The Lord our God Is Holy – Psalm 99

A text – Psalm 99

¹ The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
² The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
³ Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
⁴ Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
⁵ Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!

⁶ Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
    They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
⁷ He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees and the statutes that he gave them.

⁸ O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
⁹ Extol the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.

A reflection:

Here is a good psalm for Transfiguration week. The main message: Holy is the Lord.

We don’t think or talk much about the Lord God, enthroned or otherwise. Sometimes we talk about Creation, which certainly implies a Creator. And we read Old Testament stories about the people God chose and worked through and the miracles done for them that freed them from slavery. The prophets, the psalms and proverbs, the history of a people, these things make the Bible a wise book for a religion to be based on.

But Jesus’s message, over and over in the Gospel stories of the New Testament, begs people to be in relationship to God, the Creator, the lover of human beings, who wants us to know how deep and long lasting God’s love really is. It’s not at all about church institutions or even church buildings. It’s about communities of people who love the way God loves as much as they can, who reflect the power and holiness of God in the real world we live in, and who are not afraid of losing things in this world, since this is only a portion of their eternal journey with and toward God.

The Lord our God is holy. We may make mistakes, but this holy and powerful God loves us as beloved children. When we trust in the goodness and justice and holiness of God, we can find peace.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for your promises to be with us, to save us, to be justice for us and mercy for us. Help us to believe what Jesus has said about you. Help us to work for good and be instruments of your peace rather than our own, for you are holy. Amen.