Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 114

Psalm 114 is a beautiful poetic psalm that gives the truth of God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt, their wilderness experience, and the conquest of their enemies as they enter the promised land. Christians experience a similar exodus, as Jesus delivers us from the slavery of sin, leads us through our own wilderness journey, and then takes us into the Promised land of His Kingdom.

Psalm 114:1-2
When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

The bondage that Pharaoh held Israel under, is symbolic of the bondage sin holds us into. Our baptism into Christ sets us free from the dominion of sin. Our sanctuary is Christ. Proverbs 18:10 reminds us that “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”

Psalm 114:3-6
The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.  The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.  What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?  O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?

The story of the exodus of Israel is filled with miracles. God used miracles to get Pharaoh to let the people go, He parted the Red Sea to save them when Pharaoh’s army came after them, He provided food and water supernaturally, and He led them to victory over the enemies that might have kept them from the Promised Land. Through Jesus, Christians are delivered out of sin and into God’s fold. He will lead us to the Promised Land as well. He empowers us to overcome our enemy, the devil.

Psalm 114:7-8
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.

The sovereign power of God leads us to revere His name. The world wants to deny His existence and His hand in the miracles of life, but the day will come when the world will see that Jesus is who the Bible says He is.

Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Whatever your struggle is this very day, Jesus is the answer. He wants to lead you out of bondage and into the freedom of His salvation. He will save you. He will sustain you as you travel through the wilderness and into the promised land. Tremble at His presence and let Him be your sanctuary. Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The path to freedom, is through Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the way. The only way.

Amen