12 February 2009

Praise and Worship

I'm reading through the Bible chronologically this year and I just read the song that the Israelites sang after God delivered them from the Egyptians at the Red Sea:

"I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The LORD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3The LORD is a man of war;
the LORD is his name.

4 "Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea,
and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5The floods covered them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power,
your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.
7In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;
you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
8At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.'
10You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11 "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
12You stretched out your right hand;
the earth swallowed them.

13"You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;
you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 The peoples have heard; they tremble;
pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;
trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;
all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16Terror and dread fall upon them;
because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,
till your people, O LORD, pass by,
till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
17You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,
the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 The LORD will reign forever and ever."

Exodus 15:1-18

I had never noticed all the references to redemption that are in this song. They were a people purchased by God and delivered by Him. So are we! What a great song of praise!

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