Faithful But Suffering - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 17:1-2,

"Hear me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer— it does not rise from deceitful lips. Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right."

David brings a complaint to the Lord. He claims his innocence and yet is suffering from enemies. What is fascinating about his psalm is that it stands diametrically opposed to much of what is taught in the church today!

Today we hear the false teaching that those who obey the Lord in all things will experience only the best things in this life. God will bless us financially if we are faithful to bring in our "tithes". God will heal us of all sickness and disease if we have the faith God looks for in us. God will make sure our marriages will be successful, our children will turn out well, we will succeed in our occupations, getting those promotions and raises. If we go to church regularly, if we avoid "secular" music and entertainment, if we engage in those spiritual disciplines of prayer, Scripture reading, and even fasting... we can avoid those things we wish to avoid in our lives. You know the drill.

Maybe so. God just might bless us. After all, he says he will. However that is not all he says. Listen to Proverbs 3:11-12, "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." Hebrews 12:10-11 says this discipline is not pleasant, it falls into that category of those things we might wish to avoid in our lives, "...  God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Jesus wrote the same thing to the church in Laodicea, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent." Revelation 3:19.

In Psalm 17 David claimed his innocence, "Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed. Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded. My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled." Verses 3-5. Yet, the Lord allowed David to suffer through those who attempted to destroy him, "Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me." Verses 8-9.

Over the years I have heard those comments, and I'll bet you have as well: "She has cancer, she must have some hidden sin or she is lacking in faith."

The only sin I see in such occurrences is the presumption by holier-than-thou brothers and sisters who pretend they don't have their own hardships just like the rest of us. I'm happy to experience difficulties as David did - after all, it is proof-positive as a believer that God is treating me as a son!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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12 Reasons I'm Not Qualified for Heaven - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 15:1,

"Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?"

David here is musing with the Lord on who might be qualified to spend eternity in heaven with the Lord. This is what we are all created for in the first place, to spend an eternity in God's family. This is also the purpose of our temporal life in the here and now: to find our way into God's family.

David lists a dozen reasons in this psalm as to why I do not pass muster. The terrifying thing is that the one and only alternative for not making it into God's family is an eternity in a fiery lake of burning sulfur, see Revelation 21:8.

David's dozen includes:

A blameless walk
Does what is right
Speaks the truth from the heart
Utters no slander
Never wrongs a neighbor
Casts no slurs
Despises vile people
Honors those who fear the Lord
Keeps promises even when it hurts
Doesn't have a change of mind (faithful)
Lends money without interest
Doesn't accept a bribe against the innocent (incorruptible)

We know from the Scriptures that all it takes is just one infraction! No way I qualify! What is to become of me?

Thanks be to God that he sent his Son to pay the penalty on my behalf for all my sins! As a matter of fact, he did so for everyone, all of us! Those who embrace the salvation God offers through his Son are forgiven all sins and are qualified for God's family for all eternity!

So why is this list provided us in the Psalms? The same could be asked of all the laws God has given, through Moses, through Jesus in his sermon on the mount, etc. God is communicating to us all that he is our refuge from the wrath of his own justice for the sins we have commited. Mankind lives a pretense and does not feel the need to have anything forgiven. Lost in a spiritual darkness, we find it difficult to comprehend we all deserve that fiery lake of burning sulfur. Because of that spiritual blindness the Lord helps us see the shocking reality of our own failure to be fit for the kingdom of God, by showing us our failures (sin) so that we might reach out to him, and throw ourselves at the feet of his mercy to be forgiven our sins.

"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin." Romans 3:20. If we don't know we need saving, we won't reach out for a savior!

God wants us all and he helps us find him if we are willing!


A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Nope, Those Who Say There Is No God Know Nothing - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 14:4,

"Do all these evildoers know nothing?"

Here is a short question from David. It has a short answer: No. Evildoers know nothing.

