Psalm 89:15

Psalm 89:15 ¹⁵ Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.

Let’s build off the thought from the previous post, we left the discussion talking of God’s mercy and truth and how they apply to our eternal security when compared to His power. Let’s look a little closer at verse 14 which says ”Mercy and truth go before Your face”. Spurgeon refers to mercy and truth as the “harbingers and heralds of the Lord” or in other words, they announce God’s approach.

That seems to track in the verse doesn’t it? The Psalmist has built his case for the power and glory of the Lord and has just come to the place where God is completely holy and completely just. Those two truths taken together leave us in the place of judgment because of our sin. But before we are left only with the judgment we hear the Lord’s heralds, Mercy and Truth, announcing His coming.

No wonder verse 15 starts with Blessed! If you look closely you’ll notice that the verse says “know the joyful sound”, why is that important? There is an important difference between “hearing” and “knowing”. All of creation may hear the sound of God’s arrival but it is only those who know Him that will recognize the sound for what it is.

Let me explain… WARNING!!! BAD ILLUSTRATION AHEAD!!!! WARNING!!! I grew up in a rural setting and had never heard the melodic sound of an ice-cream truck (no kidding – I grew up as a country bumpkin). When I was a married adult living with my wife and kids in the suburbs I remember the first time I heard the truck coming down the street. I thought somebody had lost their mind and was playing some pretty strange music, but when I went outside to see what was going on you can imagine my surprise. I partook of the manna that is a “Rocket Pop” and you can be sure I listened for the strains of that music with a different ear. You see I had experienced the goodness of the truck and knew that there was going to be something good when it pulled in front of my house.

The same principle applies to the Christian. We have heard His voice and we have learned that he is wonderful! Look at Jesus’ words in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” We do not respond in fear when we hear of the Lord’s approach, instead our souls cry “Hosanna!” when He is near because we have tasted the Lord and know that He is good. Our Lord has called us from a world of sin and has given us rest. We know His voice when we hear it and rejoice when He is near.

The Psalmist goes on to say that His people walk “in the light of Your countenance”. What a wonderful thought. How close would you have to be to someone to walk in the light of their face? You’d have to be right beside them wouldn’t you? Is there a more blessed place to be than right next to the Lord basking in His glory? Think about it for a second, if we walk closer with the Father than our propensity to sin is going to decrease because His light will continue to burn away all the darkness of our soul.

Pray that I draw closer to my Lord and continue to delight in His heralds and I’ll do the same for you…