Psalm 93
1 The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it can not be moved.
2 Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, The floods have lifted up their voice; The floods lift up their waves.
4 The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.
5 Your testimonies are very sure; Holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, forever.
As we go about our lives we meet people that say they are Christians but live as if there is no God or at least like there God is not important to them.
What I would like to do in this post is to help you see Christ more clearly and to lead you to a better understanding of the character of Christ and therefore a better relationship with Christ. We are going to study the Word to learn to praise the Lord more maturely. How we perceive Christ directly affects how we worship Him. If we do not perceive Him as the all magnificent, all-powerful and all holy than we cannot properly worship Him.
From what I have researched about this psalm, most versions say this is a psalm written for the purpose of singing the day before Sabbath. It would be custom for the Jews to sing it on the sixth day of the week or before a festival or feast. This was most likely to prepare their hearts for the worship they were about to participate in. If we look at this Psalm a little closer I believe it can be broken down into three topics, which helps us see the character of God.
1 The splendor of the Lord (verses 1 & 2)
2 The strength of the Lord (verses 3 & 4)
3 The sanctity of the Lord (verse 5)
As we begin to break this chapter down lets look at the first point, which is the splendor of the Lord. Look at verse one.
“The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;”
This first phrase sets the stage for the chapter. It declares who Jehovah is in no uncertain terms. He is the God over all. He was the King, He is the King, and He will always be the King. (Past present and future) He is clothed with majesty. He is the true King, clothed with righteousness, honor and majesty. Psalm 104 describes this in more detail.
Psa 104:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
Psa 104:2 covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.
Psa 104:3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind;
Psa 104:4 he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.
Psa 104:5 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved.
“The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength.”
The Lord is clothed in majesty and with that majesty of being King at times it will require the showing of His strength. He is prepared for action. He can back up His kingdom. We will get more into that when I speak of His strength.
“Surely the world is established, so that it can not be moved.”
God is in control. The world is at His control and nothing moves without God. It is not within our ability to “move” the world. It is our job to praise God that it is within His ability. Everything is in subjection to God. Including Satan. Satan had to ask God’s permission to test Job.
Verse 2 reaffirms that God is all and He is past, present and future.
2 Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.
We should be praising Him for His sovereignty, that He is God of all. We can trust Him because He has stood the test of time. These first two verses should be all the reason we ever need to worship Him. If He never answered a prayer, if you never saw a miracle, if your life is filled with hardship, He is still the one and only true God that will ever be.
But He gave us more than His splendor to worship. The next two verses give us reason to worship the Lord for His strength.
3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, The floods have lifted up their voice; The floods lift up their waves.
4 The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.
To the ancients, waters were chaotic, only a god could control the waves or the floods. So by using this illustration of floods and waves the verses show the great strength of the Lord. Probably why Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water. To prove He had control over even what seems uncontrollable. God rules over all of creation, even the forces of chaos. In reading Spurgeon’s commentary he helped to point out that the psalmist did not first try speaking to the floods or the water. He didn’t go to the Lord whining about HIS circumstances and how he shouldn’t have to go through the floods because he is a Christian. The floods were there, he is not ignoring that, but his priorities are right. He just declares the mightiness of the Lord and no matter the results of the flood God is still all-powerful. If your focus is on Christ than He will take care of the situation no matter what it is. Nothing is too big for God to handle.
Psa 124:1 A Song of Ascents. Of David. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side-- let Israel now say--
Psa 124:2 if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us,
Psa 124:3 then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;
Psa 124:4 then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;
Psa 124:5 then over us would have gone the raging waters.
Psa 124:6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!
Psa 124:7 We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!
Psa 124:8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
As you can see David praised the Lord for delivering and protecting Israel knowing that God had the strength and power to do it. That does not mean that there was never any conflict. David’s life was filled with conflict and wars and David running and hiding for his life. Of course God does not always handle things the way that we think He should. But God knows best.
That leads us to the final character, which is the sanctity of the Lord. For that we look at verse 5.
5 Your testimonies are very sure; Holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, forever.
The teaching and the character of God are forever unchanged. God did not tolerate evil in the old days and He does not tolerate it today. His word is as valid today as it was when it was written. We can rely on His testimonies to remain true. God is holy and righteous and like Pastor J.D. Hatfield explains that Christ would have gone to the cross if you were the only person on earth or if there had only been one sin ever committed. Even one sin is an abomination to the Lord. It has to be, or the holiness & righteousness of the Lord is compromised. This last verse declares that God is worthy of our worship because of His sanctity and if we want to be a part in the house of the Lord than we need to be covered by that Holiness which is Christ in us, not us, which sets us apart from the world and makes us righteous in the eyes of God.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Matthew Henry quote:
“ The Lord might have displayed only his justice, holiness, and awful power, in his dealings with fallen men; but he has been pleased to display the riches of his mercy, and the power of his renewing grace. In this great work, the Father has given all power to his Son, the Lord from heaven, who has made atonement for our sins. He not only can pardon, but deliver and protect all who trust in him. His word is past, and all the saints may rely upon it. Whatever was foretold concerning the kingdom of the Messiah, must be fulfilled in due time. All his people ought to be very strictly pure. God's church is his house; it is a holy house, cleansed from sin, and employed in his service. Where there is purity, there shall be peace. Let all carefully look if this kingdom is set up in their hearts.”
Perhaps your thinking this is just a Psalm. How does reading or studying a Psalm change how we worship the Lord? Like I wrote at the beginning, we praise to the extent that we perceive. Studying this Psalm helps us to see the character of God and how marvelous He really is. In the book of John chapters 8 – 10 Jesus is repeatedly accused of not being who He claimed to be. Some didn’t recognize Jesus as Lord even when He performed miracles. That is why it is so important for us to know the Jesus that we worship. If we don’t know the character of our Lord then we can easily be deceived and may even deny Christ when He is standing right in front of us.
Spurgeon,
“It should be a constant theme for prayer, that in our day the reign of the Lord may be conspicuous, and his power displayed in his church and on her behalf. "Thy kingdom come" should be our daily prayer: that the Lord Jesus does actually reign should be our daily praise.”
Today is the day to start worshipping God as the God that He is. Now read Psalm 93 again as worship to the Lord. Not just words to be read but a praise to your Father above.
We need to live like Jesus really exists. Like He is standing right in front of you.
If Jesus were standing in front of you would you do what you’re doing right now? I wouldn’t. I would be on my face worshipping our holy God. Or like Mary and washing his feet with my tears. If we could truly see God in all His glory we would live different lives. We would talk differently; we would act differently, because we would believe 100 percent. Today is the day; every day is the day to worship the Lord.
