Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
7 [a]Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples, [b]Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 8 [c]Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name; Bring an [d]offering and come into His courtyards. 9 Worship the Lord in [e]holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth.
Word of God for th Childrn of God
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
1. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!
2. Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before thee, Who was and is and evermore shall be.
3. Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide thee, Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see, Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee, Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.
4. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea; Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. Author: Reginald Heber (1826)
The saints in the Bible knew of God’s holiness and adored Him.
When God passed by Moses in the cleft of the rock, Moses tasted the holiness of God.
When Elijah called down fire from heaven on the false prophets of Baal, the people saw the holiness of God.
When Ananias and Saphira were struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit, the church knew the holiness of God.
But other than a relatively few cautionary tales, the New Covenant people were somehow able to partake in the holiness of God without being consumed by it.
I don’t know that we will ever really “comprehend” the full holiness of God.
And that’s too bad.
We throw that term around a lot—holiness—and we have a sense that his holiness is not to be trifled with, but I don’t think we know how to wrap our finite minds around the concept.
We know God as a loving Father—guiding, providing, and protecting.
That one is easier to absorb, at least in theory.
We know God as revealed through his Son, Jesus—compassionate, servant-hearted, gentle, and caring.
We know God through the infilling of the Holy Spirit—empowering, energizing, and enabling us to do his bidding.
But the holiness of God—do we really know him that way?
Exodus 33:19-22 New American Standard Bible
19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” 20 He further said, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!” 21 Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place [a]by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; 22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
We cannot behold the holiness of God for ourselves and still stay alive.
When God’s back passed by Moses in the cleft of the rock, Moses beheld the holiness of God.
Before the weary embarrassed unsuccessful Priests of Baal, Elijah called down fire from heaven on the false prophets, the people saw the holiness of God.
But other than a relatively few cautionary tales, the New Covenant people were somehow able to partake in the holiness of God without being consumed by it.
What is the purpose of Psalm 19:7:8?
Psalm 19:7–8explains how different portions of Scripture shape us inwardly and outwardly.
God’s law (Torah) is perfect (Ps. 19:7), blameless, like a prize-winning animal. It is exactly the right thing, for any given moment just when we need answers.
What does Psalm 96:8 mean for us?
Bring to God what is due to him; or, render such an acknowledgment as he deserves and claims.
Fully acknowledge him as God, and acknowledge him to be such a God as he is.
Let the honor due to God as such be given him; and let the honor due to him, for the character which he actually has, be wholly ascribed to him.
What is the meaning of Psalm 96:7-9?
Psalm 96:7-9invites all humankind to “ascribe” strength and glory to the Lord and to offer in his courts worship that is appropriate for the sovereign God.
What does Psalm 96 verse 9 mean for us?
The psalmist calls on all people—of the entire world—to give proper worship to God.
Because of His divine nature, the miracles He has done, the Lord deserves to be praised.
Psalm 96:7-9 …
bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship unto the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Three times in a row God directly challenges us to “ascribe,” or give, unto the Lord exactly what is due His name.
Other so-called “gods” are owed nothing, are as nothing to be given anything.
Those who humbly enter His courtyards to worship the Lord should mightily celebrate His holiness, power, and judgment.
I wish that for you—and for me, too—that we could partake in God’s holiness without being consumed by it.
In conclusion, as I meditated upon this psalm I am challenged by the notion my worship of God ought to correspond to the greatness and worthiness of God.
That’s why after saying “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name” (v.8a), the psalmist follows up by calling worshipers to respond in a manner appropriate to his particular covenant (v.8b).
But as my worship fails to execute this thesis, this psalm provides a remedy: dwell long upon the greatness of God and His saving works; and let that be the primary motivation for worship due God.
In summation,our worship is based on great thoughts of God; and great thoughts of God fuel the worship of God.
I am not sure how we can come into that kind of experience—and perhaps I do not really know what I am asking for—but there is something deep within my spirit crying out to know more and more of God in the beauty of his holiness.
May God grant us a deeper, richer transformational revelation of His Divine holiness so we can authentically worship him in the splendor of his holiness.
In the name of God, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit …
100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Serve the Lord with jubilation; Come before Him with rejoicing. 3 Know that the Lord [b]Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and [c]not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with [d]thanksgiving, And His courtyards with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting And His faithfulness is to all generations.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
96 Sing to Adonai a new song! Sing to Adonai, all the earth! 2 Sing to Adonai, bless his name! Proclaim his victory day after day! 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples!
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Sing to Give, Not Get, Praise
God made us to sing songs. I used to sing into my toothbrush, holding it up like a microphone while imagining myself belting out Little Orphan Annie’s songs with all the vibrato of a Broadway star.
Whether you ever dreamed of signing a recording contract or you’re the sort that hums softly under your breath, your vocal cords were designed to make a joyful noise (music). But left to ourselves we often sing in order to be praised.
Psalm 96 urges us to use our voices not in order to earn praise, but to give it.
Three times David tells us to “sing to the Lord.”
This repetition should automatically signal, “Pay attention!”
God created your vocal cords not for your praise but to give praise to Him.
Not Just Any Song
What is this new song we’re to sing?
That number 1 on the latest top 40 on the Hit Parade?
Your favorite classic traditional old hymn from your church’s hymnal?
No No No — a thousand times No!
The newness springs from its daily-ness.
Just as Jesus taught us to pray every day for the bread of life to eat, fruit of the vine to drink, forgiveness for sin, rescue from evil, the psalmist shows us how to respond to God’s answers to our prayers: with all new songs sung every day.
In our consumer culture, we tend to think new means different, changed, or better than the old version.
But in Psalm 96, new means unending and undiminished.
Irish biblical scholar the late Alec Motyer (1924 – 2016) says the new songs commanded here correspond to the new mercies celebrated in
Lamentations 3:22-23. “Just as [God’s] ‘compassion’ is ‘new every morning’ so is [our] responsive song” (Psalms by the Day, 72).
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel and pressed me down into ashes. 17 I have been so deprived of peace, I have so forgotten what happiness is, 18 that I think, “My strength is gone, and so is my hope in Adonai.”
19 Remember my utter misery, the wormwood and the gall. 20 They are always on my mind; this is why I am so depressed.
21 But in my mind I keep returning to something, something that gives me hope — 22 that the grace of Adonai is not exhausted, that his compassion has not ended. 23 [On the contrary,] they are new every morning! How great your faithfulness! 24 “Adonai is all I have,” I say; “therefore I will put my hope in him.
25 Adonai is good to those waiting for him, to those who are seeking him out. 26 It is good to wait patiently for the saving help of Adonai.
We sing from day to day because God’s salvation is at work in us day to day.
The timeless hymn Amazing Grace captures the meaning of new with the line,
“When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun / We’ve no less days to sing His praise than when we’ve first begun.”
Command and Invitation
The song’s newness also stems from who it is doing the singing. “All the earth” is both a command and invitation cloaked here in mystery, but revealed fully at the cross.
As Paul says in Ephesians 3:6,
“This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
Every person in every people group in all the earth is commanded to give God the praise that is His due.
But they are also invited to join in the chorus of joyful worship and noisy praise as they bless His name in response to His grace.
This is not unfeeling obligation, but wide-eyed wonder and heartfelt response to God’s overwhelming goodness!
Scripture reveals that what God commands, He will accomplish.
In Revelation 5, the Apostle John gives us a vision of heaven where the four living creatures and the 24 elders lie prostrate before the Lamb in worship.
Verse 9 tells us they, too, are singing a new song, saying,
Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth (v. 9-10).
This song is full of past tense verbs: of actions accomplished, of vast peoples ransomed, of a kingdom and priests prepared to reign.
What was commanded in Psalm 96—a global response of praise for a great and costly salvation—Jesus has accomplished.
He alone is worthy to open the scroll because He was slain on the cross.
By His atoning blood He ransomed a people from all the peoples for God.
Jesus our Savior is worthy of worship today, tomorrow, and every day for all of eternity.
Our exuberant praises should never cease, our songs never come to an end, they are to be new every morning from today, and forever.
For Reflection
These verses contain five sets of instructions repeated in sets of three. In addition to “sing, sing, sing…to the Lord, to the Lord, to the Lord,” what else does the passage require of God’s people?
What songs do you sing when you’re in the car, in the shower, in the mood to sing? How might you grow your daily musical response to God’s mercy and grace?
Start now. Sing a song of praise to God wherever you are.
In the name of God, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit …
Praying …
Psalm 98 Complete Jewish Bible
98 (0) A psalm:
(1) Sing a new song to Adonai, because he has done wonders. His right hand, his holy arm have won him victory. 2 Adonai has made known his victory; revealed his vindication in full view of the nations, 3 remembered his grace and faithfulness to the house of Isra’el. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
4 Shout for joy to Adonai, all the earth! Break forth, sing for joy, sing praises! 5 Sing praises to Adonai with the lyre, with the lyre and melodious music! 6 With trumpets and the sound of the shofar, shout for joy before the king, Adonai! 7 Let the sea roar, and everything in it; the world, and those living in it. 8 Let the floods clap their hands; let the mountains sing together for joy 9 before Adonai, for he has come to judge the earth; he will judge the world rightly and the peoples fairly.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
11-16 Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,
the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery; the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions; the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock; the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.
17-18 If you start thinking to yourselves, “I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!”—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
We all proclaim we are worshipers who are worshiping someone or something, whether that is God, ourselves, hero’s, food, money, sex, or something else.
But what is Christian worship?
Many scholarly writers will define, envision, worship as “our response to God.”
