Please read Psalm 98 (9 verses)

We are asked in this Psalm to sing a new song to the Lord. The new song is the sweet song of salvation to God who has done wonderful things in bringing about the salvation of the world, which He has accomplished by His own righteous efforts, and not ours. This salvation is clearly revealed in the Word of the Lord and none are left with excuses that it was not obvious. Our inner voice of conscience witnesses to us of the law of God, that we have broken it and restitution must be made. God has revealed His way of free and full deliverance from sin, even by the way He deals with His people, Israel. The nations of the world see it and understand this great salvation. But the deliberations of modern philosophy has muddied the waters of thinking and caused much distress in the collective human psyche. We believe God is no more and we are free agents to do as we please. But God is still calling people out of this mindset and bringing them to repentance and faith.

Let us shout for joy to the Lord! Let our hearts rise up in holy and heartfelt worship to our God and rejoice in the depths and the breadth of the love that has procured such a salvation for our souls. Let us use the instruments of praise to help us to rejoice and give full expression to our love for God and what He has done.

Let the physical features of our world magnify the Lord as they sing to Him. The sea and the dry land and all who live there, let them raise holy hands to the Lord who made them. Let the rivers and the mountains sing together with joy. Let all sing before the Lord who will return to bring justice and equity to all the peoples.

Please read Psalm 97 (12 verses)

It is an abiding blessing to us as people, that the Lord reigns. If He does not reign, then we are nothing. If the Lord is not in control, then we are in a most vulnerable state. It is He who keeps us all and provides lovingly for all He has made. He decides our blessing and our trouble and has promised to protect His faithful ones. This does not mean we are shielded from difficulties but are protected by His grace from the ravages of them.

The whole earth shouts of the glory of God and the distant shores rejoice. Clouds surround Him and holy fire goes out against all those who pit themselves against Him. He sends the thunder and lightning which frightens, and the mighty mountains melt like wax before Him. Everyone sees His wonderful works of creation and we are left without excuse to magnify His name as the Creator God.

Similarly with spiritual life. We see the mighty deliverance of the Lord in the salvation of souls, brought back to life from the pit of death and made alive to God and His goodness. We see the falsehood in the idols of our age or culture and that they are dead and unable to rescue us from spiritual slavery.

The people redeemed by God rejoice in Him and lift His victorious name high in their praises. They see the handiwork of the Lord and see that He is holy. They know they are delivered from the evil of their own hearts and now delight in the righteousness of the Lord, exalting His name above all and recognising that the Lord guards their souls forever.

Please read Psalm 96 (13 verses)

We are constrained to sing the new song, the song of the salvation of God, which He has brought to realty through the Lord Jesus Christ. The new song reverberates through the whole created world, day after glorious day. The marvellous works of the Lord are celebrated before the peoples of the world. The Lord is calling in the kingdom of His people and this is the reason the world continues. He is calling people to repentance and faith in Christ, to have hearts made right with himself and souls that are alive to the Holy Spirit.

The Lord alone is great for He is above all the other gods that we construct, which are not gods, but useless idols that we look to for strength and help. There is only help in the Lord, who has made everything and who radiates strength, majesty and glory. We find these manifest in His holy sanctuary and respond in worship. We experience it through His salvation on a daily basis.

We worship this Lord in the splendour of His holiness and come into His presence with our sacrifices of praise. All the families of the earth will be blessed as they come to Him and ascribe to Him the glory due to His name. We know in our inner hearts that the Lord is real and we must tremble before Him for His works sake. He upholds the whole earth and judges the people of earth fairly as the merciful judge.

Let the whole earth rejoice before His throne. May heaven and earth resound with His praises, the seas and the fields, alike proclaiming His everlasting power. The trees of the forest sing for joy at the justice of the Lord as He makes sentence on the peoples of the earth, judging with righteousness and faithfulness, bringing many saints to glory and the knowledge of Him.

Please read Psalm 95 (11 verses)

The remedy for all our ills is to lift our voices in a shout of praise to the Lord our rock and the rock of our Salvation. We extol Him in all kinds of music, in song and with many instruments of praise. The Lord deserves all our worship for He is the great God of the depths of the earth and the mountain heights. Our only appropriate response to Him is to kneel before Him in reverence and contrition and to worship Him as the people under His merciful care. 

When we hear the Lord calling us, we do not harden our hearts as we are prone to do, or like the children of Israel at various points in their wilderness wandering. We trust the Lord implicitly and sanctify ourselves for His glory. There is no one like Him and no one who should have our praises like Him. 

The people of the past have tested the patience of the Lord and have complained and demanded gifts from Him, so His anger has been lifted up against them. We must learn from them and give our Lord due honour and the dignity of His name by trusting Him and waiting on His time to bless us. The wandering tribes of Israel failed to magnify the Lord and so He refused them the rest in the promised land. We must learn for that error and earnestly seek Him and trust Him to bring us safely home to heaven no matter what trouble this life brings to us. 

Please read Psalm 94 (23 verses)

The psalmist in this Psalm, deals with the ungodly. As Christian people we have no truck with retribution or vengeance. These belong to God alone, for only He is just. The psalmist asks that God will rise up and judge the ungodly and put justice as the centre of our world. He points out the wickedness of those who forget God and think that He does not see and know their evil thoughts and deeds. They crush the needy and oppress the people of God, pouring out arrogant words and filling their lips with boasting.

