Psalm
93
The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
Your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
Your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty!
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty!
Your decrees
are very trustworthy;
holiness befits your house,
O Lord, forevermore. (ESV)
holiness befits your house,
O Lord, forevermore. (ESV)
Psalm
93 is one of my favorite Psalms. I don’t know if you mark in your Bible, but I
mark in mine. Off to the side I wrote this a long time ago, “What a great Psalm
to pray to start any day.” Even today this statement holds true. The Psalm begins
the succession of what is called the “Theocratic Psalms” (Psalms 93-100) and
they are special because they are a collection of Psalms that declare the LORD reigns. Arthur Weiser states
Psalm 93, “Using terse and powerful
language, the hymn rushes along like the roaring water of which it speaks.”[1] What powerful imagery.
One of the looming questions of our day is
what signifies praise? What does God expect when praise is given to Him? The
issue has indeed become muddied with the movement of contemporary music. And
let me state here that this post isn’t necessarily about what music should be
sung in church. Rather, my focus is this Psalm and what is in our hearts when
we approach God with our praise.
I
think a good starting point as we look at Psalm 93 is its structure. Notice
just a few points. First, verse one begins with and verse four concludes with the LORD. The Psalmists brackets the
majority of the praise with one great reminder: God is indeed sovereign over
all creation. He is sovereign not only of the workings of creation itself, but
of our lives and of our hearts. God is all-powerful (omnipotent) and eternal. I
don’t know about you, but for me this one thought alone provokes praise within
my heart. How wonderful it is to know that I trust in the One True God who
reigns over all creation. How magnificent it is to realize that by His spoken
word everything is working, even my life, toward praising Him.
Second,
Psalm 93 gives us repetitions of the splendor of God. Notice the descriptive language
used of God being robed in majesty,
or clothed in majesty. God is
majestic. He possesses dignity, authority, grandeur, and might. Unlike the majesty
of earthly kings, God’s majesty and sovereignty are not just a show or display
of grandeur and strength. All too often, we approach God with hearts not set on
the fact of God being majestic in and of Himself. We tend to lean towards His “show,”
His blessings, His miracles, or His getting us out of trouble. The problem with
this is that it invokes in us a sense of putting on a “show” for God; that our
praise needs to be embellished, exaggerated, and entertaining; whether
corporate, or personal. When we approach God with our praise, our hearts need
to be in tune with the fact that God is worthy of our praise just for who He
is. God already has the attributes needed for our praise. He already has the
qualities for our praise. His throne is
established from of old, He is from everlasting. When we approach God
with our praise in this way, we come with a sense of reverence and awe that
ONLY God can claim for Himself. We come with knowing that God has always had
these attributes and will always have these attributes.
Finally,
what makes Psalm 93 a great Psalm to pray to start any day for me is the
imagery of the voice of praise. Soak
this in with me: The floods have lifted
up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their
roaring…. Many scholars take verses three and four as poetic descriptions
of a chaotic world. The seas and rivers are pictured to pound and rise with
their thunderous noise in rebellion against God. This may be true of a post-exilic
Psalm looking back to Babylon from which the Jewish people were released.
However, we must remember that the Old Testament is always looking forward to
the Redeemer who would come to free mankind eternally. So I agree with Barrick who
reminds us, “an alternative interpretation considers the pounding surf and
surging seas as great natural phenomena that reveal the Lord’s great power and
majesty. As awe-inspiring as the pounding surf can be as it breaks rocks and
carves the shore, God is even mightier.”[2]
Have you lifted up the Lord in this
manner, especially in light of Jesus Christ who is the Redeemer of our lives? The
praise aspect is not a charismatic contemporary music issue, per se. This is a
heart issue of standing before a mighty, powerful, awesome God who holds every
aspect of our being in His hands and despite our sinful wretchedness still
reaches down to save us and to call us His own. Our praise is to One who is mightier than the
sea, even in its most horrific tempest. Our praise is to God the Father, His
son Jesus Christ our Savior, and the Holy Spirit that brought creation into
being and continues to sustain it in God’s everlasting decree. Our praise is to
the One True God who is worthy of our praise for the Lamb that was slain for
our sins and is so powerful that He conquered death. Yes, indeed the rivers,
seas, and all creation roar to give
praise to God with their voice. Yet,
our voice should be roaring much more the louder. Our hearts should be praising
God. Every fiber of our being should be giving praise to the magnificence,
majesty and mightiness of God.
One final thought on verse 5 that states,
His decrees are trustworthy. Because
of who God is; we can always, always, always depend on Him. His Word is true.
He is Holy. There is nothing that is out of His control and nothing in His Word
that gives us false hope. Often when life is hard, we are in the valley of
despair, depression has set in, or worry is looming over us like a dark cloud;
we forget that the LORD is still reigning on His throne and our lives and
hearts lack praise. It is ultimately in these obscure times that we should be
praising God. It is in these times that His trustworthiness will hold true. It
is in these times that our faith is stretched beyond what we know and growth in
Christ abounds. CH Spurgeon once said, “"When we reach the hilltops of
heaven, and look back upon all the way whereby the Lord our God hath led us,
how shall we praise Him who, before the eternal throne, undid the mischief
which Satan was doing upon earth. How shall we thank Him because He never held
His peace, but day and night pointed to the wounds upon His hands, and carried
our names upon His breastplate!"
Yes, Psalm 93 gives me great encouragement
to praise God in reverential awe and with all my being. May it give you great
encouragement as well. May we, with the hymn, rush
along like the roaring water of which it speaks in our hearts and in our voices.
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