How do we see Him, and likewise see ourselves in relation to Him?
How do we make Him the truest center of our lives in and through Christ?
If the sacrifices and rituals of the Old Testament are no longer expected, or seem out of touch with the times does that mean there are no expectations?
The Bible tells us that there is, in fact, such a thing as appropriate worship.
In fact, Christ worshiped the Father and taught us how to do so in ways which please him.
Worship in Spirit and Truth
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when all of the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23).
Our worship must originate from within, from our hearts; it must be sincere, motivated by our love for God and highest gratitude for all He is and has done.
This is the spirit of worship.
But also, the Holy Spirit orchestrates our services and leads us in corporate praise of God. Along with the “S/spirit” of worship, Scholars points out that worship which pleases God “must never be mindless or based in ignorance.”
We worship intelligently based on what God has revealed in Scripture, not based on what simply “feels right.”
Yet, we must allow ourselves to be moved by what has been revealed to us, and moved by our personal relationship with Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Either one without the other leads to incomplete worship.
Besides this, we genuinely need the help of the Holy Spirit to keep the flow of worship directed in the only right direction there is- 100% God, 0% ourselves.
Without the Lord’s help in this way, we will naturally break towards idolatry.
John 3:27-30 Amplified Bible
27 John replied, “A man can receive nothing [he can claim nothing at all] unless it has been granted to him from heaven [for there is no other source than the sovereign will of God]. 28 You yourselves are my witnesses that I stated, ‘I am not the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed),’ but, ‘I have [only] been sent ahead of Him [as His appointed forerunner and messenger to announce and proclaim His coming].’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this pleasure and joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase [in prominence], but I must decrease.
Worship Reverently
Psalm 95 Complete Jewish Bible
95 Come, let’s sing to Adonai! Let’s shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation! 2 Let’s come into his presence with thanksgiving; let’s shout for joy to him with songs of praise.
3 For Adonai is a great God, a great king greater than all gods. 4 He holds the depths of the earth in his hands; the mountain peaks too belong to him. 5 The sea is his — he made it — and his hands shaped the dry land.
6 Come, let’s bow down and worship; let’s kneel before Adonai who made us. 7 For he is our God, and we are the people in his pasture, the sheep in his care.
If only today you would listen to his voice: 8 “Don’t harden your hearts, as you did at M’rivah, as you did on that day at Massah in the desert, 9 when your fathers put me to the test; they challenged me, even though they saw my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation; I said, ‘This is a people whose hearts go astray, they don’t understand how I do things.’ 11 Therefore I swore in my anger that they would not enter my rest.”
God is not our buddy.
He is not our co-pilot.
He is our Lord.
Jesus is King.
While he invites us into friendship (John 15:15), we must not treat him the way we treat many of our so-called friends – those people we only interact with on social media by “liking” them, or whom we will stay in touch with erratically.
To love Christ as our friend is to honor him and make much of him, expecting to recede into the shadows and to let everyone to see exactly how Jesus has been our friend to the point of death on a cross.
Friendship as defined by Christ is sacrificial, but with a joy that comes from profound love for God.
As our friend, he gave his life for us in order to obey and honor the Father.
This kind of friendship drives us to our knees in reverence and awe.
Although we are Christ’s friends, this friendship is designed to lead us into a proper, redeemed connectional relationship with a holy God who demands our maximum attention and our utmost submission throughout the day, every day.
When we behave selflessly, with joy, towards our neighbors, acting as their friends to the glory of God, we demonstrate a trusting reverence.
We recognize the Father’s power (over our own), which is terrible and beautiful at the same time. We humbly rejoice in it and do not take it minimally or lightly.
When we are giving the Lord proper reverence, it begins with a recognition of who he is. “Our Father, who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9).
“Hallowed” (the Greek hagiazó) means “to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate – hallow, be holy, sanctify.”
When we take time to understand who he is and what we owe him (our lives), we tend not to be so hasty and thoughtless about worship.
“The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant”(Psalm 25:14).
God alone is to be honored and glorified by our worship.
We Exalt God
Psalm 30 Complete Jewish Bible
30 (0) A psalm. A song for the dedication of the house. By David:
2 (1) I will exalt you, Adonai, because you drew me up; you didn’t let my enemies rejoice over me. 3 (2) Adonai my God, I cried out to you, and you provided healing for me. 4 (3) Adonai, you lifted me up from Sh’ol; you kept me alive when I was sinking into a pit.
5 (4) Sing praise to Adonai, you faithful of his; and give thanks on recalling his holiness. 6 (5) For his anger is momentary, but his favor lasts a lifetime. Tears may linger for the night, but with dawn come cries of joy.
7 (6) Once I was prosperous and used to say, that nothing could ever shake me — 8 (7) when you showed me favor, Adonai, I was firm as a mighty mountain. But when you hid your face, I was struck with terror.
9 (8) I called to you, Adonai; to Adonai I pleaded for mercy: 10 (9) “What advantage is there in my death, in my going down to the pit? Can the dust praise you? Can it proclaim your truth? 11 (10) Hear me, Adonai, and show me your favor! Adonai, be my helper!”
12 (11) You turned my mourning into dancing! You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 13 (12) so that my well-being can praise you and not be silent; Adonai my God, I will thank you forever!
When we appropriately worship God, we raise His name above all other names.
We speak about Him to others and we declare that Jesus is better than any other “god” the world worships: money, power, love, sex, etc.
How can we lift up God when he is already exalted?
Job 36:22says “God is exalted in his power.” He does not need us to lift him up further, yet the heart that worships him wants all other hearts to do the same.
Worship that pleases God seeks to make his name known among those who do not know him.
There can be a private sort of worship, by which we emulate the quiet prayer time Jesus prioritized with the Father. But the believer who longs to see and know Jesus knows also that he deserves loud praise, above every other name.
Paul wrote “God has highly exalted [Jesus] and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9).
No other name deserves such fame, devotion, attention, and effort.
We strive to make him famous where he is unknown.
“Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
We Serve God
Romans 12:1-2 The Message
Place Your Life Before God
12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
When we say to the Lord “you alone are worthy” and submit to him, we are entrusting him with our lives.
We admit there is no King besides him to whom we can safely surrender, but also that we must submit, because he called Christ to serve and we follow Christ, even unto death.
Paul says as much, and Christ showed us the way by giving his body as a living sacrifice to the glory of God and for our salvation.
We serve God by giving him our lives and saying “do with me what you will.”
As we worship in spirit and truth, this helps us to properly hear God’s direction for our lives. We are not merely following a feeling, we are reading Scriptures, asking God for the revealed truth about what he has said and what he wants.
Some people are led abroad into missionary work.
Some become missionaries at home.
Some work to help pay for these missions.
Some stay home and minister in other ways.
Yet, in everything, we can give thanks, praise, and credit to God by receding as he comes forward.
If we have dreams, we ask God to make them his dreams so we can serve him lovingly and with joy.
1 Peter 5:1-7 The Message
He’ll Promote You at the Right Time
5 1-3 I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here’s my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.
4-5 When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. And you who are younger must follow your leaders. But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for—
God has had it with the proud, But takes delight in just plain people.
6-7 So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.
We freely give Him the entirety our hearts and our whole minds for Kingdom purposes, to share the gospel and stir up our fellow Christians.
Sometimes this is painful. The New Testament tells us about the pain we will experience, but also how God will exalt the faithful who suffer for his sake.
What Goes in Comes Out
Colossians 3:15-17 The Message
15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
He knows what goes on in our heads; there is no hiding.
“Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:4).
But it is also a choice we make, to let Him fill us up with the goodness that is true about him, best for the development of our spirits – for our fruitfulness.
Isaiah 55:8-11 The Message
8-11 “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
What we fill up on will also pour out of us, returning to God as worship if we have consumed things that please him.
Paul wrote we should be hungry for “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, is commendable” (Philippians 4:8).
Philippians 4:4-9 The Message
4-5 Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
An extension of that truth is the way we use our money and time to honor what God has given us.
When we joyfully give back to him by giving to others, this is part of our worship.
We worship when we happily tithe; we worship when we volunteer gratefully.
Grateful giving acknowledges we know both in spirit and truth we are saved by the grace and mercy of our Savior that everything good comes from Him.
“the biblical call to focus on worship rather than wealth […] encourages a lifestyle of stewardship, where material resources are viewed as tools for advancing God’s kingdom rather than personal gain. Generosity, contentment, and trust in God’s provision are hallmarks of a life oriented towards worship.”
The Trouble with Worship
God has given us the tools to worship him appropriately in the name of his Son Jesus Christ.
While we know how, putting this knowledge into practice is sometimes harder than we would like to admit.
This is why we need the Holy Spirit’s help when it comes to choosing whom to worship and how.
We can offer our worship as much as we like, but if our hearts are full of unacknowledged, unrepentant sin, he will not accept it (Hosea 8:13).
Therefore, we also need to understand the value of confession and repentance to our worship. These are essential elements, because when they sink in and we authentically, truly repent, pleading with God for a heart more in the image of his Son’s heart, the obstacles to true, wholehearted worship are falling away.
In the name of God, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Praying …
Psalm 84 The Message
84 1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! I’ve always longed to live in a place like this, Always dreamed of a room in your house, where I could sing for joy to God-alive!
3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house, sparrows and swallows make nests there. They lay their eggs and raise their young, singing their songs in the place where we worship. God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God! How blessed they are to live and sing there!
5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel; They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!
8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen: O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying! Look at our shields, glistening in the sun, our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.
