The Bible Recap - Day 142 (Psalm 95, 97-99) - Year 4

Episode Date: May 22, 2022

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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap. We don't know who wrote any of the Psalms we read today, but they're all really descriptive, picturesque Psalms, so it makes me wonder if they were written by the same person. Psalm 95 opens with praise and reminds the listener that God isn't just supreme over the earthly realm, he's supreme over the spiritual realm as well. He's worthy of worship, and especially the worship of his people. It's not entirely evident in the English version of verse 6, but in this short verse, which says, O come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. He's describing three different postures for worshiping God. Bowing and down are two separate acts, and kneeling is another act. These are humble postures of honor and submission, which is how we should relate to the one who made us. But then he goes on to describe another aspect

of our relationship with God. It's not contradictory to the humble who made us. But then he goes on to describe another aspect of our relationship with God. It's not contradictory to the humble bowing toward our Maker, it's complimentary. He portrays God as our shepherd, the one who is attentive to us and feeds us and watches over us. He calls us the sheep of his hand. It's a much more intimate relational picture.

And both things are true of our relationship with God. He's our maker, and he's our shepherd. He doesn't just make us and then leave us on our own. He's with us all the time, watching over us. The psalmist begs the listener not to harden their hearts to such great truths, and he references the Israelites who did have hardened hearts. They didn't know God's ways, and they missed out on the beautiful complexity of this kind of relationship with him.

The kind that brings rest and restoration. Psalm 97 reiterates God's supremacy over everything. He depicts God as a thunderstorm with lightning that strikes and consumes his enemies. He also says God melts the mountains like wax, which is a direct affront to all the ancient pagan deities that were believed to live on these mountains. God shames them by bringing them low. Meanwhile, God's people rejoice. Psalm 98 has a lot in common with Isaiah 52, which is a prophecy about the coming Messiah. has a lot in common with Isaiah 52, which is a prophecy about the coming Messiah. So it's no surprise that this Psalm repeatedly references God's salvation.

When this Psalm was written, the Psalmist was likely only referring to military saving, deliverance from enemies big and small. But there seems to be far more going on here than the Psalmist realized as he was riding this. For instance, when he writes, all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. In verse 3, he's likely just referring to how everyone saw the way God worked on Israel's behalf in military battles, or even his miraculous provision like sending Manna in the wilderness. But in light of God's promise to send a Messiah who will establish a relationship between him and people from among every nation, this verse takes on a whole new meaning. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. I think the Psalmist probably had no idea how much more this verse would eventually encompass.

And we close today with Psalm 99, which is another song about God's kingship. Verse 1 positions God above the chair of Him on the ark of the covenant, which is viewed as His earthly throne. And He is a king who rules with equity and justice. This song shows what a great privilege it is that God has come down to earth to have a relationship with mankind. He has set up mediators. He speaks through them. He has given us his presence on earth and he's given us his word. We have everything we need to know him better and respond to him with worship.

Even for gifts as whom we sin, we lack nothing. My God shot today came from Psalm 97-11. It says, light is sewn for the righteous, and joy for the upright and heart. You may wonder where God is in this sentence. Who do you think is doing the sewing? It's him. I love this imagery that light and joy are sewn. If you're in a dark season, the light and joy might not have bloomed yet, but God has planted them. Sometimes it takes a while for things that are planted to grow and bear fruit, but trust that they've been sewn for you by his hand. I'm praying you'll see it soon, that his light will dawn on you

and that you'll be able to confidently say, he's where the joy is. Do you have a friend or family member who is deaf? We're excited to share that the Bible Recap is now available in American Sign Language, and we would love for your deaf friends or family members to join us. We publish each day's recap video to our ASL Facebook group. You can either search Facebook for the Bible recap in ASL or click the link in today's show notes.