McKay Vandenberg: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, Sandals Church. We are continuing in our daily reading of the Psalms. Today, we're jumping into Psalms 96. The Psalm says, sing a new song to the Lord. Let the whole earth sing to the Lord.
Sing to the Lord. Praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.
Great is the Lord. He is most worthy of our praise. He is to be feared above all gods. The gods of other nations are mere idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty surround him.
Strength and beauty fill his sanctuary. O nations of the world, recognize the Lord. Recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong. Give to the Lord the glory he deserves. Bring your offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor. Let all the earth tremble before him. To all the nations, the Lord reigns. The world stands firm and cannot be shaken. He will judge all peoples fairly.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice. Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise. Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy. Let the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord for he is coming. He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice and the nations with his truth. Psalms 96 verse three is actually a very personal verse to me where it says, publish his glorious deeds among the nations, tell everyone about the amazing things he does. I'm someone that enjoys journaling. I journal maybe once every other week, just to kind of let my thoughts collect and gather. And I was reflecting back through some of my old journal entries and a lot of them were about asking for help, asking for prayer, asking for specific things in my life to change.
And not very many of them, very many of the, and not very many of those entries were reflecting on the good things that had happened in my life. And so for one personal thing that I've been doing this year and trying to focus on is in my journal entries, publish the glorious deeds, Among the Nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. My journal now this year has been how can I thank God for the things that have happened in my life, whether small or big, while still offering my prayer and my struggles to him to navigate? So as you read this Psalm, as we reflect on singing the praises of the Lord, we see that phrase several times in the beginning of the Psalm.
Remember and reflect on the ways that you can thank him for the things in your life. Reflect on the ways that he has moved, even if it's small, and just give God glory for that today. Allow the joy of those small changes compound and ultimately bring glorious praise to our God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you tell us that you care about the things that we struggle with and the things that we need healing from.
But Lord, today remind us of the ways that you have healed us, the ways you have comfort us, and the prayers that you have answered. And as we go about our days, our workdays, our school days, our our our weeks with our family and friends, help us to be aware of the beauty of your creation, the goodness that you offer to us, and the love that you call us to extend to all the people around us. God, we thank you for everything in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.