Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

In Psalm 97, God shows up in a storm and earthquake, like he did at Mt. Sinai when he gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The psalm says:
  The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; 
     let the distant shores rejoice. 
  Clouds and thick darkness surround him; 
    righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
  Fire goes before him
    and consumes his foes on every side.
  His lightning lights up the world;
    the earth sees and trembles (vv. 1-4). 

Exodus tells us that when the commandments were given, “There was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain. . . . Mount Sinai was covered with smoke. . . and [the mountain] trembled violently” (Exo 19:16, 18). Here, in Psalm 97, God uses similar special effects, as he comes to the temple in Jerusalem to establish Zion as the seat of his kingdom, and to rule the nations of the earth.        

God’s rule brings Israel security, good government, and joy. He plans the same for other nations, to deliver them from false gods and injustice. The poet says:
  Zion hears and rejoices [at your coming, God],
      and the villages of Judah are glad
      because of your judgements (v. 8).
   Light shines on the righteous
      and joy on the upright in heart.
  Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,
      and praise his holy name. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, in scripture you often appear in a storm. On Mt. Sinai you delivered the law with darkness and clouds and lightning and earthquake (Exo 19:18). When Job finished talking and started listening, you spoke to him out of a storm (Job 40:6). Jeremiah predicted that that “the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a driving wind swirling down on the heads of the wicked” (Jer 30:23). On the Sea of Galilee, Jesus slept through a storm, until his fearful disciples woke him. Then he rebuked the wind and raging waters, and asked the disciples, “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:23-25). 

Father, our faith is in your storm-like presence in our lives. We experience you as a hurricane blowing away the lies we construct, as an earthquake destroying the religious systems we build, as a fire burning impurities out of our lives until we become like gold. O God, be the lightning of love that destroys our selfishness, be the fire of holiness that burns away our sin, be the refiner’s fire that melts away our dross and makes us holy and beautiful. 

Father, your presence is a storm in the church, a storm that would overturn comfortable evangelicalism and make it into an army of God. You are the cyclone that devastates lukewarm Christiantiy, and calls us to be hot or cold (Rev 3:16). You are the breath of the Holy Spirit that blows through our stale lives, opening them to the wind of God.  

Father, you are the storm at the end of the world, for you promise, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens” (Heb 12:26 quoting Haggai 2:6). 

Thank you that you come not only for destruction, but to rebuild and protect and save. As the poet says,
    You, Lord, are the most high over all the earth,
      you are exalted far above all gods.
    You guard the lives of your faithful ones,
        and deliver them from the hand of the wicked (vv. 9-10).  

With the poet we pray, 
        Let your light shine on us, Lord,
          Give us joy.
        Teach us to rejoice in you,
            For we praise your holy name (vv. 11-12). 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 96 celebrates God’s kingship and says that the kings of the earth worship gods that are not gods at all. These kings must answer to the real God, the one strong enough and wise enough to create a world out of chaos. This God will again exert his creative power by judging the nations righteously and fairly, deposing the kings of earth. 

We share the poet’s  great religious and political hope, that one day God will set the world right–economically, socially, racially, politically. 

James Dobson, founder and former head of Focus on the Family, was shocked and disappointed at President Trump’s defeat in the US election. In a post-election newsletter, he wrote that millions of evangelicals prayed Trump would be re-elected. He couldn’t understand why God didn’t answer their prayer. How could God let the presidency be overrun by the most leftist regime in American history, he asked. (https://www.drjamesdobson.org/newsletters/november-newsletter-2020).

Then Dobson says, quoting from his book When God Doesn’t Make Sense: “We must never forget that [God] is God. He is majestic and holy and sovereign. . . . He is not an errand boy who chases the assignments we dole out. He is not a genie who pops out of the bottle to satisfy our whims. He is not our servant—we are His. And our reason for existence is to glorify and honor Him . . . even when nothing makes sense” (ibid.).

We may not agree with Dobson’s politics, but his description of God’s greatness mirrors Psalm 96. God is king of the nations, even when he doesn’t support our political candidates or answer our political prayers, even when evil and injustice carry the day. As Christians we pray that God will protect and guide our country, but that is secondary to the larger prayer Christ taught us: “Your kingdom come, God. Your will be done.”

Let’s pray. 

