Most High.

B. It is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord at all times.

“To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night” (92:2). That is a poetic way of saying that it is good to declare God’s praise at all times. Calvin (p. 494) notes that we never lack matter for praising God, unless we’re too lazy to see it, because His goodness and faithfulness are incessant. Begin your day by declaring God’s loyal love to you as the thought to govern your day. End your day by thanking Him for His faithfulness as He showed it to you by getting you through the day.

C. It is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord for His lovingkindness and faithfulness.

God’s lovingkindness (His loyal covenant love) and His faithfulness are frequently mentioned together in the Psalms as reasons to praise Him. There are many others, but note just three:

Psalm 36:5, “Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”

Psalm 57:10: “For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth [same Hebrew word as faithfulness] to the clouds.”

Psalm 89:1: “I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; to all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.”

If you think daily about the Lord’s loyal love and His faithfulness towards you, you will have abundant reasons to praise Him.

D. It is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord musically, with instruments and voice.

Verses 1 & 4 mention singing with our voices and verse 3 mentions different instruments: “With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre.” Somewhat strangely (in my opinion), both Calvin and Spurgeon opposed the use of instruments to accompany congregational singing. That tradition goes back as far as the middle of the fourth century, as reported by the church historian Eusebius (Spurgeon, 4:271). Matthew Henry expresses his view that while there may be accompaniment, it should not be too upbeat (his word was gay), but had to be solemn and grave (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible [Revell], 3:591)! But I agree with James Boice (Psalms, Volume 2 [Baker], p. 757) that these men were simply expressing a preference, not a biblical mandate. Psalm 150 pulls out the stops and commands praising God with every conceivable instrument! But the instruments should not drown out the words, which should express the truth about God’s greatness and love.

E. It is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord because His great works have made us glad.

“For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands. How great are Your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep” (92:4, 5). Note three things:

(1). God’s great works include creation, salvation, and providence.

The title of the psalm hints at the work of creation, since it was on the seventh day of creation that God rested from His works. Even unbelievers should marvel as they study the intricate design and beauty of God’s creation, since it displays His invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature (Rom. 1:20). God’s work of salvation or redemption is implied by His lovingkindness, His loyal covenant love towards His people. And His work of providence is seen in how He destroys evildoers (92:7, 9, 11), while causing His people to flourish (92:10, 12-14). Contemplating God’s great works in creation, salvation, and His providential care for you should make you sing for joy and be glad.

(2). God’s great works stem from His deep thoughts.

“Your thoughts are very deep” (92:5b). As Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Or, as Paul exclaims (Rom. 11:33), “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”

Here the psalmist is especially referring to the way that God allows the wicked to flourish for a time, while the righteous suffer. We would not govern the world in this way. If God would only let us be in charge, we’d fix this injustice! Why doesn’t He listen to us? But the psalmist says that if we think that way, we are senseless and stupid, because we are forgetting that the wicked only sprout up and flourish for a short time, only to be destroyed forever. And, we’re forgetting that God reigns on high forever (92:6-9).

(3). God’s great works make us glad.

This is the bottom line: When we think about God’s great works in creation, salvation, and providence, and we contemplate His unsearchable judgments and unfathomable ways, it makes us glad, so that we sing for joy (92:4). Thus the psalmist’s first point is that it is good to give thanks and praise to God because of who He is and what He has done.

2. It is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord because He will triumph over the wicked (92:6-9).

These verses make two points, that the wicked will perish and that they in no way threaten the Lord, who reigns on high.

A. The senseless wicked, who will shortly perish, do not understand God’s ways (92:6-7, 9).

“A senseless man has no knowledge, nor does a stupid man understand this: that when the wicked sprouted up like grass and all who did iniquity flourished, it was only that they might be destroyed forevermore” (92:6-7). “For, behold, Your enemies, O Lord, for, behold, Your enemies will perish; all who do iniquity will be scattered” (92:9).

Although the wicked often seem to flourish, we need to keep the eternal perspective. They flourish for a brief moment, but their misery will be forever. The destruction of the wicked does not mean that they will be annihilated and cease to exist. Jesus makes it clear that they will go into eternal punishment, whereas the righteous go into eternal life (Matt. 25:46). He uses the same word to describe both states. If eternal life is eternal, then so is eternal punishment. It is senseless and stupid to forget eternity and live in rebellion against God for a few fleeting years of pleasure in sin!

B. God on high is not thwarted in any way by the wicked (92:8).

Verse 8 is a single line that serves as the hinge verse of the psalm and the central fact on which the entire psalm rests: “But You, O Lord, are on high forever.” Perowne points this out and then adds, “This is the great pillar of the universe and of our faith” (p. 179). God is the Most High. He is on high, not worried about the schemes of the wicked. As the humbled Nebuchadnezzar declares (Dan. 4:35), “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

Thus, it is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord because of who He is and what He has done (92:1-5). It is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord because He will triumph over the wicked (92:6-9). Finally,

3. It is good to give thanks and praise to the Lord because He causes the righteous to flourish (92:10-15).

The theme of these final verses is that God will cause the righteous to flourish, not for a short time like the wicked, but for many years. Note four ways that the righteous flourish:

A. God grants the righteous strength and refreshing renewal (92:10).

“But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil.” The horn was a symbol of strength. It was also used as a container to pour out the oil of anointing. This anointing oil was used to consecrate the priests for service and to anoint the king to office. It was also a picture of soothing refreshment and joy (Ps. 23:5; 45:7; 133:2). If you know the Lord as your Shepherd, then you have experienced His strength and renewal when you have been weary and oppressed.

B. God grants the righteous victory over his enemies (92:11).

The psalmist rejoices, “And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes, my ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.” God did not protect the psalmist from having any enemies. Rather, after some unspecified period of trial, he could now say that God had vanquished his enemies. As believers in Christ, we are not guaranteed a peaceful existence in the sense of not having to fight against the evil forces of darkness. Rather, we are promised victory in the battle as we put on God’s armor and trust in Him.

C. God grants the righteous stability, growth, and spiritual fruitfulness (92:12-14).

Kidner explains (p. 337), “The palm tree is the embodiment of graceful erectness; the cedar, of strength and dignity.” Both are evergreens, picturing year-round stability. Both are planted in the house or courts of the Lord. The houses in Israel were often built in a square, with an open courtyard in the middle. Trees planted there were protected from harsh winds and freezing temperatures. They provided shade from the summer heat. The psalmist adds (92:14) that these trees “will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green.”

Spurgeon has an entire sermon on these verses, but I must limit myself to saying that the overall picture is that God causes the righteous to flourish, even into old age. I would encourage those of you who are younger in the Lord to sit in the shade and get to know some of the older “palm trees and cedars” who have been planted in the courts of the Lord’s house and are still bearing fruit for Him. You will be blessed!

D. God grants the righteous the joy of declaring His praise (92:15).

These old, flourishing trees in God’s house “declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” Declare is the same word used in verse 2, thus forming an inclusion, bringing the psalm full cycle. The testimony of God’s being upright, with no unrighteousness in Him, is in light of the momentary flourishing of the wicked. They do not detract from God’s absolute righteousness, in that they will show forth His perfect justice in their damnation. Those who have walked with God for years will declare that He is their rock, the firm foundation that has enabled them to stand firm through many trials. And as they pass through the waters of death, with Hopeful (in Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan [Spire Books], p. 141) they will cry out, “Be of good cheer, my brother; I feel the bottom, and it is good.”

Conclusion

Years ago, there was a Scottish Presbyterian minister who was orthodox in his theology, but very reserved in the pulpit. God blessed him with one woman in his congregation who was exceptionally warmhearted and full of love for the Savior. She was in the habit of exclaiming, “praise the Lord,” or “hallelujah,” when she was blessed by something in his sermon.

This bothered the pastor, so one New Year’s Day he went to her and said, “Betty, I’ll make you a promise. If you will stop saying “praise the Lord” and “hallelujah” during my sermons this year, I’ll give you the two woolen blankets that I hear you’ve been wanting.” Betty was poor and the offer sounded so good she promised to try. Sunday after Sunday she kept quiet.

But one Sunday the pastor had a guest preacher fill in. This man was bubbling over with zeal for the Lord. As he spoke on the forgiveness of sins and the blessings of salvation, Betty’s joy grew brighter and brighter and her vision of the blankets began to fade. At last she could stand it no longer. She leaped to her feet and cried, “Blankets or no blankets, Hallelujah!” (From “Our Daily Bread,” 10/77.)

As we gather on the Lord’s Day, the psalmist wants us to know (92:1), “It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.” It is good because of who God is and what He has done. It is good because He will triumph over the wicked. And, it is good because He causes the righteous to flourish in His courts.

Application Questions

Is it hypocrisy to praise the Lord when you don’t feel like it? How can God command it if, in part, it’s a feeling?
How can a person who is prone to depression develop a habit of praising God? What practical steps should he take?
Does praising God for His triumph over the wicked mean that we gloat when the wicked are judged? What does it mean?
How can a non-musical person praise the Lord in song and with instruments? What practical advice would you offer?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Worship (Personal), Thanksgiving

Psalm 95: Worship—or Else!

