READ: PSALM 149
PASSAGE FOR REFLECTION:
Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
PSALM 149:5-6
REFLECT
This psalm is unusual in that it brings together pleasant acts of praising and singing and dancing with acts of violence in executing vengeance on the nations. The first half of the psalm calls "Israel to be glad in his maker, the children of Zion to rejoice in their King", and encourages them to "make melody to him with tambourine and lyre". Such a happy psalm. Yet the second half of the psalm explains that the praises of God is to "execute vengeance on the nations, to bind their kings with chains, to execute on them the written judgment". The point of change is in verse 6, "Let the high praises of God be in their throats (mouths) and two-edged swords in their hands". What a contrast! On the one side, the psalmist is having the highest regard for God, and thinking of how good God is even while he is in bed. On the other side is a description of a battle scene, where the psalmist is slaughtering his enemies with a sword and imprisoning kings. What does praising God have to do with war?
Let's look at what praising God does for a person.
Basically, it establishes the truth of our relationship as Father and child. We belong to God. We are God's creation, His children, as well as His subjects v 2. According to this psalm, knowing that we belong to God opens our eyes to several truths.
First, we discover how blessed we are. We begin to see how lavishly God blesses us His children. v 2 tells "Israel to be glad in his Maker, the children of Zion to rejoice in their King". To be glad and to rejoice. One of the effects of praising God is that we begin to see how many good things God does for us. We begin to daily count our blessings. One way to daily count our blessings is to create a 'thankfulness jar'. We could have a large box or jar, and everyday to write what we are thankful for and drop the note into the jar. Or keep a journal of events of the day that we are grateful for. The more we do this, the more we see how much of our lives are surrounded by God's blessings.
Second, we begin to love the things that God loves, and to hate that which God hates. All children seek their parents' approval. Even the most disruptive children long to win their parents' approval, to see their parents pleased with them. While our children may test our boundaries, they still yearn for our approval. A loving parent affirms their child by showing pleasure when their child does what pleases the parent. Likewise, the more we realise how much God loves us, the more we want to know what pleases Him and to do them. v4 says that "the Lord takes pleasure in His people". As we love God's ways more and more, we also hate more and more the ways that oppose God's ways. Hence the idea of violence against God's enemies at the second half of the psalm. We hate the hateful things that people do to God and to one another.
Third, we begin to understand what glory really is. v5 says, "Let the godly exult in glory". The world often looks at glory as we being better than others. We imagine that we have 'glory' when we have beaten our competition. But true glory is not about being better than others. It is not about competing with others, and beating them, often by putting our competitors down or exploiting and highlighting their weaknesses. True glory is about being what we were created to be. In the words of a wise person, it is to be congruent with our true self. It is to be who we really are deep inside. This glory often invites us to "esteem others as better than ourselves" (Philippians 2:3), and to compete with each other in showing mutual respect (Romans 12:10 NTE Translation). The biblical understanding of 'glory' thus strongly opposes the arrogance of the 'kings and nobles' of the world.
Most important (at least in my view) is that the more we see how precious we are to God, the more we admire God's ways, and the more we long for true Glory, the more secure and courageous we become. My favourite part of this psalm is "let them sing for joy on their beds" v 5. How many of us wake up depressed, troubled, and in dread? Don't we long to have songs of praise and joy ringing in our heads as we wake up, to be unafraid of what may befall us today, to feel like we can conquer anything? That is having a sense of security, being courageous. I believe that the one thing that really inhibits creativity, that prevents us from being at our best, is fear. We fear failure; we fear a lack of resources. we fear our enemies, we fear rejection and disapproval, we fear opposition. And these fears stop us from doing the things that we really want to do. But gradually as we feel more and more secure in God, we begin to see our potential for greatness. As God said to His prophet Jeremiah, "If you have run with footmen and that has exhausted you, how can you compete with horses?" (Jeremiah 12:5). We were meant to be far more than we are today. And often it is fear that pulls us down. But daily, as we praise God more and more, we find ourselves singing on our beds, and finding the security and courage to be what we were created to be.
It is important to daily count the ways that our Father loves us, and to love His ways in return. It is in this way that we become men and women who are zealous for God and who fight for God not as servants, but as His beloved children.
REST
Father, please open our eyes everyday to see how great and powerful you are, and how precious we are to you. Amen.
Ming Li
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