Rejoice If Jesus is Your God

Psalm 33:12

New International Version

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people he chose for his inheritance.

For Encouragement

What did the Psalmist know that the world misses? What did he declare that many disregard? 

The Psalmist’s key message is obvious: Actual security and blessing are found only in acknowledging God as Lord and Creator (Psa. 33:12). He is the Lord of nature and history. It is folly for a king to think he can save himself by the size of His army, or a warrior by his strength, not even by the strength of a horse. A nation is truly blessed when it seeks God’s strength and guidance, making Him its foundation (16-17).

Today, many face instability, anxiety, and moral confusion. The Psalmist’s exhortation urge us to recognize that lasting hope and answers come from a relationship with God, not worldly solutions. Where do you seek guidance?

Nothing is real apart from what God declares. Nothing is good except what He has called good. In all His declarations, God reveals goodness and faithfulness. Like a train relying on its track and engineer, we find direction and purpose by following God’s Word. His guidance is steady, and He will never fail those who trust in Him.

How, then, could the world celebrate what the Lord calls an abomination (Lev. 18:22)? Society, on this other train, heads toward disaster relying on their deceptive track and engineer, unaware of looming danger. Despite warnings about moral decline, their train races on as celebrations continue.

The metaphor of this second train illustrates how the world has chosen pleasure over lasting truth – that God is the Lord of nature and history who demands obedience. However, there is hope: any passenger can decide to pull the emergency brake and find a new direction. 

God’s heart is compassionate and overflows with mercy. His grace is open to all, despite past choices or failures. No one is too far gone. If we listen, repent, and seek Him, He will welcome us and restore what we have lost. These truths remind us that mercy triumphs over judgment. God delights in extending grace to everyone who turns to Him through Jesus.

Therefore, if you are blessed because your God is the Lord, will you share this hope with others on life’s journey? As someone chosen by God, your light can guide others to safety by pointing them to Christ.

Share your personal testimony of God’s faithfulness with fellow passengers on this journey today. Intentionally offer encouragement to someone riding in the same train car who is struggling. Seek opportunities to pray with others, and actively extend an act of kindness to someone in need. Take these steps so your faith becomes a beacon of hope, guiding others on the train toward the love and grace of God.

I pray you take the words of the hymnist Philip Bliss to heart. I invite you to join me in singing “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning.” As we reflect on this message, let us sing together, lifting our voices in praise. May you find encouragement and renewed faith as we worship.

The Hymn

1

Brightly beams our Father’s mercy
From His lighthouse evermore;
But to us He gives the keeping
Of the lights along the shore.

Refrain:
Let the lower lights be burning!
Send a gleam across the wave!
Some poor fainting, struggling seaman
You may rescue, you may save.

2 

Dark the night of sin has settled,
Loud the angry billows roar;
Eager eyes are watching, longing,
For the lights along the shore. [Refrain]

3 

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother!
Some poor seaman, tempest-tossed,
Trying now to make the harbor,

In the darkness may be lost. [Refrain]

Pray with Me

Father, I thank you for the light you shine through me through Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the world. Help me, by your Spirit, to let it shine brighter each day, lighting the path for someone struggling out there to come home to you through Jesus. In His glorious name I pray, Amen.