Sing Praises To God

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

September 7, 2022

Sing Praises To God

 

Sing praises to God, sing praises;

sing praises to our King, sing praises!

For God is the King over all the earth.

Praise him with a psalm.

Psalm 47:6-7

Plato said, “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” I wish that was not true, but it is and it will be, until Christ comes again in final victory over the forces of evil. The Book of Psalms presents the reality of living in a world fractured and broken by sin. The psalms do not hide or deny sin, evil and a world hostile to God. The Bible teaches us that we do not have to sink into despair in the face of this reality because, “. . . we are more than conquerors through (Christ) who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Psalm 47 is a battle psalm written to praise God before the battle, within the battle, and after the victory. The Bible contains many examples where the Israelites put the formula of the psalmist into practice. Perhaps the classic illustration of this is the story of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. Prior to the battle, the people went to God in a prayer of trust and praise: “O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help” (2 Chronicles 20:12).

As the King led his people into battle, they went forth “singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: “Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful love endures forever!” (2 Chronicles 20:21)

Then, “On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked the Lord there. It is still called the Valley of Blessing today” (2 Chronicles 20:26).

Although few of us have tasted war and we have not experienced the physical battle of the psalmist, we all experience spiritual battles. The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 6, teaches us that the Holy Spirit has equipped us with spiritual armor for battle. With the testimony of the unseen cloud of witnesses surrounding us, (Hebrews 12) we too can go forth singing,

“Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful love endures forever!”

2 Chronicles 20:21 

My Takeaway: In addition to our spiritual battles, humankind, in their fallen state, apart from new birth in Christ, are living in total depravity and causing most of the ills we encounter each day. Even so,

“the Lord Most High is awesome.

    He is the great King of all the earth.

He subdues the nations before us,

    putting our enemies beneath our feet.” Psalm 47:2-3

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.