Verse Sixteen: Psalm 96:11, What's So Important About A Joyous Earth?

Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Psa 96:11 NLT

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This psalm reminds me of something I read recently about ancient beliefs. The Hebrew were actually quite unique compared to other religions, especially the ones surrounding them, because they condemned the practice nature worship. Well, the prophets condemned it and tried to get the people to follow suite. It was a unique and new "mythology" in the world for there to be a single God who exists beyond nature, not bound by its forces. The Hebrew were surrounded by temptation to worship as other cultures did. But consider how the Babylonian gods operated:

"Where the Babylonian gods were engaged in an ongoing battle against the forces of chaos, and needed the rituals of the New Year festival to restore their energies, Yahweh can simply rest on the seventh day, his work complete." (from Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries) 

Those gods didn't have power over nature, they were trying to beat it into submission! Meanwhile, they need rituals to power back up after this exhausting matchup. But then you have Yahweh. Much of Psalm 96 emphasizes this relationship of God to nature, as well as how this sets Him not only apart from the idol gods but higher than them. Knowing this gave me a deeper understanding of what makes a psalm like this important. Vs. 4 says "Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise! He is to be feared above all gods." We all know the commandment to not have any gods before God, but this psalm could be considered a point for the argument.  If you're wondering why God is greater and you should worship Him instead, consider the fact that nature doesn't try to kick His butt, it worships Him because He made it. 

V. 1  "Sing a new song to the LORD! Let the whole earth sing to the LORD!"

Vs. 5 "The gods of other nations are mere idols, but the LORD made the heavens!"

Vs. 9 "Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor. Let all the earth tremble before him."

Vs. 11 "Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!"

Vs. 12 "Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise (before the Lord)"

Nature knows its Lord Creator and in what direction its praises should go. And yet in Genesis we are told that man was given authority over it. I don't want to sound to too hippie, but it seems to me we could learn a lesson or two about the proper approach to authority over nature when we compare the Babylonian idol gods methods to that of Yahweh. Trying to dominate "the forces of chaos" wasn't getting them anything but tired.  We shouldn't be taking that route. We should be looking to emulate the Creator, He who knows His creation inside out. This makes Him the ultimate provider of their needs, a caring tender of the earth. It responds gloriously to Him and is it any wonder why? It's praising Him for the same reasons we often do, because we felt the depth of His love through the way He provided and cared for us, showing us just how well He knows our needs. It's rather beautiful, don't you think?

Verse Fifteen: Psalm 89:16

They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation. 

They exult in your righteousness. Psa 89:16 NLT

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Ok, a couple of things. First, is it weird that when I read this Psalm I can tell its not David? It says the author is Ethan the Ezrahite and no offense to Ethan here but I find him far more confusing. I am sure this psalm is just above my level of study or something. That still doesn't change the fact that I don't know why it goes from praising God because he is mighty and awesome, on into telling the story of David's anointing and how God will never lift it everything is glorious and will be glorious forever to saying BUT HE HAS LIFTED IT! Everything is awful!! David is abandoned and when is God going to bless Him again?? How long will he hide his face blah blah blah. And then the last line a total 180 to "Praise the LORD forever! Amen and amen!" What?? Talk about swinging from one extremem to another. Make up your mind, man!  There is no middle ground with him or something.

So...with that said... I am confessing I have nothing more to say on this verse because I find the psalm so frickin confusing... I suppose I will say this though... In the end no matter if you are being blessed or feel the Lord has taken that blessing and left you exposed to the world and all its attacks, we don't know enough about everything to not say, as Ethan here does, "Praise the LORD forever! Amen and amen!" No matter what, the Lord is worthy of praise.