Thought for the Day 1/3/2025

 Friday Tale - God's Victory 

Shout to the Lord, all the earth, break out in praise and sing for joy!.
~ Psalm 98:4 

Psalm 98 celebrates the power and victory of God. It calls us to praise him because of what he has done to save the world. In fact, Psalm 98 beckons creation itself to join in the song of praise, including the sea, the rivers, and the hills. 

Almost three centuries ago, Psalm 98 inspired an English hymn writer, who published a collection of his composition based on the Psalms. Almost all of Isaac Watts’ hymns have been long forgotten, except one. The second part of his two-part hymn based on Psalm 98 remains popular today. It’s most likely that you could sing at least one verse from memory, maybe more. 

That hymn is the favorite Christmas carol, “Joy to the World.” If you take the words of the carol and lay them alongside Psalm 98, you’ll see many parallels. For example, the root of “Joy to the world, the Lord is come” is found in verse 4: “Shout to the LORD, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy.” 

But there is one significant difference between Psalm 98 and the carol we know and love. From the perspective of the psalmist, the world should celebrate because “the Lord is coming to judge the earth” (98:9). The celebration anticipates God’s visit to earth as judge and savior. Isaac Watts wrote about that visit. Jesus did come. And he did judge the earth, finding it guilty of sin. But amazingly, he also died as a sacrifice for sin. This expression of divine love goes beyond what is stated in Psalm 98. Thus, in light of the saving work of God in Christ, the final verse of “Joy to the World,” exalts “the glories of his righteousness, and wonders of his love.” 

Watts did not write “Joy to the World” as a Christmas hymn. Though it has found a rightful home in the canon of beloved carols, the truth expressed in “Joy to the World” is appropriate for any time of year. Even today, we should praise God with joy for his victory and salvation. Even today, we can receive Jesus as our king by honoring him in all that we do. Even today it is fitting to “shout to the Lord” because of who he is and all he has done. 

PRAYER:
 Joy to the world! The Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room;
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing.
And heav’n and heav’n and nature sing. 

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ.
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. 

No more let sin and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found. 

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness.
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders of His love.  

Joy to the World" by Isaac Watts, 1719. 

~ story by Mark D Roberts