Reading: Psalm 98
A psalm.
(Verses 1-6)
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King (NIV).
The Saugeen River, Durham, Ontario — photo by David Kitz
Reflection
Once again in Psalm 98 the psalmist calls us to break forth with a new song of praise to our God. This call to worship is a frequent theme in many psalms. In this case the cause for worship is well worth noting. We are to worship in music and song because of the salvation of our God. The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
To some extent these words trouble me. What salvation is the psalmist talking about? Is he referring to the miraculous redemption and rescue of Israel from slavery in Egypt? That’s the most significant act of national salvation in the Old Testament. On the other hand, the psalmist could be referring to the restoration of the Jewish nation after the destruction of the temple and the Babylonian captivity. Again this is a very significant event that was witnessed by the surrounding nations. Since we do not have a timeline or date for when this psalm was written, we are left guessing the answer.
For the New Testament believer we see the fulfillment of this psalm in the salvation that was won for us by Christ at the cross. There the ancient powers of sin, hell and the grave were defeated. Death itself was vanquished through the resurrection of Jesus. In reality, the true enemies of the people of God are not foreigners or foreign nations. Our enemies are spiritual; they lurk within—within us. Salvation from those enemies was purchased at the cross with the precious blood of Jesus.
Now here is a bizarre twist. Salvation arrives with our surrender. It arrives when we surrender our lives to our Savior and kneel before our King on a cross. That’s a salvation worth singing about!
Response: LORD God, I am so grateful for the salvation you purchased for me through the blood of Jesus. I want all the ends of the earth to know about that great salvation. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
Your Turn: Have you knelt before the King on a cross? Take some time to do that now.
I love the Psalms 
Thank you for this David. Maybe I could add a little personal insight into this. On our journey through the wilderness we were put into some pretty harrowing situations. I do literally mean life and death situations. In these situations God was building in us trust in Him.
Let me give an example. In late January of 2012 we were at Borden-Carleton, PEI homeless. The temperature was about -19C and dropping fast. As our little family huddled in a little playground area to keep out of the wind we really thought we would freeze to death. My youngest daughter was crying and we had to stop her because she was losing body heat. This was a tense moment but all of a sudden someone showed up to take us to warmth and shelter. God had saved us.
My point is that we often see God as our big Savior but miss the fact that He is always our Savior, even in the daily things. We saw His mighty arm delivering us many times besides the one I just mentioned. The whole point of our journey was to teach us that He continually saves us because we are weak and fragile creatures. We need to lean on Him not just for our eternal salvation but our daily bread. I realize that many take that for granted but when God takes everything away from you, including food, you quickly learn how to trust Him to save you on a daily basis.
Hope this helps,
Blessings,
Homer Les
http://www.uncompromisingfaith.ca
Hi Homer, I appreciate the real-life experience you shared. God’s salvation, provision and daily involvement in our lives is something we all need to see and give thanks for. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.