DUNCAN/Skipping mountains and fleeing seas
If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Psalm 114. This psalm recalls the redemption of Israel out of Egypt and calls upon present worshipers to remember the redemption that God had accomplished for them. It is an important thing for believers to remember the day of their salvation. It is an important thing for believers to take note and mark the days of grace and mercy that God has wrought in their lives. Whether it be that first day when He brought us home from our wandering and rebellion, or whether it is days along the way of our journey when, in extraordinary ways, He has protected us, built us up, grown us, spared us, blessed us, and made His favor known to us. It is important for us to remember those things and this psalm is about that. I want you to see four things in the psalm as we look at it together.
Remember Our Redemption
First, taken as a whole, this psalm reminds us to remember our redemption. It’s a psalm that recounts in poetic form, God’s redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt. The whole purpose of the psalm is to call upon Israel not to forget God’s grace in that day of mercy, to recount it in worship to God. This is a very important thing for us to do. Sometimes, God deals with us in such amazing ways that we think that we never will forget it, but we do unless we work at remembering. And so, it must be something that we purposefully do to remember His days of grace to us. This whole psalm is exhorting us as a people to remember not only the great work of God in Jesus Christ – Not only the great work of redemption in the Old Testament, but the great work of God in our own lives when He first brought us home to Him and when He began to work in us by His grace. Remember your redemption – That’s one of the grand messages of this psalm.
Realize What God Has Made Us
Second, in verses 1 and 2, the psalmist begins with, “When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from the people of a strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.” That second verse is quite remarkable, isn’t it? That is language that you don’t expect to read until the New Testament. When you pick up Paul, and in Corinthians he tells you that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, you hear language like that. When you pick up Peter and learn that you are living stones being built up into a living house – A living temple for the Lord, you recognize the fullness of the work of the Spirit in the new covenant in the individual believer. But here that language is used just as powerfully, isn’t it? When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, He made them a sanctuary. He made them His dominion, and this my friends, even in Old Testament language, reminds us what God is doing in us when He saves us. He has chosen a multitude that no man can number, from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, which will be the people of His habitation. He has not only made you a forgiven sinner – He has not only made you an adopted child – He has made you His sanctuary by His grace.
Rejoice in God’s Power
Third, if you look in verses 3 and 4, the psalmist here exhorts us to rejoice in God’s power. Listen to the language of it – “The sea looked and fled, Jordan turned back, the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs,” and you catch easily what’s being said in verse 3. The dividing of the sea and of the river in front of the children of Israel as they crossed over on dry land. But you may wonder what the imagery of verse 4 is. It’s a picture of rams and lambs moving in groups across the hillside and undulating, and it’s a picture of mountains quaking. It’s a rejoicing in God’s power. If you look at Exodus 19, God warns the children of Israel not to get too close to Mt. Sinai. After God has spoken and there have been earthquakes and thunder and lightning, you find that Moses and the leaders of Israel are forced to get the people and bring them back to Mt. Sinai because they’re so scared. They were awestruck by the power of God displayed at Mt. Sinai. Here, it’s the same kind of rejoicing in God’s power in the dividing of the sea and of the river and in the quaking of the hills. Do you rejoice at the awesome power of God? That’s what the psalmist is calling on you to do.
Rejoice in the Lord’s Provision
But there’s one last thing. There’s this final exhortation that you see in verses 7 and 8 and back in verses 5 and 6 – To rejoice in the Lord’s provision. This powerful God who makes the earth to tremble, provides for His people. Listen to what is said in verses 7 and 8. “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.” So here again is an emphasis on God’s awesome power and an emphasis on the need to tremble in awe in His presence. But notice the provision we are told of. “He turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.” In other words, He provides for His people first. They’re in the wilderness, they’re in the desert, and they need water. This awesome God, that causes the world to tremble before Him, is caring for His children like a mother cares for hers. A rock would not be a promising place to get a supply of water to take care of all the people of Israel, but God brings water from that rock, and it becomes a place of plenty. His power is used to provide for His people.
Do you believe that? Whatever your lacks are today, the things that you so desperately want supplied and you’re beginning to wonder whether they will be supplied, do you believe that He has the power and the purpose to provide for you? This psalm is exhorting you to believe. It sets before us a memorial to God’s redemption and it says, “Remember what He’s done for you in His grace.” And then it calls us to realize what He has made us to be – A sanctuary for Him. It urges us to rejoice in His power and then to recognize that His might is used for our provision. His redemptive acts ought to fuel the furnace of our own belief so that we can really believe that in His purpose and in His power, He will provide for us.