Psalm 99

NOTE: Mondays meditation was titled Psalm 96, when it should have been Psalm 97. My bad.

 

Reading for August 8, 2012       Psalm 99

Does familiarity breed contempt? When Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth, the people scoffed saying, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary.” They didn’t accept his teaching and “were deeply offended and refused to believe in him” (Mark 6: 1-4). They were too close to Jesus. How could this young man they had seen grow up in their community be the Messiah?

The writer of Hebrews strongly urges his congregation to remember “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29). In twenty-first century America, we would do well to contemplate this passage in Hebrews, and then read Psalm 99, lest we succumb to the contemptible nature of Nazareth and scoff at the Lordship of Jesus.

“The Lord is king!

    Let the nations tremble!

He sits on his throne between the cherubim.

    Let the whole earth quake!”

                                                                      Psalm 99:1

Four times in nine verses the psalmist refers to the holiness of God. Twice the psalmist urges Israel to “Exalt the Lord our God!” (v.5, 9) The psalmist extols God’s virtues of justice, fairness, righteousness, and forgiveness, and then calls Israel to worship, “for the Lord our God is holy!” (v.9)

Yes, in Christ we are now friends with God (Romans 5:10-11). Yes, in Christ we can call God, Abba Father. Yes, we are now heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus. (Romans 8:15-17)  Even so, The Lord is king; the Lord our God is holy!

On the next Lord’s Day, when we enter the sanctuary, will we be prepared to offer God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe? After all, “our God is a consuming fire.”

Sē’lah

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What word or phrase in today’s reading of the Psalms

 attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

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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.)

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Reading for August 9, 2012       Psalm 100