Our father, the poet tells us
    You will judge the world in righteousness,
      and the people in faithfulness (v. 13). 

We point out to you some of the poorest nations in the world who need a righteous and faithful judge, an honest king. 

Sierra Leone is still suffering the effects of a decade-long civil war that  destroyed much of the infrastructure, from an ebola epidemic, and from corrupt governments. Liberia, famous for its activity in the nineteenth century slave trade, has suffered civil war and ebola and allegations of government corruption and abusive. In Burundi, where over 80% of the people live by subsistence agriculture, deforestation, soil erosion, climate change, and political instability make their livelihood risky and uncertain. And the list goes on, through Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger and Eritrea and South Sudan. O God, with the poet, we ask you to judge the world in righteousness and the people in faithfulness. 

We think also of refugees and victims of oppression in Asia. The Myanmar army viciously attacked the Rohingya ethnic population, forcing them to leave their homes and go to refugee camps in Bangladesh. Yemen is engaged in a brutal six-year civil war, with the Houthi ethnic group fighting an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia. The Chinese government oppresses the Uyghur Muslims, suppressing the Islamic religion and indoctrinating the people into Chinese culture and values. In Iraq, home of ancient Babylon where the Israelites were exiled, racial and religious violence have run rampant since the United States deposed Saddam Hussein, but was unable to replace him with a functioning democracy. O God, bring your righteousness and justice to these ancient corners of the world. 

Bring it also to North America, where we too wish an end to political posturing, to right wing and left wing populism, to divisiveness and hate in politics and culture. Rule the nations Lord, set the world right.

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 95 communicates two different messages. The first is a beautiful call to worship, an invitation to praise God in a community of worshippers. The second is a stern reminder, repeated from the previous psalm, that true worshipers listen to God and obey his voice.

The call to worship summons us to praise God because he rules over creation. The depths of earth, the heights of the mountains, the roiling sea and the dry land are all works of his hand. 

A second call to worship summons us to kneel before God, thankful that we too are his creation. But we are not  mere created objects, wandering aimlessly through a vast universe. We are God’s sheep, God is our shepherd. The hand that formed the worlds cares tenderly for his flock. 

The poet now moves to his second theme, saying:
    If only you would hear his voice
         do not harden your hearts (vv. 7-8). 

Here, the poet speaks as prophet revealing God’s heart. God longs that people would listen to him and heed his voice. But he has often experienced the opposite: His people turn from the place of worship back  to lives of faithless struggle. Our songs of praise get lost in lives of employment, pandemic, personal failure, social injustice, or outright idol worship. “O, if you would only listen to me and heed my voice” says God. But sadly,
      Their hearts go astray
          and they have not known my ways (v. 10). 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we worship you in the temple of creation. 

Yours are the depths of the earth and the height of the mountains. The title deed to my small property on earth excludes mines and minerals lurking below. But your ownership extends from the centre of the earth to the highest mountains. You built the world, and your name is on the title deed. 

We praise you for the seas, the vast oceans that we use for work and play, where we harvest food, where our ships travel for commerce and our navies patrol against enemies. Thank you also for the dry land, for we are land animals who walk the solid earth, and work it,and  build on it, and fight over it.

Thank you for sunsets and sunrises as earth spins from day to night and night to day. Thank you for the phases of the moon that regulate the tides and mark our months, for the seasons that attend our pilgrimage around the sun. Thank you for our home in the solar system, for the Christmas conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter that reminded us of the Star of Bethlehem.

Thank you that you are our shepherd, the guardian and overseer of our lives. In the pandemic, conspiracy theorists derisively call us “sheeple”, accusing us of giving away our freedoms by wearing masks and following questionable medical advice.

O God, our shepherd, we are not your sheeple, we are the sheep of your pasture, who listen to your voice and  search for your truth.  In the social and political confusion of life, our society shows the weakness of its hold on sanity and wisdom. Care for us, God, lead us through problems bigger than we can understand and solve. We are not the independent, self-sufficient cowboys of the American myth, we are people bound together by a common culture, a shared civilization, worldwide medical problems, and governments that triy to act wisely. 

Help us to live as the sheep of your flock, help us to speak your truth to our world, help to live your life into our culture. And save us, Lord, for we need your deliverance.  

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.