Today’s Reading: Psalm 96

For the LORD is great and is highly praised; He is feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

 

Psalm 96:4-5

Reflection

There is no other God to be worshipped in heaven or on earth but the LORD. He is the true and Living God of the universe. The gods of human hands are silent gods, unable to hear praise or petition from their people who have created them. Think about what the LORD says of these false gods. A person goes into the forest and harvests wood to build a statue, and from it carves or fashions an image with likeness of animal or human. Then, he or she places it on an altar and bows down in worship to it. This makes no sense. Why should a creator bow down to what it has designed, or praise what has been made by his or her own hands? There is no man-made object, either imagined or created, which can hear or answer prayer. Only God is a living God, capable of acts unattainable by human ability and work unfathomable by the human mind.

Some make gods of wood and stone, and others make gods of other entities: careers, achievements, accolades, family, people, money and finances, happiness, self-preservation. The list goes on and on. All of these can be exalted, worshipped, and idolized, but none will ever be true gods as the LORD is God. No one reigns in perfect splendor, or judges over the people as He does. No one else exhibits glory and strength as He does. He is the One to Whom we should ascribe all worship.

Who or what do you worship? Who or what dictates how you spend your day, how you act towards others, or make important decisions? Who or what occupies your thoughts and shapes your perspective of the world around you? Fill not your lives with the worship of worthless idols. Instead, sing your songs of praise and adoration to the LORD God of the heavens and the earth.

Prayer

Almighty God, You are the One Everlasting God, the only One Who is deserving of worship, the only One Who truly is God. I praise You for Your work in the heavens and the earth. I acknowledge Your splendor and majesty. I lift up to You all my praise, for You are the one Creator of the universe. Forgive me, LORD, for times that I have prioritized other things before You. Forgive me of the things I have idolized which do not know me or help me as only you do. Help me to ascribe to You complete and total worship in all that I do. Help me to remember You only, my LORD and my God. I pray all of these things in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.

Bible-in-a-Year Reading Plan (credit: Bible, studytools.com): Revelation 1; Nehemiah 1-2; Psalm 96