July 7
Psalms 92-97
We are so consumed with our own estimate of what is right and what is wrong. We all have our views on how to right the course of our nation, our city, etc. In conversations we try to figure out a way to cleverly insert our opinions. For those on the opposite side we desire that “Aha” moment. When our views triumph and our side is vindicated. So you might believe it is conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, Trump or Biden, take the vaccine or don’t take the vaccine, go back to our former roots as a nation or social justice. We are consumed, often hostile to those holding opposing opinions. Is this why God has called us? Is this what God wants us to be consumed with? Is this what God wants coming from our lips as our first fruits? Pause for a moment. Rather than justify the diversion, is it not Jesus Christ, and His offer of salvation that should consume our thoughts and our conversations?
We read in Psalm 96:1-5,
“Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord! Sing to the Lord; praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.
Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.
Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!
He is to be feared above all gods. The gods of other nations are mere idols, but the Lord made the heavens!”
Nothing compares with putting forth God. He goes on in 96:7-10,
“O nations of the world, recognize the Lord; recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong.
Give to the Lord the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.
Let all the earth tremble before him.
Tell all the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’ The world stands firm and cannot be shaken. He will judge all peoples fairly.”
This will not be fulfilled until Jesus comes back to rule and reign in the Millennial Kingdom as described in 96:13.
Do you not think that the writer of this Psalm was living in his own time of unrest? He mentions idols in 96:5. Everything other than God which consumes our thoughts and minds is an idol, whether you want to admit that or not. Our world is crumbling under the weight of sin. Earthly justice is only temporary for man cannot be trusted. We read in Romans 8:22-23, “ For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.” So, as His children, His ambassadors, His holy ones, may we not be ignorant or negligent in our calling. May it be Jesus that is on our lips to a world that desperately needs Him.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: