The Scorecards

A series on the Psalms - the voice of emotions
When you’re feeling worshipful.
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Psalm 99 

[Life is filled with emotions… anger and love; fear and courage; anxiety and peace. The Book of Psalms is also filled with emotions. They help us to validate our feelings and understand ourselves better; to grow in our faith and our relationship with Jesus; to understand the character of our Lord and how He works in our life.]

  

Recently I’ve been going through storage boxes from our basement to discover what we’ve been saving for decades. Growing up, baseball was my favorite pastime. So, it’s not surprising that one of the boxes was full of baseball magazines and other baseball memorabilia from the 60’s.

 

Included in this box were two scorecards, in pristine condition, from a double header that my Dad and I attended in 1969. It was the Cincinnati Reds versus the San Francisco Giants. The lineups were like a Hall of Fame All Star game.

 

They included Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Bobby Bonds, and the immortal Willie Mays. These players were the heroes of many young boys growing up in the 60’s. We put them on a pedestal and worshipped them as if they were a god.

 

The psalmist draws a word picture of the Lord as King… a hero if you will.

 

¹ The Lord is king!
    Let the nations tremble!
He sits on his throne between the cherubim.
    Let the whole earth quake!
² The Lord sits in majesty in Jerusalem,
    exalted above all the nations.      NLT

 

The Lord is a hero who is just and fair.

 

⁴ Mighty King, lover of justice,
    you have established fairness.
You have acted with justice
    and righteousness throughout Israel.            NLT

 

He’s a hero who faithfully stood by his people.

 

⁷ He spoke to Israel from the pillar of cloud,
    and they followed the laws and decrees he gave them.      NLT

 

He’s a hero who freely forgave.

 

⁸ O Lord our God, you answered them.
    You were a forgiving God to them,
    but you punished them when they went wrong.      NLT

 

Like my childhood heroes on the scorecards, the proper response to this hero - the holy Lord who is King - is to worship him. He is just, fair, faithful and forgiving. He is the Living God who is worthy of our worship.

 

⁹ Exalt the Lord our God
    and worship at his holy mountain,
    for the Lord our God is holy.                 NIV

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com