Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Vehicles of Victory | The Writings | Psalm 68

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

What makes God's victory worth celebrating? How should we respond to it? In today's episode, Jeff dives into Psalm 68, showing how God's victory demands a celebratory response that transforms our entire life. 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 68

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 Jeff Parrott. A good celebration demands a lot from us. We use our emotions, our creativity, voices, hands, and even our legs to do it. Our hearts, minds, and bodies are thrown in the act of celebrating victory. Let's just think about the context of an athletic event, for example. Whether it's the shouting and waving after a spectacular play, or the standpied of joy when rushing the field after our team wins the big game, we can't help but respond to victory. And the bigger the victory, the bigger the response. Fans of a championship winning team will often have a prolonged response, buying up all of the

merchandise and swag to display their team's victory going into the rest of the year. sometimes even camping out to get the best spots at a victory parade. Celebrating victories like that isn't limited to one moment. It's a thing to celebrate in the past, yet it's also something that captivates our today and our tomorrow. Here's the point. When there's a victory that matters to us, it always creates a response in us. Psalm 68 describes this kind of response to victory in the life of God's people. But it indicates that God's victory is unlike the victories of any other king or movement or powerholder.

This victory has some unexpected elements as it points to the power and purposes of God that flow into people's lives. And like the biggest of victories, this celebration is not just an opportunity to reflect on the past, but something that pushes us into the people's lives. present and future tents of our lives. Before we spend time in Psalm 68, let's pray for God's presence and power to work in our time together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of life and breath in this new day. We thank you for your word. Jesus, help us abide in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time together in Psalm 68. As we read these words, let these words read us and restore us. In Jesus' name and Jesus' victory.

Amen. Throughout Psalm 68, we notice some important themes that make the victory of God unique and maybe unexpected. First, the victory of the biblical God is not rooted in arrogant self-centeredness like it is with so many human powers. Instead, it's grounded in a deep care and provision for his people. We read this in verses 5 through 6. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home. He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

See here how the recipients of God's victory are those on the margins, those in need of love, the fatherless, the widows, those without a home, prisoners. This theme is also connected to an emphasis on restoration throughout Psalm 68. So we read this in verses 9 through 10. You God showered abundant rain. You revived your inheritance when it languished. Your people settled in it. God, you provided for the poor by your goodness.

So when God wins, it leads to restoration and provision, like rain giving life to a lifeless place. This restorative element isn't just a happy thought for God's people, though. It is a historical reality. They have experienced it. They've experienced it in Exodus being freed from slavery in Egypt, through the repeated moments of deliverance in historical books, through God's presence and promises in the time of exile. exile. And ultimately, it's demonstrated in the real historical events surrounding Jesus,

his life, death, resurrection, and current reign over all things. Psalm 68 is reminding us that God's victory is worked out in real space-time history, in people's real life stories. While the historical nature of God's victory makes it meaningful, the restorative nature of his victory makes it beautiful. It's different than any other triumph or conquest. It's an overflow of his love and his commitment. And that isn't meant to just impact our lives, but the lives of those around us as well. As we explored earlier, victories that matter create responses. And that's true here in Psalm 68. We get a flavor of this response in verses three and four. But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God. May they be happy and joyful. Sing to God, sing and praise of his name.

Extole him who rides on the clouds. Rejoice before him. His name is the Lord Yahweh. Versus 24 through 27 even used the imagery of a triumphant parade to depict the response of God's people celebrating through a procession of music. God's victory creates a response. Yet this is not an individualistic or insular celebration. Psalm 68 challenges us to see our response to God's victory in a bigger way. We are meant to be vehicles of God's blessing and victory as his restorative work encounters other people, even those who seem furthest away from him. There's a really stunning image of this in verses 31 through 34 of Psalm 68, says this,

envoys will come from Egypt. Kusch will submit herself to God. Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth. Sing praise to the Lord. To him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens, who thunders with mighty voice, proclaim the power of God,

whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the heavens. Now that is a big, big statement. the response to God's victory will reverberate not only within the people of God today, but it will lead to the most unlikely candidates eventually submitting their allegiance to Yahweh. Even here, one of the paradigmatic enemies of God's people, Egypt, is portrayed as coming to God. The kingdoms of the earth will sing praise to him. This dynamic within Psalm 68, it's a fulfillment of the great calling and mission of God's people in Genesis 12,

3, where they're called to be a blessing to the nations, to be instruments of his grace, vehicles of his love. That's who we're meant to be in response to who God is. In this way, Psalm 68 isn't just a celebration looking back to God's past faithfulness. It includes that, but it's also a call to live out his faithfulness in our present tense, in our lives today, and to look ahead to how his victory will play out in the future, a new heavens and a new earth. It's significant that David ends Psalm 68 with an encouraging word to be empowered as a part of God's mission.

He says this in verse 35, closing out the Psalm. You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary. The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God. So we are recipients of God's mercy, yet we are participants in it as well. And as verse 35 says, we need his power and strength to pull that off. Like any meaningful celebration, when there's a victory that matters to us, it will create a response in us.

And thankfully, this response is driven by the engine of God's steadfast love. When followers of Jesus live like he really is the victorious king, that response causes us to embody the elements of his gracious restorative victory. we are vehicles of his unique and unrivaled victory. Here's what that means for our lives today. The priorities of God's victory are meant to play out in the ordinary moments of her day-to-day lives. When Psalm 68 says that God's triumph

leads to the care and provision and restoration of the disadvantaged, the marginalized, the hurting, and the needy, that means that we become the kind of people who provide for and help and love. the disadvantaged, marginalized, hurting, and needy. So who are the people in your life like that today? In your workplace, in your home, in your friend group, what would it look like for you to love them,

to listen to them, and be present with them because God's gracious, victorious kingdom is working through you? We're not meant to be viewers of God's victory. were meant to be vehicles of it. God, by the power and movement of your Holy Spirit, would you work your kingdom victory both in and through our lives today? Your victory in Jesus is both meaningful and beautiful. Help us image your kingdom with everyone we encounter today,

especially those who seem furthest from you. Give us your power and your strength so that we can display your restoration and your love. in Jesus' name. Amen.