Psalm 92

Bible Passage:  Psalm 92

Psalm 92 is a celebration of God’s righteous rule.

It starts off with the introduction on praise (vv. 1-3).

It is good to praise God.  And make music.  Proclaiming God’s love in the morning and faithfulness at night.  To the accompaniment of instruments so that our praises can truly be heard.

Verses 4 and 5 tells us the motivation of our praises…

We are glad because of the deeds of God.  We sing for joy at the great works of the Lord’s hands.  We marvel at the profound thoughts of God.

Verses 10-11 adds a few more reasons where God has exalted us and defeated our enemies.

There is a contrast of the folly and destiny of evildoers in verses 6-9 versus the flourishing righteous (vv. 12-15).

What does this tell me today?

Praising means more than verbally pronouncing praise!  For us to live in ways consistent with God’s character implies that we live up to His name and thus praise it.

And what better way and day to praise God than on the Sabbath.  You will note that Psalm 92 is titled “A Song for the Sabbath Day”.

What is it like for us on the Sabbath?  Do we drag our feet when we come to church?  Are we filled with anticipation and expectation as we come nearer to the house of God?  Or are we already thinking about what we are going to do after Church service before we even arrive?

The Psalmist was filled with joy, hope and optimism.  He extolled the greatness of God and His goodness and mercy.

What is the purpose of the Sabbath?  It is a day that God has set aside for rest and worship of Him.  It is a day for rejoicing and prayer and refocusing our lives on Jesus.

If we ignore the Sabbath, then Saturday just becomes another day in a two day weekend.  And we will start to fill the day with other things and soon we have no time for God.

When worship becomes our pattern of behavior, the other things become less important.

I also like verses 12-15…

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³ Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
¹⁵ To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him

I met a lady from Lebanon and I took the opportunity to ask her about the cedars of Lebanon.  She told me that it is really something very wonderful about the cedar of Lebanon that she has not found in any other tree around the world.  The cedars grow tall and sturdy and gives off a kind of fragrance that she could not quite describe except to say that it really is the pride and treasure of Lebanon.

And here the Psalmist is saying that the righteous shall growl like a cedar in Lebanon. Not only that!  We will flourish in the courts of God and still bear fruit in our old age.

There is a need for us as we praise God to be righteous.  Not in the self righteous way but in the way that our God is – there is no wickedness found in Him.

May we all truly praise God with both our lips and with our lives.