10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin. All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory. He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions. It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
4-6 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me. But I’m unswervingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
I often wondered how the ancient Israelites could be so daft.
They took a rock or a piece of wood, carved an image on it, and then bowed down to it as a god. Really?
Then, on a whim, I checked my wallet. Money is made from paper, which is made from wood pulp. I looked around my neighborhood. The houses are made of wood and stone. Maybe the only difference between us and ancient idol worshipers is that our idols today could have a longer production process.
It is disturbing to realize how good we are at making idols. We can make them out of any physical thing. We can even create them out of thin air.
For example, we can claim to be righteous on the basis of our political views.
We can worship a sports franchise. We can devote our lives to the service of a corporation. Such idols are also known as ideologies, or “isms.”
Our ability to create such fraudulent gods is unlimited. Anything that we attach our ultimate desires into, whether physical or conceptual, can be an idol, a god.
But these idols are not the Lord God, the one who delivered Israel from Egypt, the one who freed us from our slavery to sin.
Only this God moves through history with his people.
This is the one who created us.
We cannot and must not create another.
No Image Engraved or in Mind
Exodus 20:1-6 The Message
20 1-2 God spoke all these words:
I am God, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery.
3 No other gods, only me.
4-6 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me. But I’m unswervingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
If the first commandment—“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3)—deals with theobjectof our worship, the second commandment deals with the manner of our worship.
What the second commandment tells us is that it is not enough that we worship the correct God; we must also worship Him correctly.
The clear and immediate meaning of the command is that God is to be worshiped without any visual symbols of Him.
Why the prohibition? Because God is spirit: infinite and unfathomably great.
No physical representation could ever do justice to His glory and grandeur.
The problem with statues, shrines, and pictures is not that they don’t look good but that no matter how good they look, they will inevitably blur the truth about God’s nature and character.
Such images tend to distract us from worshiping the true and living God, instead leading them to worship whatever representation is before them.
Yet the second commandment takes us beyond mere images and idol-making and into our own thought life. Our hands may be innocent of making graven images, but our imaginations seldom are. Any conception of God in our minds and hearts that is not derived from Scripture runs foul of this command.
When God gave instructions for the building of the temple, He ordered that the ark of the covenant, on which His presence would dwell, should reside in the Most Holy Place (Exodus 26:34).
What was inside the ark? Perhaps most significant is what was not in it: it contained no visible representation of God.
Instead, there were the two tablets of the Ten Commandments.
It was as if God was saying to His people, as He says to us, Don’t look for Me in shrines, paintings, or statues. I’m not there. Look for Me in My word.
And so we take our cues from God.
If we want to worship Him—if we want to meet with Him and know what He is like—we must conform our minds to His word.
Our own attempts to conceive of God wholly apart from divine revelation will invariably fail.
He has published His truth in His word, and so we are to tether ourselves to what is revealed there.
What’s at stake in this is the integrity not only of our worship but also of our lives—because when people go wrong in their worship, they end up wrong in their living.
Anything and anyone that encourages us to worship the correct God incorrectly will prove to be a detriment to our spiritual growth.
What a tragedy it would be to embrace an image and miss the person of Christ, to sit at a shrine and miss the Savior, to worship a misconception and too, fail to know Jesus. Instead, resist the urge to reshape God in your image or conform Him to your own image, and be sure to know Him as He has revealed Himself.
In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God, the Holy Spirit,
Pray,
Psalm 24 The Message
24 1-2 God claims Earth and everything in it, God claims World and all who live on it. He built it on Ocean foundations, laid it out on River girders.
3-4 Who can climb Mount God? Who can scale the holy north-face? Only the clean-handed, only the pure-hearted; Men who won’t cheat, women who won’t seduce.
5-6 God is at their side; with God’s help they make it. This, Jacob, is what happens to God-seekers, God-questers.
7 Wake up, you sleepyhead city! Wake up, you sleepyhead people! King-Glory is ready to enter.
8 Who is this King-Glory? God, armed and battle-ready.
9 Wake up, you sleepyhead city! Wake up, you sleepyhead people! King-Glory is ready to enter.
10 Who is this King-Glory? God-of-the-Angel-Armies: he is King-Glory.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
63 (0) A psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Y’hudah:
2 (1) O God, you are my God; I will seek you eagerly. My heart thirsts for you, my body longs for you in a land parched and exhausted, where no water can be found. 3 (2) I used to contemplate you in the sanctuary, seeing your power and glory; 4 (3) for your grace is better than life. My lips will worship you. 5 (4) Yes, I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 6 (5) I am as satisfied as with rich food; my mouth praises you with joy on my lips 7 (6) when I remember you on my bed and meditate on you in the night watches.
8 (7) For you have been my help; in the shadow of your wings I rejoice; 9 (8) my heart clings to you; your right hand supports me.
10 (9) But those who seek to destroy my life — may they go to the lowest parts of the earth. 11 (10) May they be given over to the power of the sword; may they become prey for jackals.
12 (11) But the king will rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him will exult, for the mouths of liars will be silenced.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Parched Throat and All: I am Longing for God
(1) O God, you are my God; I will seek you eagerly. My heart thirsts for you, my body longs for you in a land parched and exhausted, where no water can be found.
“Earnestly I seek you.”
“Eagerly I seek you.”
Those dried cracked parched barely audible pleas struggling for expression from the body of someone too long wandering a desert, a heart of Psalm 63.
Though we might not use such poetic language, we can understand what the psalmist is saying here. he is wandering in sun baked sands with no water.
It strikes me that in these words the psalmist is exposing his heart.
He is not asking God for health for himself or his kids; he’s not asking for extra income or a happier marriage.
The psalmist is focusing on his relationship with God.
He longs to see the power of God in worship, take His refreshment of water, reflects on God in the dark of the night, and sings all about God’s protection.
Personally I do not wander around in deserts.
However, there are substantial populations across the globe who do and I can envision them looking at the great expanses of sun dried and wind baked sands.
Where is their next canteen to be filled with life giving water?
In every desert their is water – but one has to be educated on how to find it.
Where is the life giving drinkable water to fill their canteens to sate their thirst?
Search me, O’ God and know my utterly dried out, parched and cracked heart.
Test me, investigate me, and my barely audible, barely able to be spoken heart.
O’ God, see if there is even one tiny drop of any wicked waters remaining in me.
Is there even 1 cold drop of water remaining anywhere to moisten my tongue?
These desperate Psalmist words seeking any kind of expressible refreshment.
I wonder whether we show this kind of desire for God as clearly as the psalmist?
It probably depends on our measure of thirst, how close is it to being a grave threat to our staying alive, level of faith, where we are in our spiritual journey.
I know I am far less “thirsty” for God when I am physically well, when my work, and family are doing fine, when things in our homes are moving right along.
Yet I don’t want my “growing thirst” to even 1% depend on my circumstances.
If desiring God is a good thing, then I have to nurture that desire. My heart really needs to understand the “dry and weary land” in which I live. When I know the arid turf that I call home, I am prepared to pursue the things of real refreshment. As my soul thirsts for God, I will then also drink at the right place.
That is something I earnestly and most eagerly pray for.
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah – King David had probably wrote this psalm when he was on the run from his son, Absalom. The lesson here is that the situation should not determine whether you call on God or not. Wherever whenever, why ever you are, no matter the situation, good or bad, you should most earnestly desire to communicate with God all the time.
O God, thou art my God – You are a child of God by grace through Jesus Christ. There are assurances, blessings, promises available through Christ. Embrace Christ and you have access to the father. Be bold, enjoy the benefits of sonship.
early will I seek thee – Seeking God early shows eagerness on the part of the one who prays. A good example to follow is Jesus Christ who many times rose up early, went to a secluded place to pray. All His prayers were answered as we found out. Yes you are to pray without ceasing but eagerly learning to commit your day into the hands of your God can only be refreshment, beneficial to you.
my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is – Your most earnest and eager quest for God is meant to be all consuming because God is the all in all. There is no situation that He can’t change, cannot give refreshment to. The presence of God or the hand of God on any particular matter is all that is needed. When your lasered focus is solely on God without giving allowance for backup, God knows and always comes good.
He is in charge of the showers of blessing from heaven which will cause every desert situation to be Category 5 flooded in Jesus name. He is waiting for you.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 23 Authorized (King James) Version
Psalm 23
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
10 Why, Adonai, do you stand at a distance? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 The wicked in their arrogance hunt down the poor, who get caught in the schemes they think up.
3 For the wicked boasts about his lusts; he blesses greed and despises Adonai. 4 Every scheme of the wicked in his arrogance [says], “There is no God, [so] it won’t be held against me.” 5 His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are way up there, so he takes no notice. His adversaries? He scoffs at them all. 6 In his heart he thinks, “I will never be shaken; I won’t meet trouble, not now or ever.” 7 His mouth is full of curses, deceit, oppression; under his tongue, mischief and injustice. 8 He waits near settlements in ambush and kills an innocent man in secret; his eyes are on the hunt for the helpless. 9 Lurking unseen like a lion in his lair, he lies in wait to pounce on the poor, then seizes the poor and drags him off in his net. 10 Yes, he stoops, crouches down low; and the helpless wretch falls into his clutches. 11 He says in his heart, “God forgets, he hides his face, he will never see.”
12 Arise, Adonai! God, raise your hand! Don’t forget the humble! 13 Why does the wicked despise God and say in his heart, “It won’t be held against me”? 14 You have seen; for you look at mischief and grief, so that you can take the matter in hand. The helpless commits himself to you; you help the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked! As for the evil man, search out his wickedness until there is none left.
