Rock the World!

A series on the Psalms - the voice of emotions
When you’re feeling thankful.
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Psalm 66

[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.]

 

For the past fourteen years, my wife and I have bought season tickets for Michigan State football. This means that we made the 400+ miles round trip, six or seven times per year. No doubt this qualifies us as rabid MSU fans.

 

But there’s nothing else like sitting in Spartan Stadium for the first game of the season. With 75,000 screaming fans, and the Spartan Marching Band playing the fight song, the team would run out of the tunnel right below our seats. We could feel the heat from the pyrotechnics of smoke and fire. The stadium rocked!

 

This feeling of euphoria, reminds me of the following verses of Psalm 66. See if you agree. But, if you would forgive me, replace the word ‘God’ with ‘Spartans’ (or your favorite team) as you read them.

 

¹ Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth!
²     Sing about the glory of his name!
    Tell the world how glorious he is.
³ Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
    Your enemies cringe before your mighty power.
⁴ Everything on earth will worship you;
    they will sing your praises,
    shouting your name in glorious songs.”         NLT

 

Of course, the psalmist had something more heavenly, more ethereal in mind. First, he reflected on how the Lord saved the people of Israel from the Egyptians by opening the waters of the Red Sea.

 

Then, he described how God tested them and purified them like silver. How God used adversity to bring them back to Him. And eventually, how the Lord brought them to “a place of great abundance”.

 

It’s from the psalmist perspective of thankfulness that he responded. He went to the Temple to fulfill his sacred vows to worship the Lord; to bring the best that he had to offer as a sacrifice to the One who had done so much for him.

 

¹⁵ That is why I am sacrificing burnt offerings to you—
    the best of my rams as a pleasing aroma,
    and a sacrifice of bulls and male goats.          NLT

 

The psalmist begins and ends his psalm with the theme of unadulterated praise for God that flows from a thankful heart.

 

¹ Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth!

²⁰ Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer
    or withdraw his unfailing love from me.        NLT

 

Can we do anything less than this? Let’s go rock the world!

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

You Can't Be Justs a Little Bit Pregnant

Psalm 116:12-19

 

 

In 2001, Kevin Kline starred in a movie called, “Life as a House”. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, he decides to focus on repairing his relationships with his ex-wife and disenfranchised teenage son. He does so by recruiting them to help him rebuild his dilapidated house which sits in the middle of an upscale neighborhood. In the end, he admits that he always thought of his life as a house.

 

What are you building with your life?

 

Ray Boltz is a contemporary Christian musician. One of his songs is titled, “Thank you for Giving to the Lord”. It’s about a dream of two people visiting Heaven where person after person came up to them saying, “Thank you” for investing your life into mine. The things that this person had done were small, seemingly insignificant details of life that made a huge impact on them for eternity.

 

Who are you investing your life into?

 

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, is quoted as follows: “God has given you unique abilities, talents and gifts. At Saddleback Church, we say they represent a person’s SHARE – Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experiences. This bundle of talents is the thing God has given you that makes you who you are and sets you apart from other people.”          

 

How are you using your SHARE to build the kingdom?

 

The psalmist asks us this question: “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?”  The answer is simple – all of you, everything that you have and are. He wants you to be fully committed. It’s like a woman who is pregnant. She’s not just a little bit pregnant, she is fully pregnant. She is fully committed to the child within her. It’s all or nothing.

 

In the same way, the Lord, our Father, is fully committed to us as His children. Even to the point of sacrificing His one and only son so that we might be reconciled to Him. By doing this, He has blessed us so that we might be a blessing to others.