Yet, sing David did. He sang to You of Your majestic power and strength and of your wisdom and salvation. For him, he sang often of how you rescued him but remembered too that promise You made to him to establish his throne forever. In turn, he seeks to sing praise to You, he extols You, the One who rides on the clouds.
Thinking of Your clouds. It's fun to watch them race across the sky on a windy day. However, on a bright beautiful, sunny day, with a bright blue sky above and puffy clouds forming all kinds of shapes, they are also so very interesting to see. You make beauty all around us in Your creation. These verses say You "ride the clouds", as if some sort of magic carpet. Or, I picture it as if You are water-skiing, only using the clouds as your skis. Then you race across the skies to do Your work.
When you ascended on high, You led captives in Your train. Lord, this is another picture we get from David. He went up to conquer many parts of the land. He set his foot in different places to gain the inheritance of Your Promised Land for the people of Israel. He had victory follow upon the heels of victory after victory. So he could bring many captives back to his nation with him; part of the bounty of "winning" a war.
Father, when Your Son Jesus came to this earth, He won the war against Satan. He defeated Satan, He got victory over Satan. In consequence, when we come to You through the salvation that Jesus earned for us, we are like His captives and we will be coming to up with Him.
I know we belong to You, servants of God Most High, Sovereign LORD. Praise be to Your Name, Father. Praise be to the Lord, God our Savior who daily bears our burdens.
Father we often have so many complaints like David enumerated in Psalm 38. However, here in Psalm 68 he is singing Your praises of Your deliverance and help, how the earth shook and the Heavens poured down rain before You, the One of Sinai, that one where Your presence came down and Moses and Aaron and some of the other elders of Israel, symbolic of their first major encounter where You handed down the way in which you wanted Your people to live, and to relate with you, in holiness, blamelessness and righteousness.
So David talks much about mountains in this Psalm. He gazes with envy at the rugged mountains, the mountains where You chose to reign.
Mountains reach high elevations as everyone knows, and they are majestic and we think even now of the mountains around the world, of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia (the highest in the region). Every morning You paint a different sort of picture with this mountain and the sun rise backdrop, filtering through and playing peek-a-boo with wispy clouds, arranging themselves at Your bidding into vying carousels of figures, giving each morning a new stunning splendor. Then we see another new creation of Your creation, yet another tableau for which to praise you.
Then there's the other mountains that most people know: Mt. Fuji of Japan, seen on postcards and known world wide, for one. Next, there's Mt. Everest, the tallest in the world on which men challenge themselves: man vs mt, with great trepidation on each expedition; such adventures to reach the peak.
When up there on "top of the world", they "look down on Your creation" (although they may not acknowledge Your hand in it at all). Oh Lord, how majestic and mighty and wonderful it must be to be up there to see so much of Your world, of Your creation. Breathtaking, in more than one sense.
Father, the ones I wouldn't mind seeing are the Swiss Alps. I've never seen them in person, only have heard how wonderful they are said to be. In addition, I look forward to someday seeing Your mountains which are set around about Jerusalem.
Might. Power. Protection. Lord from these we can get a glimpse of Your Almightiness.
No wonder all people can do is sing about it. Sing praise to You. That praise of You, in and of itself is protection against our enemies. We learned that in Psalm 8 "out of the mouth of babes", even, Father , "You can perfect praise". This forms a cocoon against the enemies and the wiles of the devil.
The devil always wants to bring us down, "to steal and to kill and to destroy" (John 10:10) in one way or another. However, You, Father, will bring us life and help us escape from death, from everlasting "living" death in Hell.
We know that when our earthly bodies die we are not confined to the grave; the end, dead end. No. Our spirit and soul go to be "with Christ" (Philippians 1:23). Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, that is. Those of us who are Your children! We praise You, glad Death cannot keep us captive anymore. One day we will claim Your promise of everlasting life and to be in Heaven with You.
Father, we think of what David says here, that kings will bring gifts to You in Jerusalem. We think back into History even among the Chinese, those who left the Tower of Babel, at that time You confused the language, that You wrought among the children of men and the group whom we now call Chinese. They went off to what is now known as China or back when, "The Middle Kingdom" but Lord, You preserved for thousands of years, the knowledge of the one they call "Shang Di". That's You. The Supreme Leader, God, Heavenly Being, the One who blesses and they worshiped You for all those 1000's of years.
Even the Middle Kingdom emperors throughout those millenniums, offered up a yearly sacrifice to You and to You alone. They did have knowledge of You and symbolically they did bring "gifts" to You in Your temple in Jerusalem by such offerings.
In King Solomon's time, his name was so greatly renowned, other great people came and brought tribute. The notable one being the Queen of Sheba. She brought a whole "train" of goods and beasts for him all the way from Ethiopia (1 Kings 10:1-13).
In the early years of our Lord, sacrifices were brought to Him, the Son of God. Gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh from wise men from afar (Matthew 2:11).
When David penned these words, he must have experienced such too. There were no doubt kings subject to him after all his conquering feats. Father, I pray, I ask that there will be "kings" that still bring gifts to You and offer that sacrifice of praise to You, the all knowing Sovereign, bowing in obeisance, on their knees before You the King of kings. May they bow humbly before You in Your presence, bringing their gifts of praise, time energy, money, possessions to You. This is reciprocation for giving us the ONE true gift, the gift of Your only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation wrought through Him.
May we bow in humble adoration, thanksgiving and gratitude, blessing and praising Your Name to the end of our days on this globe called Earth.
Let us sing to God, all kingdoms of the Earth, sing praise to God. May these people who think of themselves as "kings"--leaders, diplomats, rulers of nations; those representatives at the UN, sing praise to You, oh Father God.
There actually aren't too many actual kings left in this world, perhaps the Sultanates of Brunei and Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Thailand, but Lord, in many countries, that are "kings" so to speak--the leaders of the countries. May they bow before You and sing praise to You proclaiming Your power and authority in their lives, oh God; Your majesty is over Israel and Your power is in the skies.
Indeed, Sovereign Lord, at this time of COVID-19, this leaders are feeling the grip of Your power. They wield and extend their scepters, rather helplessly these days. They want to be in control but have to realize You are and have been.
You reign.
You are indeed an awesome power and strength, oh God. You give power and strength and authority to whom You will and to Your people; not just to the people of Israel but to Your redeemed children whom You've chosen out of every tribe, people, kingdom and nation under heaven. These You call "Your children" because they have made Your Son Jesus, the Savior of their lives.
Praise be to You, Heavenly Father, Sovereign God and King over all the earth. To You we give praise. You reign for ever and ever, oh Sovereign King.
In Jesus' most precious name, we praise You.
~ERC May 2020~
First prayed 8 Feb 2020
Prayer based on Psalm 68
Our God Reigns
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