Tremble at the Presence of the Lord

114WhenIsrael went out from Egypt,
    the house of Jacob froma people of strange language,

²                 Judah became hissanctuary,
    Israel his dominion.

³                 The sea looked and fled;
    Jordan turned back.

⁴                 The mountains skipped like rams,
    the hills like lambs.

⁵                 Whatails you, O sea, that you flee?
    O Jordan, that you turn back?

⁶                 O mountains, that you skip like rams?
    O hills, like lambs?

⁷                 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
    at the presence of the God of Jacob,

⁸                 who turns the rock into a pool of water,
    the flint into a spring of water.

 

Reflection

• When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, he dwelt among them and ruled over them.
• The psalmist personified the Red Sea as seeing the Israelites coming and fleeing from them by parting its waters. Later when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the Jordan River backed up as far as the town of Adam, farther north in the Jordan Valley, to let them cross. The mountains around Sinai quaked when God came down on Mt. Horeb to meet with his people.
• Therefore, everyone should tremble before the Lord (v7), as God’s creation does, because he uses his great power to save and to provide for his people. Remembering his deliverance and provision should move us to fear and be in awe of him. And we offer him praise.
• Where does your “salvation history” begin? What main events would you retell in a personal psalm?
• What in your life was: (1) Egypt? (2) The Red Sea? (3) The Jordan? (4) Sinai? (5) Water from the rock?

 

 

Prayer & Journaling:

Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what he wants to tell me. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in the “Spiritual Journal” book.