“A Great Psalm of Deliverance” Psalm 114:1-8
Pastor – Mount Moriah
Missionary Baptist Church
As we continue our study in the Hallel section of Psalms (Psalms 113-118), the emphasis is still on praising our majestic Lord for His mighty and marvelous deeds demonstrated toward His people. As we think of God’s tremendous goodness toward us, nothing short of praise should evoke from our hearts, and we ought to join the psalmist in Psalm 146:1-2 when he says: “Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.”
The psalm before us celebrates God’s awesome deliverance of His people – the nation of Israel. In verses 1-4, the psalmist gives us a historical account of God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. The Lord’s awesome power of bringing His people out of Egypt into the Promise Land caused the Red Sea, Jordan River, and the mountains to react. God’s awesome power of deliverance was so impressive! The imagery in verses 3 and 4 reads: “The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.”
In verses 5-6, the psalmist asked the sea and the mountains to state reasons why they reacted the way they did. These questions were designed to illustrate that God’s creation obeys His will. In contemplating the awesome power of God in His redemption, it should prompt us to magnify His name, for Psalm 34:1-3 says: “I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.”
The psalmist concludes this majestic psalm by calling on the earth to tremble before God’s presence. His mighty power is manifested as He turns the rock into water – meeting the need of His people. In response to the manifestation of power the psalmist exhortation is seen in verse 7: “Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.”
In conclusion, I want to thank God for meeting mankind’s most spiritual thirst by offering Jesus Christ. Through salvation in Christ alone, mankind can find spiritual refreshment, for St. John 4:14 says: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
May God Bless!