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Most of us do not like ultimatums because they force us to make difficult decisions, usually under pressure. The late Jack Benny had a running joke about his stinginess. He used to do a gag where a robber stuck a gun in his face and said, “Your money or your life!” There was a long pause. The gunman snarled, “Well?” Jack said, “Don’t rush me! I’m thinking about it.”

I would guess that few of us think about worshiping God as an ultimatum. We’re pretty casual about it. If it happens, that’s nice. If it doesn’t happen, no big deal. Maybe we’ll catch it next time around. We don’t see it as eternally significant. In academic circles, professors know the term, “publish or perish.” If you don’t publish articles in academic journals, you may lose your job. But God says to us, “Worship or perish!” And He isn’t talking about losing our jobs, but our souls! The abrupt ultimatum of Psalm 95 is,

We can either worship God with great joy or harden our hearts and perish.

Worship—or else! The psalm falls into two halves. The first half (1-7a) is an invitation to worship the Lord, who is a great God, King, and Creator. Then, rather abruptly (7b-11), the psalmist warns us to hear God’s voice and not harden our hearts, as Israel did in the wilderness. It ends suddenly with God’s frightening warning (95:11), “Therefore I swore in My anger, truly they shall not enter into My rest.” Period! End of song! The ultimatum is: Worship God or else you will perish!

But maybe you’re thinking, “Yes, but this was in the Old Testament. We live in the New Testament era. We’re not under law, but under grace.” But before you shrug off the warning of Psalm 95, you might want to recall that the author of Hebrews cites the entirety of the warning section (7b-11) in Hebrews 3:7-11. He again quotes verse 11 in Hebrews 4:3, and verse 7b in Hebrews 4:7. Derek Kidner (Psalms 73-150 [IVP], p. 343) observes that the Hebrews quote “forbids us to confine its thrust to Israel.” He adds, “The ‘Today’ of which it speaks is this very moment; the ‘you’ is none other than ourselves, and the promised ‘rest’ is not Canaan but salvation.” Thus we dare not shrug off the serious ultimatum of this psalm! Worship—or perish!

Also, note that the first half of the psalm emphasizes God’s absolute sovereignty. He is the great God and a great King above all supposed gods. He created the entire earth, and so He owns it. Further, He is our maker. He owns us and is over us just as a shepherd governs his flock.

But, before we erroneously conclude that since God is sovereign, there isn’t much that we can do, the second half of the psalm emphasizes our responsibility. The psalmist pointedly appeals to us not to harden our hearts against the sovereign Lord. John Calvin expresses the balance this way (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on Ps. 95, p. 41), “The will of man, through natural corruption, is wholly bent to evil; or, to speak more properly, is carried headlong into the commission of it. And yet every man, who disobeys God therein, hardens himself; for the blame of his wrong rests with none but himself.” In other words, we can’t blame anyone but ourselves if we disregard God’s warning here. God’s sovereignty does not absolve us of responsibility to worship Him with tender hearts.

And so Psalm 95 presents us with two ways to live. We can become people of joyful praise to God (1-7a), or people who grumble and harden our hearts toward God, in spite of His many blessings (7b-11). In the words of Hebrews 3:12, after citing Psalm 95:7b-11, “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

1. The invitation: Worship God with rejoicing, reality, reverence, and relationship (95:1-7a).

Soft hearts are worshiping hearts. Soft hearts submit to God’s rightful lordship over all. Soft hearts submit to God’s discipline. They trust Him for His care as the Good Shepherd.

A. Worship God with rejoicing (95:1-2).

Note the exuberance of verses 1 & 2: “O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.” Does that describe your heart as you come daily into God’s presence and as you gather with the saints on the Lord’s Day? There is no room in those verses for apathetically mumbling through a few songs while your mind is elsewhere! As Kidner says (p. 344), “The full-throated cries urged in the verbs of verses 1 and 2 suggest an acclamation fit for a king who is the savior of his people.”

Note that in the context of shouting joyfully to God, the psalmist calls Him, “the rock of our salvation.” In this psalm, which refers to Israel in the wilderness, the rock that literally saved the nation was the rock that Moses struck, which then flowed with water (Exod. 17:1-7). Paul tells us that that rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). If Christ is the rock of your salvation, who has given you living water for your soul, shouldn’t you come before Him with great joy and thanksgiving?

B. Worship God in the reality of His presence and His person (95:2-5).

(1). Worship God in the reality of His presence (95:2).

“Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving” (95:2a). God is present everywhere, of course, but He is especially present when His people gather to worship Him. After the incident with the golden calf, Moses told the Lord (Exod. 33:15), “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” He knew how vital it was to have God’s real presence with him because the task of leading two million people through a barren wilderness was humanly impossible. Although we are fewer in number, we would still be attempting the impossible and wasting our time if we meet each week and God were not present with us.

(2). Worship God in the reality of His person (95:3-5).

Verse 3 begins with the word “for,” giving the reason why we should worship God so exuberantly. He mentions three things: The Lord is a great God; He is a great King above all gods; and, He is the great Creator.

 He is a great God.

As Psalm 113:3-5 exclaims, “From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high?” Or, Psalm 145:3, “Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.”

 He is a great King above all gods.

The psalmist is not suggesting that any of the gods of the nations are real. They are only manmade idols, who have no life in them. Or, if it refers to the demons behind the idols, the Lord is still a great King above all the host of heaven. He rules the entire universe (Ps. 103:19).

 He is the great Creator.

“In whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry land” (95:4-5). You can dig down to the earth’s molten core, and it’s all in God’s hand. The oil is His. Mount Everest belongs to Him. He made the sea and every creature in it. He formed the dry land. The point is, unlike the idols of the pagans, who were localized gods—the god of the mountains, the god of the sea—the Lord made it all and owns it all. And even more, He also made us: He is our Maker (95:6). Thus we should worship Him in the reality of His presence and His person.

C. Worship God with reverence.

“Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker” (95:6). The verb translated “worship” means to prostrate yourself. Thus all three verbs in verse six are “concerned with getting low before God” (Kidner, p. 345). So while our worship should be exuberant and joyful, it must also be reverent. We are worshiping our Maker!

D. Worship God in relationship.

“For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand” (95:7). Kidner again puts it aptly (p. 345), “The familiar metaphors of verse 7 express His commitment, which is constant (our God), and His care, which is all-sufficing (his pasture) and personal (his hand). He is no hireling.” Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who knows His sheep and His sheep know Him (John 10:14). We worship Him in close relationship to Him, as His people.

So the appealing invitation is, “Come, worship our God with rejoicing, in the reality of His presence and person, with reverence, and in relationship to Him as our Good Shepherd. But, what if we don’t worship Him? Do we shrug our shoulders and go, “Whatever! No big deal”? No, the Lord gives us an ultimatum:

2. The ultimatum: Harden your heart against the Lord and perish (95:7b-11).

The command is given in 7b-8a: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” The rest of the psalm is an illustration of Israel in the wilderness as a people who hardened their hearts against God. When they sided with the ten spies who thought that the giants in the land of Canaan were too hard to conquer and they wanted to return to Egypt, they said (Num. 14:2), “would that we had died in this wilderness!” Because they disbelieved God’s promise to give them the land, He determined that according to their word, they all would perish in the wilderness. Of those who were twenty years old and upward, who had seen God’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb would enter the land (Num. 14:28-32).

Both in Psalm 95 and in Hebrews 3, where it is cited, the warning is directed to those who were associated with God’s people, but their hearts were not right before Him. Those in Israel had seen God do stupendous miracles in the plagues against Egypt, while protecting them. They watched God part the Red Sea and take them across on dry land. They watched Him bring the sea back on the Egyptian army. Then they went three days into the wilderness and found no water. After witnessing all of those miracles, you would think that they would have said, “God, You didn’t bring us this far to have us die of thirst. You can provide water for us and our children. Please bring us to some water.” But instead, they grumbled. God directed Moses to throw a tree into some bitter water and it became sweet (Exod. 15:22-26).

But then they went further into the wilderness and grumbled because they didn’t have the meat and bread that they had enjoyed in Egypt. In response, God sent them manna each day (Exod. 16:1-21). But in spite of all these evidences of God’s power and His care for them, the next time they ran out of water, they grumbled again. It was there that God told Moses to strike the rock and water gushed forth. But it became known as Massah (“test”) and Meribah (“quarrel”), because they tested the Lord and quarreled with Him there (Exod. 17:1-7).

Later, God supplied them with quail (Num. 11:31-32). But they were perpetual grumblers. The text describes them (Num. 11:1), “Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord.” Although they had been miraculously delivered from Egypt and miraculously sustained in the wilderness, they still grumbled against God because of the hardships that they had to endure. And so God was not pleased with them and laid them low in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:5).

The Hebrews in the New Testament were in danger of doing the same thing. They had come out of Judaism, professing faith in Christ. But now they were suffering persecution and other hardships. Some had defected from the faith back to Judaism. They were like the seed on the stony ground. At first, it sprung up and seemed to be doing well. But when the sun of adversity beat down on it, it withered, because it had no root (Mark 4:16-17).

