Troubled

I am troubled with Ps 48.10:

“Your praise reaches to the end of the earth.”

How troubled I am depends on how I read it.

“His praise reaches to the ends of the earth.”

Are we speaking of human praise towards God?

If so, is it saying that when I lift my voice, my heart, my hands in exaltation, in Porvenir, my praise reaches unreached people lands in India and Nepal, and the dark world of North Korea? 

I don’t think so.

Or does “Your praises reaches to the end of the earth”, mean that people in every nook and cranny of the globe are worshipping Him? Cuz that just ain’t so, yet.

There is a toggling of the first word, in different versions. I will use KJV and ESV as the comparative texts.

King Jimmy says:

According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth…

English Standard reads:

As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. 

So which it is—according, or as? 

I hope it’s “as.”

I hope it is telling us two things that need to be happening in the far-flung nooks and crannies:

• His name needs to be known (1), and His praise needs to flow (2).

• And as His name gets announced into more and more black holes,

• His praise will ring out all the more brightly, all the more clearly.

If that is what the psalmist is saying, God is reminding us that we have a task at hand.

To announce the name of Jesus, His forgiveness, His love.

Let us not be slothful in our calling.