Psalm 92:1-8

A Sabbath Meditation

A psalm or song for the Sabbath-day, used by the Jewish Church on the seventh day of the week, as one of the hymns of liturgical worship.

V. 1. It is a good thing, a fine and proper custom, of benefit also to the worshiper, to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises, in joyful proclamation, unto Thy name, O Most High, making known Jehovah’s perfections, especially in those attributes which are concerned in the salvation of mankind; v. 2. to show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning, beginning to praise His grace with the very dawn of the morning, as the light of the Redeemer which penetrates the night of sin and condemnation, and Thy faithfulness, whereby He keeps the promises concerning our salvation, every night, for it is in the afflictions and terrors of the night that the thought of God’s unswerving faithfulness upholds the spirit, v. 3. upon an instrument of ten strings, the ten-stringed harp, or lyre, and upon the psaltery, in joyful improvisations dictated by his happy mood; upon the harp, a smaller, zitherlike instrument, with a solemn sound, in an instructive composition.

V. 4. For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work, particularly by the acts of His creation and His providence; I will triumph in the works of Thy hands, exulting with a loud voice over the entire revelation of God, in both the works of creation and of redemption.

V. 5. O Lord, how great are Thy works! and Thy thoughts are very deep, powerfully deep, beyond the understanding of man, unless enlightened by the Spirit of the Lord.

V. 6. A brutish man, one whose understanding does not go beyond the intelligence of beasts, in knowing only the desires of this life, knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this, he cannot really enter into the spirit of the universe, because he does not realize that, in all its manifestations, it is the work of the all-wise and almighty Creator.

V. 7. When the wicked spring as the grass, apparently in the greatest good fortune, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish,enjoying the fullness of all that this world has to offer; it is that they shall be destroyed forever, their punishment will overtake them in the world to come, in an eternity of damnation, if not before; v. 8. but Thou, Lord, art most high forevermore, exalted above all creatures in everlasting bliss, no matter what powerful and desperate efforts they make to overthrow His sovereignty.