Psalm 99:9 Holy God

Psalm 99: 9 Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.

Psalm 99 calls for fear and for worship that exalts him. Let the nations tremble it says. More than one reason is given for this (The LORD reigns, ... he is Great in Zion and exalted over all the nations ... his name is awesome ... The King is mighty, he loves justice ... he hears prayer and speaks ... and is a forgiving God, though he punishes misdeeds.) The chief thing, however, is his holiness. Three times it says he is holy. In verse 3 we read  Let them praise your great and awesome name - he is holy. Verse 5 I similar, Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. Verse 9 acts as a sort of summary of the whole - Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy. Perhaps these other characteristics - sovereignty, greatness, might, justice, hearing, speaking forgiving, punishing - can be thought of as aspects of his holiness. Such characteristics plead that he should be feared and honoured. His holy mountain is no longer confined to one place but is everywhere. The important thing is that he is exalted and worshipped for he is holy.

Psalm 98:1 New Songs

Psalm 98:1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

Headed A Psalm, Psalm 98 begins with a call to Sing to the Lord a new song. The occasion for this new song is not given in any detail but in some way The Lord had again made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations ... remembering his love and his faithfulness to Israel. In so doing he added to the effect that has meant that all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God entailing that there should be a worldwide response. And so the psalm says (4) Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with harp and voice, trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn. Things are then taken one step further as he speaks of the animate and inanimate creation rejoicing too - the sea resounding and everything in it ... rivers clapping their hands, ... mountains singing together for joy. All this is an anticipation of the final new song that will be sung at the end when God will come to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. Thus the new song of eternity and the new songs we sing today when we see God act in wonderful ways are linked. He does marvellous things and will continue to do so. He alone works salvation for himself. This is seen in part today but will be seen fully at the end of time.

Psalm 97:9 Most High

Psalm 97:9 For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

The opening phrase of Psalm 97 is The Lord reigns. It is this fact that is celebrated in the psalm, along with the justice of that reign. It begins by speaking of his reign over the pagan world (1-6) and concluding (7) All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols— worship him, all you gods!  It goes on to speak of the joy his reign brings to the people of God (Zion) and calls on them to respond by living righteous lives and praising him. He reigns over the pagan world by showing himself in the lightning storm. He comes surrounded by clouds and thick darkness  ... Fire going before him and consuming his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. These are only examples of his general revelation but together they proclaim his righteousness, and all peoples see his glory. His own people also see it, even more clearly and know, as verse 9 declares that the Lord, the true God, is the Most High over all the earth; he is exalted far above all gods. The suggestion is not that there are many gods and that the Lord is number one. Rather, even given the pagan view of things, the Lord nevertheless shows himself to be the Most High in fact. We must respond by hating evil, trusting in him and rejoicing with praise.

Psalm 58:3

Psalm 58:3 Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

In this psalm by David the point is made not only that men and women are wicked by nature but that the problem starts while they are still in the womb. There is still a widespread belief that children are born innocent but then the corruptions of this world get to them and they become wicked. That is not the case. As David says, rather it is from birth that the wicked staert going astray, it is even while they are still in the womb that their waywardness starts, the kying and the deceit. This is the same teaching as in Psalm 51:5 where David says Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. As Jesus says flesh gives birth to flesh. This is the doctrine of original sin, which states that human beings, simply by being born, inherit a tainted nature and a proclivity to sinful conduct and so ar ein need of regeneration. The 1689 Confession following The Westminster Confession reminds us how Adam and Eve "being the root, and by God's appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free." It also says that "From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled and made opposite to all good and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions."

Psalm 57:8 Soul Awake

Psalm 57:8 Awake, my Soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.

Like the body, the soul needs to be awakened. It needs stirring. There is a hint here that in Psalm 57 that it is best awakened first thing in the morning. The reference in this verse to harps and lyres reminds us that the thing that the soul needs to be awakened to is praise, the praise of God. So easily we can forget the importance of praise and let the day go by without so much as a whisper of praise to God. As God's creatures and especially as redeemed creatures we mjust not allow that to happen. Rather be awake in your oul and praise God at all times, beginning as soon as you can in the day.

Psalm 56:13 Therefore Walk

Psalm 56:13 For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Here is another psalm of David and one to be sung. It was written when the Philistines had seized David at Gath. If you read about what happened in Gath (see 1 Samuel 21) you may think that David would simply wany yo forget about the whole affair. But no. This psalm recalls what David considers a great deliverance. Here in this verse we have a statement about that deliveancce and the reason behind why it is so. The statement is that God has delivered David from death and his feet from stumbling. The reason God has done that for him is so that he may walk before God in the light of Life. The application would be that if we too have been delivered from death and our feet from stumbling then we also must walk before God in the light of Life each day.

Psalm 55:9, 10 City Prayer

Psalm 55:9, 10 Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words for, I see violence and strife in the city. Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it.

Like the previous psalm, Psalm 55 is by David and is to be sung but there is no indication as to when he wrote it. It is a prayer offered up, however, in great distress and anxiety. At this point the prayer is that the Lord will confound and confuse the wicked. It is a prayer of imprecation, a sort of prayer that we often find in the psalms. There is still a place for prayers of imprecation today as still today in the city we see violence and strife and there is malice and abuse. Day and night evil people prowl about everywhere. Pray for the defeat of evil then. Pray against the devil and against all who promote evil. pray the prayer we have here, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.