Psalm 98:4-9

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.” vs. 4

The psalmist is urging the gathered community to burst into joyous song and sing praises, not because they’ve found themselves on the winning side in a hard fought political battle, but because the Lord has not abandoned them and will come to establish righteousness in all the earth. It’s this sense of optimism and confidence in the Lord that drives followers of Jesus to make joyful noises in every circumstance, even when their candidates have lost elections…and it’s an important truth for us to remember today. We may not be happy about last night’s results but we can rejoice that we have a Lord who never stops loving. This is probably one of the biggest challenges in our faith journey. We can get so caught up in the ways of the world that we actually begin to believe that our whole future is dependent on the vagaries of our political system. We forget that in another four years we’ll be going through the same thing we’ve just been through…and in four more years, we’ll do it again. The process goes on and on…sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. But in Jesus all are winners, and it’s in his honor that we sing praises today. Everything is going to be okay…he is the eternal Lord!

Thought for the Day: For whom will a word of love be important today?