Worship for Today: God is not to be trifled with!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 7:20-23,

“The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.”

The aspects of the account of the flood are fascinating and dramatic. The animals that came to board the ark with Noah and his family, the “spring of the great deep burst forth”, the “floodgates of the heavens opened”, the Lord himself shutting Noah in the ark. To me, however, the headline of the story is the demonstration of the Lord’s great wrath. Mankind found the end of the Lord’s patience and tolerance and discovered there his mighty wrath.

Paul speaks of the Lord’s forbearance in Romans 3:25, “in his [God’s] forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished” and in Romans 2:4 he points to “the riches of his [God’s] kindness, tolerance and patience” as what leads us to repentance. But in Acts 17:30 Paul also says, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” As I read the account of the flood of Noah’s day I am reminded that our God is a consuming fire and so all mankind should worship God with reverence and awe as the writer of Hebrews tells us in 12:28-29. Our God is not to be trifled with!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 6:5-7,

“The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Mankind has been blessed by the Lord to have been created in his own image. A part of that image is the ability to experience a range of emotions. From anger to joy to compassion to desire, there is quite a spectrum of emotions we can feel. As a side note, I think there are some emotions that we have picked up since the fall of mankind that reflects our sin nature, things like fear, anxiety, lust and so forth. Our ability to experience emotions seems to me to be dynamic and ever-changing.

Because I often think of those things that set the Lord apart from us, those transcendent qualities that make him who he is, things like his omniscience, his eternal existence, his immutability and omnipotence I forget very important aspects of what he reveals of himself. In the above passage he tells us through Moses that he was “grieved” he had made mankind. Because of mankind’s evil, it created pain within his heart. Our God has emotions and we affect his emotions.

I am reminded that there was delight and rejoicing when God created man, as the personification of wisdom tells us in Proverbs 8:30-31, and that we can bring delight to God’s heart, Proverbs 11:20. We read that Jesus felt compassion for folks when he was here, Matthew 9:36 and 14:14. We also read of his being “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” as folks wept over the death of Lazarus. We are told he wept. We read of the “fury of the wrath of God Almighty” in Revelation 19:15 and his jealousy, wrath and vengeance in Nahum 1:2. Our God has emotions. Here in Genesis we read of the pain mankind had brought to the heart of God as he grieved over the fact that he had made us.

And in spite of the pain we have caused him, the grief we have caused him, knowing this ahead of time in his foreknowledge he created us anyway. And in spite of the pain we surely bring to him in our sin his great love for us compelled him to send his Son for us in a great act of love. For me to be aware of that pain in his heart somehow makes more poignant the knowledge of his love for us.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 5:21-24,

“When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”

Twice in this passage we are told that Enoch “walked with God”. This implies to me communion and fellowship with God. I order for that to take place, God would have to make himself available to a member of a lost and fallen race for communion and fellowship to take place.

We certainly have to admire a man of whom it is said “he walked with God” and I certainly wouldn’t want to diminish that thought. But the other side of this is here we see God making himself available to those who seek him, to those who desire him. I don’t think enough can be said of the tremendous love our God has for us. As objects of his divine wrath for our sin and rebellion, in his great forbearance our God reaches out to us in a love and compassion I can scarcely conceive of.

In an interesting observation we see that Enoch was taken by God and so did not experience death. While this draws our fascination I can’t help but notice that he was taken at a much younger age than his contemporaries. Apparently there are much better rewards in the eternal scheme of things for us than living a long life here in this present age. I am reminded of Paul’s words, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far”, Philippians 1:21-23.   

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 4:26,

“At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord.”

Here in Genesis 4:26 we have a note that men began to “call on the name of the Lord.” This is understood by commentators as that time in man’s separation and estrangement from God they began to call on his name in worship, praise, thanksgiving and request. It is interesting to note that the name of God is not something “bequeathed” to him but unlike all other names it is transcendent as the eternal name of God. It is this one name alone that a person may call out to God in worship and adoration.

In a certain sense it is somewhat startling that God has made his name known man. Following man’s rejection and rebellion of God, in the midst of God’s judgment God allows man to worship him. It is here that I see a divine love for mankind our God reveals. We were created in God’s image to have fellowship with him, and now that man is removed and separated from God we have a great need to reach out to him, to be touched by him, to experience his presence. In our sin and rebellion, in our fallen condition we find we do not have all the pieces and parts to experience life the way we were designed to. No wonder we find ourselves beset with so many problems and “issues”.

But our God has made himself available to us. We can experience his presence in our lives as we respond to the gospel message. He has reached out to us through his Son Jesus Christ in the greatest expression of love: the offering of himself on our behalf that we might have life in him. And so our God has made himself available to us.

Given the sin of mankind in the Garden of Eden, did God have to make himself available to us? My thought is that since mankind, with fair warning from God sinned and rebelled against God, earning his judgment, God certainly would have been fair and just in giving us over to eternal punishment and separation from his presence forever. The fact that he has made himself available to us demonstrates his incomparable compassion, mercy, kindness and love for us. How remarkable!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today: God blesses us with purpose and meaning!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 5:1b-2,

“When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them ‘man.’"

I have to admit it is a bit of a struggle for me to comprehend all that is implied with the truth that we are created in God’s own image. I know that when I pass by a herd of cattle I can’t help but think our existence could be very mundane. How exciting could a life possibly be when its purpose for existence is to get fat and be slaughtered for someone else’s food?

