Psalm 98 is a song of joy, a call to praise, and a declaration of God’s power and faithfulness. It commands all of creation to sing praises to the Lord, for He has done marvelous things. Yet, beneath this celebration lies a profound truth about the nature of God; He is both mysterious and intimately known, inspiring both joy and sorrow, both celebration and fear. He is a God of justice and mercy, of righteousness and love, of wrath and gentleness. This complexity can be difficult to comprehend, even intimidating, and in our human desire to make sense of things, we often find ourselves wrestling with uncertainty. The Psalms reflect humanity’s longing for assurance and understanding and tendencies of curiosity and contemplation. Psalm 98 does not call us to figure God out; it calls us to surrender and celebrate Him for who He is.
When we try to control our understanding of God or any higher power we believe in, we risk frustration, doubt, and confusion. We want certainty, clarity, and structure, but God operates beyond the limits of our logic. He can cultivate both grief and gratitude within us, experience sorrow for what is broken while filling us with hope for what is to come. If we spend our lives trying to understand God, we conceal ourselves from the expansiveness of God’s plan. However, if we embrace the vastness of God and surrender to His will, we free ourselves to experience Him in all the ways He reveals Himself without fear or resistance.
Psalm 98 reminds us that we are not meant to solve the mystery of God but to sing in response to it. Just as we acknowledge His nuance, we must also honor our own. We, too, are complex beings, made in the image of God, capable of feeling multiple emotions at once: joy and sorrow, fear and trust, grief and gratitude. Instead of resisting these feelings, we should lean into them, allowing ourselves to be fully present in our emotions and experiences. Worship is not about having everything figured out; it is about recognizing the divine, surrendering to its mystery, and letting our souls sing. Whether we call Him God, the Universe, or another name, the message is the same: to stop striving for control and instead celebrate the beautiful, layered reality of who He is and who we are on this journey called life.