Comment on a Psalm

Psalm 47

Well, one thing is obvious about this Psalm. The sons of Korah who wrote it were excited. And they expected the people who would sing this Psalm to be excited with them. And our translators try to convey this tone of excitement with the use of exclamation points here and there. Here we have a Psalm that is full of excited praise for God.

But for the excitement to work, for it to be more than just an excuse to shout and jump around, we need to know what we are excited about. Real praise is about more than just vented emotions.

The Psalm tells us why there is to be excited praise. Our God is King over all the earth. Notice how often He is referred to as King and how often other words associated with royalty are used. We praise our God because He is King.

But again, we need to know more.  We need to rescue this from a bunch of church words that do more hiding of the truth than revealing it. What difference does it make that He is King?

Two thoughts come to mind. As bad as life might get, at times, it's all still under His kingly rule. Life on this globe is never out of control. And that's a good thing to tell ourselves when it all feels out of control. Also, if God rules, then the day will come when all of His enemies will be conquered. The day will come when life will never again have any bad moments. It will only be good. Always.

So, if we are in the midst of glorious times when it is clear that our King is having His way, or if we are in the midst of times that are close to overwhelming, we can use this Psalm to praise the King of all the earth, whose name is Jesus.