The point is, it is possible to be associated with the people of God and yet to harden your heart against God when trials come. He’s meeting your needs, but He’s not doing it in the way that you want Him to do it. You want a trial-free life. You don’t like His discipline, which is for your ultimate good. So you complain against Him or, even worse, turn back to the world. Be careful! Great privileges do not guarantee responsive hearts.

So the ultimatum or warning against hardening your heart is written to professing believers who are prone to grumble when trials hit. The danger is that if you keep grumbling against God and don’t worship Him with a thankful heart, it may reveal that you’re not a genuine believer. You may be in danger of incurring His anger and not entering into the eternal rest of His salvation.

Note five things about this ultimatum:

A. The ultimatum is time-sensitive: “Today” (95:7b)!

Today emphasizes the urgency of the appeal. You may not have tomorrow. As Thomas Fuller put it, “You cannot repent too soon, because you do not know how soon it may be too late.” Or, Francis Quarles said, “He that hath promised pardon on our repentance hath not promised to preserve our lives till we repent” (both cited by C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David [Eerdmans], 4:328). Don’t think that you’ve got years to wait. Today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2)!

B. The ultimatum requires sensitive ears: “If you would hear His voice” (95:7b).

God has spoken to us through His Son (Heb. 1:2) and that message is recorded in His written Word. The author of Hebrews introduces the quote from Psalm 95 by saying, “just as the Holy Spirit says” (Heb. 3:7). In other words, God inspired the psalmist. The Holy Spirit used human authors (David may have written Psalm 95, or “in David” [Heb. 4:7] may mean, “in the Psalms”). But God used those authors to record His message in such a way “that what they said God said” (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology [Eerdmans], 1:154).

But, as Jesus often said to the crowds who heard Him, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:23). He warned of those who “while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matt. 13:13). Thus He said (Luke 8:18), “Take care how you listen.” When we read God’s Word, we must ask Him for understanding. We must think about how to apply it to our lives. Otherwise, we will not be doers of the word, but hearers who delude themselves (James 1:22).

C. The ultimatum is heart-related: “Do not harden your hearts” (95:8a).

Also (95:10), “they are a people who err in their heart.” Israel’s wilderness wanderings were due to their heart wanderings. In the Bible, the heart refers to our total inner being—the mind, the emotions, and the will. Proverbs 4:23 warns, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Do you guard your heart? Jesus taught (Mark 7:21-22), “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.” He leveled against the Pharisees God’s complaint through Isaiah (Mark 7:6-7), “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” Outwardly, they spoke nicely about God, but He saw their hearts, which were far from Him. Outwardly, they worshiped God, but in vain, because they were following manmade rules rather than submitting to His Word. So, again, in the words of Hebrews 3:12, “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

D. The ultimatum is historically illustrated: Do not be like Israel in the wilderness (95:8-10).

Do you read the Old Testament? I’m amazed at how many Christians do not read the Old Testament! Paul tells us that these things happened as examples for our instruction, so that we would not fall into the same sins (1 Cor. 10:5, 11).

The Lord says that Israel in the wilderness tested Him (95:9) and that they did not know His ways (95:10). God’s ways are His method of accomplishing His purpose in our lives. His ways include His loving discipline, so that we might share His holiness (Heb. 12:5-11). God could have sent a plague to wipe out the Canaanites. Israel then could have moved into the land with no battles (and, no need to trust in God!). Instead, He led them through the wilderness (I call it, “the scenic route to the Promised Land”) because He knew that they were not ready to go into the land (Exod. 13:17). But in spite of the hardships of the wilderness, He always cared for them. He protected them with the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. He gave them food and water in the barren desert. But they grumbled and tested Him.

We test God when we do not submit to His ways with us, but rather complain and accuse Him of not caring. Rather than rejoicing in His salvation, we wish that we were back in the world, where we didn’t have all the trials that we now face. Submitting to God’s ways does not mean that it is wrong to pray for deliverance or to seek legitimate means to relieve the trial, such as medical help. But it does mean that if God prolongs the trial, we don’t grumble and shake our fist at Him or turn back to the world. Rather, we see how much He has cared for us in the past and in the present and we worship Him for His ways, even if they are difficult.

E. The ultimatum is dreadfully enforced and eternally final: “I swore in My anger, ‘Truly they shall not enter into My rest’” (95:11).

God’s anger by itself sounds pretty frightening! I don’t want Him to be angry with me. But to have Him swear in His anger sounds utterly dreadful! It means that the curse He is about to pronounce is irrevocable. Israel crossed the line of no return when they grumbled at the report of the spies. At that point, God swore in His anger, “Truly, they shall not enter into My rest.” It meant that they would never enter the Promised Land.

But as the author of Hebrews applies it to us, not entering God’s rest means that we will not be saved. We remain under His wrath (see Heb. 3:10, 11, 17, 18; 4:3). Because of unbelief, expressed through grumbling about our trials, we do not experience the “rest” that comes through trusting Christ for eternal life. Although we may be associated with God’s people (as the grumblers were a part of Israel), we remain under God’s judgment because of evil, unbelieving, hardened hearts that come short of God’s true rest, which is eternal life. (See my sermon, “Cultural Religion Versus Saving Faith,” on Heb. 4:1-11, 2/29/2004, on FCF web site.)

Conclusion

Whenever I read this psalm, I’m always caught up short by the ending. I want to add a happy ending verse 11. But there’s no happy ending. God leaves us with the urgent ultimatum: Worship—or else!” It’s not, “Your money or your life!” It’s, “Worship or perish!” Sing for joy to the Rock of your salvation or grumble about your trials with an evil, unbelieving heart and incur God’s wrath. Those are the only options. If you go with the first option, you will enjoy God’s rest, both now and for eternity. If you harden your heart, God swears in His anger, “You shall not enter into My rest!” And don’t be like Jack Benny and wait to think about it. Today is the day of salvation!

Application Questions

What should we do if we don’t feel like worshiping God? Is it hypocritical to do it without feeling it?
It is possible to work up feelings apart from God. How can we have genuine feelings of adoration from the heart?
Why is a proper view of the doctrine of creation essential to worship? Can a theistic evolutionist really worship God?
The psalmists sometimes complain to the Lord. Is all complaining wrong? When would it be okay?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Worship (Personal), Worship

Psalm 96: Worshiping, Witnessing, Waiting

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A couple had just moved into a new apartment and they were besieged by salesmen for every kind of product and service. This was back in the days when dairies still made home deliveries. So one busy day a dairyman came to the door. “No,” said the woman firmly, “My husband and I don’t drink milk.”

“Be glad to deliver a quart every morning for cooking.”

“That’s more than I need,” she replied, starting to close the door.

“Well, ma’am, how about some cream? Berries comin’ in now, and …”

“No,” she said curtly, “we never use cream.”

The dairyman retreated slowly, while the woman congratulated herself on her sales resistance. The truth was that she had already ordered from another dairy, and this seemed to her to be the easiest way out.

The following morning, however, the same dairyman appeared at the door. In one hand he held a bowl of dewy strawberries and in the other a half-pint bottle of cream.

“Lady,” he said, as he poured the cream over the berries and handed them to her, “I got to thinkin’—you sure have missed a lot!” The woman changed dairies. (Reader’s Digest [May, 1982].)

The best salesmen are always those who love their product. They are convinced that you cannot really enjoy life unless you have what they are selling. And while sales and evangelism are not completely analogous, the most effective witnesses are those who are obviously captivated by the greatness of God and His salvation.

When I spoke on Psalm 67 a few months ago, I cited John Piper, who begins Let the Nations be Glad! ([Baker Academic], 2nd ed., p. 17) by saying, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.” He adds (ibid.), “The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God.”

He is right that worship is the goal of missions. But it’s also true that worship is the basis for missions. If we are not fervent worshipers of God, we have nothing to tell the nations. If we do not exude joy in God and His wonderful salvation, why should lost people be interested in what we have to say? So worship is both the goal of missions and the foundation for missions. If we’re not worshipers, we will be lousy witnesses.

Psalm 96 is a call to tell the nations about God’s glory and His great salvation. It follows on Psalm 95, which describes the stubborn hard-heartedness of Israel in the wilderness, in spite of God’s goodness towards them (C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David [Eerdmans], 4:336). It was the same hardhearted nation that later rejected her Messiah, leading to the gospel going out to the Gentiles (Matt. 21:43; Acts 13:46). So Psalms 95 & 96 form a pair, showing Israel’s rejection of the gospel and the subsequent missionary task of proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles.

There is debate about the author and date of this psalm. Probably it was originally written by David as a part of a longer psalm that was used when he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. (It appears in 1 Chron. 16:23-33 as part of a longer psalm containing Psalms 105:1-15 and 106:1, 47-48. Psalm 96 also contains many common themes with Isaiah 40-66.) The Septuagint (Greek OT) adds the superscription, “When the house was built after the exile. A song of David.” So perhaps a later scribe took the original composition by David and modified it into the version that we have here for the celebration of the second temple.

