The BBC online website last week carried a piece of news which is relevant in some way to today's psalm . It read like this - “ …. a convicted businessman who donated £2.4m to the Liberal Democrats has said it was the "stupidest" thing he has ever done in his life. Michael Brown made the payment - a record sum for the party - in 2005. He now admits that he was motivated by a misguided desire to impress people, thinking they would respect him if he was a "larger-than-life character" - and by a craving to be rich ...“
What struck me when I read this was Mr Brown's summary of the cause of his downfall. He confessed that he was “motivated by a misguided desire to impress people” because he thought that respect would come through that. And this is not an isolated case in our world today. Many of us seek self approbation and are sometimes willing to go to any extent to get it. This explains why social media is an enticing favourite in our society.
In contrast, psalm 96 presents a different picture for us, not of any man but of God, our God who does not need to impress people. He is the Creator God. Psalm 96 is a call to worship the Lord and be a witness for Him. The psalmist enjoins us to sing to the Lord a new song, to make His name famous, to tell everyone how wonderful He is and also tell them about all the amazing things He has done and still doing in our lives.
The psalmist not only encourages us to worship God in vs 1 -3 , he also gives us the reason why we should worship Him in vs 4. God is praiseworthy ! Vs 4 says that the Lord's greatness is beyond description, deserving all the praise that comes to Him and that other gods (and mankind ) are absolutely worthless when compared to God.
Christiano Ronaldo has 121 million online followers, people who follow him because he is a famous footballer. Ronaldo hasn't done any fantastic deeds that no footballer has ever done. If a finite being like Ronaldo has 121 million followers, why wouldn't the almighty God have every living being in the world follow Him? What does Ronaldo or any other superstar have that they have not received? So why should any man be prideful? Vs 7 says for all nations and peoples to surrender to the Lord all their pride and strength.
The mission of the church is to call all peoples from every nation to worship God, and as followers of the Lord Jesus, we have a duty as stated in vs 10 -13 , to tell the nations that our God rules over all. It isn't the UN that rules, or the US, or the UK , or Japan or China, it is the Lord. And the best part is that He treats everyone fair and square, there is no injustice with Him. Compare His fairness to the massive injustice that looms high in every fabric of our degenerated society.
As children of God, we should be comforted that our father is the judge of the world and that he will always do what is right and can be trusted to always do what is fair. That is the image of the God who deserves maximum praise. No where is God's justice seen like at the cross where he poured our sins on the Lord Jesus Christ and he was judged for our sins, so that by believing in Jesus Christ, we may have eternal life. If we reject this free gift of eternal life, then we shall face God's wrath.
The psalmist calls all creation - the skies, the earth, the oceans, the fields, the trees in the forests to join in to sing joyous praise to God. Oh! what a wonderful spectacle that would be, to see trees praising God. As Christians, we should be enormously challenged by that. We who have His breath in our nostrils should give him praise all the time. The big question is – do we really worship God ? Are we doing it enough? Or are our lives wrapped up in self approbation and self glory?
Prayer :
Dear God, please help us to be a thankful people and people who ascribe praise to you alone .Please grant us the grace to follow you faithfully. We do not just want to be the followers of men like Ronaldo who are mere mortals like us, we want to follow you, the Lord God who wears the splendour of holiness.
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