Psalm 99 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 99 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Verse 2The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
Verse 3Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
Verse 4Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Verse 5Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
Verse 6Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
Verse 7He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
Verse 8O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Verse 9Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy.
Devotion
Have you ever had a mountain top experience? The ones I have experienced have been around campfires, or places where stars shine brightly, and at youth gatherings or assemblies when worship is big and bold and choir filled. This psalm speaks of the manifestations of God, in God’s kingdom, on mount Zion, and in the wilderness during the exodus. Camps, youth gatherings and assemblies are events we can’t duplicate in most congregations. But they are not the only holy encounters we have with God. Our reluctance to remodel or change our church buildings is often because of the holy encounters we have had there. They are where we have baptized our children, married our spouses, buried our parents, and affirmed our own baptisms. Camps, gatherings, assemblies, and mountain tops are places we go to encounter God. And God also comes to us in our own church buildings.
Prayer
Dear Lord, find us, come to us, speak to us, that we might carry out your work. Amen.
Interested in digging deeper into today’s text?
Read more here.