Psalm 96 describes a growing crescendo of worship. First, God’s people are called to sing His praises, not just among themselves, but also to tell of His glory among the nations (96:3). Then the nations are called on to ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name (96:7-8). Finally (96:11-12), the inanimate creation is brought into the swelling chorus. The reason for the praise of all creation is the prophecy that the Lord is coming to judge the world in righteousness (96:13). So there are the three themes: worship, witness, and waiting expectantly for the day when the Lord comes to right all wrongs. We can sum up the message:

Because the Lord is the only great and glorious God, we should worship Him, witness of Him, and wait expectantly for His coming to judge the world.

There are two “worship and witness” sections (1-6, 7-10) followed by the final “waiting expectantly” section (11-13).

1. Worship and witness (cycle 1): All the earth should worship God and witness of His salvation because He is the only great and glorious God (96:1-6).

Verses 1-3 are a call to worship and witness; verses 4-6 give the reasons why we should worship and witness.

A. The call to worship and witness: All people should joyfully worship God and witness of His salvation among the nations (96:1-3).

The psalmist repeats his theme, “Sing to the Lord,” three times. The first time, he tells us to sing to the Lord “a new song.” This does not necessarily mean a newly composed song, although that may be included. But it refers to a song that celebrates the mercies of God, which are new every morning (Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150 [IVP], p. 347).

The second exhortation to sing to the Lord is directed to “all the earth.” The last part of the psalm will tie back into this by calling all creation to praise the Lord. It shows that the scope of God’s praise is as wide as all the earth, which He has created.

The third call to sing to the Lord is followed by three imperatives (bless, proclaim, tell, 96:2-3): “bless His name; proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.” To bless God’s name means that we should praise and thank Him for all that He is, or His glorious attributes. “Day to day” shows that the good news of His salvation must go forth continually, until the whole earth has heard.

Lest Israel think (as they were always prone to do) that “all the earth” meant, “all the Jews,” the psalmist specifically states that he means the Gentile nations (96:3): “Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.” God’s glory and His wonderful deeds here (96:3) are poetic parallels to His salvation (96:2). God’s salvation displays His glory and His wonderful deeds. Paul refers to “the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). When God broke into his darkness with the gospel, he says that He (2 Cor. 4:6) “has shone into our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

So the order of the psalm is, first worship God joyfully. Sing, sing, sing! Then, bear witness of His glorious salvation to the nations who have never heard. Since under the Old Testament era the nations were specifically excluded from Israel’s worship (remember the wall of partition that kept the Gentiles out of the Jewish section of the temple), this psalm prophetically looks ahead to the New Testament era, when all the families of the earth are blessed through Abraham’s seed, Jesus Christ.

B. Why worship and witness: Because the Lord is the only great and glorious God (96:4-6).

Why should we get excited about worshiping God and go to all the trouble of telling the nations about His salvation? “For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary” (96:4-6).

The pagan world is marked by their fear of the spirit world. They try to placate their gods by putting out offerings of food and drink. They observe superstitious rituals so as not to offend the gods. But the psalmist here says that the only one we should fear is the Lord, who made the heavens (96:5). When he says (96:5), “For all the gods of the people are idols,” the Hebrew word for idols is elilim. It means nothings or nonentities and is a play on words with the Hebrew word for the true God, elohim.

The true God is the creator of the universe, which is so vast that even powerful telescopes, such as the Hubbell, cannot find the edge of it. I was listening recently to the Star Date program on NPR, and they said that the giant star Arcturus, which dwarfs our sun, could have already exploded. But if the explosion happened 500 years ago, we still wouldn’t know about it for another 100 years, because the light takes 600 years to get from there to us!

So, don’t fear manmade idols, which are nothing. Rather, as Psalm 33:6, 8-9 declares and commands, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host…. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Fear the Lord, who alone is great and greatly to be praised!

After this first cycle of worship and witness, the psalmist takes us through a second cycle (96:7-10). First, he calls on the nations to worship God because of His glory and strength and then he again calls on God’s people to bear witness to the nations of God’s rule.

2. Worship and witness (cycle 2): All the earth should worship God and witness of His salvation because He is the only great and glorious God (96:7-10).

A. The nations should worship God because of His glory and strength (96:7-9).

“Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name; bring an offering and come into His courts. Worship the Lord in holy attire; tremble before Him, all the earth” (96:7-9).

The threefold “ascribe” parallels the threefold “sing” that opened the psalm. Ascribe is literally give. It does not imply that we can give God something that He is lacking. Rather, the idea is that we are to offer God worship that is commensurate with His infinite majesty and glory. Edward Payson observed (cited by Spurgeon, 4:346),

How immeasurably great then is the debt which our world has contracted, and under the burden of which it now groans! During every day and every hour which has elapsed since the apostasy of man, this debt has been increasing; for every day and every hour all men ought to have given unto Jehovah the glory which is due to his name. But no man has ever done this fully. And a vast proportion of our race have never done it at all. Now the difference between the tribute which men ought to have paid to God and that which they actually have paid constitutes the debt of which we are speaking. How vast, then how incalculable is it!

Since the cross, when Christ offered the perfect and final sacrifice for our sins, the only sacrifices that we can bring into His courts are praise, thanksgiving, and good deeds (Heb. 13:15-16). To “worship the Lord in holy attire” (96:9) may refer to the holy garments that the priests wore, in which case it means that we should come before God clothed with holy lives. Or, it may mean, “worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness” (Kidner, Psalms 1-72 [IVP], pp. 125-126). Then it would refer to the fear that Isaiah experienced when he saw the Lord, with the seraphim proclaiming, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isa. 6:3). This latter meaning would be reinforced with the last line of Psalm 96:9, “Tremble before Him, all the earth.”

In other words, if we got just a glimpse of how great God is in His glory, strength, and holiness, we would quickly join Isaiah on our faces, exclaiming (Isa. 6:5), “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” While Isaiah’s vision of God was probably unique in human history, to the extent that God opens our eyes to see His greatness and majesty, to that same extent we will give to Him the glory that is due to His holy name.

The reason that I read and frequently quote men like John Calvin, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones is that these men lift God up like few others. Calvin often spoke of God reverently as “The Majesty.” The first time I read his Institutes, he had me worshiping God within a few pages. I encourage you to read men like these (the Puritans could be added to the list) who knew God and stood in awe of His splendor and majesty.

And, as Isaiah spontaneously experienced, you cannot get a glorious vision of God without at the same time getting a greater understanding of your own sin and depravity. You immediately sense that God isn’t your good buddy in the sky! He is altogether separate from you. You shrink into nothingness in comparison with Him. What is your strength compared to the One who spoke the heavens into existence? What is your puny existence of a few short years compared with the One who is eternal? What are your attempts at holy living compared with His infinite purity?

But, as soon as Isaiah lamented his own impurity, the Lord immediately sent an angel to purify him and tell him that his sins were forgiven (Isa. 6:6-7). As Psalm 130:3, 4, 7 declares, “If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared…. O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption.” A bigger understanding of God and a deeper view of your own sin leads to a greater experience of His abundant grace, resulting in more worship.

As in the first cycle, worship is followed by witness:

B. God’s people should witness to the nations about His sovereign rule (96:10).

“Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns; indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.’” Even though at present God permits the nations to rage against His Messiah (Ps. 2:1-3), He still reigns. Verse 10 reminds us of Isaiah 52:7, “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Although at present, Jesus’ enemies are not all under His feet (1 Cor. 15:25-28), He is coming again in power and glory, to rule the nations with a rod of iron (Rev. 19:11-16). He came the first time as the humble Savior, to die for our sins. But He will come again to rule and judge.

We do not proclaim the gospel adequately if we only present Jesus as meek and mild, gently knocking on your heart’s door, wishing that you would open up to Him. He is the risen, sovereign, righteous King of kings and Lord of lords, who is coming with all the armies of heaven, with His sword coming out of His mouth to strike down the nations. “He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty” (Rev. 19:15). Sinners can either bow willingly before Him now, or they will bow forcedly when He comes. Don’t give lost people the idea that Jesus is a wimpy weakling! He is the sovereign Judge! That leads to the last section:

3. Waiting in hope: All creation will worship God when He comes to judge the world (96:11-13).

The thought of God judging the peoples with equity (96:10) leads the psalmist to call the inanimate creation to break forth in praise (96:11-13): “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all it contains; let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord, for He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.”

These verses remind us of Paul’s comments in Romans 8:19-22, that the creation presently groans under the curse, waiting for the day of redemption when it will be restored. The Lord’s coming to judge the earth refers to the coming of Messiah, who is God.

Three terms describe this future judgment: equity, righteousness, and faithfulness (96:10, 13). Equity means that God’s judgment will be fair. No one will be judged unfairly. Everyone who does not receive mercy will receive perfect justice. Righteousness refers to God’s perfect standard, which is Himself. He has revealed His righteousness in His Word. He will not judge on the curve of human goodness, but according to the absolute standards of His own righteous nature. Faithfulness can also be translated as truth. It means that He will not be arbitrary or whimsical in His judgment. He will judge each person faithfully and truthfully.

God’s righteous judgment will either be a source of great terror or great joy. For those who have not received salvation and forgiveness through the Savior whom God has sent, it will be a day of stark terror. They will cry out to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:16). But for those who by faith in the shed blood of that Lamb have been clothed with His righteousness, the day of judgment will be a time of great joy (Rev. 18:20). They will sing (Rev. 19:6b-7), “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him….” I cannot urge you strongly enough to make sure that your faith is in the risen Savior, so that you look forward to that great day with joy, not with terror!

