Psalm 97; Luke 18:18-30

Psalm 97
"The Lord is king!" "The Lord reigns!" It's good to meditate on this thought. I'm afraid it's something of a cliche in the Christian community, "Well, the Lord's in control." We say this without really thinking about the fact that God really IS in control. He is the King who reigns! And unlike human rulers, He makes perfect decisions. And He is our Father as well as our King. How does it feel to be a child of the King? This truth should give us confidence, peace, and joy.

This psalm tells us who rejoices because the Lord reigns:
1.  The earth. vv. 2-6   For reasons we do not understand, God allows evil in this world--"dark clouds," but His righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. He will eventually come in power and glory before every nation.

2. Jerusalem (Zion or Israel)  vv. 7-9    They (and we) must remember v. 9 "For you, O Lord, are supreme over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods."

3. Godly people vv. 10-12   If we love the Lord, we will hate evil. He offers protection from the power of the wicked. "Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right. May all who are godly rejoice in the Lord and praise his holy name!

Luke 18:18-30
We are still talking about prayer. We need to pray trusting God that His answers are what is best for us. It's also important that as we study and pray, we come to realize who God really is. The rich man had kept the commandments, but He wasn't really ready to trust God. He trusted his riches instead of trusting God. Our good works and any riches we may have will not buy favor with God either for salvation or for answers to our prayers. This rich man teaches us that it's hard (not impossible) for rich people to be saved because they tend to trust their riches, and they feel they don't need God. Actually, in a lot of ways, we are all rich. We don't worry about where our next meal will come from or where we will sleep tonight. If finances are tight, we can always pull out the credit cards. And so we, like the rich man, may be tempted to trust things other than God Himself.