Psalms 33
Psalms 33:1-22 (NLT)
1 Let the godly sing for joy to the LORD; it is fitting for the pure to praise him.
2 Praise the LORD with melodies on the lyre; make music for him on the ten-stringed harp.
3 Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.
4 For the word of the LORD holds true, and we can trust everything he does.
5 He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the LORD fills the earth.
6 The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.
7 He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs.
8 Let the whole world fear the LORD, and let everyone stand in awe of him.
9 For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.
10 The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes.
11 But the LORD’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.
12 What joy for the nation whose God is the LORD, whose people he has chosen as his inheritance.
13 The LORD looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.
14 From his throne he observes all who live on the earth.
15 He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.
16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
17 Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—for all its strength, it cannot save you.
18 But the LORD watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love.
19 He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.
20 We put our hope in the LORD. He is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone.
It is easy to trust what we can see, and so hard to trust by faith… unless you know the Father. Knowing God and knowing of God are two very different things, and unfortunately the latter is so prevalent. In the knowing of God, we know He is faithful, we know we can trust Him, we know what He has done and promises to do! Knowing of God doesn’t necessarily enable us to do any of those things.
“The Lord alone is our radiant hope and we trust in him with all our hearts. His wraparound presence will strengthen us.”
Psalms 33:20 TPT
Everything changes in the fearful beholding of God that causes the heart to abandon every other trust. Everything else that would seem to be foundational, even the stars and unchanging elements of nature, were all formed by the same breath that has breathed love over us. Rather than leaning on the notions of those that divert from His ways and His plans, how much better it is to remove all other props and trust only in Him. To identify as His is to become fully clothed in an awareness of Him that causes a quaking and trembling at the choice of entering into the secret place where there is safety and hope or wandering aimlessly to the whims of evil’s emotions. All those requirements of the soul for life and purpose are found in the effect of His presence as His love overwhelms all other focus. There is release from the oppressive clouds of despair in the transformation of His glory as the atmosphere is overtaken with empowering joy. He is continually beholding us, but it is in our beholding of Him that His passion is realized in our hearts.