Psalm 114: Adonai

The second psalm of the Hallel, sung before the Passover meal, turns attention from God’s character to His action, from who He is to what He has done. Throughout the Psalms we have read laments of great hurt and sorrow, imprecatory psalms that have called for justice, even judgment against enemies, we have read through deep introspection, confession of sin and repentance, even prophetic announcements of the Messiah in His first and second coming. Here in Psalm 114, we read a song that is filled with joy over what God has done and hope of what God will do because of confidence in who God is. 

The Exodus story is told briefly but with great emotion in these eight verses. The first line sets the theme and emotion for the whole song, “When Israel went out from Egypt”. Stop and consider that for a moment, maybe even go back and read Exodus 13-14. After 430 years in Egypt, most of that time in slavery, after great sorrow, disappointment, and abuse; after 10 plagues that culminated with God bringing death to the firstborn of all the Egyptian households and livestock but passing over, protecting, and sparing Israel’s; the entire nation of Israel left Egypt in a moment. They did not just leave, they left with gold and silver, with clothing and gifts, they left with food and livestock, they went to bed one night as slaves and woke up the next day in freedom. Can you imagine the songs that they sung? The laughter that radiated from the crowd as they moved out of the land of their slavery and took steps toward a place they could only refer to as “the Promised Land”? Can we even begin to think of the tears that flowed down their faces as they literally walked in the promise that the generations had been holding onto for hundreds of years? They carried the bones of Joseph to the land of Abraham, it was solemn, and it was holy, but I imagine that it was loud, it was joyful, it was a celebration like none we have ever seen. When we read these verses, do not forget that they tell a true story.  

Verse 3 says, “The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.” The Red Sea parted as Israel left Egypt and the Jordan opened as they entered the Promised Land. With a miracle God led them out of bondage and forty years later, with a miracle God led them into all that He had promised, but it was the in between where all the work was done in their hearts. The opening and closing of the Red Sea ended their bondage to Egypt, the opening and closing of the Jordan River began their possession of all that God had promised, but it was the forty years of wandering that taught Israel that true freedom is only found in obedience. 

Being out of Egypt is not the same as being in the Promised Land, but while God does the first one for us, we must be willing to allow Him to do the second one in us. Verse 7 says, “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob”. I have always loved that word “tremble”. While the Hebrew is different, Isaiah 66:2 says that God looks with favor on those who tremble at His Word. In the New Testament, in his famous chapter on faith being revealed by works, James wrote, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” His point was that belief without action, without response is wasted, that it is not really belief at all, that “faith without works is dead.” Consider this with me, what if the psalmist is not simply saying that the earth should quake with fear, or shudder in terror, but that it must respond, that we must all respond to who God is and to what God has done so that we can become what God desires and receive what God has promised? 

After the Red Sea opened for Israel and then closed on Egypt, Israel rejoiced, they danced and sang. They followed the cloud of God’s presence, ate the manna of God’s provision, but when they ran out of water they complained against Moses and feared they would die. They forgot that they were no longer in a land that despised them but in the hands of their God who loved them. He ordered their steps, He guided their path, He challenged their fear so that He could teach them His heart. The lack of water in Exodus 17, at Rephidim, was God’s plan, He was not just testing them, He was teaching them. In Egypt they had trembled in fear, but in God’s hands they could tremble in trust. In Egypt they never knew what would happen, in God’s hands they could always trust that they were loved. In Egypt they had been used, overlooked, and unwanted; in God’s hands they were heard, chosen, and defended. They had to learn to tremble differently, to face familiar feelings, even old wounds, with a new response, believing a truth they had formerly doubted.  

The key to the entire psalm rests a bit deeper in verse 7, “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob”. The name that is used for God, translated as Lord, in this verse is not the most common Yahweh or Jehovah, but Adonai. Yahweh is the name that God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3. When this name is used in Scripture it is translated with full capitalization, LORD. It is by far the most holy but also the most used name for God in the Hallel. It was used seven times in Psalm 113, but not a single time in Psalm 114, instead the psalmist uses Adonai, why? The name means “Sovereign Lord”. In the Exodus story it reveals that the God who brought them out of Egypt and would take them into the Promised Land was in complete control of every step and every detail in between. It means that God did not open the Red Sea because the Egyptians were chasing Israel, but that God had sent the Egyptians to chase Israel so that He could open the Sea. He did not bring water out of a rock because Israel was thirsty, He led them to thirst so that He could show them that because of His great love for them, He would even bring water out of a rock. The Sovereign Lord does not turn things for good, He intends things for His glory and for the redemption of souls (Genesis 50:20). In this we begin to see that it was the Sovereign Lord who not only opened Sarah’s womb in her old age but had held it barren until He said it was time. It was the Sovereign Lord who not only led Israel out of Egypt but had led them to Egypt to be forged from a family into a nation. It was the Sovereign Lord who not only raised Jesus from the grave but sent Him to the cross. The Sovereign Lord does not swoop in He stays close. He takes us to places and into circumstances that we would never choose, that we might not understand, so that He can teach us His heart, His character and how safe we are in His hands. The Sovereign Lord does not fix things, He plans them, He does not make things right, He does all things well.  

The last verses read before the Passover meal begins are a description of Adonai, “who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.” It is a reminder of how the Exodus began. When God met Moses at the burning bush, this exiled shepherd did everything he could to talk God out of sending him to deliver Israel. In Exodus 4:1 he asked God, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me?” God responded with a question of His own, “What is in your hand?” God wanted Moses to learn something, He would not simply use what He had, but everything Moses had was given by God. All Moses had was a shepherd’s staff because a shepherd’s staff was exactly what God wanted him to have. Israel did not have rocks; God had given them rocks. God does not give us what we need, He uses what He has given. Whatever you have today, trust that Sovereign Lord and let Him use you in it and let Him use it for you. God led Israel to a place without water and then quenched their thirst with a rock. This may be hard to believe and even harder to hear, but what if the intimacy God has planned will only come from the loneliness you despise? What if the provision you need is found in the emptiness you fear? What if the triumph comes from the trial? What if a new heart is born from the breaking of the old one? What if the thing we have is what God has given rather than what we need Him to take away? Trust the Sovereign Lord, He leads out and He leads in, and in between He builds up because the only way from bondage to promise is to learn trust through obedience. Adonai can fill your rocks with water and turn your staff into a treasure, He will do what He promised, but we must learn to tremble by obeying Him in what we already have.