The Lord is Exalted over His Enemies, False gods, and His People (Ps. 97:3-12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/24/2012 8:01:10 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Psalm 97 PT-2



Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Psalm 97:3-12



            Message of the verses:  In the last SD we began to look at Psalm 97 as we looked at the first two verses and also several introductory commentaries by different Bible Commentators.  We will pick up at verse three in today’s SD.



            The Lord Is Exalted over His Enemies (vv. 3-6):  “3 Fire goes before Him And burns up His adversaries round about. 4 His lightnings lit up the world; The earth saw and trembled. 5 The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. 6 The heavens declare His righteousness, And all the peoples have seen His glory.”



            We see in verses 3-5 a storm, and this is not the first time we have seen a storm in Scripture, for we can see a storm back when the Lord took Israel out of Egypt in the Exodus (Psalm 68:7-8): “7 O God, when You went forth before Your people, When You marched through the wilderness, Selah. 8 The earth quaked; The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.”  When Israel was at Mt. Sinai there was also a storm going on and the writer of the book of Hebrews picks up on it when he writes, “18 For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, 19 and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. 20 For they could not bear the command, "IF EVEN A BEAST TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, IT WILL BE STONED." 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, ‘I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling.’” 

            Storms also look to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth, for Jesus said "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.’”  (Matthew 24:27) 

            We read the following in Deut. 4:24, “’For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.’”  The lightning and the fire reminds of this verse along with Hebrews 12:29 where it says, “For our God is a consuming fire.”  In the past we have mentioned that because justice is one of the attributes of God that His justice (Judgments) brings glory to God.  The phrase “Lord of all the earth” is only seen in four OT places.  Joshua used that when Israel crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 3:11, 13), and Zechariah uses it in 4:14; 6:5.  Jesus used this title of God in Luke 10:21 “At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.”



            The Lord is Exalted over the False Gods (vv. 7-9):  “7 Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, Who boast themselves of idols; Worship Him, all you gods. 8 Zion heard this and was glad, And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced Because of Your judgments, O LORD. 9 For You are the LORD Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.”



            Israel knew that idols were something that they should not worship, for they knew that the Lord was the One true God who created the earth and all of the other planets and stars.  In the ancient times of the Near East, nations believed that when one nation conquered another it was because their “gods” were stronger than those of the defeated nations, but this surely was not the truth.  Babylon conquered Judah because God planned for this to happen and wrote about it in the Scriptures many times.  God even wrote as to how long Israel would be in captivity, when they would return and who would allow them to return.  Isaiah 44:28 says  “It is I who says of Cyrus, ’He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ’She will be built,’ And of the temple, ’Your foundation will be laid.’"  Isaiah goes on to write in chapter 45 that Cyrus would not only allow Israel go back to Jerusalem, but would also conquer other nations, and it was Cyrus who conquered Babylon.  Daniel chapter five speaks of the Medes and Persians conquering Babylon in one night.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes of idols, “People may not bow down before ugly man-made idols today, but there are certainly plenty of false gods for them to worship—money, power, possessions, sex, pleasures, recognition—for whatever people serve and sacrifice for, that is what they worship (Matt. 4:10).”



            The Lord Is Exalted among His People (vv. 10-12):  “10 Hate evil, you who love the LORD, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 11 Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart. 12 Be glad in the LORD, you righteous ones, And give thanks to His holy name.”  (NASB)  “10 You who love the LORD, hate evil!  He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked. 11 Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right. 12 May all who are godly rejoice in the LORD and praise his holy name!”  (NLT) 



            As believers in Jesus Christ we are to love the Lord and we are to hate evil.  God has given great mercy and love to those who are His and therefore we are to love and worship the Lord.  Jesus stated that this was the greatest commandment in all of Scripture to love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and then went on to say that the second greatest commandment was to love one’s neighbor like he loved himself.  Out of these two commandments flows the Ten Commandments, and out of the Ten Commandments flows all the other commandments in Scripture.  Loving the Lord and our neighbor pictures the cross, for the vertical post pictures loving the Lord and the horizontal beam pictures loving your neighbor, and this is a difficult thing to do even impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  When Jesus was on the earth He spoke to the storm and it stopped, and when Balham’s donkey started talking it was because she was obeying the Lord in talking to Balham.  We can see a storm and a donkey obey the Lord without hesitation, but how about man? 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The image in verse 11 is that of the sower; the Lord plants light like seeds so that His people will not always walk in darkness and what He plants will eventually bear fruit.  ‘Sowing’ is a frequent metaphor in Scripture for the deeds of both God and people.  The psalm begins with a universal revelation of God’s glory (vv 2-6), with dramatic flashes of lightning, but it ends with His light quietly shining on the paths of His people---“God’s people have their dark days when life is difficult, but there are always seeds of light and joy to accompany us along the way.  Is there any reason why we should not be rejoicing now?”



            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that those seeds of light come from the reading of the Word of God.  Romans 12:2 speaks of renewing our minds so that we can know and do the will of God, and this can only happen when our minds are filled with the Word of God.



My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to abide in the vine, and this means to memorize the Word of God as I abide in the Vine.



Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-3

1.     Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, but the

 Righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:  2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3. seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

6/24/2012 9:16:22 AM