Psalm 93 reminds me that no matter what I hold in my hand, or what the world throws at me, God is trumping in. He reigns. Even in my sleepless night at 3 am as I read the first sentence of this Psalm, “The Lord reigns,” I hear the sudden sound of unpredicted pouring rain. The simultaneous noise serves to underscore this point for me. He rains and reigns. No matter what type of drought, spiritual or physical, He reigns.
Verse 2 describes the limitlessness of God’s reign, “Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.”
Verse 3 gives a clue about the Psalm writer’s current state. He rephrases his anguish three times, and the phrases vary only slightly.
“The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up the roaring of their waves.”
To me, whether events are truly mounting in threes or not, I acquire a sense of urgency when worldly circumstances seem intent on overwhelming me. I might even start hyperventilating spiritually. I catch a glimmer of this type of reaction by the Psalmist as I read the repeated thoughts. The words, “floods lift up the roaring of their waves” gives me an image of serious potential. The words suggest the concept of being human yet unable to control or affect a loud and rising threat.
How great is verse 4! In my Bible version, it counters the preceding verse by descriptions relaying God’s greater ability over three more types of water phenomena.
“The Lord on high is mightier and more glorious than the noise of many waters, yes than the mighty breakers and waves of the sea.
Then in the final verse of this short Psalm, I see proof of the value of thorough assessment.
Think of this. In a game of cards or dominoes, a good player stops to take stock of his hand and the potential threat in his opponent’s hand. In the games of life we learn from the Bible a third form of evaluation is necessary. What is God’s role? Do I believe what the Bible says? It tells me God has and is trumping in. He reigns. Maybe all that is necessary in order for me to survive what life throws at me is for me to stand. With God’s help, stand and take stock.
In the words of verse 5 I see an example of this process of evaluating and the hope such an exercise can offer. The Psalmist’s words categorically address God’s and my placement. If I allow my takeaway message to be fortified by these reflections, then I can stand in the face of adversity.
About God’s status the Psalmist says, “Your testimonies are very sure;”
About man’s status he explains, “holiness is becoming to Your house, O lord, forever.” In my amplified Bible the word, holiness is noted as being ours, and its achievement is described as “holiness which becomes apparent in separation from sin, with simple trust and hearty obedience.” God is holy already. He does not have to trust, obey, and become holy. We do. The Bible has taught us that we achieve a state of holy through acceptance of what God sent Jesus to do for us. He paid for our unholy ways. In order to stand holy before God, I need to trust in this provision and obey.
Here’s the glorious takeaway message of this Psalm. To manage my life, I don’t need to hold a certain trump card. I need to trust in God and obey, because He already holds the entire trump suit. He reigns.
My Prayer
“God, thank you for these words from the Psalmist that teach me again how You reign. Threatening floods have no hold on my outcome. You do. Help me to regulate my takeaway messages roaring from circumstances, filter them by Your words and attributes, and keep only Yours. Help me toss out all else. Amen”