Good Evening Children of God!This one is a little late but here is Wednesday’s Message:
Wednesday’s Message
August 26, 2020
There are 150 Psalms in the Psalter. The subject of today’s message falls right in the middle, Psalm 75. It is an expression of national thanksgiving to a God who acts wondrously on behalf of his people.
We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks; your name is near. People tell of your wondrous deeds.
Giving thanks to God is a basic and important act by the people of God. In giving thanks, we approach God with a sense of humility and an appreciation of God’s gracious nature. Our thanksgiving is an acknowledgment that God exists and is the source and sustainer of life. Our daily God provides our daily bread or as the psalm declares God’s “name is near.”
The “name” of God is a way to speak about the presence and power of God. In giving thanks to God we hold fast to the belief that God’s power is beneficial to us and that he is with us and for us. We are moved to show our appreciation. The mighty acts of God, especially as revealed through Jesus, stand out and are worthy of our remembering and sharing.
At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants, it is I who keep its pillars steady. I say to the boastful, “Do not boast,” and to the wicked, “Do not lift up your horn; do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with insolent neck.
God holds all things together in heaven and on earth and in God’s perfect timing all things are held in judgment. The psalm instructs us that it is God’s judgment that the people of earth have no reason to boast. There is no basis for lifting up one’s horn.
The word “horn” as it is used in the psalm is a symbol of power and strength. Lifting up one’s horn means trusting in one’s own power instead of God’s power. A person who lifts their horn is honoring their own name over and above God’s.
Boasting and trusting in self instead of God is the opposite of what God wants for us. It is diametrically opposed to thanksgiving. After forty years of wandering in the wilderness following their escape from Egypt and before entering the promised land, Moses warned the Israelites not to lift their horns in their new home. “When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt … Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth …” (Deuteronomy 8:12-14, 17-18) In other words, don’t forget to give thanks to God from whom all blessings flow.
And if you do forget, there is the matter of judgment. “If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.” (Deuteronomy 8:19) Gratitude is life-strengthening. Lifting the horn only serves to weaken a person’s life.
For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up; but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed; he will pour a draught from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
Judgment belongs to God. With wisdom God has devised that “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12) It is God who holds the “cup” from which all people, wicked and righteous alike drink. The “cup” is a metaphor for the judgment of “putting down” and the blessing of “lifting up,” both of which proceed from God. Thankful hearts receive bountifully from the cup of blessing that overflows.
But I will rejoice forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
As so many Psalms do, this one ends with thankful, humble praise of God.
Peace and blessings,
Pastor Bill