The Lord Reigns

"The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad."  

Psalm 97:1 (NASB)

These are the opening words to Psalm 97 and a consistent theme throughout the Scriptures.  We talk about the reign of God, but I wonder how much we really think about the reign of God.

We have a disadvantage because of most of our political background.  I live in the United States of America.  We elect a new leader every 4 years and our new leader is in very few senses "in charge".  In fact, in terms of reign and rule, we implement a system of checks and balances.  We reject the power of totalitarian rulers.  We look down upon dictators and have little understanding of monarchy.  In fact, in most cases we even misunderstand our own system of government and think we are democratic and have rule by the people.  (What we actually have is a representative republic, but this is not a civics class.)  At the end of the day we have a hard time understanding a system in which we have but one choice - obey or rebel.  

Such is the Theocracy with which God rules.  God is in charge.  I am not in charge.  I do not even get an equal say in the decision making process.  What God says will happen is what is going to happen.  I do not get to dialogue with God in the process of Him making His will.  God reigns.  God is in control.  God is in charge.  

At the core, most of our theology  is deficient and  ascribes God reign and rule when things are going well and then when things go poorly we defend God by claiming human free will.  So God gets credit for all of things that go well but at the end of the days that go poorly we act as though he was not in control of those things.  Or we beg God to show His control in precisely the way we think He ought to.  And when He does not choose our way, we despair.  God reigns.  God is King.  God is Lord.  He is the one to whom our only response is obedience and worship.  

What is surprising is that the reign of God in the Scriptures is reason for gladness and joy!  When we serve a King who is seeking His own glory and honor first we can trust in the character and nature that He has revealed to us.  We can trust that He will do nothing to harm His own glory and therefore we can rely on Him.  Even in the difficulty we know the promises that He has made and that He, as ruler, will never default on.  

So God reigns - let the people be glad!

Do you think about what you sing?

Visiting with my parents this weekend we were having a conversation about theology as it is taught through song and how often there are errors in the songs that we sing that we do not even think about.  Or perhaps "errors" is the wrong word.  I don't know that I can tell if an author has written the theology purposefully, or if they have erred by simply not putting thought into what is being taught. 

In this discussion I am looking past things like "We Three Kings" that is based on tradition instead of biblical data.  I am instead concerned with songs that teach at best incomplete theology. 

Please understand that in drawing attention to this theme, I am not in any way intending disrespect to those that authored these songs, or those that might hold them dear.  I am simply asking if we really have thought about what we are singing.

For example - a song like "Softly and Tenderly" encourages us to remember that Jesus is standing at the portal and watching for poor sinners to come home.  This song downplays sin and makes Jesus completely dependent upon our action.  God does not view sinners as poor souls - he views them as dead in their trespasses and sin.  And apart from His quickening of their Spirit, they will remain dead.  A similar theme is found in "Jesus is Calling".  The truth is that Jesus does not wait for us.  God acts upon our hearts and when He does, we respond.

And then there is a whole other category of missed theology when we sing words that have great theology, but we don't really think about them at all and go on living life as though we are in charge.  "Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" has a line that states that we will cease from sin and self.  And then we sing it and complain that the worship was not what it should be.  Or that the church is not meeting my needs.  Or that someone ignored me at church.  And we forget that we sang we would cease from self. 

In all of these things I simply point out that we sing without thinking about the truth that we are saying to music.  We need to stop and think about what we say, and about what we sing.  And in so doing we will find our hearts drawn into God and His Word!