Focus Passage: Psalm 92

 Have you ever seen electricity? Have you ever seen gravity? Have you even ever seen love? My guess is that none of us have ever really seen any of them. We have seen the effects of those things on our lives. We plug in the appliance at home and motors start working. We don’t float off into space if we are not holding on to something. Most people believe in all of those invisible things because we have seen their effects. Yet, we struggle to believe in an unseen God. The ancient Jews had no pictures of their God like the Palestinians had of Baal or the Egyptians did of the many gods in their universe. We picture Jesus, but we struggle to picture God with His great power and might. We find it hard to communicate to others what God is like. Perhaps, we are trying to show Him in the wrong way. Like gravity or love, we need to show them the effects of having God in our lives. Show the effect of God and people will know how powerful He really is.

Talk about what God is doing in your life v. 4 For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. The psalmist begins with his voice speaking about all the good things that the Lord has done for him. Worship is the natural outflow of the heart that appreciates what the Lord has done for them and loves him for it. Why is it that we are so good about praying for help from God but so poor at telling others when God has helped us? Let people hear about God’s healing when you were sick or the job that God gave you when you prayed. Silent thanks to God is not enough. Tell others so that they can see God working in our life. Only then will people know what God can do and how He can work in their lives.

 Show God’s love to the world v. 2 to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. Love is a special gift and unique to the Christian faith. Many religions speak of a code that their god expects them to live by. Only Christians and the Jews before them ever spoke of their God loving them. Most Christians have felt God’s love when all their other friends seem to have abandoned them. Most of us can share story after story from scripture where the Lord showed His love to the people He called His own. Christians should be showing the love of God by the way that they interact with the community and each other. Why do we let the world around us think of God as only this just God who punishes evil? Why don’t we share the love that we feel and the love that God has shown to millions of others? People need to know that our God is different and that we live in love, not fear.

 Live a life that works v. 12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; The Jews often prospered when they followed the Lord and the nations around them noticed. They began to see the blessings of following the Lord instead of Baal or Ashtoreth. The lives of the people proved the greatness of God by showing that God took care of his people and that God could handle anything. God wants us to live with His values and character and train our children to live moral and Godly lives. Such lives will prosper and the world will notice. They will see that your children are different. They will see your kind and loving nature and wonder what makes you different. When something works in the world, people will notice and ask you what gives you an advantage. You can tell them about how your God is what makes you different and makes you thrive.

 They may not be able to see God, but they can see Him through us v. 15 "The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him." Our world needs God as much now as it ever has before. Most of us find it hard to witness our faith and tell people about our God. Often they do not believe in him anyway. Yet, people normally will listen to us as we tell them about our good fortune. Let them see your God through the life help, the love and the values that He has given you. Be vocal about why you are different and how God gives you an advantage in life. Be willing to mentor others as they “try out” what it means to be a child of God. They may not be able to see an unseen God, but they should be able to hear and see the effects that God is making in your life. It will be in your telling that people will come to know and want the unseen God in their lives, too.