Reflections in Psalm 96 (Br Joseph Zhang)

How Great Thou Art!
“The skies proclaim his justice; all peoples see his glory …” (Ps 96)

Psalm 96 describes the majesty and power of God. God’s power and majesty is shown in his control over the universe. The psalmist experienced it and he wrote it down. I was also blessed during the Jesus Youth conference to behold the glory and power of God.

On 31st December, the second last day of the conference, we had activities throughout the day and many other programmes were organized for the night lasting till the next morning. In the evening of 31st December, during the praise and worship time, before a new session started, many people were not focused, some were walking outside the tent, some were taking photos and some were talking. The volunteers tried to get them into the conference hall but couldn’t.

Suddenly, it began to rain heavily. And the people outside the tent quickly ran into the tent. A task that was not achieved through the human efforts of the volunteers was done by the rain.

The rain was so heavy that some parts of the tent began to leak. If the rain continued, many more parts of the tent would have leaked; all the programs organized for the night would be affected.

At this time, the praise and worship team asked the congregation to pray for the rain to stop. They suggested that we pray the Rosary and ask the Blessed Virgin Mary for intercession. At this suggestion, all the people began to pray. The earlier noisy scene suddenly changed into a solemn and quiet scene of prayer. When the Rosary was finished, the rain stopped.

At that moment, I could not help but thank God for his almightiness to stop the heavy rain. And all of us gave a loud applause of praise to God for his faithfulness and goodness. Thus I personally experienced how God made use of the rain to bring the distracted people back to the session and how he gave us the privilege to see his majesty and power. I can now exclaim the same with the psalmist of psalm 96, “The skies proclaim his justice; all peoples see his glory … for you indeed are the Lord, most high above all the earth, exalted far above all spirits.”

There might be difficulties in our lives which we find that we cannot overcome with our own efforts. Let us not be dismayed but turn to God. With his power and majesty, He can accomplish what is impossible for man.

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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Samuel Lim on 13th Feb 2011.