September 14, 2021 – Psalm 135:1–138:8    

“Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; give praise, O servants of the Lord, you that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for he is gracious. For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession. For I know that the Lord is great; our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.” Psalm 135:1-7

Are we masters of all that we perceive, or servants of the Most-High G-d? We often hear from our culture that we are to be masters of our own destiny, in full charge of our own domain. Psalm 135 articulates a different theme – a recurring theme in the Psalms – and that theme is the fact that G-d Reigns – G-d is sovereign. If G-d reigns, then we must resign ourselves to our proper place, and that is as servants of the most-high G-d. And there are too many people who do not like the sound of that.

If we place our trust in ourselves and ourselves alone, then we are consigning ourselves and our destiny to nothingness. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes this in the book “The Cost of Discipleship”: “the older the world grows, the more heated becomes the conflict between Christ and (Antichrist), and the more thorough the efforts of the world to get rid of the Christians.” 

I believe that our society, especially in America, is trying its best to denounce anything to do with Christianity. G-d’s sovereignty comes in a strange form to this world – and that form is through “suffering” love. We shall live by faith, not trusting ourselves, but trusting in a G-d who suffers for and with us. And then we are called to suffer with others, and to work to ease the suffering of others. If we are to live this kind of faith, then we need our G-d to give us strength every day.

Let Us Pray:

Lord, give us the strength to follow you and not to follow the deceptions of this evil world. Help us to be the voice that cries out in the wilderness “Prepare the Way of the Lord”. Amen.

Pastor Dave