A Psalm of Asaph. Thanksgiving for God’s Wondrous Deeds
We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks; your name is near.
People tell of your wondrous deeds.
At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.
When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep its pillars steady.
I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast’,
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
do not lift up your horn on high,
or speak with insolent neck.’
For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up;
but it is God who executes judgement,
putting down one and lifting up another.
For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup
with foaming wine, well mixed;
he will pour a draught from it,
and all the wicked of the earth
shall drain it down to the dregs.
But I will rejoice for ever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)
We tend to think that all the Psalms were written by King David, but of course this is not so. Although most were, many were written by other people. Psalm 75 for instance was written by Asaph, a Levite who was a musician and worship leader during the reign of King David. He starts this psalm with an interesting statement concerning God, saying "Your name is near", which might seems a rather strange comment to us today. What could this mean? Well we know that God has a personal name, indeed it appears in the Old Testament some 6,828 times. We read in Exodus that God's name is Yahweh, often written as YHWH (Exodus 3.9-15). God's name is loosely translated as “HE IS”. Put as simply as I can this means HE IS Saviour; HE IS Punisher of Sin; HE IS Forgiver of Sin; HE IS Faithful.
For Asaph, as for others who wrote the Hebrew scriptures, God's name was an active action - if we read through Psalm 75 above again, we can see that Asaph mentions some of God's actions. He "judges with equity"; He keeps the "pillars" of the "earth", "steady" (ie the foundations); He will deal "with the wicked of the earth" and "cut off" the "horns of the wicked" (ie remove their power and authority); and the "righteous shall be exalted". For Asaph, God is the Saviour of His people, He punishes sin, but He forgives His people when they confess, and He is faithful to His word. For all of these things Asaph thanks God.
As Christians we see how God's work continued in His Son, Jesus, and still continues today through the work of the Holy Spirit. We too thank our God, who is YAHWEH!
Father-God whose name is Yahweh,
we praise and thank you
for all Your wondrous deeds,
and especially for Your work of salvation
in sending Your Son to rescue us.
Help us to acknowledge all our sin,
and to be open and honest with You.
May we truly try to amend our ways
before You bring us to judgement,
and trust in Your words of forgiveness.
Amen.
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