“When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominion. The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, Who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.” Psalm 114:1-8
Devotional Thought For The Day
This short psalm meditates upon the great deliverance and salvation God provided for His people from their bondage in Egypt. This event was the constitutive act and bond between the children of Israel and the LORD God, the only True and Living God. It was fully by His grace, out of His great love for them, and in faithfulness to His promises to Abraham. It also pointed forward to an even greater act promised by God, one that would be for all people and that would deliver not from temporal bondage and trouble but from eternal damnation and hell – the coming of the great Prophet Who would save us from our sin and guilt, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The psalmist properly relates the miracles and wonders of nature that God performed in delivering His people from slavery – and also from a foreign and godless culture. He relates the awesome natural phenomena that occurred during the giving of the Law, God’s revelation of His eternal love, and also of His good and gracious will for human behavior. Obviously, the One Who has this power is worthy of honor, respect, and obedience – a thought that the great intellectuals of our day and time are woefully ignorant of. Perhaps the increase of natural disasters and our inability to protect ourselves will move people to reconsider their respect for God and His laws.
The psalmist most importantly reminds us of God’s strong covenant love – that His people are His sanctuary and dominion. All that God did for Israel was “relational,” to draw people to Himself that we might turn to Him and have Him as our God. It is the same with what He has done for us and for all people in the Lord Jesus Christ. All that properly stood between us and God – our grievous sin which His law condemns, and which is truly damnable – He took away and cleansed from us in the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He did it to restore relationship with us, to reconcile Himself to us [“not counting our trespasses against us”], and to invite us to be reconciled to Him. He wills also that we be His sanctuary and dominion, people in whom He dwells and reigns as Lord.
The same LORD God Who demonstrated absolute control over all natural phenomena is our Lord and God, our dear Savior. Our faith in Jesus is not just for “spiritual” and “internal” matters, although this experience of His redeeming love is the center and foundation of our faith. We also know that He sits at the right hand of the Father, that He preserves the entire cosmos of His creation by His Word of power, and that He will return on the Last Day in phenomenal power and glory to judge all people, and to usher in a new heaven and earth. As people are forced to abandon their delusions of self-determination and “freedom from religion,” we must be ready to bear witness as the psalmist did to the power and love of God, and to call people back to God. The reality and the message are the same as they have been since the fall of man – God is love, He has redeemed us, He is reconciled to us, and He wills for us to turn back to Him and to be His people, for this life and forever. May He thus lead us also out of a foreign and godless culture!
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, grant us strength of faith in these dismal days of rebellion against You and ignorance of You. Remind us of Your omnipotent power and Your great glory and give us greater faithfulness to You. Enable us to do Your will and fulfill Your purposes in these latter days, as we look forward to Your appearing in glory. Amen.