What is an "evildoer" anyway?  I suspect most folks have the impression that "evildoers" are comprised of only the worst of the worst among us, those who are the most morally objectionable. David points to those who say in their hearts, "There is no God." Verse 1. David provides further definition of them for us, that they are corrupt and vile, never doing good. They destroy God's people, they never call on the Lord, they frustrate the plans of the poor. These evildoers live in dread because God is not among them. God is among those they mistreat.

I'm quite certain anyone who says in his heart that there is no God is fully qualified as fit for the group of evildoers. And, they really don't know anything. Anything that is important, anyway. They may be a nuclear physicist, but if they claim there is no God, they really don't know anything of the important things in life. The lady working the lunch counter in the local grade school who knows the Lord knows a whole lot more of the most important things in life than the unbelieving rocket scientist, or brain surgeon, or whatever.

The apostle John considered those who did not love other believers, and hated them, were still lost in the spiritual darkness of sin. He says, "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them." 1 John 1:9-11.

It is this spiritual "darkness", a real condition of genuine blindness to spiritual realities, that causes those who say there is no God to stumble about. Hence, they are blinded, they know nothing.

I know about this because I lived in this darkness myself, blind to spiritual realities and living in a state of knowing nothing. How thankful I am that others were kind enough to me to share the light of Jesus Christ with me, ending my darkness and bringing me light!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Joy and Rejoicing! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 13:5,

"I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation."

David was a man of joy. We find this in many places in the Psalms. In Psalm 16:9 David exclaims, "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices..." Psalm 16:9. He says in Psalm 21:1, "The king [David] rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give!"

In Psalm 13:5, David lays claim to his joy as coming from his faith in the Lord's unfailing love. He rejoiced in the Lord's expression of love through the salvation he brings.

Jesus came as God's expression of love for us. He has made a way for us into his family by having his Son pay the penalty for our sins. When we embrace Jesus Christ in faith we receive that salvation, and that salvation brings us a joy this world will never know.

If we find our tank low or empty on joy, follow David's path. Faith in God's salvation! This is why Jesus came two millenia ago on that Christmas morning. "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10.

This is how to have a merry Christmas!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Don't Worship God As If He Were A Pagan Idol - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 13:1-2,

"How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?"

The five questions of David that comprise the first two verses of Psalm 13 display a heart that is transparent, authentic and without pretense. These questions reveal someone who acknowledges God as another real person. The superior person to be approached in reverence and awe to be sure, but nonetheless a truly personal God.

I have something of an angst about the worship and the approach with which many address God, as though God were something other than a real person. Kind of how pagans might worship an idol. Idols are lifeless, they don't emote, they have no personhood: please the idol and get your goodies, or cross the idol and encounter a curse, some form of financial setback, sickness, or whatever. It is as though interaction with God was impersonal, that God might be little more than some kind of quid pro quo moral principle. I think it rife with the heath and wealth gospel purveyors, as well as many other places. I firmly believe many of the traditional Protestant denominations have gone this way as well as the Roman Catholic church in many places (when they aren't engaged in other activities!). Just listen to what is said and taught. I'm not saying everywhere and always for certain groups, but it is certainly alive and well with many people.

David held God in great reverence and fear, but he did so in recognition of God as a real person, not some religious "object". I can easily picture at least the first four questions being asked by one spouse of another. Real persons interacting with one another.

I really think there is something to consider here in David's appeal to God. Our sovereign God Almighty sits on his majestic throne of supremacy over all of his creation... but he does so in his splendor as a real person, and yet a person due the full reverence and fear that is rightfully his.

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

A Missing Element: Found in God! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 12:1,

"Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race."

Here is a painful observation by David. He calls out to the Lord with this indictment of the entire human race as he looks about, seeking relief for himself, the poor, the needy, and the maligned.

Proverbs 19:22a tells us, "What a person desires is unfailing love..." David, as we all do, yearned for faithfulness and loyalty, someone "unfailing" and it is what David did not find in mankind at this point in his life.

