Psalm 97 by Heart

Psalm 97 by Heart

“The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice.

Let the many coastlands be glad

Clouds and thick darkness are all around him

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around.

His lightnings light up the world, the earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

Before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.

All worshippers of images are put to shame, who make their boasts in worthless idols-

Worship Him, all you gods.

Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, O Lord.

For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth.

You are exalted far above all gods.

O you who love the Lord, hate evil.

He preserves the lives of his saints, he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name.”

Psalm 97

Okay, now go look up that psalm and read it the way it’s supposed to be formatted, phrased, and punctuated, because I typed that from memory, and I know all the formatting is not correct.

You see, several years ago, Ryan and I decided that we wanted to start memorizing more Scripture. We both already knew Psalm 23 and the Lord’s Prayer by heart, so we then landed somehow on this Psalm as one to add to our list together. We worked on it each night for weeks, maybe months, until we knew it cold.

We have yet to memorize any other passages together. Hashtag: goal fail.

I’m sure at some point we will pick this project back up and memorize more together, but for now, this is one awesome psalm to have hidden in our hearts.

Both Ryan and I connected with the reminders in this Psalm that God is fierce, a warrior to be reckoned with and praised. A God of both strength and goodness, righteousness and protection.

There have been dark moments when the only prayer we could muster held the words of this psalm in a plea that He would fight for us. Those are the moments when being able to recall His words so automatically (because of the time we invested to memorize them) is so very valuable and comforting.

My challenge to you is to choose a psalm that God has used to speak directly to your heart and work towards memorizing it. Use it as prayer. Use it as praise. It can and will be a lifeline in some moments when you need words, and your own just aren’t enough.