December 12thPsalm 92
Enjoying God
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 In old age they still produce fruit;
they are always green and full of sap….
This Psalm is subtitled, A Psalm for the Sabbath, unique to the book of Psalms. The Psalm is a teaching psalm. It combines praise for what God does for an individual or the community – testimony. And it infers (teaches) we should learn something from this. This is a large part of what worship (in addition to prayer) is for – testimony and teaching.
While the Sabbath is often described as ‘what not to do’ (a description of my childhood), it is also described in positive terms of ‘what to do’ and what the Sabbath does to the one who does observe it.
91.1-4 A CALL TO WORSHIP
1 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.
-‘God’s works’ include deliverance of God’s people, and God’s activity in creation. Both realms of activity give rise to praise, and both are associated with the Sabbath.
91.5-9 THE WONDER OF GOD’S WORKS
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
6 The dullard cannot know,
the stupid cannot understand this:
7 though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction for ever,
8 but you, O Lord, are on high for ever.
9 For your enemies, O Lord,
for your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.
The dullard cannot appreciate the beauty around him/her. ‘The dullard’ is not morally corrupt, but lacks clarity of vision to see the glory and might of God. There is a frequent contrast in the Psalms between the righteous and the wicked in terms of motion, with the righteous having an ability to stand still and reflect upon true things (’how great are your works, O Lord!) as opposed to the frenetic activity of the wicked that leads them to oblivion.
‘When I have a terrible need of…religion, then I go out and paint the stars.’ (Van Gogh)
91.10-15 ENJOYING GOD
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 In old age they still produce fruit;
they are always green and full of sap,
15 showing that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Two trees are mentioned: the palm tree grows very tall and is useful for people: food, rope, roofing. It has an amazing ability to bend before even hurricane winds without breaking. The cedar is magnificent: it can grow to up 120 feet tall with fourty feet of girth. Some cedars are up to 2,000 years old. Cedars from Lebanon were used in the building of Solomon’s temple.
The righteous man or woman, says our poet, feels like these trees. When the great Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, reached 80 years of age, he wrote to a friend, ‘It is wonderful to feel hilarious joy – even this old tree!’ I love the fact that on the night he died, Barth was still working, writing a lecture he was to give the following week. Tired he laid down his pen in the middle of a sentence and went to bed. He died peacefully that night at age 82, joyful and ‘green’ to the end.
All of us – young saplings and old trees – can give witness to God’s amazing works. The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, ‘What is the chief end (purpose) of human life? Answer: ‘Humans’ chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Usa1240i2UQ&si=4H75C2dxy5StqLJt – For the beauty of the earth