The poetry of this psalm is beautiful and what it says is even more beautiful! I wish we could do a voice recording to get a sense of the rhythm and the poetry. As with so many of the psalms the thoughts are often in couplets; the main thought and then something to add to or enforce that thought, as in verse 1…
“The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty: The Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength.”
So the Lord is glorious…and he is mighty in power. As an aside, what we are robed in is what covers us, what people see of us, it made me think about people’s impressions of us, what do they see? And one day we will have white robes…
Back to the couplets…
“The world is firmly established: it cannot be moved. Your throne was established long ago: you are from all eternity.”
What a picture for us - when we look at governments rising and falling, when we worry about the uncertainty of the future and think that the world and its leaders have all gone mad - there is a higher throne. We rise to soar with Christ to the heavenly realms and see a different picture; a perfect, glorious King and a perfect rule, a King with power and strength who holds all things in his hands. I chose this painting of Trevor’s, which has been used on a previous blog, because it sums it up; the world that seems so big and out of control to us, like a ball in God’s safe and loving hands. Here we get a glimpse of eternity; this throne and God himself has been secure from ages past and will stand secure for ever.
Having just been to Littlehampton on a windy day and seen the waves rolling in and pounding on the shore, I love the imagery of the middle section (verses 3 and 4). How amazing that the poetry and beautiful imagery has withstood translation! You can actually hear the waves in these 3 line stanzas:
“The seas have lifted up, O Lord [wave forming]
the seas have lifted up their voice [wave rises]
the seas have lifted up their pounding waves [wave crashes and disperses to nothing]”
And then the next one comes:
“Mightier than the thunder of great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea –
the Lord on high is mighty”
The seas were often thought of as the unknown force of evil which may threaten to overwhelm us but we are reminded that nothing is outside God’s control, he is ultimately in charge! This also speaks to me of the way difficulties and anxieties rear their heads suddenly, we can’t tell when and where they come from, but the Lord on high is mightier than these. Whatever we are going through or may have to face, the Lord on high is mightier than these.
The psalm ends with a reminder that God’s statutes are unshakeable and holy, his laws are set in stone (as the 10 commandments were originally!). What a picture of God’s house, his dwelling place, decorated with holiness; wherever we look we see holiness and it is beautiful! And he reigns for ever.
If God is God, we don’t have a choice to make him how we want – we have a choice to bow to him and give our lives to him or to reject him – how thankful I am for our great and glorious God whose reign is perfect and who holds all things in his hands!
Lord I give my life to you again – I relinquish all my control and worries and fear and hand over to your perfect and loving control… I am safe in your hands.
Comments