God Reigns
I’d like to look at Psalm 97 this week, and I pray that God is going to really reveal Himself to us as we do.
Go and read the Psalm by yourself! I don’t have time to read it now, but really I’d encourage you to read the whole thing to see where we’re headed.
God Reigns Over Everything
It starts with these words: “The Lord reigns.” (Psalm 97:1) And just stop and think about that for a moment: God reigns.
Often in the sporting world, when somebody is number 1 for a long time, the commentators will say “they reign at number 1”. Now consider how much greater God’s reign is than the reign of a sports star or somebody at the top of their field. God is infinitely greater.
He reigns not in any specific field, but He reigns over everything, over the whole earth, over the whole universe. He is in charge. He is King. He’s wonderful.
And I hope that this Psalm this week will give us a big view of God.
A God of Power and Majesty
Go down to verses 3 through to 6, and we read:
“Fire goes before Him
and consumes His foes on every side.
His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim His righteousness,
and all peoples see His glory.” (Psalm 97:3-6)
Now even if somebody reigns over a country or over their industry, there’s only One who makes the mountains melt like wax! There’s only One whose righteousness is proclaimed by the heavens! There’s only One who consumes His foes with fire! There’s only One who lights up the world with His lightning!
Seeing and Trembling
And as verse 4 said, the earth sees and trembles. I hope that we haven’t lost our ability to tremble before God. Not that we need to be terrified of His punishment or anything like that, but I hope we never forget the power and the majesty and the greatness of this God!
I think sometimes the modern church forgets to present this side of God, or decides not to. And that’s a shame, because to get a full picture of the true God, we must always remember that He is extremely powerful and absolutely without comparison.
And in fact, knowing that makes Jesus’ ministry even more spectacular! The fact that Jesus reconciles us to this great God is an absolute wonder.
So as you go into your day, don’t toy with God, but respect Him as the wonderful Creator of the universe. And love Him for loving you, because even this great mighty God who reigns has offered you His love through His Son, Jesus.
God invites us to voice our complaints to Him honestly, not to hide our struggles behind pretence. Bring your anger, frustration, and questions to God today, trusting that He is big enough to handle your honesty and still love you.