NO DARKNESS IN HIM
Opening Prayer
Shine Your light on Your Word today, Lord, so that I can read with spiritual understanding.
Read Psalm 92
Psalm 92[a]
A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.
1 It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
2 proclaiming your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp.
4 For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
5 How great are your works, Lord,
how profound your thoughts!
6 Senseless people do not know,
fools do not understand,
7 that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed forever.
8 But you, Lord, are forever exalted.
9 For surely your enemies, Lord,
surely your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
10 You have exalted my horn[b] like that of a wild ox;
fine oils have been poured on me.
11 My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Footnotes:
a Psalm 92:1 In Hebrew texts 92:1-15 is numbered 92:2-16.
b Psalm 92:10 Horn here symbolizes strength.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What are you thankful to God for today?This is a psalm of praise to God. But how did you feel about verses 6–11? Can we praise God for the judgment of the wicked (7)?
Our perspective gets skewed because we have a deep-seated presumption that people are good. Or not bad, at least. Yet there is no wickedness in God (15). Not even a hint of darkness. He is pure love and perfect faithfulness (2). God’s holiness gets presumed to be a “holier than thou” sort of thing. But God’s holiness is His purity. His holiness is His love. He is upright (15); it is humans who are the crooked ones. That’s why the relationship between God and humans is broken. That’s why evil must be destroyed, scattered, routed (7–11). It has no place in the world that belongs to the God who is love.
Yet we praise Him because He welcomes all who turn from wickedness to His love and lordship. Because of His great deeds of redemption, all who were once under judgment can be brought into His joy (4). Today, He invites us to praise Him for His love and His faithfulness (1–4). We are not to despair at the flourishing of the wicked (7), but to rejoice as we live our lives in His presence (12–14), built on the solid ground of His goodness (15).
Apply
Take time to praise God for His love and faithfulness to you in recent times.
Closing prayer
For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done. How great are your works…” (4-5a).
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