While David did not find what he yearned for in people, he did find it in God. God is faithful and God cares. We find this stressed throughout the Scriptures in passages like 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, "He [God] will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

I have always thought the greatest need we have is to find someone that can satisfy that empty hole in our hearts that our estrangement from God has brought. At times we seek it from family members, or friends, or coworkers. I believe this becomes a destructive element in many marriages. Some look to our spouses to provide for us what only God can - setting our marriages up for difficult times. There is no one like God. Only God can fill that missing element in our lives.

David found it and we can too!

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him."

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Strutting That Which is Vile - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 12:7-8,

"You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race."

In Psalm 12 David observes the Lord's protection of "the needy" from the wicked. In many of his psalms David recalls how the Lord saved him, protected him, when enemies threatened him.

Also, David notes that wicked people "freely strut about" when people embrace that which is vile. I recall when President Obama claimed to have "evolved" on the issue of same-sex marriage. This is just the sort of thing David had in mind.

I have seen a clear shift in our culture, as I'm sure you have too, of those things that are immoral, unethical, unrighteous, unsavory and downright wicked.

Some may criticize me for taking a position on what it is that is morally despicable and abhorrent - which really is a sign of that cultural shift. However, I inform myself by what the Scriptures teach, and I hope you do as well. I fully embrace what the Scriptures teach, as our Creator is the best source to inform us of those things that are vile. He and he alone defines the righteous from the unrighteous, good from evil.

I envision a culture and society drifting from that which is moral and ethical as the stage upon which the wicked freely strut about on. At a point such as this, the wicked expose themselves for who they are, and even demand the rest of us accept their evil behavior as respectable. This is the day in which we live.

I am reminded of Paul's words to Timothy, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power." 2 Timothy 3:1-5. As I say, this is the day in which we live.

Speaking of sinful people... how thankful and grateful I am that Jesus Christ took my punishment for my own sinful life. All he asked of me was to embrace him in faith! It is just amazing to me that a sinner like me was given the opportunity to enter into God's family! The wicked do have the opportunity to quit strutting their vile lifestyle to embrace Jesus Christ and be saved from God's judgment of them!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Just Where is God's Temple, his Throne? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 11:4,

"The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne."

What makes a place the Lord's temple? What makes a place his throne? Is there a location that is assigned as the Lord's temple? Does it have coordinates? Can you Mapquest it? Is it someplace you can travel to? What direction do you start off in to get there?

Of course I am being a bit tongue in cheek here. How can there be a place like that if we believe the Lord is omnipresent (everywhere at the same time)? God exists beyond the dimensions of time and space and so his "throne", his "temple" is not to be found anywhere we can go to in this life. This is where the circuit breakers in my head begin to fail - my mind just cannot conceive existence beyond time and space - nevertheless it is just as "real" as existence in this life - more so since it is the realm in which the Creator of time and space has his being.

Eternity lies beyond this age, beyond this life. It is the realm within which we will meet God eventually. All of us: some to be joyously welcomed into his family and some to be judged as fit for the horror of eternal death - the ash heap of eternity.

David's words in verse 4 can be understood to mean that God exists. His existence is unique as he is God Almighty over all creation. God's existence is his temple, God's existence is his throne. It is a reference to his position relative to both the creation we see and know, as well as the heavenly environs where the angels have their being. God can never not be in his temple and he can never not be on his throne. Where God is (which is really an oxymoron) is where his temple is, where his throne is. And, he his God over all.

Well, there goes another circuit breaker popping in my head!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Faith Does Not Flee - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 11:1,

"In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me..."

David was a man of deep faith. He trusted in the Lord. Not a perfect man and certainly not a man without sin, he nevertheless found his refuge in the Lord. Through his psalms we find he took great confidence in the Lord and looked to the Lord as his strength, his solid rock of refuge, the One under who's "wings" he took shelter when troubles came.

In this psalm David entertains the notions of someone of lesser faith. David anticipates his antagonist's counsel is to flee in the face of danger, something David could not fathom, given that the Lord was his strength, his refuge. This is what brings his question to his antagonist, how then can you say to me to flee?

