Bait and switch is a marketing ploy to get a dog to eat something it would never eat ordinarily (though most dogs eat anything, anyway). The clever dog owner will tuck the pill into a softened dog treat or sweet potato and even the most clever dog will swallow the pill completely unawares. Or so I’ve been told.
The poet of Psalm 96 couldn’t sweeten us more than he already does with a vocabulary brimming-over with praise. This is not a poem for the reserved introvert. Derek Kidner says we have here “nothing listless or introverted, nothing stale” (TOTC, v. 16, 379). The poet is himself filled with a prescription of robust verbs: singing, declaring, ascribing, worshipping, saying. We do not have to ponder what it is that makes the poet overflow with a vocabulary of praise. The poet is himself overcome with a desire for activity (hence, the verbs) because of something in his heart.
Why is this? As best as we can tell, the poet is sent into action by two activating emotions. We might think of the engine that propels a car or the electricity that enlivens the laptop. The poet is, first of all, activated by his gladness. We are invited to see this not by dissecting the poet’s heart, but by looking at the gladness of the “heavens” and the rejoicing of the “earth” and the roaring of the “sea” and the exulting of the “field” (v. 11). This may seem like going from a preoccupation with the natural world and an unusual personification. Perhaps the poet is inviting us to pick one. If you cannot imagine a crop in the field, exulting, perhaps you can imagine an inhabitant of the earth, rejoicing. Surely we can all imagine the tumultuous clashing of waves against a rocky coast as evidence that the ocean is roaring. So, too, is the gladness of the poet’s heart, roaring against the “nations” that may or may not be listening (vv. 3, 10). The poet is activated by gladness.
In addition to gladness, the poet is also activated by something outside of himself. He is activated by a regard for the greatness of God. Have we noticed how often the poet describes the character of God? In just the first six verses we learn that His works are “marvelous,” that He is “great,” and that He is full of worth and value and strength and splendor and majesty and beauty. If we were to consider what would make a man or woman’s heart roar in gladness, we need look no further: it is the awareness and acknowledgement of a glorious God. It is not merely the presence of God that activates the poet’s gladness, it is the relationship with God. Because God, of His own initiative, has made the heavens (v. 5) and established the world (v. 10), because He has performed “marvelous works” (v. 3) and brought “salvation” (v. 2), the poet has a relationship with Him. The presence of God and the relationship that the poet has received, makes him glad.
This psalm drips with the glorious character of God and the roaring gladness of the poet. How could there be an unpalatable pill in all of this? What is it that sneaks into the throat without your notice? When we look at the end of the psalm we learn that the poet wants us to have this reality on our minds: “He comes to judge the earth … He will judge the world in righteousness” (v. 13).
The poet is glad, but in his gladness he realizes that there is a listening population, not all of whom will join in the poet’s reverie. Sprinkled in the poem are hints of the truly awful reality that those who refuse to respond in gladness to God’s character will certainly feel His judgment. The poet assures that gladness must be declared “among the nations” (v. 3) and “the families of the people” (v. 7), and that the reputation of other gods will decrease (v. 4). There is a glorious moment of God’s coming in verse 13 that will confirm the poet’s gladness, but there is also an ominous expectation that this very coming, given the scope of the entire “earth” (v. 13) will, for some, result in judgment. This is the pill.
God’s character will fill the hearts of many with roaring gladness, and this gladness will be shared with the world. For many who witness this gladness within the church, that same character of God will fill the hearts with the dread of judgment.