Conclusion

To sum up the message of Psalm 96 and apply it to us, three things should be true of us:

 If the glorious God is our Savior, we will be a worshiping people.

Our voices will often break forth in singing His praises. Our thoughts will often be on how great and mighty God is. Our hearts will often bow in reverence before His holiness. We will look forward with delight to each Lord’s Day when we can join with the saints in singing His praises. To give God the glory of His name you must be growing through His Word to know how great He really is.

 If the glorious God is our Savior, we will be a witnessing people, both here and abroad.

Witness is the overflow of worship. If you are captivated by a beautiful mountain scene, you can’t help but tell others about it. If you are captivated by the majesty and splendor of the glorious God, you’ll want to tell others about Him. And, as long as there are peoples around the world with no witness of the Savior, you will want to give generously to support missionaries to go and tell them. You may even sense the Lord calling you to go.

 If the glorious God is our Savior, we will be a watchful people as we wait for Christ’s coming to judge the world in righteousness.

Jesus warned us of the danger of getting distracted with all of the activities and cares of this world and forgetting that He is coming. While there are many details of Bible prophecy that are difficult to understand, you can’t miss the Lord’s bottom line (Mark 13:35-37): “Therefore, be on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’”

Test yourself by this psalm: Are you worshiping the glorious God? Are you witnessing to the nations? Are you watching expectantly for the Lord to come in judgment?

Application Questions

How is evangelism similar to sales? How is it different? What can we learn from these differences?
Why must worship be the basis for witness? What are the implications of this?
Since getting a deeper view of God’s greatness is foundational for worship, how can we grow in this understanding?
Does the future judgment bring you fear or hope? Should Christians have any anxiety about the judgment?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Psalm 97: The Lord Reigns

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At first glance, Psalm 97:1 seems easy enough: “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice.” We read it and move on without much thought. But a moment’s thought raises all sorts of difficulties.

Does the Lord reign over terrorists who blow up innocent victims? Does He reign over the atrocities of war? Does He reign over floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters that claim thousands of lives each year? Does the Lord reign over famine, starvation, and deadly diseases? Does the Lord reign over the loss of jobs and homes due to a bad economy? Does He reign over the prolonged disease or untimely death of a loved one? Does He reign over the tensions in your marriage or the struggle and heartache of dealing with a rebellious child? Does He reign over the relatively minor frustrating circumstances that you faced last week?

This gets rather practical, doesn’t it? And it gets even more practical when you consider the psalmist’s application, that the Lord’s reign should be a cause for rejoicing. He does not say, “The Lord reigns; grit your teeth and grudgingly submit.” He certainly does not say, “The Lord reigns; shake your fist at Him and let Him know how angry you are because of your trials.” No, he clearly says, “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice.” The Lord’s sovereignty should cause all people to be glad.

But the psalm also reveals that many people do not rejoice because of God’s reign. Some are His adversaries (97:3), whom God will destroy by His righteous judgment. Some, represented poetically as mountains, will melt like wax at the presence of the Lord (97:5). Those who serve idols will be ashamed or confounded when the Lord displays His glory (97:6-7). Some of the wicked attack God’s people (97:10), but they will not ultimately succeed. So the message of Psalm 97 is,

Because the Lord reigns over all, His saints should rejoice, but sinners should fear His coming judgment.

We don’t know who wrote Psalm 97. Some attribute it to David. Others say that it was written after the exiles returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. It occurs in a group of psalms (93-100) that joyfully emphasize God’s kingship. “The Lord reigns” occurs in 93:1; 96:10; here; and, 99:1 (plus in 47:8; 146:10). Psalm 97:1 pieces together two verses from Psalm 96, verse 10, “the Lord reigns,” and verse 11, “let the earth rejoice.”

Several different outlines for the psalm have been suggested. I am following the three-paragraph breakdown of the NASB. The theme of the Lord’s reign is stated at the outset and is implicit throughout the psalm. Each of the three paragraphs emphasizes the theme of joy: (1) The Lord reigns: Let the earth rejoice and bow in fear because of His coming judgment (97:1-6). (2) The Lord reigns: Let idolaters be ashamed, but let His people rejoice (97:7-9). (3) The Lord reigns: Let those who love Him hate evil and be glad in Him (97:10-12).

1. The Lord reigns: Let the earth rejoice and bow in fear because of His coming judgment (97:1-6).

A. The theme stated: The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice (97:1).

In the second line, “let the many islands be glad,” the islands represent “the remote, innumerable outposts of mankind” (Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150 [IVP], p. 350). The psalmist is showing that the Lord’s reign is not limited to Israel. It extends to the far corners of the earth. There is an implicit prophecy here, because those who dwell in these remote outposts cannot possibly be glad in the Lord’s reign unless they hear the good news of His salvation. The same extension of the gospel to all is implicit in verse 6, which says, “all the peoples have seen His glory.” As we saw last week, the gospel displays the glory of Christ. Also, explicit in the gospel is the message of Christ’s lordship. People cannot be saved if they do not willingly submit to the reign of Jesus Christ in their hearts.

In fact, the Lord’s reign can only be a source of joy to you when you submit to Him. Atheists challenge God’s reign and accuse Him of being the author of evil: “If the Lord reigns over war and natural disasters and disease, then He is not only the author of evil, but He is evil Himself.” These blatant blasphemies have been the subject of several best-sellers in the past few years. For example, Richard Dawkins, in The God Delusion [Houghton Mifflin, 2006], accuses the God of the Old Testament as being “arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.” I won’t cite all of his blasphemous name-calling, but he rants about this God being a “megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully” (p. 31). This is the same man who, with a straight face, tells Ben Stein (in the movie “Expelled”) that life on this planet may have begun when aliens from outer space came here!

But taking God out of the picture does not solve the problem of evil. In a world without God, little kids would still get blown up by terrorists and swept away by floods and die by disease. If you eliminate God, all you do is eliminate hope and justice. You turn the world into a very bleak place. If you’re lucky enough to be born in America, you might survive longer than the kid born in Afghanistan, unless you’re so unlucky as to contract a fatal disease. You live a few years and then you die. There’s no hope!

Jesus addressed the problem of innocent people suffering from evil tyrants and from natural disasters. In Luke 13, He talked about a group of Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. He also brought up a situation where 18 people had died when a tower in Siloam fell on them. His application was, “Do you suppose that these people were somehow worse sinners than others because they suffered this fate?” His answer, repeated twice, was (Luke 13:3, 5), “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” In other words, we’re all going to die. God is sovereign over the timing of our death. The key question is, have you repented of your sin and trusted Christ before you die?

But in spite of the fact that God’s sovereignty is clearly taught in the Bible, many professing Christians object to it. They either argue (along with the atheist), that it makes God the author of evil; or they say that if God controls all that happens, it destroys our free will. Asahel Nettleton (1783-1843), an American evangelist, has an insightful sermon on Psalm 97:1 where he addresses these issues. He argues that God “exercises absolute control over both the natural and moral world … and that no event, great or small, ever takes place which is not included in His eternal purpose, and which is not made to subserve His ultimate designs” (Asahel Nettleton, Life and Labours, by Bennet Tyler & Andrew Bonar [Banner of Truth], p. 199). He supports this with Ephesians 1:11, that God “works all things after the counsel of His will.”

He goes on to argue that if this doctrine is not true, then there is no point in praying. Why pray that God would save your loved ones, if God cannot operate on their hearts? Why pray that God would restrain the wicked, if by doing so He would destroy their freedom? And he argues that it is a cause for great joy to believers that God actually does govern all of His creation, including wicked men and devils. It would be a gloomy world beyond description if God has made creatures whom He cannot govern.

Let me apply this to the difficult circumstances that you may be facing right now. They may be major, such as a life-threatening disease, or they may be relatively minor, such as car trouble. If you will stop long enough to acknowledge that the Lord reigns over these problems, and you submit to His rightful rule, it will bring you great joy. You will know that these things did not happen by accident, but rather by the loving care of the God who will work these things together for your good to conform you to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:28-29). But if you don’t stop to acknowledge that the Lord reigns over these problems, you will become depressed or anxious or angry. So the truth that the Lord reigns is a cause for rejoicing if you submit to His sovereignty.

B. The flip side of the theme: Those that are not subject to the Lord should fear His coming in judgment (97:2-6).

The picture suddenly shifts from rejoicing and gladness to a rather frightening encounter with God’s presence (97:2-6):

Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about. His lightnings lit up the world; the earth saw and trembled. The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory.

This picture comes largely from God’s appearance at Mount Sinai, when Israel was in the wilderness (Exod. 19:16-19):

So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.

The same phenomena occurred on another occasion when God spoke to Moses (Exod. 34:5) and later when Israel routed their enemy under Deborah (Judges 5:4-5). Many prophets had similar frightening visions of God involving smoke, lightning, fire, thunder, and earthquakes (Isa. 6:1-4; Ezek. 1:4-28; Dan. 7:9-14; Micah 1:3-4; Hab. 3:3-15; see, also Ps. 18:7-15; 50:3; Heb. 12:18-21, 29). These were all men and women who were God’s servants. If they feared God’s presence, how much more should those who will face His judgment when He comes! Clearly, the God of the whole earth is not one to be taken lightly or casually!

