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Pastor's Blog April 10, 2019

"Remembrance of His Holiness"

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We are told several times in Scripture to remember the Lord (cf. Deuteronomy 8:18; 2 Samuel 14:11; Nehemiah 4:14; Jeremiah 51:50).  But in Psalm 97:12, we are told to remember God's holiness: "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness" (KJV). 

Have you ever wondered how you are supposed to remember the holiness of God?  What does it mean to remember the Lord's holiness?  Psalm 97 gives directions on how to remember the Lord's holiness by pointing out twice what God has already done in his holiness. 

First, Psalm 97:6 proclaims that the heavens declare God's righteousness, and everyone sees his glory because of this.  What led up to this verse in Psalm 97 is spiritually poignant: God reigns, which causes the earth to be glad (v. 1); clouds and darkness surround him, while righteousness and justice serve as the foundation of God's reign (v. 2); fire goes before him and God's lightning lights up the world (vv. 3-4); and the earth trembles and the mountains melt away at God's presence (vv.4-5). 

Second, Psalm 97:11 states that light pours forth on the righteous and joy pours forth on the joyful.  What causes the righteous and joyful to experience this is given by Psalm 97 in a very telling way: Zion hears and rejoices in the ways God acts in judgment, so that everyone and everything will worship God (vv. 7-9); and because God guards those who are faithful to him and delivers them from the wicked, those who love the Lord should be convinced to hate evil (v. 10).  The entirety of Psalm 97 gives the reason why and provides the way to remember the Lord's holiness in verse 11: because of how God has already shown his holiness to us. 

We have already seen his holiness in how he takes care of the creation and makes his presence known in our lives; we have already experienced his holiness in his guiding hand on our lives and the way he keeps and sustains us.  And the way to remember the Lord's holiness is to reflect on all that he has shown us about himself and everything he has done for us, because it is in these ways that God has shown us his holiness. 

Let us today take time to think about all that God has done for us, remembering that all of this is a demonstration of the kind of holiness God has: one that reaches out in love to us.