Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Psalm 98 calls all creation to sing praises to the Lord. All creation - the earth, the sea, the rivers, the hills, and all the people too. This is a mighty chorus of praise! What reason is there for such an outcry? The Psalmist provides several reasons in the first few verses of the Psalm. In verse one, God “has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him” (ESV). The salvation of God is a big thing. After all, it seems quite impossible from our perspective to remove sin from somebody, especially without that person’s works of righteousness. Here, however, God works salvation for us. For this reason, we are called to sing God’s praises.
In verse two, God has made His salvation known by showing the nations His righteousness. I was recently talking with afriend who is having a little trouble wrapping her head around how big sin and salvation are. She took issue with the idea that we all sin, because she would rather think of the fact that we all make mistakes. Sin, I explained, is anything which falls short of God’s perfection. God shows us His righteous perfection. Then he shows us how he has given his life for all our sin, for all the times we are short of God’s perfection.
Third, in verse three, God “has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel” (ESV). He has shown his salvation all around the world.
For these reasons, God’s people sing praises to Him all the time. He has shown himself to be the savior, the redeemer of all his creation. We join the chorus of earth, sea, rivers, and hills calling out with God’s praises.
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