{"id":3757,"date":"2020-08-25T15:30:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T22:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3757"},"modified":"2020-08-25T15:30:26","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T22:30:26","slug":"hobart-herd-devotionals-psalms-98-99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3757","title":{"rendered":"Hobart Herd Devotionals – Psalms 98 & 99"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hobart Herd Devotional \u2013 Psalms 98-99<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   This Psalm challenges us to sing to the Lord\na \u201cnew song\u201d.  He has done so many things\nfor us and His mercies are new every morning, so why shouldn\u2019t we have a new\nsong of praise for Him.  One of the key\nreasons we can have a new song for each new day is that His strong arm of\nsalvation is something that can carry us through each day.  I am amazed with some of the great new\nworship songs that are continually coming out on Christian radio.  Sometimes they are not the style or sounds\nthat I am used to, but for most the words are honoring and praising the\nLord.  Sometimes the Lord brings new\nmeaning to a familiar song as I go from day to day.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   One of the joys of being the Pastor of a\nsmall church is being able to match the music of our worship services with the\nmessages I preach.  It continually amazes\nme how the Lord brings songs to mind as I prepare my sermons.  Many times I change the songs as I study\nbecause the Lord brings an old song fresh to my mind, or a new song brings\nenlightenment to my heart.  I have also\nchanged a few words to songs to match the meaning of our thoughts for the\nday.  Never forget the salvation that God\nhas made known to all the nations, and the loving faithfulness to His\nchildren.(vs. 1-3)  The world cannot\ndoubt the righteousness and salvation that God has shown to us through the\nyears.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   This passage also mentions that we are to\nmake the music of praise from our hearts with instruments.  We have the harp, horns (probably rams\nhorns), and voices all coming together to make beautiful, joyful music to our\nGod and King!  I have had the privilege\nand honor of playing in an orchestra with a 300 voice choir singing the\nHallelujah Chorus and 4,000 + people standing in honor of our Great Savior.  I can still feel the hair on the back of my\nneck stand up remembering the glorifying praise being shared together.  I have also had a new worship song come out\nand being brought to tears of praise and joy as I listen to words that speak to\nmy heart and allow my heart to worship the Lord in a new way.  I am so happy that there will be the greatest\nmusic in heaven and we get glimpses of that here on earth.(vs. 4-6)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   The description of the sea, river, and\nmountains clapping their hands and bringing the sound of worship continually to\nthe ears of the Lord is a picture that I can have as I am in His marvelous\ncreation.  The greatest worship should\ncome from our hearts and lips as we live in His promises daily.  Psalms 98:9 \n\u2026. \u201cfor He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with\nrighteousness, and the peoples with equity.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Father, I ask that You would continually\ngive me a new song in my heart for the great salvation and powerful provision\nthat you have blessed me with.  I\nunderstand that sometimes I must sound like a funeral dirge instead of a voice\nof praise.  Help me to live in the power\nand joy of Your promises so that my voice may be like Your creation and\ncontinually praise and honor Your holy name. \nIn Jesus Name, Amen!  Pastor Rob<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hobart Herd Devotional \u2013 Psalms 99<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   For Thou, O Lord, art high above all the\nearth, Thou art exalted far above all gods. \nFor Thou, O Lord, art high above all the earth, Thou art exalted far\nabove all gods.  I exalt Thee, I exalt\nThee, I exalt Thee, O Lord.  I exalt\nThee, I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee, O Lord. (worship chorus by Pete Sanchez\nJr.)  Basically, \u201cexalt\u201d represents\neither the “state of being on a higher plane” or “movement in an\nupward direction.”(Vine\u2019s)  When I\nread Psalms 99 and see the picture of the Lord reigning from His throne room,\nsurrounded by cherubim, I begin to recognize how far above all things my Lord\nreally is.  It should cause me to tremble\nat the thought of this Lord loving and caring for me enough to die on the cross\nto save me and allow me to come into His presence. (vs. 1-2)  The amazing thing is that He chose to come to\nearth for me.  He left that exalted\nperfect throne room to provide salvation for the whole earth if they but place\ntheir faith and trust in Him.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   The reasons that we worship and exalt Him\nare listed in verses 3-5: 3  Let them\npraise Thy great and awesome name; Holy is He. 4   And the strength of the King loves justice; Thou hast established\nequity; Thou hast executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5  Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His\nfootstool; Holy is He.(NAS)  \u201cHoly Lord,\nmost holy Lord, You alone are worthy of my praise; O holy Lord, most holy Lord,\nwith all of my heart I sing: Great are You, Lord, Great are You Lord; Great are\nYou Lord, Great are You Lord, most holy Lord.\u201d (Worship Chorus: Great Are You\nLord, by Steve and Vicki Cook)  In verses\n6-8 we have a mini history lesson on God\u2019s faithfulness to His people through\nMoses and Aaron in the wilderness and Samuel as he led them into the kings of\nIsrael.  God revealed Himself to them in\nthe cloud, led them, provided for them, heard and answered their prayers, even\nwhen they deserved His judgment.  We are\nreminded that God \u201cwas a forgiving God to them, and {yet} an avenger of their\n{evil} deeds.\u201d(vs. 8)  God was able\nthrough His grace and mercy, provided by His Son, Jesus Christ, to be both\nforgiving and holy in His actions against their sin.  It is because of this that verse 9 is so\nmeaningful: Psalms 99:9        Exalt the\nLORD our God, and worship at His holy hill; for holy is the LORD our God.(NAS)<\/strong>   Father, You\nare worthy of all glory honor and praise! \nYour name is high and holy!  You\ndeserve to be exalted above all things. \nThe thought that You would love and care for me is beyond my\ncomprehension.  I humbly bow before You\nand thank You for hearing and answering my prayer.  You have been with me even when I deserved\njudgment.  Thank You for Your forgiveness\nand even for Your discipline in my life when I sin.  May I never lose the awe of Your holiness.  In Jesus Name, Amen!  Pastor Rob <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hobart Herd Devotional \u2013 Psalms 98-99    This Psalm challenges us to sing to the Lord a \u201cnew song\u201d.  He has done so many things for us and His mercies are new every morning, so why shouldn\u2019t we have a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3758,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757\/revisions\/3758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}