Compelling Love

Psalm 92 declares, “It is good to praise Yahweh!” (The name, Yahweh, is the most popular way of pronouncing “YHVH”, the Hebrew name for God in the original language of the Bible.) The Psalm goes on to describe great reasons to praise Him: for His name (for who He is), for His love and faithfulness, for His righteousness, and for all He has done.

Psalm 92
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
1 It is good to praise Yahweh,
to sing praise to Your name, Most High,
2 to declare Your faithful love in the morning
and Your faithfulness at night,
3 with a ten-stringed harp and the music of a lyre.
4 For You have made me rejoice, O Yahweh,
by what You have done; I will shout for joy
because of the works of Your hands.
5 How magnificent are Your works, O Yahweh,
how profound Your thoughts!

10 You have lifted up my horn like that of a wild ox;
You have anointed me with oil.

12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree
and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.
13 Planted in the house of Yahweh,
they thrive in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green,
15 to declare: “Yahweh is just; He is my rock,
and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

Along with praise we have thankfulness for all He has done. First of all, He made us, and we are His, as Psalm 100 triumphantly declares:

1 Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.
3 Acknowledge that Yahweh is God.
He made us, and we are His —
His people, the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
5 For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal;
His faithfulness endures through all generations.

Secondly, and most amazingly, Yahweh reveals that He has created all things in order to have a people who are His own, walking with Him in an eternal relationship of love:

Isaiah 51
15 For I am Yahweh your God
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
His name is Yahweh of Hosts.
16 I have put My words in your mouth,
and covered you in the shadow of My hand,
in order to stretch out the heavens, to found the earth,
and to say to Zion, “You are My people.”

This is a love relationship to be experienced by each individual of faith. For example, Job speaks of his personal relationship with his Redeemer:

Job 19
25 But I know my living Redeemer,
and He will stand on the dust at last.
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,
yet I will see God in my flesh.

In Luke 4, Yeshua, Jesus, declares his mission as the Redeemer prophesied in Isaiah 61:

Luke 4
18 The Spirit of Yahweh is on Me,
because He has anointed Me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor.
20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

In this passage, Yeshua, Jesus, is reading from Isaiah 61, which continues:

2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor,
and the day of our God’s vengeance;
to comfort all who mourn,
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion;
to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
festive oil instead of mourning,
and splendid clothes instead of despair.
And they will be called righteous trees,
planted by Yahweh to glorify Him.

He did not continue with “and the day of our God’s vengeance” because this part of Isaiah’s prophecy refers to the future time when Yeshua will return to judge the earth, as described in Hebrews 9:

27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—
28 so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

We have great reasons to praise and thank God – especially for Creation, and for Redemption through Yeshua, Jesus, who declares in John 3:16,

“For God loved the world in this way:
He gave His One and Only Son,
so that everyone who believes in Him
will not perish but have eternal life.”

This is Yeshua’s personal invitation in Matthew 11:

28 “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.
30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/