Today, Monday January 23
Worshipping The God of Creation
Psalm 33:1-9
“Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful. Praise the LORD with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy. For the word of the LORD is right, And all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. 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.”
This morning as I was preparing for this chat I kept thinking how the Bible is the oldest Book in history, actually in all eternity, because it is His Eternal Word! (John 1:1-3). As far as humanity is concerned the Bible has survived the ages like no other book. Yet the Bible never grows old! This Bible is His Story, History! When you read and study the Bible you find it has all the answers to all the big questions! Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? And why am I here? Who, what, why and where!
The more I read and study the Bible, it seems to be more new, interesting and refreshing as time goes by. It just never grows old. It is a living Book! I was worried when we started this study on Psalms that we might grow weary of all the repetition concerning worship and praise, but today as I was reading and looking at Psalm 33 for our chat, that concern went out the window. Worshipping the True and Living God of creation never grows old!
Psalm 33 is a call to worship! We learn who should worship the LORD, and that is the righteous person who is walking uprightly. We are instructed how to worship the LORD! We worship with joyful songs of praise on stringed instruments. And today we are looking at why we should worship the LORD.
I’ll never forget my first trip to Israel in 1972 with a group of college students from a brand new school, Lynchburg Baptist College, now Liberty University. Israel had just recently gained control of the old city of Jerusalem. Everywhere we heard the young people and adults singing and dancing in the streets and public places. Their songs were happy joyful songs. Songs of rejoicing! Matter of fact most Jewish music is happy type music because their God is the LORD! “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD…” (Psalm 33:12).
Every time I read Psalm 137, I think of my first visit to Israel. In this Psalm the people of Israel were in captivity in Babylon because of their sins of idolatry and disobedience. It appears that their captors wanted them to sing the “songs of Zion”. This is what the psalmist wrote: “By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How shall we sing the LORD'S song In a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:1-4)
Why couldn’t they sing the LORD’S song? Because His songs are happy joyful songs! When we put the Lord first in our lives and live in obedience to His Word, and we worship Him because of Who He is and because of His character and creation, our hearts will be filled with joy and happiness! We can’t help but sing songs of praise and rejoicing if we have experienced His redemption and salvation!
The mention of God's Word in verse 4 reminds us that by knowing the Word of God, we get better acquainted with the God of the Word. Creation reveals His existence, power, wisdom, and majesty, but the revelation in Scripture tells us about His mercy and grace and His wonderful plan of salvation. He is a faithful God, a God of truth, righteousness, justice, and goodness. God's throne is built on righteousness and justice (Psalm 89:14; 97:2; Isa. 9:7; 32:1, 17).
To eyes of faith, the earth is full of His goodness (v. 5), His glory (Isa. 6:3; Num. 14:21-22), and His praise (Hab. 3:3), and one day will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord (Hab. 2:14). The beauty of both God's character and His creation should elicit from His people songs of praise and thanksgiving. Unless our worship focuses on the character of God, we have ignored the Person who ought to be the center of true worship.
I trust your heart is filled with His joy today!
God bless!
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