Daily Encouragement

September 7, 2008 - Calling All To Worship

Meditation on Psalm 96

What a great psalm this is! The psalmist, King David is calling all people, nations, nature and creation to honor the LORD for He is coming to judge the world and the people with truth and righteousness.

The content of this psalm is almost identical to the first Psalm David wrote when he installed the praise team in the Sanctuary for worship in 1 Chronicles 16:23-33. That is why this psalm is so significant. Later on the musician edited it for other occasions. There are several lessons I have learned from this psalm immediately as follows:

"Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD all the earth." (v. 1 NKJV) It is good for us to compose or learn new song to praise Him.

Our worship should include the proclaiming of His salvation all the time. (v. 2)

We should or at least the leaders of the worship should give all their strength and preparation in worship. "Give to the LORD glory and strength." (v. 7b)

There should be an offering in worship. (v. 8)

The New American Standard Bible translates verse nine similar to the Chinese translation, "Worship the LORD in holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth." These translations emphasize the holy aspect of the dress of the worshipers. We welcome people to come to worship God with all kinds of clothes, and even the casual kind without criticism or subtle discrimination as James the apostle taught. But those who know the LORD should come before Him with a clean and best prepared dress. For we are worshiping the King of King and Lord of Lord as well as our Heavenly Father.

Finally, our worship should be joyful. "Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; ...all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD." (v. 11-13 NASB)

May all your worship be acceptable before God.

September 8, 2008 - Happy For God's Rule

Meditation on Psalm 97

Psalm 97 opens and closes with rejoicing because of God's reign over the earth.

Though God is mysterious the psalmist affirmed that His rule is righteous. (v. 2)

He does destroy His enemies. His presence is extremely awesome that is more powerful and glorious than nuclear energy. (v. 3-6)

When the idol worshipers around the world turn to God, you who are God's people should be glad and exalt Him. (v. 7-9)

You who love the LORD should fight evil and trust in His preservation and deliverance. (v. 10)

He will give light and gladness to you who are upright.

Your joy in His rule should cause you to remember His holiness.

This psalm is also a messianic psalm expecting the universal rule of the coming Messiah.

September 9, 2008 - Expressing Joy

Meditation on Psalm 98

Singing is one of the ways of expressing joy. Psalmists call for us to sing joyfully before the LORD. We sing because God is in control of this earth. We sing because God has already overcome our enemy, Satan. We shout joyfully because God has revealed His salvation to us. We rejoice always because we can look forward to Jesus the Messiah who is coming to judge the earth in the most appropriate time.

The Apostle Paul taught us this, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4 NKJV) Therefore we want to sing and praise God with joy all the time.

The great difference between a believer and a nonbeliever is our steady joy in the Lord. The joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

This is something can be readily recognized by the world. Recently one of the commentators in a major network pointed out the joy expressed and affecting people by one of the candidate for higher office because this candidate is a Christian. He said that he himself has been joyful ever since he became a Christian. What a testimony!

September 10, 2008 - Worship His Holiness

Meditation on Psalm 99

Three times in this psalm call for us to worship the holy God. From verse one to three the psalmist praises His holiness because of His powerful and awesome reign. Verse four and five, the psalmist exalts His holiness for God has executed justice and righteousness. From verse six to nine, the psalmist calls for worshiping His holiness since He answered prayers, forgive sins and led His people through His priests, Moses, Aaron and Samuel.

In this day and age, we must recover a true sense of God's holiness in our worship, our lives and our teaching. Holiness means separateness. As the psalmist emphasizes in the inspired words; God is high above His people but dwelled between the cherubim, the earth should tremble before Him. People should bow before His feet. He spoke to His people through pillar of cloud. And He took vengeance on their deeds.

When the churches begin to teach holiness and exhort people to keep His testimonies and ordinance, the society may begin to pay more attention to morality and accountability.

It may be necessary for the church to be seeker sensitive in casualty and attract more people to hear the Gospel. But it would be a tragic mistake for any church who fails to teach God's people on holiness, righteousness and sanctity of the absolutely holy God and His demand of holiness for His people in position and in deed.

September 11, 2008 - Serve The Lord With Gladness

Meditation on Psalm 100

When we meditate upon this psalm, our thought turns to worship. There are many ways to express our worship. One of the best ways is to serve the LORD with gladness. (v. 2)

Imagine the joy of serving God in His presence with whatever ability He has given us, it is our privilege. The psalmist says that we serve God because we were created by Him and we belong to Him. We worship the LORD since He is good to us, His mercy to us is eternal and His truth endures to all generations. (v. 5 NKJV) The New American Standard Bible translates the same thought by saying that His faithfulness to all generations.

Both of God's truth and faithfulness are unchangeable. The world is changing and our knowledge and concept are changing. But God does not change. He is always dependable. Whatever he has communicated to us will never change. They are the truth standards that forever settle in heaven. That is why we are so thankful in His house of worship.

As we worship God with true heart, we would undoubtedly receive blessings because He is benevolent, such as His power, fullness, authority, and enlightenment. But that should not be our final motive of worship. We serve Him joyfully just because we know that He is God. (v. 3)

September 12, 2008 - Working With The Right People

Meditation on Psalm 101

Traditionally this psalm has been attributed to King David. He was a king who understood the heart of God. He ruled Israel with justice and righteousness. Therefore God blessed Him and in fact made Him the ancestor of the Messiah.

From this psalm we find that David declared His own pledge to walk uprightly before the LORD. He wanted God to walk with Him. (v. 2)

He promised God that he would set nothing wicked before his eyes. He would not associate himself with those who were not faithful, but had a perverse heart. He would destroy the slanderers, the proud, the deceitful, the liars, and the evil doers. He could not stand any wickedness.

In his early administration, he had a great leadership team recorded in the Bible. As a result, his kingdom was prosperous and revered by all neighboring countries.

So it is today in our organization, we must assemble the righteous team. We want to work with the people who are dependable and trustworthy.

I knew of one pastor who took step to chase out the unregenerate influence in the church when he first took over it. He openly pointed out the shameful way of some members who asked for donation of money. He refused to accept donation that was from unholy source. After a few years, the church grew to become one of the largest churches among Chinese. The leadership from that church eventually went out to build other churches too.

Know who you are working with. Build them up in the mercy and justice of God. Then you will always praise Him. (v. 1)

September 13, 2008 - From Complain To Confidence

Meditation on Psalm 102

The composer of this psalm was in deep pain. He longed for God's answer to His trouble. His prayer was full of complain:

He was physically very weak and mentally drained. (v. 3-5) He felt absolutely alone. (v. 6-7)

He was insulted by determined enemies, he sensed that he was being cast away by God and his days were spent in great sorrow. He watched himself withered away. (v. 8-11)

But from verse twelve on, the tone of the psalm began to change. The psalmist looked to Zion (the church) for answer. He remembered that God was eternal and His plan was for all generations. In the proper time, God would answer the prayers of those who loved His church and was a part of His church because He wanted his church to increase and include all people. (v. 12-17)

Since God's plan was to prepare for the future congregations to praise Him and serve Him, He would certainly hear the prayers of the destitute now. (v. 18-22)

Looking at the eternal nature of God, the psalmist realized that God is always the same. The world would change. He himself was also temporal, though he still pleaded for God's mercy to give him a longer life. So finally he settled for seeking God to bless His descendants to be established. (v. 23-28)

We too can turn our complain into confidence of God's eternal plan for our lives by looking at God's blessings in His church for His glory.