# 31 2019. Dev. Psalm 68:19-20. Redemption! Read all of Ps. 68 The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Ps. 68:19-20 “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.20 Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death”.
Ps. 68 is the last Psalm in this series of praise prayers and/or praise worship. Psalms 65-66 praises God for His care of the world through maintaining His creation and Psalms 67-68 praises God for the salvation of His people. What this series is about is God’s sovereign reign of His creation including His people. “Our God Reigns”!
This Psalm divides into two sections: vs. 1-18 echo God’s leading His people in the wilderness to Mt Sinai, establishing God’s presence with His people and establishing His laws for man’s return to righteousness. “But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.” V. 18 is picked up by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians 4:8-13, Christ ascending to His heavenly throne, receiving and bestowing gifts on His people.
The second half: vs. 19-35 is summarized in vs.19-20 “Our God is a God who saves”, He “daily bears our burdens” and “from the Lord comes escape from death”. Jesus’s love and sacrifice is foreshadowed in these passages.
We tend to forget that God’s mission to the world is to redeem His World. We need to look at the Scriptures as God dealing with this world and with His people from the point of view of God’s intention to redeem His people and His creation.
Second, salvation is from God and by God alone, His initiative alone, but God chose Israel as His agent for His mission to the world. This Psalm is about God’s initiative, His agent to the world and God tabernacled among His people.
What God started with Abraham is still with His people; flowing from the Old Testament church to the church of Christ today, still dwelling among his people, “Immanuel, God with us”! Today, followers of Jesus are God’s agents of God’s mission to the world, regardless of ethnicity. Was there opposition then and is there opposition today? Yes, God’s enemies are active still. We look to God, “You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary (His creation), the God of Israel (the church) gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God”!
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