Pastor Billington's Blog

Psalm 105:1-6 “Give thanks to the LORD! Call on his name! Make his doings known amongst the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him! Tell of all his marvelous works. Glory in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Seek the LORD and his strength. Seek his face forever more. Remember his marvelous works that he has done: his wonders, and the judgements of his mouth…”

Four words: Seek, Remember, Rejoice, Testify!

For additional worship: Great are you Lord (Casting Crowns)

Psalm 104:33-35 “I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have any being. Let my meditation be sweet to him. I will rejoice in the LORD. Let sinners be consumed out of the earth. Let the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, my soul. Praise the LORD!”

Did you catch that? “Let my meditation be sweet to Him.” Shouldn’t that be the desire of all our hearts?!?!?!?

It may seem strange to jump from worship to wrath, but I think it’s actually a very simple connection. The wicked don’t praise. The wicked don’t acknowledge. The wicked mock and ridicule. The wicked disrupt the worship of the saints. Worship is sweeter and more meaningful when everyone is unified. We even see that within the congregation:

1 Corinthians 11:17-18 “But in giving you this command I don’t praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist amongst you, and I partly believe it.”

So, it’s only natural that we should want those who disrupt worship to be dealt with!

For additional worship: My Meditation of Him Shall Be Sweet

My Meditation of Him Shall Be Sweet (Helen Maria Williams)

While Thee I seek, protecting Power,
Be my vain wishes stilled;
And may this consecrated hour
With better hopes be filled.

In each event of life, how clear
Thy ruling hand I see;
Each blessing to my soul more dear
Because conferred by Thee.

In every joy that crowns my days,
In every pain I bear,
My heart shall find delight in praise,
Or seek relief in prayer.

Psalm 104:27-32 “These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good. You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust. You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground. Let the LORD’s glory endure forever. Let the LORD rejoice in his works. He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.”

God’s absolute authority and sovereignty are on display. “These” refers to the sea animals that are completely dependent on God for their lives and their food. We see another allusion to the creation account with, “you send out your Spirit and they are created.”

Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

Creation is something that gives God pleasure and speaks to His glory, and it should move us in such a way that we experience awe and want to praise His name!

For additional worship: Let us With a Gladsome Mind (Lor)

Psalm 104:19-26 “He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set. You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God. The sun rises, and they steal away, and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening. LORD, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches. There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals. There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there.”

God can make this world work and fit together because of His great wisdom.

Romans 8:33-36 “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past tracing out! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?’ ‘Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?’ For of him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.”

And God, in His wisdom, has enabled man to work: “Man goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening.” We should rejoice that we have the opportunity to work! It is a command and a blessing, because when we work we are emulating and following God. But God also rested, and God shows that we too have the blessing of rest by establishing the Sabbath for the Israelites.

Exodus 20:8-10 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work in it.”

For additional worship: Perfect Wisdom of Our God (Keith & Kristyn Getty)

Psalm 104:10-18 “He sends springs into the valleys. They run amongst the mountains. They give drink to every animal of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing amongst the branches. He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works. He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth: wine that makes the heart of man glad, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart. The LORD’s trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted, where the birds make their nests. The stork makes its home in the cypress trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.”

Everything in creation has a purpose and a place. Everything in creation comes from the abundance that is God: “He waters the mountains from His rooms.” What a statement! And while we recognize that God has given us things not only for sustenance but also enjoyment, we also understand that overindulgence of anything is a serious problem. If we want to be controlled by anything, we should want to be controlled by God’s Spirit!

Ephesians 5:18 “Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”

For additional worship: Give to Our God Immortal Praise (Hymns of Grace)

Psalm 104:1-9 “Bless the LORD, my soul. The LORD, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty. He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain. He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind. He makes his messengers winds, and his servants flames of fire. He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever. You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which you had assigned to them. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they don’t turn again to cover the earth.”

God is an awesome designer, and His majesty is shown throughout His creation! This Psalm seems to intentionally refer to the Genesis account of creation with its references to: light (2a); the separation between the sky and the earth (2b-4); the distinction between the land and water (5-13); the creation of vegetation and trees (14-18); light-bearers as time-keepers (19-24); sea creatures (25-26); land animals and man (21-24); and food for all creatures (27-30).

Psalm 136:3-9 “Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who alone does great wonders, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his loving kindness endures forever; to him who made the great lights, for his loving kindness endures forever; the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness endures forever; the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness endures forever.”

For additional worship: I’ll Praise My Maker While I’ve Breath (folksandhymns)

Psalm 103:12-22 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more. But the LORD’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts. The LORD has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all. Praise the LORD, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfil his word, obeying the voice of his word. Praise the LORD, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure. Praise the LORD, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul!”

Our creation (literally from “dust”) and our mortality (we will die), as well as our unrememberable nature, don’t matter to God. He is the King, and He knows our weaknesses and is willing to forgive them and have compassion on us! We, however, have a part to play. We have to acknowledge Him, obey Him, fear Him, and praise Him. In fact, we should not only praise Him ourselves, but we should also call on the rest of creation to join us in our song!

Revelations 19:5-6 “A voice came from the throne, saying, ‘Give praise to our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, the small and the great!’ I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of mighty thunders, saying, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns!’ “

Did you catch what it said about angels? They are His ministering spirits, but they actually have a role to play in our lives as well!

Hebrews 1:14 “Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”

For additional worship: Holy, Holy, Holy (Reawaken Hymns)

Psalm 103:6-11 “The LORD executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness towards those who fear him.”

The Lord is righteous and looks out for His people. He has given us guidance through His Word, and His Word reveals His deeds to us. He is merciful, gracious, and loving. Even when we disappoint Him, He still loves us and cares for us. He gave the Israelites the sacrificial system as a temporary covering for their sins, but He gives us Jesus! Jesus is the one who takes away the penalty for our iniquities and makes payment for our sins. God’s loving kindness towards His people is amazing!

Psalm 40:4-5 “Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of his. Give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Hebrews 9:11-12 “But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.”

For additional worship: Lovingkindness (Redman, Boswell, Papa, Getty)

Psalm 103:1-5 “By David. Praise the LORD, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name! Praise the LORD, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits, who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

There are some that want to take this as literally as possible. God will cure me, save me, and give me what I want! However, we should first recognize that this is attributed to David, and God did do many of these things for him during His lifetime. Second, perhaps these aren’t meant to be taken extremely literally. I don’t think David ever got physically younger as a result of his relationship with God! Third, we need to understand that we do have these things already, albeit spiritually. He has forgiven our sins. He has redeemed us from death. He has promised us a future without sickness or sorrow. He has given us His Spirit so that we can experience His presence, His love, His joy, and His peace. And finally, how miserable are we if we focus on what we don’t have, instead of praising God for what He has already done for us!

For additional worship: Bless the Lord, O My Soul (Sovereign Grace Music)