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 47:1-2,
"Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth."
As the Sons of Korah ponder the Lord Most High in his splendor and majesty, they acclaim him to be "awesome". Not in the sense of our current pop-culture usage of the word as in "cool" or "sweet" (if you are from the '60s - remember "far out" or "out of sight"?). Rather, they esteemed God in the sense of astonishing, astounding and fearful. The term "awe" originally carried with it a sense of fear or terror (see the Merriam-Webster online dictionary), and now carries a bit of "wonder" to it. The Amplified Bible uses (as well as the New American Standard), "to be feared". The older American Standard Version uses "terrible".
In any event, as the psalm makes clear, our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God we place our faith and trust in as we follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his gospel, is the King over "all the earth". He rules over all nations of the earth, "Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted." Verses 6-9.
Yes, God rules over Israel, and in spite of what atheists think or feel, God ultimately rules over America. In that sense, America is a "Christian" nation, not in the sense that Christianity is practiced by everyone, but by virtue of the fact that God rules over it. He is in charge, he allows, disallows or even causes what takes place. Even the "bad stuff". And, it is not just Israel and America, but Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. All the nations of the earth.
What makes this hard for so many to grasp is that so few people understand what God's agenda is in the world today. What is he doing? Why do all these things we see about us happen? Why are politics, our culture and society, the public square becoming so corrupted?
The answers to those questions are found in the understanding that the ultimate will of God for today, the ultimate agenda of God for today, is that he is building his kingdom today, and aggressively so since the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Here are a couple of important passages that help guide us in how he is pursuing that among the nations:
"From one man he [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." Acts 17:26-27. (By the way, this spells doom for the global community and "no-borders" crowd.)
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." Romans 8:18-21. God keeps us all unsettled and frustrated, and at times worse, to encourage us all to reach out for refuge, safety, relief - to find 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..
"Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth."
As the Sons of Korah ponder the Lord Most High in his splendor and majesty, they acclaim him to be "awesome". Not in the sense of our current pop-culture usage of the word as in "cool" or "sweet" (if you are from the '60s - remember "far out" or "out of sight"?). Rather, they esteemed God in the sense of astonishing, astounding and fearful. The term "awe" originally carried with it a sense of fear or terror (see the Merriam-Webster online dictionary), and now carries a bit of "wonder" to it. The Amplified Bible uses (as well as the New American Standard), "to be feared". The older American Standard Version uses "terrible".
In any event, as the psalm makes clear, our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God we place our faith and trust in as we follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his gospel, is the King over "all the earth". He rules over all nations of the earth, "Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted." Verses 6-9.
Yes, God rules over Israel, and in spite of what atheists think or feel, God ultimately rules over America. In that sense, America is a "Christian" nation, not in the sense that Christianity is practiced by everyone, but by virtue of the fact that God rules over it. He is in charge, he allows, disallows or even causes what takes place. Even the "bad stuff". And, it is not just Israel and America, but Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. All the nations of the earth.
What makes this hard for so many to grasp is that so few people understand what God's agenda is in the world today. What is he doing? Why do all these things we see about us happen? Why are politics, our culture and society, the public square becoming so corrupted?
The answers to those questions are found in the understanding that the ultimate will of God for today, the ultimate agenda of God for today, is that he is building his kingdom today, and aggressively so since the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. Here are a couple of important passages that help guide us in how he is pursuing that among the nations:
"From one man he [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." Acts 17:26-27. (By the way, this spells doom for the global community and "no-borders" crowd.)
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." Romans 8:18-21. God keeps us all unsettled and frustrated, and at times worse, to encourage us all to reach out for refuge, safety, relief - to find 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..
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