REJOICING: (2) WHO AND WHY?

We learned yesterday that only those who have been saved by sovereign grace have the right to rejoice in the Lord. Today we must consider the reasons for praise.

The psalmist gives a twofold justification for his worship: “for the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth”, v. 4. Consider first God’s Word. Can we not delight in the complete infallibility of the Scripture? All around, men seek desperately for answers, and yet they wilfully reject the only source of objective truth, the Word of God. Our God has spoken, and He cannot he, Titus 1. 2. Further, when we think of God’s Word we cannot help but think of God’s Son, for He is the Living Word, John 1. 1. And in Him, “the Holy One and the Just”, Acts 3. 14, as in the written Word, is nothing but perfection. In a world where so much is wrong we can joy in the God whose Word is right.

“The word of the Lord is right”, and His works are done in “faithfulness”, v. 4 R.V. The psalmist ties the two so tightly together that we cannot disentangle them, vv. 6, 9. Is it not remarkable that when the creative activity of God is mentioned, it is described with such devastating simplicity? “He spake, and it was done”, v. 9. God’s power is not that of the muscular strongman, straining himself to the very limits of his capacity. On the contrary, God’s power is blessedly effortless! He has only to speak the word, Gen. 1. 3.

Each of the divine activities mentioned in Psalm 33 can be illustrated from the divine ministry of the Saviour. Just like Jehovah, the Lord Jesus is the God of power, Psa. 33. 6-9; Mark 4. 41; the God of purpose, vv. 13-17; John 2. 24, 25; and the God of protection, vv. 18, 19; John 17. 12.

Here is another line of scriptural evidence for the deity of Christ. He could “speak the word only”, and a centurion’s servant would be healed, Matt. 8. 8, or Lazarus would be raised from the dead, John 11. 43. So why rejoice in the Lord? Because our God is glorious in all He says and all He does, and that glory has been displayed to the full in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Bom again … by the word of God”, 1 Pet. 1. 23.