16 Adonai is king forever and ever! The nations have vanished from his land. 17 Adonai, you have heard what the humble want; you encourage them and listen to them, 18 to give justice to the fatherless and oppressed, so that no one on earth will strike terror again.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Having consistent and transformational encounters with God while on earth is meant to be foundational to the Christian life. Our God has not left us. Our God has not changed, cannot be changed, will not change, will never be changed. He is, was and forever be the same God – today, yesterday and every last tomorrow.
Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we’ve been filled with the very Spirit of God who longs to reveal to us daily the nearness and love of our heavenly Father. We are never left alone. There is nowhere we can flee from the presence of our God. It is likewise true God can always be found-sometimes in the most common places.
However, as much the Hebrews 13:8 remains forever true and unchangeable, it is more than well established through the Word of God that while things will always proceed according to God’s plan, humankind’s plan always, inevitably, falls apart and humanity struggles to regain the degree and measure of control they falsely believe they exercise over divine providence, and God ‘vanishes.’
Humankind inevitably will become all kind of flustered, frustrated and frayed.
10 Why do You stand far away, O Lord? Why do You hide [Yourself, veiling Your eyes] in times of trouble?Psalm 10:1
The pitiful cries that are recorded in this Psalm 10 could be the words of many believers today.
Times of deepest troubles and severe persecution are touching every member of the Body of Christ in one way or another, many are repeatedly crying out: “Lord, why do you stand far off? Why do you (always) hide yourself in times of trouble?”
What the Psalmist recorded 3000 years ago, mirrors the happenings of today, as many continue to ask, “Why does the Lord our God seem to remain silent while the innocents suffer? Why are those arrogant, evil men permitted to go unchallenged?”
We may not or never understand the full plans and purposes of God, but He has already appointed a time, a time known only to Him, to judge evil, the wicked.
We may be grieved by the wars, the atrocities, the incredible measures and degrees and divisiveness that are taking place today, but God has appointed a day to finish transgression, put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to set His King upon His holy Hill in Jerusalem.
For two thousand years, God has been pouring out grace upon grace, upon grace not willing that any should perish. But the day is coming when wicked and evil man will be called to a final account of their sins, day of wrath is surely coming when nations will be judged, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
Jesus taught us in John 4:23, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” Your heavenly Father is seeking your worship. He longs for it. He so places highest values on your love, adoration that he would send his Son to die that the path to encountering him would be made available.
You, me, we, were first and foremost created to worship. You, me, we were all created to receive the love of your Creator and in response give him your heart.
You, me, we, will never feel as whole as when our hearts is connected to our Heavenly Father’s heart and you, me, we are giving, receiving love in worship.
Psalm 29 Complete Jewish Bible
29 (0) A psalm of David:
(1) Give Adonai his due, you who are godly; give Adonai his due of glory and strength; 2 give Adonai the glory due his name; worship Adonai in holy splendor.
3 The voice of Adonai is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, Adonai over rushing waters, 4 the voice of Adonai in power, the voice of Adonai in splendor.
5 The voice of Adonai cracks the cedars; Adonai splinters the cedars of the L’vanon 6 and makes the L’vanon skip like a calf, Siryon like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of Adonai flashes fiery flames; 8 the voice of Adonai rocks the desert, Adonai convulses the Kadesh Desert. 9 The voice of Adonai causes deer to give birth and strips the forests bare — while in his temple, all cry, “Glory!” 10 Adonai sits enthroned above the flood! Adonai sits enthroned as king forever! 11 May Adonai give strength to his people! May Adonai bless his people with shalom!
The Christian life is to be marked by disciplined heartfelt, genuine worship: worship filled with God’s presence and intimate nearness and nearness to the heartbeat of God that responds to a true encounter with the heart of God.
If that type of worship is new to you, that’s okay!
If the idea of encountering God in worship is new to you, there is joy and grace at the place of new beginnings.
Don’t allow your past to dictate the possibilities of your future.
Don’t allow past experiences where worship might not have been filled with encountering Jesus make you believe our future times of our worship won’t be marked by the power and intimacy and God’s presence. (Isaiah 6:1-10)
Where else Do We See the Gospel in the Psalms?
Asking how we see the gospel in the book of Psalms feels a little like asking, “How do we see the gospel in The Methodist Hymnal.”
Isn’t it there in every single song (hopefully)?
Of course, the Old Testament is different. But this is a book of music which Old Testament believers would have used to express their faith in the living God.
In order to see the gospel in Psalms do we need to analyze every single chapter?
Are these not individual songs?
Or is there a unified theme to the Psalms which also points to the gospel?
I will argue that the Psalms not only point us to Jesus individually, the Book of Psalms as a compilation which will also point us to the finished work of Christ.
How Do You Find the Gospel in the Old Testament?
I suppose before understanding how to find the gospel in the OT, it’d be helpful for us to define the gospel.
The simplest definition is one given by JI Packer: God saves sinners.
If you’d like to put a bit more meat on your gospel presentation, I use two different frameworks with four points each.
The first is God—Man—Christ—Response.
The second is more of a story: Creation—Fall—Redemption—Glory.
The first presentation centers upon God’s character and how humanity fails to meet God’s holy standard, as such the judgment of God is upon us.
But the good news is that Jesus Christ fixes this by fulfilling what is required through his life, death and resurrection.
Our only fitting response, then, is to respond to Him in repentance and faith.
When this happens, we are united to Christ and his record becomes our record.
The second presentation centers upon the overarching story of the Bible.
God lovingly created us to love Him and enjoy Him forever.
We were made for rest, rule, and relationship.
But we made shipwreck of this, and so rather than having the blessings of obedience we are under the curse of disobedience.
Rather than having peace (rest), purpose (ruling), and healthy relationship we often experience the opposite.
Ultimately, we are alienated from God. But thankfully God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear our curse and to fulfill what God intended for humanity.
As such we now experience the blessings of Jesus’ obedience in our place.
He restores the rest, rule, and relationship we were created to enjoy.
Someday everything will be ultimately restored and we will live in a new heaven and a new earth.
We could write entire books focusing on these various themes of the gospel.
But every gospel story follows this basic skeleton.
No matter where you find yourself in the Old Testament (or New Testament) you can find one of these various threads.
Every place in Scripture is either telling you something about God, something about our rebellion, something about His rescue, or something about our future restoration.
If you can spot this, then you can fill out the rest of the story.
The Gospel in Psalms
For my studies, I have often compared the book of Psalms to a hymnbook.
That’s not entirely true.
It was a collection of poems throughout the history of Israel, many of which were set to music.
Most believe the 150 Psalms were compiled at some point after the Babylonian exile. How were they compiled? Did an ancient exiled editor just randomly pick a few poems, stick them together willy dilly, and then give them numbers?
Or was there an intentional structure?
The first clue that there is an intentional structure is that many have headings.
In fact, we notice that there are five Books of the Psalms. This is likely intentional and connected to the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament). We also see that each of these books ends with a doxology.
This structure can help us understand the overall theme of the book of Psalms.
Taking the first two books as a bit of a thesis, I appreciate the summary given by The Bible Project.
They say, it is “the prayer book of God’s people as they strive to be faithful to the Torah as they wait for the Messianic Kingdom.”
How do these five books of Psalms support that theme?
And more importantly how does the story of the Psalms point to Christ?
Book I
Almost all of the psalms of Book I are attributed to David.
They carry a strong theme of fidelity to the Torah and the nature of the Davidic King and kingdom.
But they are often set in the middle of distressing situations.
Saul’s pursuit of David plays a prominent role throughout these.
And yet through this distress, we see a settled disposition to trust in the Lord.
The theme here is that of confrontation with the results of the fall.
The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.
We see this theme played out through the conflict of Book I.
Book II
In Book II we are introduced to the Sons of Korah (Ps. 42-49), one psalm of Asaph (50), and then another group of psalms attributed to David (51-71).
It closes with a psalm of Solomon (72).
In this book, the posture towards the world is a bit different. Rather than a confrontation we see more of an invitation. Here the Abrahamic blessing is extended through the reign of the Messiah’s kingdom. But it is still set within a background of lament and longing and an underlying desire for repentance.
Book III
In Book III it is as if all the wheels come off of the locomotive.
The psalms further darken until they reach their climax in Psalm 88.
That is the psalm of lament where there is no positive turn.
It is only darkness.
But the book ends with a bit of a higher note in Psalm 89 as it points toward the promise of a messianic kingdom, but now it does so in light of the exile and the collapse of the Davidic Kingdom. How can the Messiah come through this?
How can a king sit on David’s throne when the people are divided, scattered?
Book IV
Book IV, opening with Psalm 90, seems like a response to the questions and the problems which the fall of the Davidic kingdom brings.
Psalm 90 goes back to Moses and his call of repentance after the incident of the golden calf.
This is likely where the people are during the time when these psalms are compiled. There is an obvious theme here of the truth that “the Lord reigns.”
That is the answer to the exile. God is still able to bring that which He promised.
Book V
Book V has within it two sub-books: the Hallel and the Songs of Ascent.
These point to the promise of a new Exodus. Positioned within the middle of these sub-books is Psalm 119 — that really long psalm all about delight in the Torah. Once again, we see the original theme of the book of the Psalms.
The whole thing concludes with five Hallelu-Yah’s (Praise the Lord) — pointing to God’s coming rule and reign.
The Psalms are a recasting of the history of Israel (really of all of humanity).
It tells the story of the gospel. God has decisively crushed the head of the serpent, but we are not yet there. We do not yet fully live in this redemption.
