May the mumbling commence!
Today, we finish our journey through the book of Psalms – seventy-five days in the making. I will miss the Psalms. I plan on reading Ecclesiastes next. That will be a stark contrast to Proverbs! At least we finish up with an upbeat note in Psalms. Read Psalm one-hundred forty-nine:
Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
And His praise in the assembly of saints.
Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
Let them praise His name with the dance;
Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the humble with salvation.
Let the saints be joyful in glory;
Let them sing aloud on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
To execute vengeance on the nations,
And punishments on the peoples;
To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;
To execute on them the written judgment –
This honor have all His saints.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! Rejoice! Be joyful! Sing! Dance! Sing and dance accompanied by the timbrel and harp. This is no solemn occasion with mournful face or downcast eyes. We are called to take sheer delight in our Lord.
Praise the Lord with every fiber of your being. Hold nothing back in your praise of God. Hold nothing back in your daily walk with God. Give God all that you have and all that you are.
Why do we give God such praise? God is our Creator, our Maker. God has adopted us as children – even though we did not deserve it. Yes, God takes pleasure in us. We are humbled to praise the center of the universe. And, in the presence of the Lord, we are beautified in the light of salvation.
No beauty treatment known on earth can rival it. Do you want to take years off your countenance? Start from within. Give your life over to God, and beauty will shine through you no matter what life stage you find yourself at.
But what about this two-edged sword – what is it? Is it a literal sword? Before you gun rights people get too excited, let us think of this sword in the context of the Psalm. The psalmist has been talking about vocal and kinesthetic and ecstatic praise of the Lord.
This sword is something else entirely. Hebrews speaks of the Word of God as being sharper than any two-edged sword (4:12). Ephesians also speaks of the Word of God being the sword of the Spirit (6:17). This sword is the words and actions that come from Christ (Revelation 19:11ff).
With this sword of the Spirit, we are to hand over to the righteous wrath of God those who act apart from the Word of God. Vengeance belongs to God. Let us find the wisdom of God in the Word of God. It will indeed make us happy beyond belief. Read from Proverbs chapter three:
Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
She is more precious than rubies,
And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who retain her. (Verses 13-18)
Allowing the Word of God to rule our lives will be more valuable to us than stacks of precious metal or cuts of precious stones. Anything we might desire – electronics and gadgets and knowledge and influence and power and riches of all kinds – they cannot compare to the Word of God.
We will have long life that is both pleasant and peaceful. That makes me happy! Where do we sign up? We sign up by treasuring our Bibles and committing ourselves to walking with a faith family.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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