David is fully assured the Lord is in his holy temple, sitting on his throne observing everyone on earth - examining them. He knows all, he sees all. David tells us the Lord loves justice and that those who are "upright", those who embrace the Lord in a like faith as his will see the Lord's face, but that those who reject the Lord, the wicked, he "hates with a passion", verse 5. On these people the Lord will "rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot." Verse 6.

Here is a wonderful psalm that we should order our lives by, that should impact our thinking and our outlook: David points the way!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Are All the Prosperous Blessed by God? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 10:5a,

"His ways are always prosperous..."

Just who is this man, whose ways are always prosperous? Don't we all want to be prosperous? Maybe we should emulate this man to become prosperous ourselves?

As it turns out, this man rejects God. In verses 3-4 we read of him, "He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God."

Were we to assume that all prosperous people were blessed by God, we would be wrong. Many prosperous people reject God. It isn't that God does not bless his own at times. I'm certain he does. On the other hand, many of God's people who are devoted to him experience quite the opposite: poverty.

There are many examples of God's devoted people living in poverty. Consider the Jews in Jerusalem who had embraced Jesus in Paul's day, "Now, however, I [Paul] am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord's people there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord's people in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings." Romans 15:25-27.

Just because a person is poor, it is no indication that he might not be a very devoted believer in Jesus Christ. Perhaps much more so than any of us!

Don't get sucked into that "Prosperity Gospel"! It is false teaching!

Likewise, just because a person is rich, although he/she may have the blessings riches might bring, it is no indication that he/she might be blessed by the Lord at all. Consider what Asaph observed in Psalm 73, "But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills." Psalm 73:2-5. Yet, note his further observation, "When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their [the prosperous that reject God] final destiny. Surely you [God] place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies." Psalm 73:16-20.

Asaph's conclusion in the matter should be ours, "Those who are far from you [God] will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds." Psalm 73:27-28.


A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Judgment and Deliverance Are At the Door - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 10:1,

"Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"

The psalmist begins this psalm with a question - asked in two different ways. Why is it that God does not step in when sinful mankind treats the innocent and helpless horribly?

Two other questions are asked in the psalm, "Why does the wicked man revile God?" and "Why does he say to himself, 'He won't call me to account'?" Verse 13.

Both sets of questions reveal the same reality about God: he cloaks himself such that an environment exists where faith (or the lack thereof) can manifest itself.

Paul made an insightful observation as he was carrying the gospel throughout the Gentile world: "You suffered from your own people [the Gentiles] the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last." 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16.

Paul observed the acts of sinful man in its hostility toward the things of God and the people of God. In both Psalm 10 and 1 Thessalonians 2, we find similar circumstances. Sinful man opposes God by treating innocent people badly. God sits back and allows it for a time... but then he steps in and makes right what is awaiting his justice.

In both instances, Psalm 10 and 1 Thessalonians 2, the innocent find their deliverance from God ("But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless." Psalm 10:14) while the fruit of the wicked ripens for God's horrific judgment. The results of both are not immediate, but entirely certain!

Don't be fooled into thinking God does not care about the activities of the sinful and the plight of their victims. He is watching and his judgment is at the door for the one and his deliverance for the other.

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Mankind's Mortality - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 9:19-20,

"Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. Strike them with terror, Lord; let the nations know they are only mortal."

In Psalm 19 David has his enemies in view and thanks the Lord for his victory over them. David rightfully credits God's hand in his victories as the One who vindicated David over the wicked.

At the end of the psalm David asks that "mortals" not triumph, but to be judged in the Lord's presence. He asks that the Lord strike them with terror that they might recognize their true condition: "they are only mortal."

It is my thought this morning that David could not have asked a better thing for the wicked. For those who do not know God, who are simply ignorant of the most important estate of things - that mankind is wicked and evil and headed for the ash heap of eternity, the most important thing for them is to be "woke" to the reality they are in a terrible danger, headed for God's eternal judgment of them.

