Yes! There is Good News! February 10. 2018

“Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious!” Psalm 66:1-2.

We continue to look at the Psalm we began last week. Let’s consider that last phrase “make His praise glorious!” Have you ever wondered how we might make our praise of God glorious? Well, the secret is in the word “glorious.” The Hebrew for this word is “Kabod” and it literally means “a great quantity or weight of a thing.” Many times in scripture we find it written that God has glory or that He is glorious. In Psalm 19:1 we read, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Have you ever looked up at the stars on a clear dark night? I cannot take my eyes off of them. If it’s summertime I just want to lie under the canopy of stars and experience the awesomeness of God’s creation.

The “great quantity” of stars gives us an inkling of the glory of God! I can praise God from my innermost being – yes, I can make His praise glorious.

Verse 3 & 4: “Say to God, ‘how awesome are your deeds!’ So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.” Here we are at the beginning of February, and if you are like me you can’t wait for the first daffodil to poke its head out of the ground; then come the tulips and the lilacs; then the clematis, and on and on the flowers continue. They give beauty to our eyes and precious scent to our noses. Oh the wonders of God’s creation – it’s no surprise that David desires all the earth to bow down before Him.

David continues in this Psalm by asking us to “Come and see what God has done, how awesome His works in man’s behalf!”

He reflects upon some of the awesome deeds that God did for David’s ancestors – the parting of the Red Sea for one, and he even praises God for some of the trials they and he went though. He says, “We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” It is not during good times that God teaches us the deep lessons of life. No, it is more often in the trials and problems of life that God teaches us the profound lessons and then brings us to that “place of abundance.”
 
These are the lessons that stay with us. These are the lessons that we must cherish. James tells us to “Count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be perfect and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

This Psalm 66 ends with the words, “Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!”

More good news to come – stay tuned!!