Because God chose to make us in is image we have been given the abilities of self-reflection, reason, a will to exercise and emotions that span quite a range. Together with these God has also chosen to provide our lives with purpose and meaning. These find their greatest expression when we are engaged in those activities the Lord pursues himself and what he has chosen to allow us to participate in of those things he is doing.

As I think of the sacrifice that God’s Son made to satisfy our heavenly Father’s justice for the sin in our lives and then having God allow us to propagate that good news – to take it to others so that sacrifice can find its desired completion in the lives of those who will embrace it, it is just something to marvel at! To be actively engaged in nothing short of the purpose for which Jesus Christ came and died carries meaning and fulfillment nothing else can. Surely this is a part of what is meant when we read that God blessed us when he made us. Far from that which is mundane he has provide each of us opportunities to participate in that which holds eternal consequences in the lives of those around us.

I suspect that much of the dissatisfaction many find in life is directly related to the absence of purpose and meaning they find in it. For those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith and engage in what the Lord is doing in the lives of those around us, life holds a richness and beauty that can only come from what God intended for us when he made us in his image!

What a wonderful God he is for creating us to participate in the things he does!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today: Our God communicates his desires to us!

I’ll be out from tomorrow through next week (vacation). Have a great week and I’ll see you all the week of August 27.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Gen 4:2b-5,

“Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.”

As the story continues we learn that Cain brought his offering knowing it was not what the Lord wanted. Cain was “doing it his way”. It is almost as if Cain expected the Lord to accommodate him rather than the other way around. An attitude not unlike what is often seen in our day. The Lord tells Cain in verse 7, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” As we read on we find that Cain murders Abel. Sin masters Cain as it does all mankind down through the ages.

We can glean enough to know from the tale that Cain knew what the Lord desired. Rather than serve the Lord Cain became “very angry, and his face was downcast.” His response was to take out his anger against the one serving the Lord, Abel. Christians should not find it surprising they are attacked by the other so-called religions and viewpoints in the world today. John talks about this in 1 John 3:12-13 where he refers to this episode between Cain and Abel.

Something that catches my attention this morning is that the Lord made his desires known. Cain knew what the Lord wanted. So did Abel. So do we today. What would life be like if we really didn’t know what it was the Lord expected from us, what the Lord desires from us, what pleases and delights him? But he has let us know. He has put into place that which has been necessary to get the gospel message out to all. It may seem like a small thing but as I think of what things would otherwise be like I am grateful to him for communicating with us!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Gen 3:22-24,

“The Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

In the previous chapter God had given Adam fair warning, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:16b-17. Mankind disobeyed God and now he receives what God warned him of.

From this account I am reminded of Nahum 1:2-3, “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.” Our God punishes sinners, sinners like me, for our sin.

To be sure our God is a God of mercy. In his great self-disclosure to Moses on Mt. Sinai the Lord told Moses, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Exodus 34:6-7. But he goes on to say, “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”

It is not until I wrestle with the horror of God’s anger and wrath, his punishment of the wicked that I begin to slowly conceive of the boundless love of my Savior who faced it all for me! My Lord endured the full wrath of God’s anger and punishment for my sin that I not have to! What love was expressed on that cross for folks like me! He made a way for me and now I am counted as a child of God! How astonishing!!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Gen 2:15,

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

As I read the account of Adam and Eve with the Lord in the Garden of Eden I find myself fascinated. Here is a window I can peer through to witness the interaction of God with mankind in an un-fallen and sinless condition. The relationship Adam and Eve shared with the Lord prior to the fall of man certainly must have manifested all the Lord intended in his relationship with his creation.

In this verse we see that the Lord created man with purpose and meaning in life. The Lord created an environment for man to live in, what appears to be a paradise, and gave him a job to do. Adam was to work the garden and “take care of it.” Adam wasn’t just created and placed in a paradise to sip pina coladas under the shade of a palm tree.

Adam was also given a code of conduct to measure and demonstrate his ethical stature by. The Lord told Adam, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” We all know how that turned out.

I also see a few verses later that the Lord brought all the animals to Adam to see what he would name them, Genesis 2:19-20. My perspective on this was that the Lord was not wearing a lab coat and carrying a clip board to evaluate how his creation (Adam) was functioning. Rather, it seems to me the Lord took great interest and delight in man to see what he would do. Much like when a parent might take a child to the playground for the first time. As we see in Proverbs 8:30-31 where the woman Wisdom talks of the rejoicing that took place and the delight in mankind that the Lord took in creation, “Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.”

Living in a lost and fallen world as a member of a race of people who are estranged from God, how refreshing it is to see what the Lord’s original intent was with man! How refreshing and exciting it is to see what, I have every reason to expect, the Lord’s relationship with us will be in the resurrection now that I am redeemed!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!

Trevor V. Fisk

(314) 814-8486

trevorf@gracehill.org

 

 

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This electronic transmission and any documents accompanying this electronic transmission contain confidential information belonging to the sender. This information may contain confidential health information that is legally privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. The authorized recipient of this transmission is prohibited from disclosing this information to any other party unless required to do so by law or regulation and is required to delete or destroy the information after its stated need has been fulfilled. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or takinf of any action in reliance on or regarding the contents of this electronicallytransmitted information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this E-mail in error please notify the sender and delete this message immediately