Psalms 96: 8-11
A weekday morning devotional series written by Aaron Marcarelli and hosted by Chad McBeam
“Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name; Bring an offering and come into His courtyards. Worship the Lord in holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples fairly.” ¶May the heavens be joyful, and may the earth rejoice; May the sea roar, and all it contains…”
Psalms 96:8-11 NASB2020
God moved upon me this morning to encourage y’all to pause in your busy lives and give praise to our Lord and creator of the heavens of the earth.
I encourage you to start and end each day and each prayer with Thanksgiving and praise. This is what David did the writer of this Psalms, this is what Jesus encouraged us to do wen He taught us to pray.
All too often we get so caught up in the business and the busyness of our daily lives we forget to pause and say thank you God.
I did this just yesterday. I was reading this scripture to my students. Not as an example of pausing to praise but as part of my lecture regarding the European scientific Revolution. The Catholic Church during the trial of Galileo used just verse 10 of Psalm 96 “the world is firmly established, it will not be moved;” to support their claims of a geocentric world view (an earth centered universe). I was explaining how people take the Bible out of context so much. They claim that preposterous ideas are true because one phrase of one verse supports their theory.
I was so focused on my lesson that I was not even thinking about the beauty and thankfulness of this verse.
These verses remind me of Corrie Tenboom. The author of The Hiding place and Holocaust survivor. She in the midst of her internment and loneliness thanked God for the bugs and the lice and the filth and squalor that she lived in. Because it was so disgusting that the guards would not go near the inmates and she was able to share the scriptures with other women.
These verses are also part of a song by Hillsong called “Shout to The Lord”I sang this song to my daughter when she was a baby and now I sing this song to my grandsons each night before they go to sleep. (And I will sing it to my next grandchild who will be here in less than 8 months). I sing blessings of praise and thankfulness over them, and I know that they are blessed because of this song of Thanksgiving.
These two awesome blessings happen because we pause and take the time to give praise and honor to the Creator of the universe.
Lord we thank you and praise you for you amazing glory and creation that even the mountains bow down and the seas roar at the sound of your name. Thank you that we get to pause and see your majestic creations. Help us to pause and see the blessings you have for us. We pray all this in Jesus Name…
Shalom Blessings. Press In and Press On!