Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Imagining God as King | The Writings | Psalm 47

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

When you picture God in your head, what do you picture? When you think of God, do you think of a king? God is more than just your creator and protector, God is your king. In today's episode, Patrick uses Psalm 47 to emphasize the importance of knowing God as your king. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 47

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. How do you imagine God? Is he a kindly grandpa in the sky? A somber candlelight flickering in the darkness? A stoic judge holding you accountable? Your imagination matters more than you realize because it has the ability to shape your entire relationship to God and to the people around you.

Take this example. Think of a dog that's been physically beating. many times by its previous owner. And now, let's say that that dog escapes the terrible place and finds its way into a gentle house. Shortly after he gets into the house, his owner lifts up his hand abruptly over the dog to grab something falling off a cabinet above him. What does the dog do?

Well, of course, the dog flinches. The dog runs away in terror. It doesn't understand that his master was trying to save him from something falling on top of him. He simply thinks that he's going to be hit again. You see, the dog has an imagination. and imagination that has been shaped by his experience. His imagination fills in the gaps of what's happening around him

and helps him predict and guess what's going to happen in the future. His imagination shades his experiences. Of course, we humans are much more complex than dogs, but that doesn't mean we don't do similar things. We often project what we imagine to be true onto the true world around us. We read between the lines, we make assumptions. This happens even in our relationship with God. We imagine him to be something and tend to read our imagination into the Bible and let that

imagine picture spill into our prayers. And that's not a bad thing. God wants us to use our imagination. He wants to shape our imagination. But God is even more complex than we are. And maybe that's why he gives so many different images of himself. I think maybe he wants our imagination to be sanctified by many metaphors, many pictures of who he is. He's a father. He's a savior. He's a creator. He's a protector. He's many things.

But the one image that predominates the Bible is the one image I think we in the West often find the least attractive. Do you know what it is? That God is a king. Of course, he's a good king, but he's a king nonetheless. And again, at least where I live in America, we're highly suspicious of kings because we're highly independent and autonomous. We threw off kings hundreds of years ago. We don't like the idea of kings. And even if we had to have one, we figure he should just be a figurehead that maybe looks nice but doesn't have much power. Generally speaking, we tend to associate kings with empire, coercion, militarism, imprisonment. We tend to think of kings as individuals with markedly high levels of narcissism. So maybe that's why we tend to skim over this picture.

of God. God is a king, but I think it's a terrible mistake to ignore that image. Because if God is a king and wants us to think about him as a king, then maybe God wants you to think about him that way for a good reason. Maybe thinking of him as a king is central to your own flourishing. Maybe it's central to you seeing yourself in a healthy way. You seeing the world around you in a healthy way. We're going through the Psalms right now. And one thing I love about them is that they're fearly. and their portrayal of God. That means that one way they sanctify us is by sanctifying our imagination. They are sanctifying, making holy our mental picture of who God is. So that's my challenge to you this morning. I want to read through a short Psalm, Psalm 47, and as I do, I want to add a few of my thoughts,

but I want you to really try imagining God this way and see what it does. Psalm 47. Clap your hands, all you nations. So let's just start here. The image here is of people from every nation and probably the leaders from every nation getting together to clap and celebrate someone coming in, some sort of royal figure who's deserving of our clapping and our praise. It goes on, shout to God with cries of joy. And so whoever this is is someone whose kingship, whose presence brings people happiness. They want to see him. They want to be with him. They cry out with joy. There's nothing else you can do because you're so happy. For the Lord Most High, he's higher than any other king, any other power, for the Lord Most High is awesome, the great king over all the earth. Do you realize that if

our God decided that he wanted to run for president and actually won and got into the Oval Office, that that would be a demotion for him? Do you realize that if our God decided that he wanted to go live in Buckingham Palace and sit on that throne, that would be a demotion for him? there is no throne, no office, no room in the world that houses an office higher than his office. He is the king over all the earth. Is that your mental picture of him? He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. Again, let's pause. God is a conquering king. This isn't an image of an empire oppressing people or simply trying to spread its national boundaries. This is the picture of a king who defends the weak and the powerless. And yes, he conquers his enemies, but he conquers them in the

name of justice. He conquers them to defend those who cannot defend themselves. He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loved. God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid sounding of trumpets. Again, you can see the real picture here. People shouting out for joy, trumpets playing out, everyone's celebrating that the king is ascending to. His throne. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises. Do you sing praises to your king? Not just praises to your Heavenly Father who loves you and has shown you tremendous grace and mercy. He is that. And not just to your protector, not just to whatever picture you have. Have you praised the king? The one who has all power, who is resplendent in glory and majesty. Do you

worship that one? Sing praises to our king. Sing praises. Verse 7. for God is the king of all the earth. There's not one square inch of this creation and over which he does not cry, mine. Sing to him, a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations. God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham. He's saying God is inviting not just the Israelites and the Jewish people to come worship him and be in his kingdom. God is inviting people from every nation, every tribe, every tongue in the book of Revelation to come and worship him as his people, as the children of Abraham. And he says, the nobles of the nations come. He's saying, there are powerful people and powerless people, and they are all coming with shouts of joy to praise

the king because they know he rules over everything for our good and for his glory. Let's end this Psalm. For the kings of the earth belong to God. Here, get worried about elections. You get worried about what's happening. in other countries, international affairs. Just just remember for a second, the kings of this earth belong to God. That doesn't mean that everything they do is right or defensible. It does mean that if they disobey him and rebel against him,

they belong to him and they will pay the cost. He will see justice met. He is greatly exalted. Amen. Friends, we do not worship some powerless being who watches from afar. We worship King Jesus, who is, exalted over the angels. He is king over time, king over reality, king over the president, king over the prime minister, king over every ruler and potentiate. He is the one who holds court

and by whose measure all will be measured. Do you know that you serve a king? Do you know that you're a king's man, that you're a king's woman? Live for your king, kneel to your king, serve your king, praise your king, give all glory to your king. King Jesus. As he was in the beginning, so he is now and ever will be, our king without end. Amen and amen. Worship the king.