Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth! He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.   NIV

As I read this psalm this morning I stop and reflect about all the influences that have already occurred today in my life.  On my daily commute to work every morning I either listen to the radio or to my CDs on the scriptures.  When I listen to radio it seems that half of the time I am listening to advertising that makes claims on how to improve and make your life better and more productive.  Yet, most of these claim leave out one major compound and that is God.  By reading the psalms daily the reader will soon truly grasp how awesome the Lord really is in heaven and on earth.  When I listen to these claims that promise to give me a great and better life they leave God out.  They usually have one purpose and that is to make the person or company offering them a profit.  When hearing these claims I have to reflect on the very fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Man took the fruit from his wife who had took it from the serpent, who had convinced her that there was more to life than God had provided.  He convinced Eve and she convinced Adam “that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise”.   However after they eat of the fruit their eyes were opened and they saw their own nakedness.

I see the same with all the claims that the world offers us today.  Even the claims of most Christian ministries seem to fall short of meeting the needs and desires of fallen man.  Unless fallen man truly returns to a dependence on God he will perish just like the beast of the field.  As Psalm 49: 20 states ”A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish”.  However, when we truly get to a point in our life that we trust God and pursue a desire to live a blameless life in the light of his Word, then we will see that he will cloth us in His glory.   How awesome would our lives be if our daily routines in this world would truly reflect our true dependence upon God to manage the affairs of our life?

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.  Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah  Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth.  He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.  “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Selah  (NIV)

Sometimes as we study God’s Word we just look at the words and apply them to our life.  This Psalm was a song created for the worship of God.  God is the subject of this song.  As we see starting with verse one of this Psalm to the last verse it is God that takes care of us.  God is our refuge and strength, then why do we fear?   David’s theme in this Psalm is centered around the concept of faith.  His faith was a total trust in God to intervene in every aspect of his life.  Nothing too small or too large.

Verse ten of this Psalm gives the believer the way of God to approach the troubles which we face as we complete our journey upon the face of this earth.  Be still and know that I am God is the advice that for several believers do not have the time available to practice.  This is a way of God that will test our faith and the more we grow in this way the more we will see his hand in the smallest activities that we pursue.  This goes against the wise old saying of “God helps those who help themselves”.   The problem that most believers have with dealing with the everyday issues in life is that this wise old saying seems to have a greater impact on their life then verse ten does.  Try waiting on God as a way of walking in his way.

As I read this Psalm I reflect upon the last two chapters of the Bible.  Revelation twenty-one starts with this verse ” And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away and the sea is no more.  There is a time in the future where everything I have worked for will be destroyed, the works of both my hands and my mind.  However, the one that overcomes can inherit the things of the new heaven and the new earth.