Today, mankind bumbles along. Having invented their "god" of evolution and Darwinism (leading to environmentalism, man-made global climate change, etc.), they pretend they are the rulers of the universe, in control of all things. The sad state of affairs is that lost and fallen mankind sumbles about in darkness and hasn't a clue about spiritual realities, and in particular, their own mortality.

Mankind is in actual control of very little, and only that which God has granted them. The very best anyone can achieve in this life is to find Jesus Christ as their Savior - the One who has made a way to eternal life!

If you haven't done so - recognized your mortality and embrace Jesus Christ in faith as your Savior today!


A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Qualities of Our Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 9:7-10,

"The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity. The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."

I love this passage in Psalm 9. It illuminates those particular qualities the Lord wants us all to know of himself.

The Lord is a timeless being. He exists above and beyond time as our Creator. He is the one who established the dimensions of time and space and as we may consider him to dwell from eternity past through eternity future, there really is no time reference to him. He always exists and because of that "The Lord reigns forever" - a phrase that expresses both his eternal existence and his eternal authority over all.

This passage speaks of the Lord's righteousness. The objective reality of what is "right" and "wrong", to which we all need to subordinate our own limited understanding of such, comes from his throne of righteousness. All that is right, just and fair is defined by his own personage, his own character, and this passage tells us he rules the world within the confines of just that.

We also read of the love and kindness of God. Those traits that we find precious and that irresistibly draw us to him, we see in his mercy, his grace toward us, his love of us and great acts of kindness. These expressions are manifested in the Lord being a refuge "for the oppressed" and "a stronghold in times of trouble". We find him absolutely trustworthy and unendingly faithful in his love and kindness toward us as he will never forsake all who seek him.

This passage reminds me of another passage I often think of, Jeremiah 9:24, "'I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord."

What a wonderful expression of the nature and character of our Lord that David provides us in this psalm!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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The Magnificent Majesty of the Lord - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 8:1,

"Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Just like bookends, as they say, this phrase both begins and ends this wonderful psalm of David. The majesty of the Lord, of his name, captures David's thoughts and focus in this psalm. David points to the reach of God's majesty impacting even little ones, "children and infants". God's majesty even brings praise from them!

David rightfully observes that the grand magnificence of the Lord's majesty renders the obvious question: why does he even give us a second thought? Nevertheless he has given us our place in his creation, a creation that is overwhelmingly dominated by his majesty.

Although the majesty of the Lord may be lost on some, whatever loss there may be with them is due entirely to the shallow perception they share with the rest of lost and fallen mankind - walking around in a spiritual darkness.

There is a very important and practical function of God's majesty in this life - it draws people to him. The entire purpose of this age in which we live is to find God and embrace him in faith. He is building his kingdom. We are quite naturally drawn to the magnificent, to the majestic, to that which is great and exalted.

As an example: people do not go to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time because "it ain't no big deal." People go to see it because of what they have heard of it. Think of those things you are drawn to. Your motivation to see, observe, know and experience those things for the first time is directly related to how magnificent, how majestic you have been led to believe they are. Follow up visits, follow up experiences are motivated by how grand you found them.

As the Lord draws men to himself, John 6:44, John 12:32, his majestic magnificence plays a key role when we share our excitement about the Lord with others. This is how, even in the presence of God's enemies, his foes, God's praise, even from children and infants is a stronghold for God's agenda of the redemption of mankind.


A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Man's Station Within Creation - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 8:5-8,

"You have made them [human beings] a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas."

God loves mankind so much that he gave his one and only Son to die a miserable death by crucifixion. In this way he satisfied his own sense of justice by accepting the punishment Jesus Christ took on himself for our sins. This is an expression of love that transcends any other. God loves mankind and when he made mankind he did so within the context David observes in psalm 8.

Team Cain, with its wretched leader, Satan, of course hates mankind due simply to the reason that God loves mankind. Satan has set himself against God, with the perverse thought that he wants to be God himself - a fool's errand. Satan has a future and that future is a fiery lake of burning sulfur. He ends up on eternity's ash heap - see Revelation 20:10.

