"For He is coming..."
Psalm 98:9
So I was just sitting there yesterday, enjoying Psalm 98... It's a lovely psalm, of singing and praise... of salvation and righteousness and mercy and faithfulness...
And then suddenly, the psalm opens up, with words like joyful and rejoice. "Sing to the Lord with the harp... with trumpets and the sound of a horn; shout joyfully before the Lord, the King." And I just rode the wave of worship.
And then the psalm took another turn; one that made me smile. "Let the sea roar, and all its fullness... Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord..." It echoed my thoughts from just a few days ago, about all of God's creation praising Him.
And then, the psalm surprised me, with verse 9. It's the "why" of the psalm ~ "For He is coming to judge the earth." For a second, I thought, "Judgement, how can that be something to celebrate?" I mean, who wants to be judged?
But then I thought, "We're talking about God here." That makes all the difference. No, I don't want to judged by anyone in my life. I don't even want to be judged by myself. But He is the perfect combination of mercy and justice. He knows our thoughts, and our actions, but He also knows our hearts.
In addition, He is our defender. He sees the wrong done to His children, and He will take action. He will punish those who need punishing, and forgive those who confess and repent. It's a beautiful combination. And it's a reason to sing.
~ "I said in my heart,
'God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
For there is a time for every purpose and every work.' " ~
Ecclesiastes 3:17
~
No comments:
Post a Comment