Well, I Declare!

“Well, I declare” has found its way into a collection of southern sayings found on the internet

An interjection of surprise

“Well I declare! How many Dollar Generals are they going to build in this town?

The Psalmist makes multiple declarations in this Psalm; we’ll break into 4 components, declarations about the person of God, the works of God, the benevolence of God and the graciousness of God, finally asking what declarations we make about God

But before that, we need to spend a couple minutes on the superscription: A Song for the Sabbath

Ps 92 is the only Psalm with specific reference to the Sabbath, possibly suggesting that the day of rest was to be set aside for active worship, which would include making these, and other similar declarations concerning God

From the Bible Sense Lexicon, we get that the Sabbath is a day of rest at the end of the seven-day week cycle; according to Jewish tradition it lasts from sunset of Friday to sunset on Saturday

What a great principle—the day of rest commanded by God, because the people needed it, was now a time of worshipping the God who gave it!

The principle starts in Genesis with God resting from His creative work on the seventh day

In the giving of the Law, the day is set apart to the Lord, with the command to honor it and keep it holy, doing no labor

Through the years of the Tabernacle, then the years with the temple, the traditions involving the Sabbath evolved; certain functions were required by the Law, other things came about over time

It was often used as a time to gather at the temple to receive instruction

By the 2nd Temple, in the time of Jesus, with the influence of the Pharisees, the Sabbath and all associated with it had become burdensome, to the point that Jesus addressed it in

Mark 2:27 ESV

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Packaging that statement of Jesus with what we see in the book of Acts, we see that within 20 years or so of the Gospel being carried to the Gentiles the first day of the week had become the day of worship in this new thing called the Church; becoming known as the Lord’s Day

By the end of the 1st century, communal worship of the church, on the first day of the week was the norm; the focus on God in that day SHOULD BE THE PRIORITY yet today; this was early corporate worship

Worship, as we use the word, is activity that honors God—assigning Him value; value above all else

We need not keep it in a legalistic way, as some believers have over the course of time

We must keep God at the forefront or the centermost point of the day, but if we hold to the principle of it being a necessary thing for the body, any activity that refreshes and renews would not be inappropriate; e.g. a family dinner, a ball game, a long nap (my personal favorite!); for someone who works at a desk all week it might be splitting firewood!

A Declaration about the Person of God

1-4

These statements are addressed to the LORD

We note LORD, the covenant name of God, Yahweh, or Jehovah; and the term we noted in Ps 91, El-yon—Most High, a descriptive term for Him, often used as a name of Him

As the psalmist makes this statement, we recall that when we have the name of God referenced, it is linking the name to the reputation, the attributes...all that is implied by that name

It’s clear that the psalmist knows the history, the power, the awesome nature of this Most High God

It is good to give thanks, to sing praises and to declare his steadfast love and faithfulness

Steadfast love is our friend, the Hebrew word hesed, the semantic range is huge; we see it translated as lovingkindness, mercy, tender mercy,

The core idea of this term relates to loyalty within a relationship. In relation to the concept of love, it denotes God’s faithfulness to his people (Lexham Theological Workbook)

These actions are not to be a one and done thing, the text sees morning and night, likely that’s meant to be an idiom to give the thought all day long

Just as we’re told to pray without ceasing, we should praise without ceasing as well

The term underlying faithfulness includes such things as trustworthiness, honesty, steadiness—all traits that say “we can count on” God

It’s good to do this with musical accompaniment, and sing our praises with joy

It is “by [His] work” the psalmist was made glad...which provokes the next point:

A Declaration about the Works of God

5-9

This holds some harsh comments: the stupid man? the fool? What is the psalmist saying here?

Stupid seems a bit strong...but other translations give us senseless, and the KJV, and the Lexham give us “brutish” (“I may not be smart, but I can lift heavy things”...or “smart like a piano”)

We heard a message by Dr. Cornett a couple years back on what we could call “functional atheism” which could be what the Psalmist is getting at here

He spoke from Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.”

There is also

Psalm 53:1 ESV

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.

For the man and woman of God, however—the functional theists

From v. 8, the work of God provokes the songs to God

Though the works are not listed in any detail, commentary regrading His works follows; His works are great, seemingly a component of His works are His thoughts, which brings to mind

Isaiah 55:9 ESV

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

His ways lead to His thoughts; His thoughts to His works

Taking all this together brings to mind the Isaac Watts early 18th century hymn (according to Hymnary.org, written for children!?!?):

We sing the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise, that spread the flowing seas abroad and built the lofty skies. We sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day; the moon shines full at his command, and all the stars obey.

From His actions, we move to His character traits...at least a couple of them

A Declaration about the Benevolence of God

9-10

Benevolence to the psalmist in particular

Exalting the horn is a statement regarding demonstrating strength or high position—it is very clear that God is the one who is doing the lifting here

Pouring of oil in the OT is generally indicative of blessing...even abundance of blessing...or in many cases an act of ordination...setting apart for something

The psalmist has witnessed the defeat of his enemies

A Declaration about the Graciousness of God

12-15

How God deals with the righteous

...somewhat reminiscent of Psalm 1:1–3 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

He deals with the righteous for a purpose...it’s not just about the blessings they have.… and that purpose circles back around to yet another declaration

Psalm 92:15 ESV

...to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

These are declarations regarding the character traits of God

Our Declarations about God

...about the Person of God

Often attributed to Will Rogers: “It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that just ain't so.”

How much do we hear about God, how much has been cleverly woven into the narrative of pop-culture, that just ain’t so—actually blatant—and dangerous—heresy!

What we know about God should come wholly and purely from His Word—NO OTHER SOURCE

May we find help, wisdom and guidance in preaching, teaching and writing? Certainly—but only what is in God’s Word is authoritative

...about the Works of God

I see a number of places we can go astray here; we’ll look only at two

We can get so focused on the creation that we lose sight of the creator—Rom. 1 warns us about that

Creation should be a guide to God, not a distraction from Him! Though I can’t argue against wise use of resources, the “save the earth” movement denies God’s power and sovereignty

The pinnacle of God’s creative work is mankind: created in the image of God

Our attitudes, beliefs, statements and actions here are telling

When/if we buy into the “death with dignity” argument—euthanasia; if we buy into the “pro-choice” movement; if we jump on the bandwagon supporting the sexual dysfunction of any and all types, we’re in the camp of those who deny the image of God in man...therefor denying God himself

...about the Benevolence of God

Are we thankful to Him for the blessings He has poured out on us? ...or do we take them for granted

Are we praising Him for those blessings? ...telling others how He has blessed us?

Do we have an attitude of thanksgiving? ...or an attitude of grumbling?

...about the Graciousness of God

We link this to the concept of righteousness...as v. 12 speaks of God’s goodness to the righteous...it’s all a matter of grace

We are only righteous because God declares us to be

Our own righteousness is a filthy rags—not a pleasant thought

The best we can do doesn’t measure up to what God requires, but based on faith in Jesus, God will clothe us in the righteousness of Christ

Do we declare to others what God has done in our lives?

We should be declaring all these things...and here we circle back to the concept of the sabbath

What does our sabbath look like? ...do we even have one?

In one sense, each day should be filled with the worship...not just Sunday

But our day of worship, or day of rest, should be different...but sadly that has ended

I would propose to you that this psalm argues for a life of continual worship, punctuated with regular doses of corporate worship