August 6 — Psalm 97

“The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him. Zion hears and is glad, and the towns of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O God. For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. The LORD loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from the hand of the wicked. Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!”

The LORD loves those who hate evil.

Evil! It is such an “ugly” word — and concept — and presence. Evil is so easy to pick out throughout our world, yet many do not believe that evil exists. Too many people believe that evil is only the absence of good — to me, evil is a very real presence.

Isaiah 40:3-5 reads:

“A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

I present this text to you as we look at Psalm 97, because we know what the “glory” of the Lord looks like: “Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.”

The glory of the Lord will be awesome and hard to behold — when we see that glory. But it will be hard to behold for all the right reasons. But evil — we see evil so prevalent in our world today — and it is no wonder, because this world is the domain of the devil. The earth is the Devil’s playground. All around us we see his influences: greed, lust, coveting, hoarding, fighting, jealousy, anger and killing. Evil will always be present on this earth — but the Devil will not win the day. We, like the Psalmist, trust that “The LORD loves those who hate evil; guards the lives of his faithful; and rescues them from the hand of the wicked.”

Let us pray:

O God, you clothe the sky with light and the ocean depths with darkness. You work your mighty wonders among us. Give us new and honest hearts, that we may hate evil and love justice; and let us see the dawn of your glory in the face of your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

August 5 — Psalm 96

“O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts. Worship the LORD in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The LORD is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.”

The Lord is coming to judge the earth — with righteousness and with truth.

Jesus promises to come back — to set the earth right and to judge as he sees fit. This is our biblical witness — Jesus is coming back.

Lutherans and other Christians have traditionally read Psalm 96 on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In that liturgical context, the Psalm looks back to the nativity and forward to the second coming; Christ has come, and Christ will come again. The psalmist then places the Christ event in the sequence of the promises which the LORD made as part of his rule. It interprets that Jesus Christ is above all other gods. There is a power that will set things right at the appropriate time. Through Jesus Christ, the LORD is working out his rule of righteousness and faithfulness among us now.

There are plenty of people who want to look to the unrest around the world and the presence of this pandemic as a “precursor” to the coming of Christ. My answer to these claims is to remind everyone that there have been oppressive rulers and unjust leaders and disease and plagues since the beginning of time. Every time it gets bad on this earth, people think “the end is near”. Well, the end may be near — but all I can focus on is trying to praise G-d every day and give thanks for all the blessings we have. And then, if the Lord is nigh, well, I place my trust on the Grace of Jesus — may he deem me worthy of being on the short list to enter into his courts.

Let us pray:

Ever-living God, the heavens were glad and the earth rejoiced when you sent your Son, the incarnate Word, to dwell with us. Help us to proclaim your glory to those who do not know you, until the whole earth sings a new song to you, with your Son and the Holy Spirit one God, now and forever.

Amen.