James Boice (Psalms [Baker], 2:791) observes that God is not some great heavenly buddy or pal. He adds, “In fact, the common lightness of many in approaching God is not a sign of their close acquaintance with him, as they probably suppose, but of the fact that they hardly know God at all.” I once heard John MacArthur tell of a pastor friend of his who told him that Jesus often appeared to him when he was shaving. John incredulously asked, “And you keep shaving?” If the risen, glorious Lord Jesus really appeared to us, we’d either be struck to the ground as Paul was, or fall on our faces like dead men, as John did. It would be a traumatic experience!

Derek Kidner (p. 350) succinctly explains the symbolism of our text: “Clouds and thick darkness warn of His unapproachable holiness and hiddenness to presumptuous man …, while the fire and lightnings reveal a holiness that is also devouring and irresistible (cf. Heb. 12:29). There is no escape. To speak of mountains melting is to see the most immemorial landmarks disappear, the most solid of refuges dissolve.” Because of God’s power, none of His enemies will escape when He comes in judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness and defeat all His enemies. The beast and the false prophet and all that followed them will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:11-21).

Let me underscore the important lesson in our text: God’s absolute sovereignty over everything—whether our salvation or evil people or difficult trials—should be a source of great joy, not a cause of stumbling. I know of Christians who dodge the doctrine of God’s sovereignty because it’s difficult to understand. I know of pastors who will not preach on it, because it’s controversial. But it occurs repeatedly in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. God didn’t put it there to cause you to stumble, but to cause you to rejoice. In fact, the only time in the Bible when Jesus greatly rejoiced was over God’s sovereignty in hiding His truth from some, but revealing it to others (Luke 10:21-24). And, the only way you will rejoice in the truth of God’s sovereignty is not when you can logically understand it, but when you submit to God as the one who can do as He pleases with His creation (Rom. 9:11-24).

2. The Lord reigns: Let idolaters be ashamed, but let His people rejoice (97:7-9).

A. The Lord reigns: Let idolaters be ashamed (97:7).

“Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, who boast themselves of idols; worship Him all you gods.” The reason for their shame is that they have put their trust in and served manmade objects that are nothings or nonentities.

There is debate about the phrase, “worship Him all you gods.” The LXX translates gods with the word angels. The author of Hebrews (1:6) either cites this verse or Deuteronomy 32:43 (LXX) when he writes, “‘And let all the angels of God worship Him.’” While gods in Psalm 97:7 could be a reference to angels (or demons), it seems to me that in the context, it is a synonym for graven images and idols. By commanding the idols to worship the true God, the psalmist is using sarcasm, saying, “Your so-called gods, if they have any real being at all, must worship the only true God.” Even if the idolaters were consciously worshiping demons, those demons are subject to the Sovereign God.

The fact is, everyone who is not in submission to the Sovereign Lord is serving idols of some kind. They may not set up actual statues to pray to, but they serve the idol of self or money or sexual pleasure or fame or power. As Jesus pointed out, you either serve God or money, but not both (Luke 16:13). If we boast in anything other than the Lord as our help and deliverer, we are boasting in stupid idols.

B. The Lord reigns: Let His people rejoice (97:8-9).

“Zion heard this and was glad, and the daughters of Judah have rejoiced, because of Your judgments, O Lord. For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.” These verses may be celebrating some unnamed victory that God granted Israel over her enemies. But the final fulfillment awaits the second coming of Jesus Christ, who (as we saw in Ps. (96:13) is coming to “judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.” Then the entire world will realize (many too late!) that the risen Lord Jesus is “the Lord Most High over all the earth.” He is exalted “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come” (Eph. 1:21). Thus His people should rejoice.

Thus the Lord reigns: Let the earth rejoice and bow in fear before Him (97:1-6). The Lord reigns: Let idolaters be ashamed, but let His people rejoice (97:7-9).

3. The Lord reigns: Let those who love Him hate evil and be glad in Him (97:10-12).

First, there is a command (10a); then, the psalmist lists three blessings for those who obey the command (10b-11); finally, he gives a summary command (12).

A. The command: Hate evil, you who love the Lord (97:10a).

That command is obvious and perfectly logical, and yet it jars you. It is obvious and logical in that you cannot love the Lord who is absolutely holy and at the same time love the sin that is antithetical to His entire being. You are inconsistent if you say, “I love Jesus,” and yet you love the sin that put Him on the cross.

And yet that command jars us, in that we don’t think of God in terms of hating anything. As American Christians, we’ve overemphasized His love to the point that we’ve set aside His holiness and His judgment of all sin. Yet the Bible plainly states of God (Ps. 5:5-6), “You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; the Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.”

If you know Christ as Savior, you must be growing to hate evil, beginning with your own sin. Granted, as long as they are in this body, even the most godly of saints will experience a perverse attraction to certain sins. But at the same time, we must hate it and fight against it. If we don’t, we don’t love the Lord.

B. The blessings promised for those who hate evil and love the Lord: preservation, light, and gladness (97:10b-11).

God “preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked” (97:10b). This implies that hating evil may be costly (Kidner, p. 351). It creates enemies. While I was preparing this message, I got a phone call from my good friend in Nepal who said that he had received a phone call earlier in the day from a militant Hindu group, threatening his life and the lives of his family because they are Christians. They also threatened to bomb his church this week when they gather to worship.

When I told him that I was preparing this sermon on Psalm 97, he said that he had read Psalm 97 to his family in their devotions that evening. I’m preaching the psalm, but they’re living it in a life or death situation! The promise of deliverance may be through death, as the martyrs in the Bible testify (Heb. 11:37). But even if evil enemies kill our bodies, they cannot separate us from the infinite love of God for us in Christ (Rom. 8:32-39).

The Lord not only gives preservation, but also light. The picture of God sowing light implies that it increases gradually and over time. It also implies that we will have enough light from God for each step of our pilgrimage. That light comes from His Word, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps. 119:105).

The Lord also promises “gladness for the upright in heart.” Upright in heart is a synonym for godly ones (97:10b) and the righteous (97:11a). It shows us that genuine godliness is a matter of the heart. If our hearts (thoughts) are not right before God, our “righteousness” is just a hypocritical veneer (Mark 7:6-7, 21-23). If our hearts are upright before the Lord, we will be experiencing His joy.

C. Final summary command: Be glad in the Lord you righteous ones and give thanks to His holy name (97:12).

Even though gladness is promised in verse 11, it is still commanded in verse 12. It’s not automatic. As John Piper writes, we have to fight for joy. Don’t miss that our gladness is “in the Lord.” He is the source of our joy. And that joy is only for the righteous, those who walk in obedience to Him. The last phrase is literally, “give thanks for the memory of His holiness.” (The same phrase occurs in Ps. 30:4, which refers to Exod. 3:15.) When we think on the Lord, the thing that should come to mind is His holiness. That would cause us to shrink back, except for the fact that we find acceptance in His holy presence through the blood of His Son Jesus.

Conclusion

C. H. Spurgeon (The Treasury of David [Baker], 4:360) cites the story of a man named Whitelock, who was Oliver Cromwell’s envoy to Sweden in 1653. One night as he was waiting to sail, he was so distracted by the troubles of the nation that he could not sleep. His assistant, in an adjacent bed, finally said to him, “Sir, may I ask you a question?” “Of course,” said Whitelock.

“Sir, do you think God governed the world very well before you came into it?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“And sir, do you think that He will govern it quite as well when you are gone out of it?”

“Certainly.”

“Then, sir, excuse me, but do you not think you may trust him to govern it quite as well while you are living?”

Whitelock had no answer to this question, but he rolled over and soon went to sleep.

Do you believe that the Lord reigns, not only over the world, but also in your life? If so, rejoice and be glad in Him!

Application Questions

How would you answer a mother who asked, “Was God reigning when my child died?” (Or, “was molested?”)
How would you answer someone who said, “If God is sovereign over evil, then He is responsible for it?”
Does the fact that God is sovereign cause you to rejoice or does it make you stumble? Why? If the latter, how can it be turned into rejoicing?
How can we grow to hate more the evil within ourselves?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Spiritual Life, Character of God

Psalm 99: Holy is He!

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There is probably no attribute of God which needs to be taught and recognized more in our day than His holiness. David Wells emphasized this in God in the Wasteland [Eerdmans, 1994], his analysis of how the modern culture has infected the church. He observes (p. 114),

We have turned to a God that we can use rather than to a God we must obey; we have turned to a God who will fulfill all our needs rather than to a God before whom we must surrender our rights to ourselves. He is a God for us, for our satisfaction—not because we have learned to think of him this way through Christ but because we have learned to think of him this way through the marketplace. In the marketplace, everything is for us, for our pleasure, for our satisfaction, and we have come to assume that it must be so in the church as well. And so we transform the God of mercy into a God who is at our mercy.

