PSALM 98

A Psalm. Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory. 2 The LORD has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. 3 He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 4 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. 5 Sing to the LORD with the harp, With the harp and the sound of a psalm, 6 With trumpets and the sound of a horn; Shout joyfully before the LORD, the King. 7 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell in it; 8 Let the rivers clap [their] hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the LORD, 9 For He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, And the peoples with equity.

PSALM 98:1-9

LET THE HILLS BE JOYFUL

I’m not a mechanic, but I’ve done some mechanic work on my vehicles. My mechanical knowledge of things is limited to a wifi router and Youtube. Yet by God’s grace, there are a few things that have gone wrong on my vehicles that I’ve been able to order a part for and fix. There is no greater moment of satisfaction for me than when what was broken comes roaring back to life and everything works just like it should!

The world has been broken by sin and the curse! Humanity has fallen and it has tainted every level of creation. When those who are made in the image of God are broken, all of creation is broken. What would it look like for the curse to be gone and for all creation to work as it is supposed to again? This series of Psalms has been hinting about God’s worthiness, His justice (He is the one to fix it) and His Salvation (only he can restore what is broken).

This series of Psalms that calls out for everyone, everywhere to praise God! God is worthy of all our praise! We were made for His worship and His glory! All of creation was made for His glory! When everything is set back right, even the hills will be joyful (I picked out this line because my last name is hill and so it has a double meaning).

I saw a lot of brokenness this weak, held hands of the hurting, prayed for the grieving, tasted the bitter salt stream from my eyes as I wept with those who were weeping. The one thing that gave me great hope in the midst of an otherwise difficult week was that God is on His throne and He’s going to fix this mess we are in. He’ll rid the world of sin (Either through the blood of Christ or banishment into a place called Hell) and bring all things into a glorious order. He’ll wipe away those tears (Revelation 21:4). The Psalmist looks forward to the day when the whole earth has a rightly ordered praise (a new heaven and a new earth)! Paul wrote about the burden all of creation was in due to sin in the New Testament as well. We are all longing for that day!

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected [it] in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only [that], but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for [it] with perseverance.

Romans 8:18-25

PRAYER

Father, Oh Lord what a day of rejoicing that will be when all things are made right and new in you! I am so grateful for your amazing grace in my own life! You are worthy of all praise honor and glory! Give us strength when the days are long and dark and we don’t immediately feel joy in our heart. Help us to seek you, trust you, cling to you in the midst of our tragic moments knowing that the final chapters haven’t happened yet. Give us great hope in you on the days of adversity. Let us sing with joy and call for all creation to respond to your goodness. A goodness that we have just tasted for now, but will experience in a fuller way later. We cling to you in hope. We trust in your promised. We drink deeply of your grace and we proclaim ever more, you are worthy! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

I’m reading and blogging the Psalms Through The Summer. I’d love for you to join me. You can find out a little more here.