“Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord! Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it!” (v1-7)
This psalm of praise is short, but to the point. It mentions praise through joyous song and noise. Thankfully, it doesn’t say the joyful noise needs to be on key…
The main point of interest for me were the last two verses: “Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.” (v8-9) I think most people tend to view judgement as a bad thing, since the word has many connotations. Verses like this probably don’t improve the perception: “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.” (Isa 13:11)
This psalmist however, seems to think judgement is a good thing and should be celebrated. Why is that?
My take on this is twofold. First, if God were to judge the with righteousness and equity, He will be dealing with sin and evil in the world. I’m not sure about you, but I could stand to see a little less wickedness in the world. I struggle to watch the news because there is so much wickedness, pain and suffering, it’s hard on my heart. I can’t wait for evil to be banished. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev 21:4)
Second, if God treats people with equity, followers of Christ have nothing to fear when judgement comes. We will not only be spared God’s wrath, we will be invited into His holy presence in Heaven. That seems like a very good thing. “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” (Rom 6:22)
In contrast, the one way I could view God’s judgement as being “a bad thing” (it’s not actually bad, it just has the perception of being bad) is when He judges the people who don’t yet love Him. This is incredibly hard for us to think about, especially when we have loved ones who are not yet believers. We love them dearly, yet they too will one day be judged. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Cor 5:10)
What does this mean for us today? First, I would suggest praying for those who are not yet believers – prayer should be our first step, not our last resort. Pray consistently for those who do not yet know Jesus. While praying, we can spread the good news as much as possible, primarily by living out our faith in our daily activities, words and actions. Though spoken evangelism is still critical, in our performance-based culture, people are watching what we do as much or more than they are listening to what we say. People can spot a lack of integrity quite easily, so we can exude integrity by keeping our words and actions in alignment with the faith we profess. When people question how (for example) we’re always happy at work, or we make time to help others, we can respond with our personal gospel of how Jesus changed our lives. “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Gal 5:13)
Father God, we praise You for who You are and for the work of Your hands. Jesus, thank you for freeing us from the bondage of sin and death. We ask for Your Spirit’s guidance as we seek to live like You, each and every day. May our words and actions be our testimony to those around us, as we love and serve them. May those who observe us have curiosity and soft hearts toward You, and may they also come to know Your salvation. In Jesus holy name we pray, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training