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Psalms / chapter 97 (read the chapter)
In this psalm, we find a very famous, very traditional description of God’s throne: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.” (vs 2) We may hear that a lot, but what does it mean? What is righteousness? What is justice? And what does it mean to say that they are the foundation of God’s throne?
Some people have suggested that righteousness and justice are opposed to each other, that they are two different sides of the same coin. Some say God’s righteousness means saving the “good” people, while God’s justice means punishing the “bad” people. But as we look at this more closely, I think you’ll see that righteousness and justice are not opposed to each other at all; rather, they are perfectly complementary.
God is right, and He always does what is right. That’s what it means to say that God is righteous. His righteousness can be defined as the fact that He always does the right thing—no matter what. To say that God is just means that He takes things that are wrong and makes them right again. He returns good for evil. He transforms curses into blessings. He sets things right.
So, God Himself always does what’s right. And, in addition, He takes the things that have been messed up and makes them right again, too. Thus, in God, everything is always done right and set right. This is the foundation on which His throne, His very government, rests. He will never be deposed because everything He does is right and good.
It’s interesting, then, that the first part of the verse about God’s rightness is not sweetness and light. Did you notice the whole verse? “Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.” (vs 2)
It’s a truth and an irony that, in this life, we find God (in all His righteousness) in the midst of clouds and darkness. When things look the worst, when the crisis hits, when the suffering is overwhelming, that’s when we are most able to see God in all His righteousness. It is in journeying through the dark times that we discover God is in the middle of it with us and then—and this is why I believe the psalmist puts these two ideas together—we remember that He alone has the ability to make things right again.
In her hit song, Blessings, artist Laura Story poses this very idea in a series of questions:
What if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
Laura is right. Don’t let the clouds and thick darkness discourage you. For in the midst of them is the throne of God. Built on righteousness and justice, it will never pass away.
Psalms / chapter 96 (read the chapter)
Has God been your Savior for a long time? Have you spent years basking in the mercies of the Lord? Guess what? No matter how long you’ve known the Lord, the psalmist still challenges you to “sing to the Lord a new song.” (vs 1) Continue Reading »
Psalms / chapter 95 (read the chapter)
The writer of this psalm included an urgent plea from God to His audience: “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.” (vs 8-9) Continue Reading »
Psalms / chapter 94 (read the chapter)
And once again, we encounter an uber-familiar theme in this psalm—God’s dealings with the wicked: “The LORD is a God who avenges. O God who avenges, shine forth.” (vs 1) Immediately, we must recognize that the word used here is “avenge” and not “revenge”. In the Hebrew language, to avenge means to set right; to get revenge means, well, to get revenge. Continue Reading »
Psalms / chapter 93 (read the chapter)
To the Hebrew mind, the sea was associated with evil. In Isaiah 57, Isaiah wrote that the wicked were like the sea. In Psalm 89, the psalmist wrote that the raging sea was akin to the opponents of the Lord. In Revelation, the sea is pictured as the birthplace of the Satanic beast (Rev 13) and the place of the dead (Rev 20). No wonder, when John pictured the earth made new, he wrote that the sea had disappeared (Rev 21). Continue Reading »
Psalms / chapter 92 (read the chapter)
We have a problem with patience in our society. Maybe it’s the increase in technology. Or maybe it’s simply the decrease in spirituality. One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is patience, and there seems to be alarmingly little of it these days. We are a buy now, pay later society in the midst of a 24/7/365 culture. At least in the Western world, there isn’t too much that we truly have to wait for; thus, we don’t. Continue Reading »
Psalms / chapter 91 (read the chapter)
I read a blog online this week that, frankly, made me a little sick. (I won’t link to it here, because I feel it is too graphic for children.) The author wrote about how he and his wife—in an effort to spice things up in their marriage—pursued a trail of endless drugs and multiple sexual partners . . . only to be left empty, loveless, and divorced. So sad! The author concluded by saying that while his wife often said that “More is more,” it didn’t turn out to be true when it came to sex. Continue Reading »
Psalms / chapter 90 (read the chapter)
Well, that seemed like a no-brainer title for this blog, especially since Psalm 90 begins this way: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (vs 1-2) Continue Reading »
Psalms / chapter 89 (read the chapter)
When you are so familiar with something, it becomes very easy not to see it. I think this is what often happens with Bible study. We get so familiar with certain Bible stories and passages that it becomes difficult to see them with “fresh” eyes. I have found this to be the case particularly with Psalms, since so many of our worship songs come from this book. Continue Reading »
Psalms / chapter 88 (read the chapter)
This is a dark, dark psalm. Whoever Heman was, he was having a rough time. At the very beginning of his psalm, he acknowledges that God is the one who saves him (vs 1), but after that, it’s 17 verses of darkness. He even ends with “darkness is my closest friend.” (vs 18) Continue Reading »
