The Word Made Fresh
1Come, let’s sing a song to the LORD!
Sing joyfully, for God is our rock, our guarantee of safety.
2Enter God’s temple in gratitude,
and sing joyful songs of praise!
3For our God is great, the ruler of all the gods,
4to whom belongs the earth’s deepest valleys and loftiest mountains.
5The sea also belongs to God, who made it,
and whose hands formed the dry lands.
6So, come! Let’s worship our God.
Let’s bow down on our knees before the One who made us.
7The One who made us is our God,
who cares for us as shepherds care for their flocks.
Let everyone listen today to what God says:
8“Don’t be hard-hearted like your ancestors were
at Meribah or Massah in the desert,
9when they tested me and demanded proof
even though they had already seen what I had done for them.
10I was so disgusted with that generation!
For forty years they tested me
for they were a people whose hearts were in the wrong place.
They had no respect for my way of doing things.
11That is why I declared in anger that they would never enter my rest.
Commentary
1-5: God is hailed as king and ruler of all, in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm; from the tops of the mountains to the depths of the seas.
6-7: And so, the people are called to kneel before the ruler of creation.
8-11: In response, God speaks. God reminds them of the rebellion of their ancestors in the wilderness at Massah and Meribah (see Exodus 17:7). Because of that rebellion God determined that they would not enter the land of Canaan and made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years. The psalm then ends rather abruptly.
Takeaway
Acknowledging God as the ruler of all the earth means that we must accept God’s laws and instructions, and also acknowledge that God cares about other nations as well as ours.