Therefore, we have some of the same struggles as the psalmist did. We have seasons of lament, where we are honest with God about our grief.
And we also have times of praise, prayer and worship — when the kingdom appears to be vividly breaking into our here and now.
The gospel is in the structure of the Psalms through pointing to the coming Rescuer. Each of the Psalms point to Jesus. He is the long awaited for King.
He is the hope of the nations.
The Gospel in Psalm 88
Psalm 88 Complete Jewish Bible
88 (0) A song. A psalm of the sons of Korach. For the leader. Set to “Sickness that Causes Suffering.” A maskil of Heiman the Ezrachi.
2 (1) Adonai, God of my salvation, when I cry out to you in the night, 3 (2) let my prayer come before you, turn your ear to my cry for help! 4 (3) For I am oversupplied with troubles, which have brought me to the brink of Sh’ol. 5 (4) I am counted among those going down to the pit, like a man who is beyond help, 6 (5) left by myself among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave — you no longer remember them; they are cut off from your care.
7 (6) You plunged me into the bottom of the pit, into dark places, into the depths. 8 (7) Your wrath lies heavily on me; your waves crashing over me keep me down. (Selah) 9 (8) You separated me from my close friends, made me repulsive to them; I am caged in, with no escape; 10 (9) my eyes grow dim from suffering.
I call on you, Adonai, every day; I spread out my hands to you. 11 (10) Will you perform wonders for the dead? Can the ghosts of the dead rise up and praise you? (Selah) 12 (11) Will your grace be declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? 13 (12) Will your wonders be known in the dark, or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
14 (13) But I cry out to you, Adonai; my prayer comes before you in the morning. 15 (14) So why, Adonai, do you reject me? Why do you hide your face from me?
16 (15) Since my youth I have been miserable, close to death; I am numb from bearing these terrors of yours. 17 (16) Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me, your terrors have shriveled me up. 18 (17) They surge around me all day like a flood, from all sides they close in on me. 19 (18) You have made friends and companions shun me; the people I know are hidden from me.
Psalm 88 is horribly depressing.
Unlike the other psalms of lament, there is not a glimmer of hope here.
I believe this is an expression of what happens when the curses of Deuteronomy 28 fall upon a people.
It is precisely the situation which the exilic community is facing.
And with all of this pain comes deep questions.
There are two questions which are crying out during an exile.
If the curse of the Law has fallen upon them, has their sin cut them off from God forever? How can an unholy people ever expect to return to a right relationship with God? Could they ever come back to the land? (That’s all one question, but trauma tends to ask the same question in multiple says).
But these questions are cast against the background of God’s promises.
How can this be?
Has God cut them off forever?
Will they ever again be recipients of these great promises?
What does this mean for God’s name throughout the world?
Does this now mean that Babylon is more powerful?
Are they the victors? Did the serpent win?
Ever feel this way yourself?
I know I’ve had very dark nights of the soul.
I have felt in my bones the pain of Psalm 88. On one particularly low occasion I found myself praying Psalm 88. I felt like the psalm was written for me.
This is my situation.
This embodies my hurt.
But then I started to think of Christ.
Wait…Psalm 88 isn’t my psalm, it’s His.
If anyone can pray Psalm 88 it is Christ who drank of the curse on our behalf.
Jesus truly did bear in His body the full weight of the Deuteronomic curse.
Even though I’ve felt Psalm 88, and even though I may go through seasons where I can pray this and identify with it, I haven’t experienced it as deeply as Christ. He has gone several echelons deeper into the pit than I will ever go.
This is good news because the story doesn’t end with Psalm 88. We’re meant to read it with Psalm 89. And Psalm 89 invites us to hope in the coming Messiah.
That coming Messiah is Jesus — the resurrected One. As He shares in the death of Psalm 88, which our sin has brought about, He ultimately conquered death.
He did not stay in the grave. And through our union with Him, we won’t either!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 89 Complete Jewish Bible
89 (0) A maskil of Eitan the Ezrachi:
2 (1) I will sing about Adonai’s acts of grace forever, with my mouth proclaim your faithfulness to all generations; 3 (2) because I said, “Grace is built to last forever; in the heavens themselves you established your faithfulness.”
4 (3) You said, “I made a covenant with the one I chose, I swore to my servant David, 5 (4) ‘I will establish your dynasty forever, build up your throne through all generations.’” (Selah)
6 (5) Let the heavens praise your wonders, Adonai, your faithfulness in the assembly of the angels. 7 (6) For who in the skies can be compared with Adonai? Which of these gods can rival Adonai, 8 (7) a God dreaded in the great assembly of the holy ones and feared by all around him?
9 (8) Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot! Who is as mighty as you, Yah? Your faithfulness surrounds you. 10 (9) You control the raging of the sea; when its waves rear up, you calm them. 11 (10) You crushed Rahav like a carcass; with your strong arm you scattered your foes. 12 (11) The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours; you founded the world and everything in it. 13 (12) You created north and south; Tavor and Hermon take joy in your name.
14 (13) Your arm is mighty, your hand is strong, your right hand is lifted high. 15 (14) Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; grace and truth attend you.
16 (15) How happy are the people who know the joyful shout! They walk in the light of your presence, Adonai. 17 (16) They rejoice in your name all day and are lifted up by your righteousness, 18 (17) for you yourself are the strength in which they glory. Our power grows by pleasing you, 19 (18) for our shield comes from Adonai — our king is from the Holy One of Isra’el.
20 (19) There was a time when you spoke in a vision; you declared to your loyal [prophets], “I have given help to a warrior, I have raised up someone chosen from the people. 21 (20) I have found David my servant and anointed him with my holy oil. 22 (21) My hand will always be with him, and my arm will give him strength. 23 (22) No enemy will outwit him, no wicked man overcome him. 24 (23) I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. 25 (24) My faithfulness and grace will be with him; through my name his power will grow. 26 (25) I will put his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. 27 (26) He will call to me, ‘You are my father, my God, the Rock of my salvation.’ 28 (27) I will give him the position of firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 29 (28) I will keep my grace for him forever, and in my covenant be faithful with him. 30 (29) I will establish his dynasty forever, and his throne as long as the heavens last.
31 (30) “If his descendants abandon my Torah and fail to live by my rulings, 32 (31) if they profane my regulations and don’t obey my mitzvot, 33 (32) I will punish their disobedience with the rod and their guilt with lashes. 34 (33) But I won’t withdraw my grace from him or be false to my faithfulness. 35 (34) I will not profane my covenant or change what my lips have spoken. 36 (35) I have sworn by my holiness once and for all; I will not lie to David — 37 (36) his dynasty will last forever, his throne like the sun before me. 38 (37) It will be established forever, like the moon, which remains a faithful witness in the sky.” (Selah)
39 (38) But you spurned your anointed one, rejected and vented your rage on him. 40 (39) You renounced the covenant with your servant and defiled his crown in the dust. 41 (40) You broke through all his defenses and left his strongholds in ruins. 42 (41) All who pass by plunder him; he is an object of scorn to his neighbors. 43 (42) You raised up the right hand of his foes and made all his enemies rejoice. 44 (43) You drive back his drawn sword and fail to support him in battle. 45 (44) You brought an end to his splendor and hurled his throne to the ground. 46 (45) You cut short the days of his youth and covered him with shame. (Selah)
47 (46) How long, Adonai? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your fury burn like fire? 48 (47) Remember how little time I have! Was it for no purpose that you created all humanity? 49 (48) Who can live and not see death? Who can save himself from the power of the grave? (Selah) 50 (49) Where, Adonai, are the acts of grace you once did, those which, in your faithfulness, you swore to David? 51 (50) Remember, Adonai, the taunts hurled at your servants, which I carry in my heart [from] so many peoples! 52 (51) Your enemies, Adonai, have flung their taunts, flung them in the footsteps of your anointed one.
53 (52) Blessed be Adonai forever. Amen. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
11 Then I looked, and I heard the sound of a vast number of angels — thousands and thousands, millions and millions! They were all around the throne, the living beings and the elders; 12 and they shouted out,
“Worthy is the slaughtered Lamb to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and praise!”
13 And I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth and on the sea — yes, everything in them — saying,
“To the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb belong praise, honor, glory and power forever and ever!”
14 The four living beings said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshipped.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Bible scholars teach us that whenever a Roman emperor entered a city, the citizens shouted, “Worthy!” The apostle John, who had been exiled because he confessed Jesus as Lord, knew that only Jesus was worthy—not the emperor.
Today we are inspired, empowered, invited, welcomed, to see with spiritual eyes what John saw happening in heaven. We are summoned to join with the multitude of angels and other creatures in singing that the Lord is worthy.
God alone is worthy of all our praise and honor because he is the Creator and Savior. We owe every single breath to the One who has made us, and we have new life, purchased by the blood of Christ, because he was slain for our sake.
From the beginning, Our Lord Jesus, Our living Savior Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, He alone is worthy to open the scroll of history (explained in Rev. 6-9).
The One who died on the cross and who alone rose from the dead, giving us new life in order to serve and rule with him, is the One who now reigns. All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him, and his kingdom will never come to end.
Shall we lift up our voices and sing with all the creatures of our God and King?
“To him alone. . . to God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be maximum praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever! . . . Amen.”
Asking Ourselves; Why Our Worship Is Worth It
Psalm 78:1-8 Complete Jewish Bible
78 (0) A maskil of Asaf:
(1) Listen, my people, to my teaching; turn your ears to the words from my mouth. 2 I will speak to you in parables and explain mysteries from days of old.