He goes on to argue that the modern church is infatuated with the love of God and embarrassed at his holiness. We are more enamored with the therapeutic and psychological “uses” of God to provide us with inner peace, than we are with the fact that He is holy and therefore, we must be holy. And if we do not revere God as holy, then He rests lightly on us. We take Him or leave Him to the degree that we find Him useful. Wells later writes (p. 136), “Holiness is what defines God’s character most fundamentally, and a vision of this holiness should inspire his people and evoke their worship, sustain their character, fuel their passion for truth, and encourage persistence in efforts to do his will and call on his name in petitionary prayer.”

Psalm 99 calls us reverently to worship God because He is holy. There is an obvious contrast with Psalm 97:1, “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice.” Here (Ps. 99:1) it is, “The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble.” Derek Kidner (Psalms 73-150 [IVP], pp. 353-354) describes the difference between Psalms 98 (emphasizing joy and singing) and 99 as “between high festivity and a chastened awe—for God is all that stirs us and all that shames us. Here, after the carefree delight of Psalm 98, we recollect how exalted and holy He is, and how profound is the reverence we owe Him.”

Psalm 99 falls into three sections, the first two (1-3, 4-5) ending with the refrain, “Holy is He,” and the third (6-9) with, “Holy is the Lord our God.” This threefold repetition of God’s holiness reminds us of the angelic refrain in Isaiah’s vision of God (Isa. 6:3), “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” In Isaiah, the foundations of the thresholds trembled; here (Ps. 99:1b), the earth shakes. In Isaiah, the temple filled with smoke. Here (99:7), God speaks to His servants out of the pillar of cloud. In Isaiah, the angel flew to him with a burning coal and touched his lips, assuring him that his sin was forgiven. Here (99:8), we are told that God forgives the sins of His people, but also is an avenger of their evil deeds.

The mood of Psalm 99 is one of reverence and yet intimacy: He is the Lord our God (5, 8, 9 [2 times]). And, the awesomeness and holiness of God implies that we must bow in submission and obedience before Him. So we can sum up the psalm by saying,

Because the Lord is holy, worship Him in reverent intimacy, with a submissive heart.

1. The Lord reigns in holiness—worship Him in reverence (99:1-3).

“The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! The Lord is great in Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name; holy is He.”

A. The Lord reigns—worship Him in reverence.

We considered the meaning of “the Lord reigns” in our study of Psalm 97:1 last week, so I won’t belabor the point now. But we would be remiss to brush over it without any comment, because it has such profound implications. Adam Clarke (Clarke’s Commentary [Abingdon-Cokesbury Press], 3:528, italics his) comments,

Here is a simple proposition, which is a self-evident axiom, and requires no proof: Jehovah is infinite and eternal; is possessed of unlimited power and unerring wisdom; as he is the Maker, so he must be the Governor, of all things. His authority is absolute, and his government therefore universal. In all places, on all occasions, and in all times, Jehovah reigns.

Even though the Lord, for His own inscrutable purposes, has allowed fallen angels and sinful people to rebel against Him, He still reigns over them, and yet is in no way stained by their sin. The Bible promises that the day is coming when Satan and his forces and all that have followed him will be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever. God’s saints will then be in a state of eternal sinlessness. Then, as John heard the voices from heaven proclaim (Rev. 11:15), “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

Or, again John heard the voices of a great multitude in heaven proclaim (Rev. 19:6b-7), “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” Until that glorious day of consummation, we should take great comfort in the fact that “the Lord reigns.”

“The peoples” refers to the Gentiles. Their response to the fact that the Lord reigns should be, first fear and then praise. They should tremble as even the earth shakes at the Lord’s reign. As they recognize that the Lord is exalted over them, they should praise His great and awesome name (99:3).

The Lord is pictured as “enthroned above the cherubim” (99:1b; see also, 1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:2; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chron. 13:6; Ps. 80:1; Isa. 37:16). The cherubim are a rank of angelic beings. There are several debates concerning them, but everyone agrees that they are impressive creatures (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, ed. by Merrill Tenney [Zondervan, 1975], 1:788-790). The picture here comes from the Ark of the Covenant. God instructed Moses to make a mercy seat of pure gold, with two cherubim at both ends, facing one another, with their wings covering the mercy seat. God told Moses that He would meet with him there, from above the mercy seat between the two cherubim (Exod. 25:17-22).

The only one who could enter the Holy of Holies without dying was the high priest, and he could only go in there on the annual Day of Atonement. The cloud of God’s shekinah glory would fill that sacred place. They tied a rope around the high priest so that if he died, they could drag him out of there without anyone else dying! So the picture of God being enthroned or sitting above the cherubim is primarily one of His awesome holiness. That’s why the earth should shake.

And yet at the same time, the picture of God enthroned above the cherubim was a picture of His mercy towards sinners. It was on the mercy seat that the high priest sprinkled the blood of atonement, securing forgiveness of the sins of the nation. This looked ahead to the blood of Jesus, God’s final sacrifice for sins (see Hebrews 9 & 10). And so these verses have a prophetic focus, pointing to the reign of the risen Lord Jesus, whose blood sprinkled God’s mercy seat to atone for sinners. His sovereign reign, coupled with His great mercy, should cause us to worship Him with holy reverence.

B. The Lord reigns in holiness—worship Him in reverence.

The first section ends, as the second and third do, by stating, “Holy is He.” This is a fundamental attribute of God that we need to understand. The word means, primarily, “to be separate.” Theologian Louis Berkhof (Systematic Theology [Eerdmans], p. 73, italics his) explains that in this sense,

[God] is absolutely distinct from all His creatures, and is exalted above them in infinite majesty. … It is quite evident, however, that holiness in this sense of the word is not really a moral attribute, which can be co-ordinated with the others, such as love, grace and mercy, but is rather something that is co-extensive with, and applicable to, everything that can be predicated of God. He is holy in everything that reveals Him, in His goodness and grace as well as in His justice and wrath.

But the holiness of God also refers to His absolute moral purity. He is completely without sin and apart from it. “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5; see also, Job 34:10; Hab. 1:13). This moral purity is not only negative, but also positive, in that God is morally or ethically perfect (Berkhof, ibid.).

Stephen Charnock (The Existence and Attributes of God [Baker], 2:110) writes,

The holiness of God is his glory, as his grace is his riches: holiness is his crown, and his mercy is his treasure. This is the blessedness and nobleness of his nature; it renders him glorious in himself, and glorious to his creatures, that understand any thing of this lovely perfection.

He points out that God is called holy more often than any other title. Further (2:112), there is no other attribute of God repeated three times in the praise of it. We never read of the angels crying out, “Eternal, eternal, eternal,” or “Faithful, faithful, faithful,” or “Love, love, love.” Charnock adds (2:113), “Power is his hand and arm; omniscience, his eye; mercy, his bowels; eternity, his duration; his holiness is his beauty….” He points out (ibid.) how God’s holiness relates to all of His perfections:

His justice is a holy justice; his wisdom a holy wisdom; his arm of power a holy arm (Ps. 98:1); his truth or promise a holy promise (Ps. 105:42). Holy and true go hand in hand (Rev. 6:10). His name, which signifies all his attributes in conjunction, is holy (Ps. 103:1); yea, he is “righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works: (Ps. 145:17): it is the rule of all his acts, the source of all his punishments.

If we get even a glimpse of God as holy, our only response can be to worship Him with reverence, examining ourselves to make sure that we are growing in personal holiness. Peter put it this way (1 Pet. 1:14-19),

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Last year I read about a professor at a Christian college who mentioned the fear of God in his classroom and was stunned when all of his students argued with him that we should not fear God, because it is opposed to His love! But Peter says to conduct yourself in fear. Paul sums up his discourse on the depravity of the human race by saying (Rom. 3:18), “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” It is safe to say that if you do not fear God, you do not know Him. Knowing that He is holy should lead us to worship Him with reverent fear.

2. The Lord reigns in justice and righteousness—worship Him with a submissive heart (99:4-5).

“The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool; holy is He.”

A strong king who lacks a passion for justice will be a tyrant, as we know well from history. God is strong, but He also loves justice. He rules with equity (fairness), justice, and righteousness. His power never runs amok, because it is perfectly balanced with His justice and righteousness. His omniscience means that He will always judge fairly, because He knows not only all outward circumstances, but also every motive of the hearts of those He judges. The psalmist’s use of “Jacob” in reference to the nation is a common designation, and so may not have any significance here. But as you know, Jacob was known as a deceiver and schemer. But by way of contrast, God has “executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.”

Knowing that one day we all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of ourselves to God (Rom. 14:10-12; 2 Cor. 5:10) should motivate us to live to please Him. It is possible to go through the outward motions of “worship” without submitting our hearts to God (Mark 7:6-7). The antidote is to “exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool” (Ps. 99:5), recognizing that He is holy. His footstool refers to the Ark of the Covenant (1 Chron. 28:2), or by association, to the temple, where God dwelled among His people. But footstool pictures bowing before the throne of a monarch, in total submission to him. Because our King is the righteous Judge of all, we must submit our hearts completely to Him, so that we worship Him in sincerity and truth.

