Psalm 98 - Marvelous Things

Psalm 98:1-9 NIV

Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things;

 his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 

The Lord has made his salvation known

 and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 

He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel;

 all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

 make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing,

 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—

 shout for joy before the Lord , the King.

Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 

Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;

 let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. 

He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

Psalm 98 is yet another call to worship. It calls for singing new songs to the Lord. It calls for shouts of joy and loud praise with trumpet blasts and ram's horns. The harpist is called upon to join the praise. All the earth is rallied to worship. Even the rivers are invited to clap with the smack of their rushing waters. The seas and the mountains are beckoned to join in the celebration of the God of salvation.

The psalm boasts that the whole world had seen God's salvation. Most people know the name of Moses. When I read psalm 98 I think of the exodus. God saved His people from slavery in Egypt. The verse that makes me think of the deliverance from Egypt is the idea that God has remembered his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Psalm 98:3 NIV

He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

This verse made me think of God's call to Moses through the burning bush.

Exodus 3:6-10 NIV

Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

This land possessed by other nations was promised Abraham and his descendants. God has remembered though it seemed that the Lord had forgotten. The people of Israel languished in slavery for centuries under the cruelty of the Pharaoh. What the people could not see is God's plan to grow them into a mighty nation during slavery, strengthen them in the desert, and make them a people prepared to take possession of the promised land.

This story is well known. Even last year there was yet another Ten Commandments film that came out. The name of Moses is a reminder of God's salvation of His people.

As Christians we celebrate a different exodus, a deliverance from a different kind of slavery. God delivers all who have faith in Christ from sin and death. The blood of Christ has purchased us, redeemed the from the grip of sin. The resurrection of Christ has enlivened us to take possession of the new life, a God filled life. His grace is greater than sin and as we learn to lean on Christ within us, we grow into our new life as His disciples living in godliness and all righteousness.

Let the whole world see your life transformed from the deeds of darkness that diminish life. Let them see the good deeds of God that reveal that you are made new in the grace of the Lord Jesus. And let everybody praise the Lord for what He has done in us.