The God Squad: Another short Psalm for summer study: Psalm 93 (and 121) (KJV)

Rabbi Marc Gellman, Tribune Content Agency on Jul 15, 2021

Psalm 93 then makes another theological turn. The belief that God is the creator of nature leads to the belief that God is also the creator of the moral law. Just as we can have trust in God’s overlordship of the natural world, so too we can have trust that the laws that come from such a God are trustworthy laws.

It makes sense that the moral law would come from God and not nature because nature has no moral law. The strong eat the weak. That is nature’s law. The strong help the weak. That is the moral law, and that law must come from a place outside of nature. That place is the wisdom and love of God. We seek God for true power and we seek God for true moral guidance. Verse 5 ends the psalm, “Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever.” The word for holy in Hebrew is kadosh and it means something set apart. God is set apart from the world God created, but by making us in God’s image God can be close to each of us. God’s ultimate power is the power of holiness in nature and in our souls.

This belief about the relationship of God and nature is set forth in another short psalm, Psalm 121 which famously begins, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” Both the mountains and the roaring sea awe us with their natural power but they are all just minor creations of the Lord of the Universe.

Let us learn:

Why do you think that so many people find it easy to feel God in nature but hard to find God in our dealings with other people?

What example of nature’s power was the most inspiring or terrifying you have ever experienced?

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman.)