(Psalm 97:1-12) The Lord reigns, may the earth rejoice;
May the many islands be joyful.2 Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
3 Fire goes before Him
And burns up His enemies all around.
4 His lightning lit up the world;
The earth saw it and trembled.
5 The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples have seen His glory.
7 May all those be ashamed who serve carved images,
Who boast in idols;
Worship Him, all you gods.
8 Zion heard this and was joyful,
And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced
Because of Your judgments, Lord.
9 For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.
10 Hate evil, you who love the Lord,
Who watches over the souls of His godly ones;
He saves them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown like seed for the righteous,
And gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Be joyful in the Lord, you righteous ones,
And praise the mention of His holy name.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
Too many people only focus in on the fact that God is love. Why is this wrong? Well, if anyone limits the Lord to only this one trait, and let's even add that He is compassionate... this would imply that He is not going to do anything about evil. This would imply that He would not even care about sin. This even implies that He would embrace sin. Which would mean that we would be left to our own thinking, preferences, judgments, and strength, which would only create in us a critical spirit, prejudices, animosity, worry, anxiety, fear, panic...
Yes, God is love, but He is also holy and righteous and cannot have a relationship with sin. The Lord is also fair and just, and will deal with sin and evil. Although, He doesn't want to judge us based on sin, and desires that all come to know Him. Therefore, because we are all born into sin and death, and because He is love, He came to earth in flesh to take on all the punishment that we deserve.
Jesus has already paid the price to redeem anyone who accepts His free gift of salvation. As soon as we put our faith in Him, He saves us from sin, and clothes us in His righteousness, so we can experience His joy, peace and love! Therefore, as we love the Lord, we are to hate sin and evil. It would be a betrayal to the Lord God to love something that He suffered and died for. And as we love the Lord, we are to love all people. It would be a betrayal to God, since He loves all people, and suffered and died for everyone!
We are also commanded to be joyful!!! Because the Lord will take care of evil, we are not to fear or worry about any of this. It would be a betrayal to the Lord to think that we are to fret and manage these things, since we are to trust in the Lord - not in ourselves or someone or something else. And, we can trust in the Lord because He is sovereign: omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Therefore, our focus can and should be to seek after Him and be filled with the joy of the Lord. Our purpose is to joyfully praise His holy name and declare His righteousness!
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