- He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Psalm 98:3 – Meaning the Lord forgot that He loved Israel and was faithful to them? Not at all. Likely you’ve noticed as we have progressed through the psalms the writers will say things to the Lord like “remember” or “call to mind.” It’s not that they believed God forgot, but such things they were asking God to remember were not being seen by them in the moment and was calling on God to reveal such promised things. For God promised to consistently show His love and always remain faithful to Israel, yet His love, faithfulness, protection, and other blessings may not always have been easy to see by His people. So in those difficult seasons, the psalmist would call on God to remember His promises and make these things seeable again. And this is why the phrase “make a joyful noise” was repeated so often in this psalm…for God remembered. The prayer to make God’s promised blessing seen by His people again was answered. Steadfast love was felt, faithfulness was seen, and it provoked them to worship. Know then if something you know is promised by God to His people isn’t being seen easily in the moment by you, it’s not that God has forgotten His word to you. You are welcome though in prayer to remind Him like the psalmists and ask God to make such things seen by you. For even if you don’t see it, His faithfulness is still here. Even if our eyes don’t settle on it, His steadfast love is remaining steadfast in your story. Let’s then join in with the joyful noise for our God keeps His word, even if our eyes don’t see it. He remains faithful. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3512
- Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. Psalms 98:1 – I want to focus today on that phrase “For he has done marvelous things.” Sometimes we can allow a wrong way of worship to creep into our praise to God. We can go to church, serve Him, share His Gospel, and worship with song in order to get God’s attention so He’ll bless us. Yet how does that compare to what the passage is saying? We are to sing a new song of praise to God for the things He has already done for us. We must remember our worship is our demonstration of gratitude and submission to God, not some perfect combination on a vending machine to get from God what we want. Tomorrow at church, and today even as you worship Him, let your mindset about coming to Him for worship be to thank Him for what He’s done already for you. For even if God never did another thing for you He deserves your eternal praise because of all that He has already done. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 761
- The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. Psalms 98:2 – God has made known to the world His plan of salvation. He’s made known to the world that He is the Creator who loves it and is offering life to it. We see later in the passage that the seas, the rivers, and the hills acknowledge this and are doing their part to tell the world of His majesty and salvation. How about you though? God has given us who has been saved by His grace the mission of making known His salvation to the world. We are the ones to spread the good news that salvation can be found in God. Are you doing your part? How so? Let’s make sure that today is a day we can look back on and know we joined in with all the rest of creation and made God’s salvation known to the world through us. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1161
- Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Psalm 98:4 – I feel like I hear this verse quoted often in the church, mostly after someone feels they sang badly or after a little kid’s music performance. Make a joyful “noise,” doesn’t have to be a sweet melody. Yet, that’s exactly right, it doesn’t have to be a sweet sounding song, but a noise of pure joy for what we are existing in. See the writer of our psalm lived before the coming of Jesus. He hadn’t had the chance to speak with Jesus, see the cross, or experience the life we have with God today because of Jesus. Yet there was still a joyful noise coming from his mouth. If someone who never saw Jesus, never heard the message of the cross, and was only looking forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises can rejoice like this…what excuse to do I have for giving a halfhearted worship? I’m taking this as a personal challenge this week as I step into another week of camp. I’m going to worship like I’ve been saved by grace by my loving Heavenly Father who has already fulfilled His promises to me. How about you? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2058
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