Discipleship in the Psalms: Under the Divine King
Author: Daniel Owens, PhD
June 05, 2025
Twelfth in a series.
Psalm 97:1–12
1The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
2Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3Fire goes before him
and burns up his adversaries all around.
4His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
7All worshipers of images are put to shame,
who make their boast in worthless idols;
worship him, all you gods!
8Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O Lord.
9For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10O you who love the Lord, hate evil!
He preserves the lives of his saints;
he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11Light is sown for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
12Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” This quote is widely attributed to Jesse Owens, the famous black American track star who spoiled Hitler’s 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin by winning a record-setting four gold medals. Competing at an elite level requires athletes to devote themselves to their sport.
But what about disciples? Disciples, too, must be focused and disciplined. The first post in this series defined discipleship as “belonging to God and learning from him along the way.” What does it look like to live out of our belonging to God? Should we be consumed by rooting out sin? Or accumulating knowledge? Or finding ways to serve? Certainly we should give attention to all those things. But Christian discipleship begins with a disciplined focus on God, his glory and his goodness, such that our affections and pattern of life are conformed to his will.
First, preoccupation with God begins and ends with worship of the Great King. Psalm 97 is one of the enthronement psalms, labeled such because they celebrate the kingship of God (Pss. 93, 95–99).1 It begins and ends with invitations to rejoice in the Lord, first extended to all the earth (v. 1) and then extended specifically to the righteous (v. 12). At the center of the psalm is a call to the gods to worship the Lord (v. 7) and a description of Zion rejoicing (v. 8). Worship is the foundation of this psalm and ought to be so for discipleship as well.
Second, preoccupation with God comes from seeing God for who he is and what he does as the Great King. Psalm 97 divides in two unequal halves, with a break between verses 7 and 8. The first seven verses concern the world at large, while the last five verses relate particularly to God’s people. In relationship to the whole earth, God in his righteousness overpowers creation, much as he did at Mount Sinai (such as in Exod. 19:16–19), with power and fear-inducing glory (vv. 3–5). Critically, God’s appearance puts idols in their place, not as objects of worship but in submission to the glory of the true God (v. 7).
In the second half of the psalm, the experience of Zion is different. The people rejoice in God’s judgments (v. 8) and recognize that he towers over false gods (v. 9). And he delivers the saints from the wicked (v. 9). God is righteous and puts the world to right.
Third, preoccupation with God transforms our affections and values. I have mentioned the joy that characterizes the beginning, middle, and ending of the psalm (including v. 11). Though rejoicing is an action, it proceeds from an inward delight in God. Verse 10 specifically touches on a transformation of our moral affections, giving us an assignment, without warning or embellishment. The psalmist calls those who love the Lord to hate evil. In our society “hate” is considered altogether evil. Hate speech and hate crimes are considered the most heinous acts. But we would be naïve to believe that there is no place for godly hatred. You cannot love the good without also hating evil. In Romans 12:9 the Apostle Paul calls for genuine love, characterized by a hatred of evil and an embrace of the good. We need the transformation of our affections. If the sin that defiles us comes from within (Mark 7:15), certainly the godliness must come from a transformed life.
The preoccupation of a disciple must be in the Great King. When we rejoice in God, his glory and his goodness, our hearts are transformed and renewed according to God’s will (Rom. 12:2).
Daniel Owens, PhD, is NCC’s Pastor of Discipleship. Go to the NCC Blog for the previous posts in this series.
1 Nancy deClaisse-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner, The Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014), 34.
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