The writer calls these recalcitrant people senseless people who do not think straight. God made the ears, the eyes, the feet and He knows the outcome from the fruits of their activities and what they produce. The wicked think their plans will last forever, but God understands the futility of all their works.

In contrast, God teaches the upright in heart by discipline and His holy law. He permits them to see trouble and hardship, but also provides relief for them. The present status quo will not last forever and judgment will be once again founded on righteousness. God will never let His people suffer for no reason, and will deliver them.

The psalmist sees the need to stand against the wicked and make a protest about the injustice that he sees and experiences. He knows he would have surely failed if the Lord had not upheld him through the oppression. When all hope seemed to be gone, then the Lord stepped in and rescued him. When his inner life was full of anxiety, the Lord calmed him and taught him to deal with it. The writer knows that oil and water do not mix, and neither does good and bad, justice and selfishness. The days of the wicked are limited and the Lord will conquer all the strongholds of the enemy and bring in days of righteousness again. The innocent will not always suffer for the Lord is a rock that ever stands secure, and a refuge for all the distressed.

Please read Psalm 93 (5 verses)

The holiness of the Lord is majestic and He reigns throughout all the eternal kingdom of all His saints. The earth is His and everything in it, the planets in the solar system, the milky way galaxy and all the many galaxies that stretch for aeons of light years from our standpoint in every direction. He is robed in majesty like the heavens that He has adorned and He keeps the systems in place and makes our home planet safe and secure.

As they had a beginning when the Creator God made them, so He himself had no beginning and has been there and continues to be there for all eternity. No one touches His majestic power and authority and He stands supreme over all the universe and heavens above into the realm of eternity. Nothing escapes Him and burying our head in the sand and pretending we don’t see Him, or His works, is no good.

We hear the thunder of His voice in the crashing and turmoil of the mighty ocean. Nothing can stop the tide from ebbing and flowing, and neither can the holy will of the Maker be thwarted. He is majestic above all majesty, including human majesty and the glory of the created orders.

As the breakers of the sea relentlessly crash against the shoreline, so His relentless love and justice can never be stopped, tamed or diminished. His glorious statutes remain through all the generations of humans that have ever lived. They are written in the holy Word of God and inscribed on the psyche of the human genome. His holiness adorns everything He does, for He alone stands in eternity and demands and deserves our praise.

Please read Psalm 92 (15 verses)

When we ponder the great works of the Almighty God it makes us happy. When we see increasingly clearly His majesty and holiness it is a remedy for all sorrow. If we would but look to Him, it would gladden our hearts in the morning and fill us full of joy in the evening. We would take up our instruments of praise and worship His holy name. We would continually seek to identify His mercies as we go through the day and have opportunity to praise and worship.

When we consider the joy of salvation our heart begins to soar. As we understand and think on what God has provided for our souls, and the eternity prepared for us, our whole being is constrained to magnify the Lord. The goodness of the deeds of the Lord and His profound thought toward us make us rejoice in who He is. We magnify His person and our psyche responds with true, heartfelt joy. The wicked may spring up and seek to destroy our peace and joy, but in our Lord, nothing can make us afraid or doubt His goodness.

The righteous flourish like the trees of the forest and are planted in the house of the Lord, like the Cedars of Lebanon. God cares for us and gives us freedom like the wild animals of the earth, who look only to Him to fill their needs. God feeds them and us and pours the oil of the blessing of the Holy Spirit over our life.

In old age we stay vibrant and bright. The sicknesses of this life will not overly trouble us, as we rejoice and continue to use the power God bestows on our being. We continue to proclaim the goodness of the Lord, His holiness and power, and the complete lack of injustice or wickedness in His ways.

Please read Psalm 91 (16 verses)

Those people who live their lives in the shelter of God’s provision will be at rest. There is no striving there, only settled trust. God will be an everlasting protection against those who try to hurt us, trap us and bring us down. God will cover us, just like a bird would cover her chicks, and that is the place of true comfort and peace. We will not fear the tragedies of life that happen daily, nor will we succumb to the terrors of the night. God will be our abiding refuge and personal safe keeper of our lives and souls.

We will watch others who are wicked and full of unbelief, giving way to sorrow and sin and never being able to overcomes the trouble in life. It is a pity to see so many fall down when the remedy, our loving God, is so near at hand and so willing to undertake for us. The Lord would gladly gather us, but we will not give Him our love and faith.

If we make the Lord our refuge, we will not be shaken and nothing will happen in our life that will finally bring us down, or that is outside of God’s will for us. He will never let us be tested beyond what we can bear and in the testing will build our faith in Him and our devotion to our Saviour, Jesus. God will send His angels to help us and keep us in all circumstances, which is a great and heavenly blessing, but we also possess the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and teaches us every good way. God promises we will do mighty deeds of faith and love when we are under His reign.

When we love God, the promises to us are rich and deep. Those who acknowledge His name as sacred, will be rescued and delivered from all foes. God will deliver us from all trouble and lift us up and make us great in His kingdom. Our crowning glory will be the salvation, which we possess through Christ and all that He has done for us.