Psalm 96
October 22, 2023
We worship you our Father, our Son, and our Holy Spirit. We pray to you our Father, our Son, and our Holy Spirit. We are in awe of you, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Strength and beauty are in your sanctuary. Our churches and cathedrals are great, but real strength and beauty is found in the presence of the Lord. Dwelling in your presence generates praise and worship to you our creator, not created things.
All other gods are worthless idols. The god of hoarding money is a worthless idol. The god of frugal money management is a worthless idol. The god of consumption is a worthless idol. The god of vacation is a worthless idol. The god of working hard is a worthless idol. The god of family is a worthless idol. The god of beauty is a worthless idol. The god of pleasing my earthly boss is a worthless idol. The god of me doing whatever makes me happy is a worthless idol. All other gods are worthless idols.
The Lord reigns!
The Lord reigns, Let the heavens be glad, let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! We worship you, not worthless idols.
(The splendor of holiness)
Lord forgive us for dwelling on earthly things you created, instead of dwelling on you. You are holy. No one else is holy. Many of our earthly leaders are not holy. We pray for them right now. The idol of money or power drives some leaders to make decisions that benefit a small minority to the detriment of many people. We pray for the oppressed and the downtrodden. We pray for those enslaved into human trafficking, where people are bought and sold and abused.
We pray for the cultural and political war in our own country. We pray for the war in Ukraine. We pray for the war in Israel. We pray for people in closed countries where government prohibits worship of you. May your kingdom come, may it come quickly. And in this present age, we look to you, our source of hope and our source of peace.
There is so much un-holiness. When we see sin for the sin that it is, our hearts break, and at times we feel angry. It is good that we don’t like sin. We are reminded that we are sinful too. We all deserve judgement. And the last verse of this Psalm says “He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.” This promise of judgement is re-assuring, and it is sobering. Because even though our earthly life is temporary we know your judgement is eternal. Eternal conscious punishment, or eternity with you our Lord and Savior. And because Your word gives us insights into eternity, our lives today can be radically transformed to live in peace. And we have the amazing privilege of sharing you, our source of peace, with our family, friends, and people around us.
Thank you for our opportunity to come together this Sunday to remind ourselves of your good news. Help us to lean into our friendships to remind each other throughout the week. Help us cultivate deeper friendships where we encourage and spur one another on in faith.
Lord come quickly,
And all God’s people say, Amen.