I couldn’t help but think of my mate, Jordan, bailing on a long run, when I was half way through Psalm 114.
‘What ails you, O Jordan, that you turn back?’ it (sort of) says.
That’s not really what 114 is all about. Or is it?
114 is a reminder of who’s boss. The supremacy and sovereignty of Yahweh who is over all and above all. It is not creation that calls the shots—not seas, nor rivers, nor mountains—but it is the Creator, the Lord. He is the One who causes the earth to tremble, the seas to part, and water to gush from granite.
Why do the people of Yahweh need a reminder of His supremacy? After centuries of slavery and a host of miraculous acts that lead to their freedom, why would they have pause to question his sovereignty?
Answer? They’re still in the desert.
114 is a reminder of God’s mighty power, but it’s also an affirmation of his presence with His people.
‘Judah became his sanctuary’ and ‘Israel his dominion’, the Psalmist pens. He tabernacled among them. Like Jesus in us, their was a realised promise of the King setting up shop among His people.
Application for 2014? If you’re in a dry and desperate place, if you find yourself in the desert, never forget the graceful, merciful God whose goodness towards us in Jesus has brought us out of bondage and captivity. And never forget that He is with us. That He will never leave us or forsake us.
If you’re in the desert, keep truckin’. Don’t give up. If you’re in the valley with death shadowing you, keep walking. Not out of grim hopelessness and resignation, but with a renewed and joyful awareness that the God of Jacob, the God who has revealed himself in Jesus, the firstborn of all creation, has released you from being under slavery and is at work in you. Walking with you, working in you. Marvel at that. Tremble at that.
– Simon Elliott