3 The things which we have heard and known, and which our fathers told us 4 we will not hide from their descendants; we will tell the generation to come the praises of Adonai and his strength, the wonders that he has performed.
5 He raised up a testimony in Ya‘akov and established a Torah in Isra’el. He commanded our ancestors to make this known to their children, 6 so that the next generation would know it, the children not yet born, who would themselves arise and tell their own children, 7 who could then put their confidence in God, not forgetting God’s deeds, but obeying his mitzvot. 8 Then they would not be like their ancestors, a stubborn, rebellious generation, a generation with unprepared hearts, with spirits unfaithful to God.
The psalmist and music leader Asaph wrote Psalm 78 to give praise unto the Lord and offer a testimony of remembrance to future generations of God’s faithfulness. His testimony in word and song is as relevant today to remind our generation and those to come after us why “worship is worth it” regardless of whether we feel like it or the state of the times makes us doubt His presence.
1. We Must Keep the Chain Going
In Psalm 78:2-4, Asaph stated his purpose: “I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old—things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.”
By current generations keeping the testimony of God’s faithfulness alive, future generations are admonished, reminded and, are too, given blessed assurance that our living Lord is capable and willing to handle the circumstances of today.
We voluntarily stress ourselves by contemplating the impact of inflation, the ethical and moral state of our country, the war in Ukraine, In Israel, effects of the pandemic, tepid enthusiasm, lukewarm spiritual condition of our churches.
However, our grandparents can give a very different testimony of fighting, living through world wars, pandemics, depressions, and segregation.
They did not have the technology and means of communication of today, yet, our God was actively present, did mighty things in spite of the circumstances.
Rest assured our Savior is still seated at the right hand of the Heavenly Father.
Paul, in his second letter to his fellow servant Timothy, gave special attention to the testimony passed down to him. He wrote, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”
2 Timothy 1:1-10 Complete Jewish Bible
1 From: Sha’ul, an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua by God’s will, which holds forth a promise of life through being united with Messiah Yeshua
2 To: Timothy, my dear son:
Grace, mercy and shalom from God the Father and the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.
3 I give thanks to God, whom, like my forbears, I worship with a clean conscience, as I regularly remember you in my prayers night and day. 4 I am reminded of your tears, and I long to see you, so that I might be filled with joy. 5 I recall your sincere trust, the same trust that your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice had first; and I am convinced that you too now have this trust.
6 For this reason, I am reminding you to fan the flame of God’s gift, which you received through s’mikhah from me. 7 For God gave us a Spirit who produces not timidity, but power, love and self-discipline. 8 So don’t be ashamed of bearing testimony to our Lord or to me, his prisoner. On the contrary, accept your share in suffering disgrace for the sake of the Good News. God will give you the strength for it, 9 since he delivered us and called us to a life of holiness as his people. It was not because of our deeds, but because of his own purpose and the grace which he gave to us who are united with the Messiah Yeshua. He did this before the beginning of time, 10 but made it public only now through the appearing of our Deliverer, the Messiah Yeshua, who abolished death and, through the Good News, revealed life and immortality.
Similarly, David wrote in Psalm 145:4, “One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.”
Our personal testimony of redemption is our greatest praise unto our Savior and serves as a witness to the world.
2. We have Been Fed
God “opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them corn of heaven” to feed His people.
We in the church age have been fed bountifully as well.
In John 6:51, Jesus described himself as the “living bread that came down from heaven.”
We have 66 books from which to feed upon.
In Matthew 4:4, Jesus indicated such when he spoke, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
This fact is complemented by Jesus’s words in John 6:63: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life..”
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “we will even now feed on Thee as our spiritual meat, and will pray Thee to chase away all wicked unbelief from us.”
3. We have Been Clothed in His Provision
Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, clothed His chosen people with a cloud in the daytime and “all the night with a light of fire.”
He used Moses and protected them with the “clave of rocks in the wilderness.”
Our inheritance and clothing today are solely given through the power and provision of Jesus Christ.
In Isaiah 61:10, the prophet wrote that the Lord, “has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.”
Job had this understanding as well when he wrote in 29:14, “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me.”
The proven failings of our self-righteousness are described to be as “filthy rags,” cogitating not only uselessness but also their repugnant nature in the eyes of an all-holy, all-righteous God.
Ephesians 5:25-27 explains that He gave himself for the church “that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
4. We have Been Cleansed
The long soul shaking, spirit quaking rollercoaster ride of disobedience to repentance to obedience and return to disobedience expounded in the journeys of the Israelites reveal God’s deliverance in terms of His mercy and grace.
Following a manifestation of judgment, “they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.”
The foundation of our covenant is the cleansing power of the blood of Christ.
Jesus’ words in Matthew 26:28 specified, “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many of the forgiveness of sins.”
Hebrews 9:14 asks us, “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
Christ was our propitiation, or deflection, from the wrath suffered as punishment for our sins.
Unlike the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ was the perfect offering once and for all.
When we are connected through His cleansing and purifying blood shed on the cross, we are protected, granted the inheritance of Jesus Christ as a joint heir.
The Heavenly Father sees the imputed righteousness of His son upon the believer. This cleansing is an eternal sealing from sin’s dominion over our lives.
Thus, we are judgment proof for all of eternity.
5. He is Always Present
God “made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.”
Indeed, He is the good shepherd as extensively identified in Psalms 23.
David’s early life gave him a critical understanding of the importance of the shepherd being close to his flock. In Psalms 46:1, the psalmist declared the Lord to be “our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
The safety and provision of His flock are of the utmost importance to the shepherd.
Similarly, our pastors are the shepherds of our churches by feeding them only the pure doctrine and theology from the Word of God for their guidance and growth.
He is given the charge in Acts 20:28 to, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”
6. He Fights Our Battles
In Psalm 78 verses 43-52, Asaph recalls how our mighty Lord ravaged Egypt precipitating the deliverance of His people.
He contaminated the rivers with blood, sent devouring flies and frogs, inundated the land with caterpillars and locusts, crops were decimated by hail and frost, and their cattle were slaughtered by hail and flocks by thunderbolts.
Further, the anger of the Lord sent the angel of death upon them. Despite the wrath and indignation, Asaph emphasized in verse 52 that our Lord, “made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.”
The children of God in the Old Testament fought many of their battles against physical forces in claiming their land inheritances through the blessing of God.
Our inheritance is in Jesus Christ, an ever-present Lord and Savior.
His blood fought and won our battle over the judgment and dominion of sin.
However, like the Israelites had to drive out occupiers from their inheritance, we must use the power of the Holy Spirit to drive out the contemplations of the flesh and besetting sins by claiming the blessings of our covenant in our very own personal wildernesses in a world beset, over run, overwhelmed, with sin.
Paul in Ephesians 6:12, tells us that our battles are not against “flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
These forces cannot be overcome with bullets or bombs, mines, hand grenades.
Our most effective arsenal needs only to consist of the power, the provision, protection, and guidance of the Holy Spirit as promised in the Word of God.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 145 Complete Jewish Bible
145 (0) Praise. By David:
(1) I will praise you to the heights, my God, the king; I will bless your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless you; I will praise your name forever and ever. 3 Great is Adonai and greatly to be praised; his greatness is beyond all searching out. 4 Each generation will praise your works to the next and proclaim your mighty acts. 5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on the story of your wonders. 6 People will speak of your awesome power, and I will tell of your great deeds. 7 They will gush forth the fame of your abounding goodness, and they will sing of your righteousness. 8 Adonai is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and great in grace. 9 Adonai is good to all; his compassion rests on all his creatures. 10 All your creatures will thank you, Adonai, and your faithful servants will bless you. 11 They will speak of the glory of your kingship, and they will tell about your might; 12 to let everyone know of your mighty acts and the glorious majesty of your kingship. 13 Your kingship is an everlasting kingship, your reign continues through all generations. 14 Adonai supports all who fall and lifts up all who are bent over. 15 The eyes of all are looking to you; you give them their food at the right time. 16 You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. 17 Adonai is righteous in all his ways, full of grace in all he does. 18 Adonai is close to all who call on him, to all who sincerely call on him. 19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. 20 Adonai protects all who love him, but all the wicked he destroys. 21 My mouth will proclaim the praise of Adonai; all people will bless his holy name forever and ever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
44 “God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
45-46 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for exquisite pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
47-50 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
We Will All One Day Somehow End Up Worship Someone, Something, Somewhere, Anywhere
Isaiah 42:14-17 New American Standard Bible 1995
The Blindness of the People
14 “I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. Now like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant. 15 “I will lay waste the mountains and hills And wither all their vegetation; I will make the rivers into coastlands And dry up the ponds. 16 “I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.” 17 They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, Who trust in [a]idols, Who say to molten images, “You are our gods.”
In the words of singer songwriter Bob Dylan, you gotta serve somebody.[1]
It’s true—we will all somehow end up worshiping something, somewhere.
The only question is what and where and when.
Too often in our human futility, we end up leaning on and ultimately serving crafty little creations of our own invention.
Throughout history, mankind’s fundamental problem has been that we keep creating false gods to whom we go seeking false salvation.
These idols are simply heart-level and soul deep substitutes for the real God.
Rather than single-mindedly looking to the Lord as the object of our devotion and the source of our satisfaction, we single-handedly take the good things that He created for our enjoyment and we turn them into vain replacements for Him.
C.S. Lewis puts it this way:
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”[2]
2 “The Weight of Glory,” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (Harper Collins, 2001), p 26.
