Apr 26, 2021
"The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1)
Psalm 24 reveals both the origins of the world and God’s ultimate purpose in the world. A Psalm of praise to our God! The One who created the world and every creature and person in it, and the One who is redeeming that world as we await the coming promise. We can’t ever compete with God or exalt ourselves above God by attempting to control our circumstances or dictate the way our world should be. The created can never be exalted above its Creator.
God ultimately created our world for His own purposes, for His own joy and for His own glory and renown. The earth belongs to Him. We are creations of the Creator. We belong to Him.
Every person on earth belongs to God. The one who is devoted to God and the one sitting on the fence of faith. The addict, the homeless, the convict, those who are smooth-talking to get their own way, and those who are broken and hopeless. Those who believe and those who vehemently oppose God…every person on earth belongs to God. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”
God’s intention for the world is that He himself would fill it. His love, His joy, His glory, His presence.
God created us not just with the capacity to worship, but with the need to do so. Whether we worship and glorify the news, or a sports team or material possessions, or our own image, or our Holy God…we were created to worship, to give our love and our devotion to another. David understood that when he wrote this Psalm. He understood that he was the created of God. The Philistines, as Thursday’s reflections show us, did not. But they did learn to respect God. God doesn’t just want our respect though. He wants our devotion. He wants our all.
“Don’t you realize that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself” (1 Cor 6:19). We don’t belong to ourselves. We were created to glorify God! We were created to reveal Him to the world.
Psalm 24 is a Psalm revealing the power and the glory of our Lord. He Created our world for His glory and to reveal Himself to all who live in it. “Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty—he is the King of glory” (v 7, 10).
This Psalm helps us to reframe the focus of our lives. God created the earth and filled it with animals and with people that are designed to resonate with and reflect the glory and the presence of God in our world. We are designed to fill the earth with His praise. We are created to reflect and to see the beauty of the Lord in ourselves, in others around us, in our homes, in our world.
So, celebrate God today! We belong to God. As we go about this day and every day we can live faithfully and obediently into that promise reflecting His glory for the world to see. Praise be to God!