Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights above. – Psalm 148:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 2, 2019): Psalm 148

Brigantia is an ancient goddess of Northern England. Her name means “The High One,” but she is intimately connected with the land of the Northern part of England. This is her land. She is purposeful about the defense of that particular piece of land. She is not concerned with the rainforest of the Amazon, or the desert of Australia. She is not the goddess of the deepest part of the ocean. She is the goddess of the land and is concerned with the poetry of the land, and of forging that is done in the land. She is also the goddess of the healing of the land, as long as the land that we are speaking of is Northern England.

Brigantia was worshipped by the Welsh, the Irish, and, of course, the Britons. As someone of Irish descent, maybe some of my ancestors made their sacrifices on her altar. But again, Brignatia is a goddess who is intimately connected with the land. As my ancestors left Ireland in the Irish diaspora, they also left the land that Brigantia guarded behind them.

Brigantia’s name may mean “The High One,” but the Psalmist makes the argument for his God. Yahweh, the great “I Am” is also “The High One.” But the Psalmist wants to make sure that we understand that Yahweh is not just worshipped from the heights of Israel. Yahweh is not a local God. He is not intimately connected with the land. He is a God who is praised and exalted from the highest heavens because he is the God over all of the earth. Listen to these words from Psalm 139.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

                                                            Psalm 139:7-12

He is God over everything. Not just a particular land. And so his praise emanates, not only from Israel, or the places of the earth, like Northern England, but instead from the highest heights. He is the God who is praised both in heaven and throughout all of the earth.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 149 & 150