Psalm 92--How Great Are Your Works

Psalm 92
English Standard Version

How Great Are Your Works
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.
92 It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
    to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
    and your faithfulness by night,
3 to the music of the lute and the harp,
    to the melody of the lyre.
4 For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work;
    at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

5 How great are your works, O LORD!
    Your thoughts are very deep!
6 The stupid man cannot know;
    the fool cannot understand this:
7 that though the wicked sprout like grass
    and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
8     but you, O LORD, are on high forever.
9 For behold, your enemies, O LORD,
    for behold, your enemies shall perish;
    all evildoers shall be scattered.

10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
    you have poured over me fresh oil.
11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
    my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree
    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the LORD;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
    they are ever full of sap and green,
15 to declare that the LORD is upright;
    he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

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This song was specifically written for the regular worship of the LORD every Sabbath day.  It was a day to reflect on who the LORD is and all the wonderful things He had done (all the examples of HIs steadfast, covenant love and salvation).  Morning and evening, day after day, we should give thanks to the Most High with the assistance of all kinds of musical instruments.  We should raise our voices and clap our hands in joyful celebration.

We celebrate a God who is not like man.  His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.  He spoke this world into existences out of nothing.  He said, "Let there be...." and there was, exactly as He commanded it to be, and it was "very good."  The fool who says in his heart that there is no God cannot understand these things that are in the mind and heart of God.  We only know these things because we search the Scriptures where God has revealed His heart and mind to us.  We do have some understanding though that God is not just Creator but also Judge of the Living and the Dead.  One day, He will make everything right, and there will be an eternal reckoning for the wicked.  Evildoers will not be allowed to continue to flourish forever.  Eventually, their sin will find them out and the LORD will judge them, and vengeance belong to Him.  In that coming Day of the LORD, the righteous will be highly exalted, and receive eternal life, but the wicked will be brought low and will experience eternal death.

The LORD is our strength--stronger than the strength symbolized by the horns of an ox.  He is "mighty to save," meaning that no matter what trouble we find ourselves in, He is able to rescue us.  The LORD pours out his Spirit on us like oil being poured out on our heads (the way that the shepherded protected the sheep from the biting insects and tended to their wounds).  We were defenseless to do anything to fight our own battles or help ourselves (we are helpless like sheep), but He, our Good Shepherd, fights our battles for us, and He is always victorious in the end.  All of our enemies (which are also His enemies) are defeated.  Not a single one can stand before Him.  The LORD is a mighty warrior taking vengeance against those who make war with Him and His people.

The LORD makes his people flourish like the palm trees of a desert oasis and like the cedars of Lebanon (which were used to build the Temple).  The people of God are planted firmly in the house of the LORD where they take root and grow strong.  The fruit that is consistent with this root is born even when we are old (think of the Fruit of the Spirit).  Especially in our day, older saints have just as much of the Spirit as younger saints.  We never retire from being in the fruit-bearing business, for the day that we stop bearing fruit is that day that we are dead (Jesus says as much in the gospels (See Matthew 3:10 and 7:19, Luke 3:9 and John 15:2).  We never "retire" from being the people of God that live lives of being "salt" and "light."  Even so, the LORD is our Rock--the strong foundation on which our lives are built upon.  We declare that He is upright and just in all that He does.  "Whate're my God ordains is right."