The Blessed Nation, Pt. 3

The blessed nation has God as its LORD, and He is to be praised. He has
created us, saved us, protected us, and given us every good and perfect gift.

The Blessed Nation, Pt. 3

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people He has chosen as His own inheritance."

(Psalm 33:12)

Psalm 33:1-3 invites the reader to worship the LORD.

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!
For praise from the upright is beautiful.
Praise the Lord with the harp;
Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.

Worship is the believer's grand privilege and responsibility. Two times he says to praise the LORD. When you read these verses, you cannot help but see that the psalmist is instructing us to praise in demonstrative, celebratory ways. The righteous are to rejoice in the LORD. We are to find our joy in Him, and with joyous countenances and grateful hearts, we are to bless His holy name. Praises from the lips of God's people are a beautiful thing to behold. It blesses the LORD, and it rejuvenates our spirits.

The psalmist specifically instructs those with the abilities to do so to praise God with instruments. Here we see a clear corporate dimension to worship. We all should worship God in our prayer closets, but we should also worship God with our fellow people of God. There is something majestic and awe inspiring when the people of God join together in their instruments, hearts, and voices to glorify the Lord! We are to sing new songs to God. When the instrumentalist plays skillfully, we are to shout with joy.

The blessed nation has God as its LORD, and He is to be praised. He has created us, saved us, protected us, and given us every good and perfect gift. How can each of us not praise Him with our whole heart and being!

Take a few moments and read Psalm 33:4-19. You will be in awe of God's character and His power. God is the one God of truth, righteousness, justice, and goodness. That is His nature, and there is nothing immoral or evil in His character. He is pure, fully holy, and perfect in love.

Verse 6 speaks of His creative powers: "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." By His word, the breath of His mouth, He created everything. Ponder that for a moment! The world and everything in it are the result of this awesome God. The universe came into existence not by random, undirected chance, but by the command of God, as Genesis 1-2 tells us. He created it all ex-nihilo, meaning, out of nothing, He created it. Yes, this is a miracle, and only God could do it... and He did it! Many believe that aliens are responsible for our presence on earth, while others believe we are merely products of macroevolution, but the Bible tells us to look around and behold what God has done!

Psalm 33:10-11 tells the reader that God confounds the nations, but His purposes stand, and no one can thwart them. Then, right there verse 12, in the heart of this psalm, we read how blessed is the nation who has this God! He is the LORD! He is omnipotent and omniscient. He can do all things, and He knows all things. He is omnipresent. His gaze is everywhere; nothing escapes His penetrating vision (verses 13-14).

I love the Word of God! We will delve further into Psalm 33 in tomorrow's devotion.