Psalm 92
1 A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.
It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, 2 to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, 3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. 4 For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the work of your hands. 5 How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts!
6 The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand, 7 that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be for ever destroyed. 8 But you, O LORD, are exalted for ever. 9 For surely your enemies, O LORD, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.
10 You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured upon me. 11 My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes. 12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; 13 planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, 15 proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
____________________
Psalm 92 – Flourishing and fruitful
(Verses 1-5) Psalm 92 is written with Sabbath day worship in mind. Each week this is the day when non-essential work gives way to thinking about the Lord, praising Him, talking with Christians about Him in fellowship, and sharing the gospel with those who do not know Christ. God’s moral law, the Ten Commandments, teach that one day in seven is to be kept for the Lord as a Sabbath, or ‘cessation’, from normal work and life. The apostles, under God’s guidance, kept that timeless one in seven principle, but changed the day to mark Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week, our Sunday. This first-day Sabbath is now called ‘the Lord’s day’. The command to keep it still applies, and so do God’s great blessings promised to all who try to do that. (Isaiah 58:13-14).
Verses 1-5 describe how we should keep the Lord’s day by honouring God, even more than usual, instead of the work and other activities of the week. They are:
- Praising the Lord, with music, all day
- Remembering the ‘Most High God’
- Morning proclamation of His love
- Evening recalling of His faithfulness
- Rejoicing in His works and thoughts. We do that when we read the Bible and especially recall Creation, Jesus’ death on the Cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins, rising from the dead, Giving us His Holy Spirit, and Ascending to Heaven.
(Verses 6-9) If you know Jesus as your Saviour, do you sometimes wonder why those who don’t can’t ‘get it’ about how great it is to know Christ? These verses confirm they lack any sense of knowing God outside of faith in Christ. They are ‘senseless’. They just ‘do not understand’. They find it hard to grasp that their lives are like grass that flourishes and then is ‘forever destroyed’. We all will die, but then they will be scattered and perish in ‘everlasting destruction.’ Pray for them. Show them Christ’s love. Share God’s good news with them. Through that the Holy Spirit brings light to darkened souls, as He did for all who received Christ as Saviour.
(Verses 10-15) Compare those of us who repented of our sins and gave our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our many spiritual blessings from God include:
- Spiritual strength (like a wild ox!)
- Anointed by the Holy Spirit (like oil)
- Victory over our spiritual enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil
- Flourishing spiritual life (‘palm tree’)
- Growth in grace (like a cedar tree)
- Being ‘planted’ in God’s presence
- Flourishing praise (in God’s courts)
- Bearing ‘fruit’ – even when old!
- Staying spiritually fresh
- Proclaiming Jesus as the holy LORD