In the meantime Satan opposes the things of God and seeks to thwart God's agenda, which includes attempts to diminish mankind - to rob God of opportunities to add to his kingdom through the gospel. Thus we have an environmental movement with the mindset that mankind is a special stain on Darwin's evolved earth. Team Cain's useful idiots have arrived at the notion that we need to reduce mankind's presence on earth (down to about a half billion world wide) and to reduce mankind's footprint on the face of mother earth. Abortion plays its part, as well as many other initiatives of Team Cain.

This morning, however, I am struck by the lies of Team Cain and how it's agenda and the tenets upon which its worldview is based is at odds with the simple observations of David in Psalm 8. Team Cain maintains man is a stain on earth (themselves excepted, of course) and that mankind must subordinate his existence for the benefit of nature.

David points out they have it all backwards. Nature is here to serve mankind, not the other way around.

By the way, Team Cain loses in the end, and will be sharing in the future that awaits its leader. Talk about choosing poorly!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

The Lord Probes! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 7:9,

"Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure— you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts."

David calls out to the Lord for deliverance from his enemies. He looks to the Lord to be vindicated and his enemies to be judged. He points to something we learn about the Lord in this psalm that facilitates this: God probes our minds and hearts!

Here is a sobering thought! God probes our minds and hearts! He actively examines what we think and what we feel. He knows our inner impulses, what motivates and drives us to say and do the thing we do. He knows not just the things we do, but everything that has led us to do what we do. He knows our imaginations, he knows our daydreams, he knows exactly what we are up to when we may think no one does.

This means there is no constitutional right to privacy, not even one speck of privacy we have from the Lord. As the writer of Hebrews says, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13.

David observes in another psalm, "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely." Psalm 139:1-4. A few verses later in that psalm David goes on to say, "If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." Verses 11-12.

I don't know about you, but this is frightfully sobering to me! To think the Lord knows me inside out, that there is nothing he does not know about me leaves me with a tremendous appreciation for God's grace toward me- something I could never expect, and yet, there it is!

There simply is no way I could ever thank the Lord enough for his kindness, mercy, grace and love he has expressed to me in the face of all he knows of me! It is beyond my capacity to conceive given what he knows of me.

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..

Unfailing Love! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 6:4,

"Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love."

In David's time of need he calls out to God and asks for relief from his anguish on the basis of God's "unfailing love."

The two chief aspects of God's nature that he wants us to know of is his justice and his love. God's justice is precise, it is bold, it is emphatic, it is pronounced and it is striking. Consider the cross that Jesus suffered on. God decided he wanted a people for himself, that he would gather certain ones (those willing to embrace him in faith) from the teeming masses of sinful mankind. In order to accomplish that, he had to satisfy his own sense of justice for those he chooses for himself by having his Son, Jesus Christ pay the penalty for their sins. That is not an act of "tipping your hat" at justice but an expression of precise, bold, emphatic, pronounced and striking justice!

Likewise, the cross Jesus suffered on manifested the nature of the love of God. God's love is precise, it is bold, it is emphatic, it is pronounced  and it is striking. Just look at what God's love for mankind drove him to do in sending his Son to make a way for us!

The greatest self-expression of God's character and nature was the expression he gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai and that he in turn shared with all of us. In Exodus 34:6-7 we read God saying of himself, "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. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." Love and justice!

When David called out to God in Psalm 6, and doing so on the basis of God's "unfailing love", he points to the faithfulness of that love. God's love is faithful in that it is unfailing. We read of that nature of God's love in many places. One place that my mind always turns to is Paul's comment in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, "He [God] will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Paul here affirms that those who have embraced the Lord in faith need never worry about losing their communion with God as he will keep us "firm to the end" and he bases this on the faithfulness of God.

The very thing David counted on (God's faithfulness) is the very thing Paul used to assure believers they never need to worry about losing their salvation: God is faithful! His love is unfailing! What we all know to be true and what the book of Proverbs points out is, "What a person desires is unfailing love", Proverbs 19:22.

The place to find that is where David looked: to God himself!

A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..