3. The Lord reigns in faithfulness, mercy, and righteousness—worship Him with reverent intimacy (99:6-9).

A. The Lord reigns in faithfulness, mercy, and righteousness (99:6-8).

“Moses and Aaron were among His priests, and Samuel was among those who called on His name; they called upon the Lord and He answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept His testimonies and the statute that He gave them. O Lord our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, and yet an avenger of their evil deeds.”

The psalmist rehearses the history of God’s dealings with Israel through three of their prominent leaders. Moses and Aaron led the nation out of Egypt and established national worship through the tabernacle. Samuel came later, as the last of Israel’s judges who anointed the first king, Saul, and later, David.

All three men had their faults, but they were men of prayer and faith. God’s speaking to them in the pillar of cloud refers only to Moses and Aaron, not to Samuel. But God answered the prayers of all three men (see 1 Sam. 7:5-11). Moses and Aaron stood in the gap and intervened more than once to save the rebellious nation from God’s wiping them out (Num. 16:41-50). Aaron notoriously failed in the incident with the golden calf. Moses failed by striking the rock, when God had told him to speak to it. Samuel failed in that his sons did not follow the Lord. So they were men of flesh, and yet they cried out to God and He graciously answered them, while at the same time inflicting consequences when they sinned. But overall it may be said that they “kept [the Lord’s] testimonies and the statute that He gave them” (99:7).

Many commentators understand the pronouns in verse 8 to extend beyond these men to the nation. In other words, through their intercession, God’s forgiveness extended to the nation, although the Lord still imposed penalties for national disobedience. But however you apply verse 8, it shows the balance between God’s faithfulness in answering prayer, His mercy in forgiving sin, and His righteousness in imposing punishment for sin, so that we do not take His mercy lightly. We must never sin with the thought that we can always expect grace and forgiveness. Our sin always has severe consequences in damaging people and in tarnishing the Lord’s glory. And yet when we have sinned, we can come to Him and plead for His mercy.

David’s sin with Bathsheba illustrates this as well as any story in the Bible. David appealed to God for forgiveness and mercy, and it was granted. And yet, while assuring David that God had forgiven his sin, Nathan the prophet spelled out the dire consequences that God would impose. David’s son conceived in adultery with Bathsheba would die. The sword would not depart from David’s house. God would raise up evil against David from his own house and even give David’s wives to his son Absalom, who would lie with them in broad daylight (2 Sam. 12:9-14). God was sovereign in ordaining these events, and yet Absalom and the others who would sin were responsible. God’s holiness is not compromised when He uses evil people to accomplish His sovereign purposes. He reigns in faithfulness, mercy, and righteousness. This should lead us to deeper worship:

B. Exalt the Lord and worship Him with reverent intimacy, because He is holy (99:9).

The psalmist repeats the refrain (99:3, 5) with some slight variations: “Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill, for holy is the Lord our God” (99:9). Instead of “worship at His footstool” (99:5), he says, “worship at His holy hill,” which refers to the temple mount. Instead of “holy is He,” he gives a more intimate appeal, “for holy is the Lord our God.” Derek Kidner (p. 355) puts it, “The majesty is undiminished, but the last word is now given to intimacy. He is holy; He is also, against all our deserving, not ashamed to be called ours. Well may we worship.”

Or, in the words of Hebrews 12:22-24, which contrast the experience of Israel at Mount Sinai with our privileges,

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Jumping to his bottom line (12:28-29), “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

We can worship God intimately through Jesus our Mediator, but always with reverence and awe.

Conclusion

Let me apply this message with four directives:

First, aim at getting a bigger view of God in His majesty and holiness. As you read the Bible, like Moses (Exod. 33:18), ask God to show you His glory. Moses had already seen God’s majesty and power at Mount Sinai. He had communed with God for forty days and nights on that mountain. He had repeatedly seen the Shekinah glory. Wasn’t that enough? No, Moses wanted to see more! In addition to the Bible, read authors who exalt God. No one has helped me more on this than John Calvin. If you prefer more modern authors, read Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John Piper, and R. C. Sproul, especially his The Holiness of God [Tyndale, 1985].

Second, aim at getting a more biblically accurate view of yourself in God’s holy presence. This will follow the first aim almost spontaneously, as it did with Isaiah. Seeing God in His majesty and holiness will cause you to see yourself as a needy recipient of His grace.

Third, aim at increasing personal holiness on the heart level. Judge and cut off every sinful thought the instant it pops into your mind. Don’t tolerate so-called little sins as if they don’t matter. Don’t justify yourself with the consolation that everyone does it. Don’t expose yourself to TV shows or movies that defile you. If you wouldn’t be comfortable watching it with the Lord, don’t watch it.

Fourth, aim at meeting alone with God every day to exalt Him and worship at His footstool. The point of your quiet time is not just to read through the Bible in a year, although that’s a good thing to do. The point is to meet with God. See Him as revealed in His Word. Humble your heart before Him. Call upon Him in prayer. And remember, “Holy is the Lord our God.”

Application Questions

Where is the proper biblical balance between fearing God and being close to Him? How can we know the boundaries?
If you applied the question, “Will this help me to grow in holiness?” how would your usual activities change?
Should Christians fear God’s judgment? Consider 2 Corinthians 5:10-11 and Romans 14:10-12 in your answer.
What has helped you most to grow in your understanding of God’s holiness? What goals could help you move in that direction this year?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Worship (Personal), Character of God

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Psalm 80: Praying for Revival

1. We will pray more earnestly for revival when we sense our desperate need.

A. We need revival because of the powerful enemies that seek to destroy us.

B. We need revival because of the powerful sins that often entangle us.

2. We will pray more earnestly for revival when we realize that only God can produce genuine revival.

A. Humanly orchestrated “revivals” are not genuine or lasting in their effects.

B. When God restores us and shines His face upon us, we will be truly saved.

(1). Sinners will be saved.

(2). God will raise the church from the ashes.

(3). We will not turn back from the Lord (80:18a).

(4). We will call upon His name (80:18b).

3. We will pray more earnestly for revival when we desire for God to be glorified.

A. God is glorified in revival when He shows His mighty power to save.

B. God is glorified in revival when His people obey Him.

C. God is glorified in revival when His people are fruitful.

D. God is glorified in revival when there is genuine unity among His people.

E. God is glorified in revival when His people come to know Him more deeply.

Conclusion

Application Questions

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Psalm 81: What Might Have Been

1. Wasted potential is the result of disobedience to God.

A. Religious people can disobey God.

B. The result of disobedience is wasted potential.

C. Religious people disobey God because it seems like disobedience will get them where they want to go.

2. Fulfilled potential comes through walking in obedience to God.

A. The goodness of God is the motive for obedience (81:6-10).

B. The blessings of God are the result of obedience (81:10, 14-16).

Conclusion

Discussion Questions

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Psalm 84: How Blessed!

1. The pleasure of being in God’s house should fuel our desire to be in His presence (84:1-4).

2. The pleasure of experiencing God’s strength in our weakness should fuel our desire to overcome hindrances to get to God’s house (84:5-9).

A. God gives us His strength in our weakness so that we can overcome hindrances to worship Him in His house.

B. Prayer is the means of laying hold of God’s strength in our weakness.

3. The pleasure of enjoying God Himself and His abundant goodness should fuel our desire to be in His house (84:10-12).

A. The pleasure of being even at the doorstep of God’s house is far better than all the pleasures of sin.

B. The pleasure of enjoying God Himself and His abundant goodness is incomparable.

(1). The Lord God is a sun to us.

(2). The Lord God is a shield to us.

(3). The Lord gives grace to us.

(4). The Lord gives glory to us.

(5). The Lord will not withhold any good thing from us.

C. The requirement for enjoying God and His abundant blessings is to walk uprightly and to trust in Him.

Conclusion

Application Questions

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Psalm 86: A Lesson on Prayer

1. Why should we pray? We should pray because we have great needs.

2. To whom should we pray? We should pray to the only true God, great in power, love, grace, and mercy.

A. God is the only true God, great in power.

B. God is great in love, grace, and mercy.

3. How should we pray? We should pray earnestly, continually, thankfully, in humility, and in faith.

A. Pray earnestly.

B. Pray continually.

C. Pray thankfully.

D. Pray in humility.

E. Pray in faith.

4. What should we pray for? Pray for salvation; for joy in trials; for a teachable, obedient, single-minded, reverent heart; and for God’s glory and supremacy over all.

A. Pray for salvation.

B. Pray for joy in trials.

C. Pray for a teachable, obedient, single-minded, reverent heart.

D. Pray for God’s glory and supremacy over all.

Conclusion

Application Questions

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From the series: Psalms PREVIOUS PAGE | NEXT PAGE

Psalm 90: Eternal God, Ephemeral Man

1. Life is futile apart from God because of its shortness and uncertainty and because of God’s wrath on our sin.

A. Life’s shortness and uncertainty make it futile apart from God (90:3-6).

B. God’s wrath on our sin makes life futile apart from God (90:7-11).

2. Life has meaning and value if we have a relationship with the eternal God and if we have God’s blessing upon our life and work.

A. A relationship with the eternal God gives life meaning and value (90:1-2).

B. God’s blessing upon our life and work gives life meaning and value (90:12-17).