Weekly Devotional 7th of June, 2024
by Bruce Billington
Weekly Devotional 7th of June, 2024
We are continuing to explore the knowledge of God as expressed in the Psalms. This week we continue to look at Psalm 97.
Psalm 97:4-6 – “His lightnings lit up the world; The earth saw and trembled. The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His righteousness, And all the peoples have seen His glory.”
These verses describe the awe and wonder we feel when we see lightning come from the sky to earth and everything lights up. If this is just a tiny expression of God through nature, we wonder just how powerful and majestic the Godhead is.
Spurgeon says,
“…the psalmist here describes God’s awe-inspiring and intimidating throne with God sitting in sovereign judgment over the entire universe. The throne is veiled in clouds and darkness, symbolizing that God reigns far above human sight and understanding. The clouds and darkness also serve as a shroud that conceals humanity from the radiant glory of God’s holiness. “On Sinai when God came down, there were ‘thundering’s and lightnings, and a thick cloud’ (Exodus 19:16). Not even Moses could see His face and live (Exodus 33:20).”
Verse 5 tells us that the hills melted like wax in the presence of the LORD. Nature knows its Creator and worships Him in its own way. We struggle to do anything with mountains, but God’s mere presence alone causes them to melt like wax.
However, the greatest event the world has ever seen was the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth. He lit up the earth with a huge blaze of light when He brought us the Gospel. Nothing like this had ever happened before and the world could never be the same again – nor could those who embrace Him as their Lord and Saviour.
The coming of the Kingdom has shaken the whole earth, crushed the kingdom of darkness and created a city on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14). It has produced a people that the world has never seen before. Peter describes it this way,
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9-10).
With the coming of the Holy Spirit, we gained the power to bring a demonstration of the Kingdom of God to this earth and bring much-needed change to a fallen world.
We need to point people to the God of the Bible: A God who loves humanity so much that He gave His only Son for our salvation, but as well as a loving Father He is also a consuming fire. All who reject Him will suffer the full measure of His fierce wrath. But those who know Him can work with Him and discover their true purpose in life.
Sometimes, when we have fears and doubts about the Lord, especially because we cannot see Him, we should remind ourselves that His Spirit lives within us and that He knows our every thought, fear and concern and will stop at nothing to bring us to a place of faith and life in Him.
True faith in Christ now sets the world on fire and rocks the nations to and fro. Walter Brueggemann says,
Psalm 97 is an invitation to reflect on the transformation wrought by God and the ethical possibility offered to us in that transformation.
Such reflection should lead us to courageous ethical action — to justice and righteousness, to the life that God intends. To settle for anything else is to miss the mark.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington