Psalm 76:1,2
There is a vast difference between knowing about a person and knowing that person. We all know much about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but were they to appear before us today, we would not even be able to distinguish between them, if we saw them, as they were at a specific and identical age.
When then in Psalm 76:1,2 Asaph writes, "In Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel. In Salem also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion'' he means much more than that in Israel men know about God. In fact if anyone knows a great deal about God, it is the devil. But he does not know God. For to know Him means to enjoy His fellowship and love, and to experience all the blessedness that His name expresses. Did you notice? Asaph explains knowing God by stating that ''His name is great in Israel." Our versification also expresses it that way (PRC Psalter):
God is known among His people,
Ev'ry mouth His praises fill;
From of old He hath established
His abode on Zion's hill;
There He broke the sword and arrow,
Bade the noise of war be still.
Singing His praises, then, is the sign that we do know Him as our God and Savior. For, dwelling in Zion and having His tabernacle in Salem, that is in Jerusalem, means that He lives in covenant fellowship with His people, and they taste the blessedness He has prepared for them in Christ. For Christ is pictured in that tabernacle and its priest, and the kings ruling on Mount Zion also represented Him. They knew God in that they tasted His work on the cross and in the exaltation of Christ with power over all things in heaven and on earth.
Whether you and I know Him that way, and to what degree we do, is to be seen in whether and to what degree we praise His name. If we have tasted the peace that He wrought in Christ, we know Him in His love. We know Him in His name Savior.
How much then, and how sincere, is your praise to God? And do you enjoy His nearness and love that upholds you in your spiritual life?
Read: Psalm 76
Psalter versification: #207:1
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter #400
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Kings 8
II Kings 9:1-13
Acts 16:16-40
Psalm 143:1-12
Proverbs 17:26
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Quote for Reflection:
"The lack of modesty in dress is an issue that has faced the human race since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin. Nor will the issue disappear until we go to be with God in glory." – Beacon Lights (6/04)
Additional Info
- Date: 25-June
Heys, John A.
Rev. John A. Heys was born on March 16, 1910 in Grand Rapids, MI. He was ordained and installed into the ministry at Hope, Walker, MI in 1941. He later served at Hull, Iowa beginning in 1955. In 1959 he accepted the call to serve the South Holland, IL Protestant Reformed Church. He received and accepted the call to Holland, Michigan Protestant Reformed Church in 1967. He retired from the active ministry in 1980. He entered into glory on February 16, 1998.