April 21 - Reading 19: Psalms 64-66

“By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation.”

(Psalm 65:5a)

When we think of God, what do we imagine? Do we think of someone like a president or dictator, who orders people around and tells them what to do? Or do we think of an angry old man, wagging his finger at all the sinners in the world, just waiting to rain down fire and brimstone in judgment? Or maybe we imagine an inexplicable force of some type that miraculously set the universe in order, someone who just “wound up the clock” and then walked away.

None of those images fit the God of the Bible. In just our Psalms for today, David describes God as the One “who established the mountains by His strength, being clothed with power, He stills the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples” (Psalm 65:6-7). David proceeds to declare, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship You.” David then invites us to “Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. His eyes observe the nations; He rules by His power forever” (Psalm 66:3-7).

This is the God of the Bible. This is the powerful God we serve.This is the One who rebukes the winds and waves. In gently chiding His disciples for their fear during a storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asked, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26). It was because they didn’t really understand that He was God. They said “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:27).

Let’s remind ourselves today of how truly powerful our God is. As Creator, He simply spoke the entire universe into being. There is nothing too difficult for Him. In awesome deeds, He will answer us because He is the God of our salvation, our mighty God!