Whichever heart-level substitutes we may rely on, these idols are powerless.
Whichever soul deep substitutes we may look upon in our mirrors, they will be an empty soulless reflection bearing absolutely no resemblance to God’s reality.
They cannot help us.
As Isaiah makes clear, they’ve never been able to tell us the future or even help us reflect on the past; neither can they give counsel. They meet our questions with mere silence and 100% unfulfilled expectations (Isaiah 41:22-23, 28-29).
Only the true and living God knows everything from beginning to end.
At creation He broke through the chaos, silence, foretelling what was to come.
He overwhelms darkness with His light. He replaces the “rough places” of wickedness with the “level ground” of righteousness. Although we once turned our backs on Him, He still sent His only Son, Jesus, our Wonderful Counselor.
You and I are constantly confronted by idols that call out for our attention and entice us to find fulfillment in them rather than God.
What are the ones that call out the loudest to you?
Dare to confront them, dare to challenge their faces, name them one by one.
Know that they are lying (though of course they don’t tell you that).
God’s word repeatedly warns us of the shame that lies in worshiping them and leads us on a better way: to find fulfillment in serving and being served by Him.
“You gotta serve somebody today.”
Psalm 103:13-16 New American Standard Bible 1995
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who [a]fear Him. 14 For He Himself knows [b]our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer.
God only knows; We always gotta worship someone, something, somewhere, at some time in this, the brief temporal existence our God affords us on this earth.
Isaiah 40:7-9 New American Standard Bible 1995
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, [a]When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
9 Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
Here it is because here HE IS! Be sure to make it the living, loving God.
Worshipping the Ground We, Someone Else Walks or Crawls on or Works Their Fingers To The Bone On
Matthew 13:44-50 The Message
44 “God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
45-46 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for exquisite pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
47-50 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come, and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.”
If you could only have one thing in life, what would it be?
Take an honest and serious look at your heart for a minute, even an hour today.
What do you love most?
Who or What would you quite literally give up everything else for?
Would you believe your heavenly Father’s answer to those questions is you?
That the Creator of the universe loves you most?
Would you believe he would give up everything to have relationship with you?
Because He really and actually did!
By looking at Genesis 2, God’s single greatest desire is relationship with us.
After God creates Adam in his own image, God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18).
God brings every created animal before Adam to see if he deems any of them suitable as a helper, and Genesis 2:20 says, “But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.”
Then without consulting Adam, God puts him into a deep sleep and forms a woman out of his rib.
Seeing the woman upon waking, Adam says, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23).
How did God know Adam would want a woman as his helper?
How did God know she would be the desire of his heart?
God knew Adam most longed for a bride because Adam was made in God’s image, and God’s single greatest desire is for relationship with us, whom the Bible calls his Bride.
Let the truth of God’s heart sink in for a minute.
Out of everything else God has created or could have created, he most desires relationship with you.
And he so longed for you to know him fully that he sent Jesus to die to make restored relationship possible.
God calls us to himself daily with his love. He stands at the door of our heart and knocks, beckoning us with his loving-kindness to simply come and know him.
Once we truly grasp the depth of God’s desire for us, the only true response is to give up everything for him.
He laid the foundation for our commitment to him with the greatest single act of love, and he simply waits, beckoning us to respond, living our lives with him as our highest priority. And he doesn’t do so selfishly, but because the absolute best way for us to live in the fullness of our lives is in total commitment to him.
In Matthew 13:44-46, Jesus tells a parable explaining this response to God’s unending love.
He says, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
The kingdom of God is the greatest treasure, the pearl of greatest value.
Relationship with him is worth our entire lives.
Pursuing him with all our heart is the absolute greatest ambition we could have.
Paul described this pursuit in Philippians 3:8 when he said,
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
Philippians 3:7-11 The Message
7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
So again, reflect on your own heart.
What do you value above all else? WHY?
Who do you value above all else? WHY?
God’s not angry with you if it truly isn’t him.
John 14:1-7 The Message
The Road
14 1-4 “Don’t let this rattle you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”
5 Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”
6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”
You see, the way, the truth and also the life is that our single-minded pursuit of God will only ever match our over zealous longing, revelation of his goodness.
God knows that if he isn’t truly the greatest desire of your heart, it’s because you don’t fully know how good he is.
If you had the full revelation of his love for you, living totally for him wouldn’t even be a choice. So undeniably great is the worth of knowing Jesus that as you see the real Gospel him, you’ll naturally give up everything to know him more.
So, today as you enter into prayer, know the first baby steps in growing in your pursuit of God is acknowledging the posture of your own heart and your soul.
How strongly do you desire deeper relationship with him?
How much would you 100% give up to know him?
What do you seek fulfillment in during your free time?
The second step is receiving a fresh revelation of his incredible love for you.
Spend time daily simply encountering his heart.
Meditate on the truth that he desires relationship with you above all else.
He so greatly enjoys you that he pursues you with all of his focus and energy.
Last, respond to a revelation of his love with your own love.
Worship him, adore him, and live for him with your life.
John 4:21-24 The Message
21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
23-24 “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
You will encounter him in anything you truthfully do as worship.
He will pour out his presence, favor, and blessing in any area you live out of love for him.
Colossians 1:13-14 says, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
And Luke 12:31 promises us, “Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”
Pursue a deeper relationship with your heavenly Father today through prayer.
Pursue a truthful relationship with your heavenly Father today through study.
As you single-mindedly live for him, seek his kingdom first, you’ll inevitably discover all the fullness and all the abundance he has longed to add to your life.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Psalm 46 The Message
46 1-3 God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city, this sacred haunt of the Most High. God lives here, the streets are safe, God at your service from crack of dawn. Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten, but Earth does anything he says.
7 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
Guided Prayer:
1. Reflect on your own life.
How strongly do you desire deeper relationship with him? How much would you give up to know him? What do you seek fulfillment in during your free time?
“The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.” Psalm 14:2
2. Meditate on the depth of God’s love for you.
Receive a fresh revelation of how greatly he enjoys you. Think about the story in Genesis of how God’s greatest desire was relationship with his Bride.
“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” Hebrews 12:2-3
“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” Song of Solomon 2:14
3. Respond to God’s love with your own.
Spend time simply adoring him.
Spend time in solitude sitting with him, encountering his heart, and giving him your own because He single-mindedly paid the highest price for you just to be able have a relationship with him. So take time, be the reward of his sacrifice.
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
May we answer the call to live for love with our lives today.
May we live in response to this benediction found in Hebrews 12:28:
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
99 The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He [a]is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! 2 The Lord [b]is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the peoples. 3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is [c]He. 4 The [d]strength of the King loves [e]justice; You have established [f]equity; You have executed [g]justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5 [h]Exalt the Lord our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He.
6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called on His name; They called upon the Lord and He answered them. 7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statute that He gave them. 8 O Lord our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, And yet an avenger of their evil deeds. 9 Exalt the Lord our God And worship at His holy hill, For holy is the Lord our God.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
BOW BEFORE GOD
In times of disappointments, distress and heartaches sometimes the only thing to do is to simply place ourselves in humble submission before our great God.
When doubt floods into our minds, there is a comfort to be found.
Looking away from our situation to the vastness and holiness of our Lord, we find comfort in Him.
But what do the words mean, here, “to worship at his footstool?”
Here is what we find in the Barnes Notes on the Bible commentary:
“the reference here is to the footstool on which the feet of a king rested when he sat on his throne or chair of state.”
Even as those kings of old would make decisions for justice from their thrones, we can trust that our High King is listening to our stories and tears, and hearing our pleas, and making decisions for holiness and justice from His own throne.
When we bow our hearts before Him, we recognize His king-ship over our lives.
WORSHIP AT HIS FOOTSTOOL
It is not just our approaching our King, there is one more necessary action that this verse speaks of, and that is not to just bow, but to also bring worship there.
Many servants bowed before those kings of old and they brought their petitions.
Yet not many humbled themselves to worship that king.
We have been given the privilege to come into the courts of our most High King.
This is made possible because of the way that His son, Jesus, opened for us.
Will we come, and bow and worship before the holiness and might of our Lord?
Can we permit ourselves a time of sacred pause today and bring unto Him our highest measure of utter surrender, highest praise before our Holiest of Holies?
Are We Authentic About Worship at God’s Footstool?
Psalm 99 The Message
99 1-3 God rules. On your toes, everybody! He rules from his angel throne—take notice! God looms majestic in Zion, He towers in splendor over all the big names. Great and terrible your beauty: let everyone praise you! Holy. Yes, holy.
4-5 Strong King, lover of justice, You laid things out fair and square; You set down the foundations in Jacob, Foundation stones of just and right ways. Honor God, our God; worship his rule! Holy. Yes, holy.
6-9 Moses and Aaron were his priests, Samuel among those who prayed to him. They prayed to God and he answered them; He spoke from the pillar of cloud. And they did what he said; they kept the law he gave them. And then God, our God, answered them (But you were never soft on their sins). Lift high God, our God; worship at his holy mountain. Holy. Yes, holy is God our God.
When this psalm was written, each nation claimed top honors for its gods.
But Israel knew who the God above all gods truly is—the Lord God Almighty.
But do I, You, we the Church truly know who the God above all gods truly is?
2 Corinthians 4:1-5 New American Standard Bible 1995
Paul’s Apostolic Ministry
4 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, 2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled [a]to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this [b]world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving [c]so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants [d]for Jesus’ sake.
Paul had a glorious ministry that flung wide-open the door of salvation to men.
He opened up the Word of God and taught the glorious gospel of grace to Jew and Gentile alike.
