Reader: “The Lord is king!”
Response: “He is robed in majesty.”
Scripture: Psalm 93
The Lord is king! He is robed in majesty.
Indeed, the Lord is robed in majesty
and armed with strength.
The world stands firm
and cannot be shaken.
Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial.
You yourself are from the everlasting past.
The floods have risen up, O Lord.
The floods have roared like thunder;
the floods have lifted their pounding waves.
But mightier than the violent raging of the seas,
mightier than the breakers on the shore—
the Lord above is mightier than these!
Your royal laws cannot be changed.
Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever.
Reader: “The word of the Lord.”
Response: “Thanks be to God.”
Some thoughts:
Where do you put a psalm like this in the present day world? How do we connect with it? You begin by looking at the psalms surrounding it. We discover psalms 93, 97, & 99 all begin with the same phrase. Psalm 96 & 98 begin identically and 95 is very similar. This tells me that this group of psalms function somewhat as a whole, each shedding a slightly different light on the establishing of God’s kingdom. In Psalm 93 the psalmist is describing a coming kingdom firmly under the guiding hand of the eternal God. As we listen to the daily news, the psalm can seem all the more remote from reality. Yet, what it is describing is eternal versus the 24/7 news cycle. Do you remember any news stories from last week? There is a strength and stability in God’s kingdom that is unlike anything we have ever experienced. There are no updates with changes in leadership, changes in laws, changes in “mission, vision, and values,” terms so popular in our world! The middle part of the psalm refers to disasters caused by water. Think of Noah’s flood, the parting of the Red Sea, Jonah’s excursion to sea, Jesus stilling the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and Paul’s shipwreck off the island of Malta. Then we have the raging of modern day “seas.” Various epidemics and natural disasters come to mind rather quickly. Perspective check: “The Lord is mightier than these!” The psalmist is helping us stay focused on what is true and brought our present day into the psalm. He closes with another great word of affirmation and calming certainty; God’s basics don’t change. The rule and reign of the Lord is holy, perfect, and eternal. In the midst of great uncertainty in our world, be it employment, the stock market, world unrest, relational stress, political unrest, or personal discouragement, the Lord’s rule is unflinching, eternal, perfect, and holy. Friends, we have nothing to worry about. God is in charge. He is surprised by nothing and has power over everything. 24/7 is irrelevant to God. He is not on a clock. He is not in time, he’s in eternity and master of all that is.
Music: “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” Grace Community Church
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKP_XxCBDZY
Prayer:
Thou knowest, O Lord, the obstacles; Thou knowest I have not much strength in myself. Waves of strange waters roll over me, and the clouds hide the light. Take my hand, O Christ, but do Thou more than that. Give me power to triumph over these distresses and make them serve Thy high purpose. Let me face them honestly and fearlessly and change them, for Thine own sake. Amen.
―Floyd Tomkins, The Quiet Corner, p.69