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God Is King over All the Earth
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
47 Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted!
(ESV)
Psalm 47 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
In Psalm 47, I am drawn to God’s sovereign choosing…
He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah.
Psalms 47:4 ESV
Jesus chose us before Creation. His choice for us was to be holy and blameless in the sight of God. His choice was for us to be adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters. His choice was to accomplish this by sacrificing His life and resurrecting to free us from sin and death. What Jesus chooses for our lives is ALWAYS better than what we choose for our lives. Though we love to be in control and choose our own dreams, blessings, and calling, God’s choice is always better. He’s proven this throughout history.
We also read in this Psalm of how God goes up with a shout.
God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Psalms 47:5 ESV
Overall, the structure of the Psalm describes God coming down to subdue people and nations by His mighty hand. He then goes up with a shout and immediately following there is praise and worship. Here, we get a vision of how God works in our lives. He breaks in and interrupts our plans in an instant. He sends us on a detour we never planned.
Then, after He has navigated us to where He’s called, He goes up with a shout and we are able to step back and see the big picture of how faithful He was. This stirs in us praise and adoration for our King. Similarly, Jesus came down to Earth to subdue people and nations. He died and then rose again with the shout, ascending into Heaven to be worshipped for eternity.
So, taking these two thoughts together, where is He choosing something for you that you have been resisting? Maybe you just need to reminded that God’s choice is always certain. Maybe you need to be reminded that He will be faithful in carrying you through. He will not abandon us and He will not lead us astray. He will be faithful to His choosing and then rise up with a shout so that we stand in awe of His sovereignty and power. Worship is waiting on the other side of our cooperation with His choices.