This apostle of God revealed so many of the biblical truths and treasures which we have received as a free gift of grace, by our trusting in Christ Jesus as Savior.
Paul had been a strict Jew – a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
Paul had followed the traditions of men.
But since his being commissioned by God as His apostle unto the Gentiles and renouncing his former ways, he insightfully recognized that the very deceitful handling of God’s Word by the legalistic Pharisees, that combined with Satan’s crafty deceit, caused the shining light of the gospel of God to be hidden to those that were lost, and veiled to those that are perishing.
Satan, the scheming god of this world, has cunningly placed a veil of deception and dark shadows of deceit over the hearts, souls and minds of those unsaved.
Although Paul faithfully taught the truth of God’s Word, the minds of sinners have been blinded to the truth and deceived by Satan, the cruel god of this age.
Paul discovered that God’s grace is sufficient, that His strength is freely supplied and His mercies are new every morning.
Despite his careful teaching, his systematic delivery of the gospel, and his earnest desire to clarify the truth of God’s Word through precept and practice, Paul recognized the gospel remained hidden to those that were perishing – for the god of this world has cast a veil over the Word of God, which has shrouded the truth from those that are lost, misguided, misdirected and dead in their sin.
Yet the magnificent God, who has no human limitations, chose to do something even more revealing and even more magnificent than we could all comprehend.
God took on our humanity to become one of us.
Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit is the God above all gods, chose to humble himself so that instead of kneeling at God’s footstool in awe and wonder, we could sit at his feet.
All Men, women, and children were invited to gather around Jesus as he told stories about the kingdom of God, taught people how to live as true worshipers of God, had compassion, healed diseases, bruised hearts, and withered spirits.
What’s more, Jesus’ final act of worship was died and rose again and ascended to heaven, where he again sits on the eternal throne.
Everything is under his feet, even the last and bitterest enemy of all: death (1 Corinthians 15:21-26).
21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in [a]Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
May we each be ready and willing and able to share the good news of salvation with those whose ears are deaf and eyes are blinded to the truth – so they may hear the good news of the gospel of grace – come to the footstool and be saved.
Hallelujah! Let our 24/7 worship declare that Our God reigns forever and ever!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank You for the many witnesses to the Word of truth. Thank You that salvation is freely available to all who will open their eyes to the truth of Your Word and unblock their ears to the satanic lies and deceptions that come from the evil one. Look down in pity on those that are in the valley of indecisions and bring many into saving faith this day, through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.
100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. 3 Know that the Lord [b]Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and [c]not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with [d]thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Revelation 4:8-11 New American Standard Bible 1995
8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night [a]they do not cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who [b]is to come.”
9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they [c]existed, and were created.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Heaven’s throne room is filled with sounds of praise and worship.
The four living creatures give round-the-clock adoration to the One on the throne.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” they proclaim.
This is a picture of all creation eternally honoring God as the Creator and Lord over all things—the only one worthy of all praise.
Creation’s eternal song of praise—led by the four living creatures— serves as a call to worship for the twenty-four elders.
God’s people cannot help responding in worship when surrounded by the authentic, enthusiastic praises of all the rest of creation.
All God’s people in his worldwide church—young and elderly, seekers and established followers—help each other celebrate and confess with praise.
Together, we join with the rest of creation, eternally saying, eternally singing;
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you [alone] created all things, and by your will they . . . have their being.”
This picture serves to remind us that just as creation constantly, and eternally proclaims the glory of God (Psalm 19), so can all God’s people—in our work, our play, our relationships each day as well as when we gather for a worship service.
Psalm 19 New American Standard Bible 1995
The Works and the Word of God.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. 4 Their [a]line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. 6 Its rising is from [b]one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the [c]other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is [d]perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. 10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. 13 Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be [e]blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
All things identified in Psalm 19 give their glory and honor and praise unto God for bringing them all into being, and he keeps all creation in his constant care.
With all that revelation of what God has implanted onto our souls, realize that Our all creating, all life-sustaining God is worthy to receive our praise always.
In this moment of writing, I couldn’t help but enter into a sacred time of prayer;
Psalm 19:12-14 Amplified Bible
12 Who can understand his errors or omissions? Acquit me of hidden (unconscious, unintended) faults. 13 Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins; Let them not rule and have control over me. Then I will be blameless (complete), And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer.
And in the midst of that praying, this thought was placed deep into my soul;
There is something about those words “eternal” and “worship” used together!
It puts one’s soul into a deeply sacred place of indescribable amazement and too wonderment, one should wonder how amazing would it be to worship God 24/7!
What Would it Look Like to Worship God 24/7?
Revelation 4:8-11 Amplified Bible
8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes all over and within [underneath their wings]; and day and night they never stop saying,
“Holy, holy, holy [is the] Lord God, the Almighty [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all], who was and who is and who is to come [the unchanging, eternal God].”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanksgiving to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever; and they throw down their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they exist, and were created and brought into being.”
I rose to my feet in the dim light of the Orthodox sanctuary as the opening strains of music and chanting called the congregation to a time of worship.
This was my very first time experiencing worship of God in an Orthodox church.
I had no idea what to expect when the two priests began to chant and pray.
My heart lifted to God as I joined in singing about the glories of heaven.
I closed my eyes, and the lyrics formed a picture in my mind.
Leaning into the presence of God and Jesus, Holy Spirit, I basked in His love.
However, in the second stanza of the song, like nails on a chalkboard, a wrong word or an unintelligible word wrenched me out from my attitude of worship.
I realize you’re probably wondering who notices such things. I admit, I’m one of those grammar freaks who’s bothered by a subjective pronoun used as the object of a preposition. If your eyes glazed over at this explanation, please don’t stop reading. I promise I will bring this around to a point quite relevant to you.
I must profusely, sincerely apologize for how easily a small grammatical error derailed my soul away from my worship of the God who created the universe.
I wonder if you, too, have been distracted from giving God all the attention He is worthy of receiving.
I assume most people will not be bothered by a deviance from English language standards.
But I suspect we all have felt the tug-of-war between the world and worship.
The writer of Revelation painted a scene depicting the throne room of heaven.
Almighty God sits at the center in the place of honor surrounded by four unusual beings and twenty-four elders.
The main purpose of the four beings is worship. Day and night, they repeat words of praise to the King seated on the throne.
The elders respond by saying,
“You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased” (Revelation 4:11 NLT).
Please notice though that absolutely nothing ever distracts these worshipers.
The presence of God is so utterly riveting that all else fades into insignificance.
Then this thunders into my soul: God created us to be 24/7 worshipers too!
Worship is more than the musical or sermon or ending part of a church service.
The Apostle Paul said every aspect of our lives can glorify God, even our daily consumption of nutrition.
“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT).
Try contemplating 24/7 that all of the following can be filled with worship:
• Attention to excellence in our jobs to please God
• Sacrifice of ourselves to raise the next generation to love Jesus
• Wholesome thoughts that elevate God to His rightful place of honor
• Time spent in meditation on the Word and communication with God
• Confession of sins to cleanse our hearts
• Study of the Bible to increase our knowledge and magnify the Lord
How often, though, do distractions yank us from our worship of God in these activities?
For most, grammar won’t divert our attention from our Lord.
But if you’re like me, your own agenda and plans can eclipse the view of our Creator.
Economics, Entertainment, politics, and social media also rank high on my list of distractions.
Even more insidious are the thoughts inside my head that control me—worry about the future and memories of the past. Finally, incorrect ideas about God’s character too interfere with our desire to live a life that glorifies, worships Him.
God is worthy of our dedicated worship that offers much more than perfunctory singing on Sunday mornings. He deserves all the praise we can muster because He created us. He designed us to please Himself. Even more, with unconditional love, and provision He provides all we need. Our worship brings Him pleasure.
As our Creator, God knows wholehearted 24/7 worship of Him is best for us.
When we eliminate distractions and make Him the center of our attention, we enjoy the rich and satisfying life Jesus promised (John 10:10).
John 10:9-16 Amplified Bible
9 I am the Door; anyone who enters through Me will be saved [and will live forever], and will go in and out [freely], and find pasture (spiritual security). 10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].
11 [a]I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd [b]lays down His [own] life for the sheep. 12 But the hired man [who merely serves for wages], who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away; and the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The man runs because he is a hired hand [who serves only for wages] and is not concerned about the [safety of the] sheep. 14 I am the Good Shepherd, and I know [without any doubt those who are] My own and My own know Me [and have a deep, personal relationship with Me]— 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—and I lay down My [very own] life [sacrificing it] for the benefit of the sheep. 16 I have [c] other sheep [beside these] that are not of this fold. I must bring those also, and they will listen to My voice and pay attention to My call, and they will become [d]one flock with one Shepherd.
Friends, let’s examine every facet of our lives to root out any distractions from 24/7 worship of God.
We don’t want anything, even a small grammatical error, to pull us away from our God-given purpose.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
Consider this article I found on my news feed … thoughts and comments?
Ask God to help you evaluate the various parts of your life for distractions that might be diluting your wholehearted worship. Meditate upon psalms of praise and Lament until they dominate all your thoughts and influence your actions.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 96 New American Standard Bible 1995
A Call to Worship the Lord the Righteous Judge.
96 Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. 3 Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. 4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are [a]idols, But the Lord made the heavens. 6 Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
7 [b]Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, [c]Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 8 [d]Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name; Bring an [e]offering and come into His courts. 9 Worship the Lord in [f]holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth. 10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with [g]equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea [h]roar, and [i]all it contains; 12 Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy 13 Before the Lord, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 