Who is Mighty as You?

“I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever;
    with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
I said, ‘Steadfast love will be built up forever;
    in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.’
You have said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one..:
“I will establish your offspring forever,
    and build your throne for all generations.”’

Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
    Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
    and awesome above all who are around him?
O Lord God of hosts,
    who is mighty as you are, O Lord,
    with your faithfulness all around you?
You rule the raging of the sea;
    when its waves rise, you still them…
You… scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
    the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
The north and the south, you have created them…
You have a mighty arm;
    strong is your hand, high your right hand…

“But now you have cast off and rejected… your anointed…
He has become the scorn of his neighbors.
You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
    you have made his enemies rejoice.
You have turned back the edge of his sword,
    and not made him stand in battle.
You have made his splendor to cease…
    you have covered him with shame…

Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.” Psalm 89:1-13, 38,41-45,52

The psalmist, a contemporary of King David, seems to share his passion for music as well as knowing and exalting God. His great resolve: he would sing of the Lord and make Him known, in every circumstance. Why? Because He was incomparable, awesome in rule and might. Ethan the Ezrahite may have been renowned for his wisdom, but God founded and ordered and sustained all things in heaven and earth, and was worthy to be praised and known. Even as desperate times came, God’s people were rejected, and doubts arose, he stood on God’s promises and blessed the Lord. (1 Kings 4:30-31)

We meet circumstances in life that make us want to complain, withdraw, or fight back. Some of God’s storms seem senseless, His dismissals painful. To develop a psalmist’s mindset is to look beyond the roiling here and now to His perfect everlasting.

Would we remember God is mightier than our troubles, and His justice- while difficult now- will resolve in the end? How can the contemplation of His work and majesty in nature lift our hearts today? For what will we choose to praise Him?

“O worship the King all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.

O tell of his might and sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.” ~ Robert Grant (1833)

Lord, may I count on and sing of Your might forever.