"Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy."
Psalm 99:9
This psalm presents the LORD, Jehovah, three times as “our God” to the Children of Israel. This truth applies as well to believers as God’s children today. What does our verse today teach us about “our God?” “Our God” is to be worshipped.
Who to worship
The object of our worship must be the one God prescribes. It is the LORD, Jehovah. We are to lift Him up, “exalt Him” by our worship.
“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker,”
(Psalm 95:6).
It is our Creator Jehovah, which we are worshipping.
“Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2).
He alone is glorious and the only One worthy of our worship.
Where to worship
Notice that Israel’s God’s prescribed place of worship was in Jerusalem, Zion, at His “holy hill.” Verse five calls this place of worship “his footstool.” The Temple was set up for the nation to worship God there publicly. Three times a year, the men of Israel were to assemble there to worship God together as a nation.
After Jesus came, He had a conversation with the woman at the well in Sychar one day. Notice what she said about the place of worship and how Jesus answered her. The woman said, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father” (John 4:20 and 21). Jesus pointed out a significant change in the place of worship. Today we worship our Lord corporately at church. We can also worship Him privately as we meet with Him daily for our devotions. For every believer today, all ground is holy ground and can be a sacred place of worship.
“Our God” is “holy.”
One of the unusual qualities of our true and living God that separates Him from all the so-called “gods” out there is His holiness. “For the LORD our God is holy.” God is holy, not just because He is high and lifted up above His creatures, but because He is a righteous God. He is holy by nature. We humans, on the other hand, are sinful by nature and sinners by choice. But with God, there is no taint of sin anywhere in Him. He is perfectly righteous (1 John 1:5). No wonder the psalmist calls on us to worship Him!
Think about this–He is the holy God who paid the price for our sinfulness. The holy God sacrificed Himself for the sinful creature, the perfect giving His life for the flawed, the righteous One condescending for the unrighteous. “Hallelujah, what a Savior!”
This verse teaches me that My God is holy.