Psalm 47-48 Our Responsibilities To Praise God For Who He Is And What He Has Done

Many Bible scholars believe these two psalms were written to celebrate the defeat of Sennacherib when God sent His angel to slay 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.  In Psalm 47, they affirm God as an awesome King, a triumphant King, and the King of Kings.  In the last verse of this chapter, we read, “the leaders of the earth belong to God.  He is supreme.”  That’s the wonderful thing about God – whether they know it or not, God controls the kings of the earth!

David had taken Jerusalem from the Jebusites, and when he brought the Ark of the Covenant to the city, it became the City of God.  Tourists now go there to see history, but in this chapter, pilgrims appear to have travelled to Jerusalem and to have seen with their own eyes the great things God had done for His people.  Their reaction was not to take photos or buy souvenirs, but to immediately go “to the Temple to worship the Lord, to meditate on His faithfulness, and to joyfully praise Him.  Worship is the proper human response to divine mercies.”  How many times have we reacted that way toward God?  “The greatest danger a nation faces is not the invading enemy on the outside but the eroding enemy on the inside – a people gradually turning away from the faith of their fathers.  Each generation must pass along to the next generation who the Lord is, what He has done, and what they must do in response to His goodness and faithfulness,” my commentary said.  How well are we doing that?  It’s not just about what He did in the Bible, but what He is actively doing today and throughout history.

Father, stoke my passion to tell the youth of this generation about what You’ve done.  Never let me cease to praise You for who You are.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford