Salvation from God's Judgment! - 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 60:1,

"You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us; you have been angry—now restore us!"

This psalm, ascribed to David in the superscription, is a call to God for saving Israel from God himself. The context is that of God abandoning Israel as she goes out to fight against her enemies, "Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us and no longer go out with our armies?" David says the Lord had shown the Israelites "desperate times", verse 3, and given them the "wine" of his judgment that made them stagger.

David sought the salvation of the nation from God, the very One who became her opponent. We see that David remained confident that God would come to the aid of Israel as he called upon him. The psalm closes with, "With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies."

This reminds me of the plight of all of humanity. All mankind is sinful and all of us are born into this life facing the horrific judgment of God for our sins. Revelation 21:8 describes it as a "fiery lake of burning sulfur."

When it comes to the gospel message, some think we need to be saved from the devil. It isn't the devil that will judge us for our sins. God will judge us.

Some feel we need to be saved from our sins. While this is true, it is only indirectly. It is our sin that places us in the horror of God's judgment, and it is that judgment we need to seek salvation from. We need to be saved from God! From God's judgment that is.

Just as David sought saving from God's treatment of Israel from God himself, so we need to seek our salvation from the One who threatens us. Welcome to the fear of the Lord! Jesus taught, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." Luke 12:4-5. We see this foretold in Revelation 20:11-15.

Just as David sought salvation for the nation from God who made the nation stagger from the wine of his judgment, so we need to seek salvation for ourselves from the very one who will judge us for our sin. We find that salvation right here: "whoever hears my [Jesus'] word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24.

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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Not Rehabilitation But Regeneration - 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 58:4-5,

"Their [the wicked] venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears, that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be."
As David observes "the wicked", verse 3, he speaks of the irreformable nature of their reprobation. Rehabilitation of the wicked is simply a fool's errand.

There is a certain arrogance among those who feel they can bring about the reformation of a wicked person. Do-gooders would do well to understand David here when he characterizes the wicked using the metaphor of a cobra that fails to respond to "the tune of the charmer." The wicked are like a cobra using ear plugs. It just may be that it isn't only that they won't listen, according to David, but they can't listen - they have shut off their ears to anyone around them that may attempt to get them straightened out.

Sin is a powerful force in anyone's life. Not only are we led astray by it, Paul tells us those who have not embraced Jesus Christ in faith are enslaved to it. See Romans 6 and 7.

David says the wicked, like a cobra with its ears stopped, will not heed the tune of the charmer "however skillful the enchanter may be." We can't rehabilitate sinful people. The only hope is they turn to the Savior and allow his work in their lives to bring change from within by the Holy Spirit.

The only hope for the wicked is that they be regenerated, reborn, become a new person in Jesus Christ. Sinners, the wicked, simply cannot be rehabilitated. They need the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit in their lives to bring about change.

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..

Justice Is On Its Way! - 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 58:9-11,

"Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—
    whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.
The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,
    when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.
Then people will say,
    'Surely the righteous still are rewarded;
    surely there is a God who judges the earth.'"

In this psalm David brings an accusation against unjust rulers. He accuses them of "devising injustice", and fomenting violence, verse 2. In verses 3-5 he describes how these unjust rulers are wicked from birth, "from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies". In verses 6-8 he calls for God to curse them and then in the final verses 9-11 David reflects on how God's justice will prevail, "The righteous will be glad when they are avenged...", verse 10a. He ends this psalm with his observation of people saying, "Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth."

This psalm deals with a deeply seated desire we all have to see all things resolved in fairness, in a just and appropriate outcome. I believe this comes from our being created in the image of God. One of God's chief character traits is his finely tuned sense of justice, "'let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord."

Certainly the heart of sinful mankind has corrupted that felt need for justice, with the definition of what is just becoming skewed, degraded, debased - yet that desire continues to reside within us. We even see little toddlers complain, "That's not fair!" when they are refused what they want. Social justice warriors of today display a certain corruption of what is just, yet their zeal in demanding what they understand as just and fair points to this desire within the depths of the fibers of our being.

For those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith and have subordinated our understanding of what is just and fair to God's own measure, we have a beautiful day ahead of us when we will see God's justice expressed in its fulness. Where this will be horrific and frightful for all who have rejected Jesus Christ, I believe it will be the ultimate fulfillment in satisfaction of a certain frustration we feel today that is born from that inner desire we all have for fairness and justice that goes wanting.

While we are thankful and beyond appreciative that as believers we are no longer the object of God's judgment, we still experience much frustration that this lost and fallen world provides in this regard. However... the day is coming...

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 Lord As Our Refuge - 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 57:1,

"Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed."

We are told in the superscript of Psalm 57 that David penned it on the occasion of when he hid in a cave from Saul and his men who were pursuing him. There are at least a couple of "cave" accounts concerning David in 1 Samuel: chapter 22 and chapter 24.

In this psalm David cries out to the Lord in the midst of danger he faced, "those who hotly pursue me", verse 3. He told God that he sought refuge in him, "in the shadow of your wings." David relied on the Lord, specifically because of the Lord's love and faithfulness, verse 3, "God sends forth his love and his faithfulness."

Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines "refuge" as "shelter or protection from danger or distress." It also defines it as "something to which one has recourse in difficulty."

We all seek refuge at some point in our lives from various threats or dangers. If that danger be violence, we might dial 911. If it be from some potential financial disaster, we might seek refuge in the form of the advice of a trusted financial advisor. If that danger be some serious medical condition, we might turn to a well-respected medical provider.

Throughout the book of Psalms we learn the Lord wants us to turn to him as a refuge. Someone we can place our faith in, someone who loves and cares for us, someone who has the ability to act as a refuge on our behalf.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." Psalm 34:8. "How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings." Psalm 36:7. "From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings." Psalm 61:2-4.

Perhaps one of the most moving of all psalms concerning the Lord as our refuge is Psalm 91,

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust."

Surely he will save you
    from the fowler's snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you say, "The Lord is my refuge,"
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

"Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation."

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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God's Love and Faithfulness - 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 57:9-10,

"I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."

As David looked for refuge in the Lord from the danger of his enemies, he found God to be loving and faithful. A perfect refuge in times of trouble- a perfect refuge for any time!

David celebrates God's love and faithfulness by pointing to it twice in this psalm, verses 3 and 10. We today count on God's love and faithfulness to us when we embrace him in faith. Out of his love for us, God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins, and out of his faithfulness we know we will escape his judgment of us because we placed our faith in him. Paul tells us, "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."

God is our perfect refuge from all trouble because of his love towards us and his faithfulness to us!

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..

Trusting in God: Nothing to Fear but Him! - 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 56:3-4,

"I When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?"

As David asks God for mercy in the midst of enemies attacking him, he proclaims his trust in God. He says that when he feels fear he puts his trust in God and thereby is no longer afraid. He asks the question, "What can mere mortals do to me?" Verses 3-4.

Later in the psalm he says much the same thing, "In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?"

As David says, "what can mere mortals do to me" and "What can man do to me", it is within the context of trusting in God. Placing our trust in God places us in his favor. When we enjoy God's favor he becomes a refuge and a strength for us. As Paul asks the rhetorical question, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" No one!

Proverbs 1:7a tells us, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge...". To know God is to hold him in reverence and awe, "the fear of the Lord." The term "God fearers" was used by the Jews back in day to refer to others who had embraced the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

However, outside of our fear of the Lord, fear can be debilitating in our lives. Whether we may experience fear from others who threaten us, fear of failure, fear of death, or whatever, as David, we find solace from fear, or those who may cause us fear, in God.

When we rest secure in the refuge of God, there simply is nothing that can separate us from him, his love for us, and his care for us. As we experience that, we find we are in full agreement with David and Paul. When we trust in God, there remains nothing to fear!

Afterall, what is the worst that can happen? Death? If we die as those who put their trust in God, we are ushered into eternal paradise with him!

Trusting in God means we care for what God does with us, and not what "mere mortals" can do to us.

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 Celebration of our Deliverance! - 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 56:13,

"You [God] have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life."

As I am sure you do, I attempt to envision what life will be like in the family of God, following our resurrection into eternal life.

What will it be like when I leave this body at my death? What will I think? What will I feel? Will I have any choices that might have to be made? Who will I first encounter and what will be the nature of that encounter?

What will I be experiencing and doing between my death and the day we will all receive our resurrected bodies? Paul talks a bit about our new resurrected bodies in 1 Corinthians 15. What will it be like to inhabit my new body? God has provided us all with purposefulness. What will that purpose be?

What will it be like as we stand together in joyous celebration of our Savior as his people for that first great convocation in his kingdom?

There could be hundreds of questions to think about and I do think about some of them.

In Psalm 56:13 David celebrates his deliverance, his salvation from his enemies. He does so using death as what he is delivered from and that God kept him from stumbling. The purpose of David not stumbling is so that he can "walk before God in the light of life."

Although I am quite certain there were temporal circumstances that David had his eye on as he penned these words, nevertheless, I think we will all celebrate God as a massive congregation together for God's deliverance of us using very similar words.

That day is coming and I can't help but think of it as I read David's words here.

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..

God's Kindness and Justice - 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 55:22-23,

"Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. But you, God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of decay; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days."

One of the fascinating things I see in the book of Psalms is that at times the psalmist will change who it is he is addressing- suddenly, on a dime, without any warning. It causes me to have to be fast on my feet to keep up at times. I find it to be a fascinating feature of many of the psalms. Perhaps you have noticed this as well.

In Psalm 55:1-11 David begins by addressing the Lord with his complaint and asks the Lord to curse "the wicked", verses 3 and 9. He then suddenly (with no indication of doing so) begins speaking to his enemy, as if in mid-conversation, who turns out to actually be a close friend, a companion, verses 12-14. Again, suddenly, he begins speaking to us, his "audience", and again as if in mid-conversation verses 15-22. He then, (and, again without warning) finishes his psalm by shifting his address to God, providing bookends to his psalm, verse 23. I could be off a bit on this analysis, and it really should be given greater scrutiny in a study of the text, so don't hold my feet to the fire on how accurate I may be on the breakout of the verses. However, just giving it a cursory reading reveals this feature.

In any event, David's exhortation to us in verses 22-23 provide a beautiful summation of the important characteristics of God's nature, and particularly the satisfying justice that lays at the root of God's nature. I am reminded of Jeremiah 9:24b, "I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight".

God's kindness is seen in the reality that we can cast our cares on the Lord, that as we do so he will sustain us. David says "he will never let the righteous be shaken." Likewise, God's justice is seen in David's words, "But you, God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of decay; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days."

This brings differing thoughts for me personally. The first is that, "there by the grace of God go I" when it comes to the judgment of the wicked. How thankful I am for the payment Jesus Christ made on that cross, and making that payment available to me for simply embracing him in faith. How frightful it would be to have to face God as my judge for the sins in my life apart from the righteous standing before God Jesus has provided me!

And, of course, how wonderful it is to know that the Lord will sustain me as I cast my cares upon him. Knowing he will never let us, as his righteous ones, be shaken is a comfort in this life nothing else could come close to provide!

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 Struggles of People of Faith - 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 55:4-8,

"My [David's] heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, 'Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.'"

David was a man of great faith. Paul observes God's comment of David, "I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do ." Acts 13:22b. To be held in God's esteem in such a way would be rare company to be found in.

And, yet, look at the issues David struggled with in this psalm:

His thoughts troubled him, verse 2.
He was distraught, verse 2.
David suffered, verse 3.
He was in anguish, verse 4.
He felt terror and fear, verses 4-5.
He trembled, verse 5.
He was overwhelmed by horror, verse 5.
David just wanted to "get out of Dodge", to take off, to run away, verses 6-8.
David felt distressed, verse 17.

Look at what David experienced, what he felt even though he claimed his faith in God at the end of this psalm, "But as for me, I trust in you." Verse 23.

In Hebrews 11:32 we find David listed among the "heroes of faith" along with Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Samuel and the prophets. We are told the world was not worthy of them, Hebrews 11:38 and that they were all commended for their faith, Hebrews 11:39.
If David struggled with those things we find in Psalm 55 as one of God's "heroes of faith", then it appears to me that when we struggle it may not be due at all to a lack of faith. It might even be the norm for people of faith to struggle at times! I know I do.

The occasion for Psalm 55 and the feelings David struggled with were due to an enemy he had and the "threats of the wicked", verse 3. He cried out to the Lord and laid bare his thoughts and feelings listed above. David found his solace in the Lord, "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. But you, God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of decay; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days." Verses 22-23. Perhaps arriving at such a conclusion in our own lives is the purpose God has for allowing us to struggle at times just as David did.

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 Big Threat! - 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 54:3-4,

"Arrogant foes are attacking me; ruthless people are trying to kill me— people without regard for God. Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me."

One of the common themes (a major theme!) in the book of Psalms is that the psalmist faces a threat and finds his refuge and safety from that threat in God. We find that resolution in the last two verses of this psalm, "I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good. You have delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes." Verses 6-7.

Sometimes that threat is a foe or enemy, as in this psalm ("Arrogant foes"). Sometimes it might be an illness, Psalm 41, sometimes it might be God himself as in Psalm 88, sometimes it may be the psalmist himself that he seeks relief from, Psalm 42. Psalm 107 contains several ways this theme is exploited (wanderers in desert wastelands, prisoners in darkness, rebellious fools, sailors) with an account of how the Lord rescued them.

The point being that in the book of Psalms and throughout the Scriptures, the Lord wants us to know that as we face difficult times, as we face threats to ourselves, we need to seek and find our refuge in him, our salvation in him.

The absolute greatest threat we all face is the damnation of God's judgment of us for our sins. Nothing can come into our lives that poses a greater threat to us. God is teaching us in the Psalms, as well as many other places in Scripture that we need to find our refuge in him. Not in a church, not in a pope, not in a pastor, not in government, not in wealth, not even in our own abilities - but in him.

He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins and all he asks of us is to embrace him in faith to find our refuge and safety from his judgment of us.

The book of Psalms was one of the many ways the Lord prepared his people, and the entire world for the coming of our great refuge, Jesus Christ!

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..

Vindication by God's Might! - 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 54:1,

"Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might."

Merriam-Webster's online dictionary provides as its first definition of "vindicate"  to be "free from allegation or blame." David asks God to provide him vindication by his "might" from those who were his foes. "ruthless people", verse 3. We have a bigger foe we all face in our lives: God the judge of our sins. As we seek vindication from God's judgment we should view any potential for that vindication to come from God's might as an incomprehensible expression of his love for us.

In Psalm 37 we read if we "Trust in the Lord", verse 3, "Take delight in the Lord", verse 4, and "commit your way to the Lord", verse 5, then "He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun." Verse 6. If we embrace the Lord as we read in Psalm 37 then we receive a vindication from him for the sins we have all committed.

How does it require God's might to provide us vindiation? In order to satisfy his own sense of justice, God sent his Son, Jesus Christ to die on that miserable cross to make payment for our sins, that is, to take our punishment on himself. When we embrace Jesus Christ in faith a transaction takes place: the payment for our sins by Jesus Christ gets applied to our account with God. We all have to give an account (see Hebrews 4:13.) By the mighty hand of God, Jesus Christ came and provided a way for us to receive vindication providing us salvation with a standing of righteousness in his presence.

We are told in Ephesians 1:4, "For he [God] chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." God decided even before he created us in the beginning that he would make us "holy and blameless." This is in spite of our sin, we will not be like "red-headed step children" but to have a clean standing of vindication in spite of all of our sins we committed in this life!

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..

Misplaced Dread - 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 53:5a,

"But there they [those who say "There is no God"] are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread."

David calls those who claim there is no God "evildoers", verse 4. David says these kinds of people are everywhere, "God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." Verses 2-3.

Although David says God looks down from heaven at evildoers and uses terms as "everyone", "all", "no one who does good, not even one" to describe the corruption he sees, he apparently does not have all people in mind. Afterall, these evildoers "devour" others who David describes as "my people". There are two groups of people we see in this psalm, those who say in their hearts, "There is no God", verse 1 and those who are "my people", those who believe in God, that don't say "There is no God".

Nonetheless, Paul uses this psalm as he claims that all people are sinners, both Jew and Gentile in Romans 3:12. In Romans 3:9-20 Paul makes the point that all people, everyone, is under the power of sin. The sinful tendency for those who say there is no God is resident in the heart of all mankind and need to be rescued from God's looming judgment.

What is interesting is that David claims the evildoer's dread that is inherent in rejecting God is placed "where there was nothing to dread". It is misplaced dread, misplaced angst. They "devour" God's people, thinking God's people are the source of their dread. But David notes a reality in his rhetorical question, "Do all these evildoers know nothing?" And this is why they set themselves to "devour" those who believe in God.

Misplaced dread, misplaced angst. Good for all believers to be aware of as the days grow more evil with sinful mankind on the ascendency as Paul warns us of in 2 Timothy 3:1-9.

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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A Palpable Dread - 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 53:4-5,

"Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on God. But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread."

Evildoers, that is, those who never call on God, are filled with dread. We are all evildoers, sinners, but some of us have chosen to call on God, to place our faith in him. Those who chose to remain in their sins continue to be called "evildoers" while those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith are God's people.

We see a dynamic here: evildoers , those I refer to as "Team Cain", seek to destroy God's people. David in this psalm points to a motivating principle that drives the evildoers to do so- dread. Evildoers are overwhelmed with a felt dread, and in this psalm, David points out there is nothing for them to dread from God's people. What that dread is they feel is the unconscious fear the looming judgment of God brings. They may deny the existence of God, they may even be persuaded there exists no afterlife, however it is only an illusion. Reality bites everyone from time to time, and so even committed atheists have their moments of doubting their misguided convictions. It is in those times that I suspect there is an unconscious dread that generates within them.

Why would they lash out at God's people if they simply don't believe in God? Their animated hostility, felt in the public square today as they demand the removal of all things Judeo-Christian, whether statues, plaques, mentions of God, litigation against Christian business owners, prayer among school sports teams, etc. all betray the same attitude as those in David's day and reveal a motivation that drives them. It is a palpable dread.

In a parallel passage David goes further to explain this dread, "Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the Lord. But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous." Psalm 14:4-5. Here it becomes clear the source of hostility of "Team Cain" against God's people, "Team Abel." God, who will judge sinners condemned to death is not in their tent, not in their camp, not in their company. As they look over to the tent, the camp, the company of God's people, there God is - not with them but with those who "call on God."

John helps to explain this in 1 John 3:12-13, "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you."

In Genesis 4 we read the account of Cain's murder of his brother Abel. Abel brought an offering to the Lord that the Lord desired. Cain, like all who follow in his footsteps, didn't want to worship the Lord the way the Lord desired, but in the way he wanted. Cain was guilty of "rolling his own" religion. When God embraced Abel's offering but rejected Cain's, it infuriated Cain and so he murdered Abel. An irrational act, but that is exactly what sinful and depraved people do when they are driven by an irrational hostility.

So it is today. The people who reject Jesus Christ do so because they want to do things their own way.  As they do so, they sense the palpable dread of judgment that it will eventually bring, and as they are driven by that dread, they are driven to persecute the people of God.

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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God's Judgments Bring Him Praise - 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 52:9,

"For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good."

Here David says he will praise God always for what he has done. So, what is it exactly David has in view in this psalm that prompts him to commit to faithfully praising God in the presence of his people? (And, by the way, this was no "window dressing" that he used to embellish his psalm here. David literally fulfilled his vow of praising God always among his faithful people: he penned the bigger part of Israel's hymn book, the Psalms, which contains as one of its chief themes the praise of God.) What is it about God that prompts David's praise?

In this psalm David accuses an evil man, the "mighty hero." The superscript in the psalm says the evil man was Doeg the Edomite and references his betrayal of David to King Saul as we read in the account found in 1 Samuel 22:9-10. David speaks of the justice God will visit upon this evil man, verse 5, and then, conversely speaks of the blessing David himself has as a man who trusts in "God's unfailing love for ever and ever.", verse 8.

Simply put, David's praise of God was for his justice. God is a just God and expresses his justice through his divine judgments. He rewards those who embrace him in faith, and he destroys those who remain in their sins. In Jeremiah 9:24b we read, "'I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord."

All sin brings God's justice. For those who have embraced him in faith, he sent his Son to die on a miserable cross to pay for their sins. All who do not embrace the Lord in faith will pay for their own sins as we read of in Revelation 20:11-15.

The exercise of God's justice and judgments bring him praise. Consider this passage from Psalm 96:11-13, "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness."

We all were created with a sense of justice, a sense of what should be, as sense of fairness. We feel a great sense of satisfaction when what ought to be is carried out, when wrongs are righted. As long as we are "in tune" with God's sense of justice, we will all praise God and rejoice in him when his judgments are carried out.

As a side note, unfortunately, as with every aspect of life, in this sinful and fallen world of corrupt people, that sense of justice and what is fair has become corrupted itself within the heart of sinful man. You don't have to go any further than the demands of the "social justice warriors" among us today to see one aspect of how we all have been created in the image of God as been corrupted and exploited for nefarious purposes. This world has seen horrific things take place over the ages through the exploitation of a corrupted sense of justice.

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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Flourishing in the House of 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 52:8,

"But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever."

The contrasting conjunction that begins verse 8 in this psalm refers back to the previous verses that highlight what is in store for the wicked (not good...).

In verse 8 David proclaims what is his in the Lord that contrasts to the fate of the wicked. In this verse, as a man of faith, he equates himself with the metaphor of an olive tree flourishing in the house of God. This portrayal is for me a vivid figurative description of an abundant fertile life, lush in all the very best life has to offer as intended by God. An opulent and sumptuous life, not in terms of financial riches, but the riches of fulness of life, satisfaction in life, purpose in life, fulfillment in life, a life replete with mental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual vitality, exuberance and vibrancy. All the very best that God has to offer us in his presence, of being "in the house of God."

David lays his claim to this in that "I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever." This, I believe, is what is ours, those of us who have embraced the Lord in faith just as David did.

It brings to mind Paul's words when he quoted Isaiah 64;4, "'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived'— the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2:9-10a.

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..

What Believers Must Know About Abortion - 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 51:3-4,

"Surely I [David] was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you [God] desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place."

Here is a fascinating observation: God desired David's faithfulness as soon as he was conceived in this mother's womb, before he was born! And, he confesses to a spiritual condition while in the womb, beginning at conception!

Is David using figurative language here? Did he really mean it? Is this just David's idea, an idea begotten before the medical knowledge we have in this age of abortion?

Peter tells us that the Scriptures came to be written as men were carried along by the Holy Spirit and therefore divinely inspired. "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:20-21. In just the preceding verse he says "We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

We would do well to pay attention to the Scriptures because God had them written- he has some things he wants us to know! What he wants us to know from this passage is that unborn babies exist in a spiritual state, a spiritual condition prior to birth.

David was not using figurative language in Psalm 51:3-4, and, yes, he (being carried along by the Holy Spirit) really meant what he said. This psalm enlightens us about the unborn in a way that medical science will never be able to.

This helps us understand passages like Luke 1:39-45, "At that time Mary [Jesus' mother, just having conceived] got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby [John the Baptist as a fetus at 6 months] leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!"

In this passage in Luke we see that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was Jesus Christ, the Son of God at the point of conception, not at birth. We also see that John the baptist was fully functioning spiritually and gifted as a prophet when his mother was at the end of her second trimester with him. John, before he was born knew he was in the presence of God and emoted - he responded with joy!

We learn from the Scriptures that we are fully human, we are alive physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually at the point of conception. Any follower of Jesus Christ must recognize that every abortion is the taking of a human life. What is practiced in our culture today is nothing other than state sanctioned murder.

What is the believer's responsibility in all this? Here is a helpful passage from Proverbs 24:11-12, "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?"

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..

Our God Speaks! - 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 50:1,

"The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets."

It never fails to amaze me that God, the Creator of the universe, the Creator of mankind, the omnipotent One, the omniscient One, the eternal One... it just never ceases to amaze me that he has spoken to mankind! As I contemplate the fact that our God, who designed and created both the vast reaches of the universe as well as the microscopic objects that make up all creation, the atoms and molecules, as well as everything in between, has spoken to us! I am always astonished that our God, who knows everything there is to know, who knows every thing that has ever happened, who knows every intimate detail about each and every one of us, has spoken to us! "Our God comes and will not be silent...", verse 3a.

This psalm of Asaph has in its view that God has spoken. He has two messages in this psalm. The first is to God's people (and it is a testimony against them), verses 7-15. The second is to the wicked person, verses 16-21.

To "my people", verse 7, God says he doesn't bring a charge against them for their sacrifices, but that they need to realize he really has no need for them, that is, for himself. He does tell them, "Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." Verses 14-15.

To "the wicked person", following charges he brings against them he says, "Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:" Verse 22. But to those he calls "my people" he says "Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation." Verse 23.

The Bible is not just a "rule book", not just "the good book", it is the very words of God himself to us! I can't imagine why anyone would ignore such an important treasure!

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 Great Inevitability - 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 49:10-12,

"For all can see that the wise die, that the foolish and the senseless also perish, leaving their wealth to others. Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish."

The well known axiom, "The only certainties in life are death and taxes" could find its basis in this psalm. At least the death part. It is inevitable- we all will die one day. It is a truth that most of us probably avoid giving too much contemplation to in our younger years. We have other things on our minds: careers, marriage, raising a family, caring for those we love, pursuing those things that interest us or have our attention, etc.

However, to me, I think it is in those younger years that the contemplation of the temporary nature of our lives has its best yield in the wisdom it could bring into our lives. It is often observed that one can be so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good, but given our life here in this age is relatively short and that our lives following this age will be eternal, whether eternal life or eternal damnation, making choices in this life that have positive impact on the next can only provide for the very best use of our lives here in this age.

The psalm makes the obvious point that wealth, among the top things many people expend their earthly lives for, is of no value when the inevitability hits. That wealth does not go with us when we die and in verses 8-9 we read, "the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough— so that they should live on forever and not see decay." Money is not going to help.

However, something else insures a wonderful eternity for us that we can obtain in this life- righteousness! Proverbs 11:4 tells us, "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." This righteousness is something we can acquire here in this life, right here and now.

Paul tells us in Romans 3:21-25a, "But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith."

Placing our faith in Jesus Christ may not bring us money, mansions and all the big toys in this life, but it will certainly bring us a wonderful eternity beyond our wildest dreams!

What will you expend your life for as you contemplate the inevitable?

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..

God's Enduring Faithfulness - 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 48:14,

"For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end."

This, the closing verse of Psalm 48, points to an underlying current found throughout the psalm, God's enduring faithfulness to those who are his. In verse 8 we read that God makes Zion secure, not for a period, but forever. In verse 9 the Sons of Korah speak of meditating on God's unfailing love. Then we have this closing verse that speaks of God as being "our God" for ever and ever, and that he will be "our guide even to the end."

One of the wonderful aspects of God's nature is that he is eternal. He has always existed and will continue to always exist. His love for us never changes. We will never wake up to find that God has changed his mind and no longer cares for us. His kingdom and what he has prepared for those who are his will endure with no end.

The Scriptures often refer to this aspect of God as his faithfulness. Never changing, never abandoning us, he is always and continuously faithful to us, both in his love for us and his promises to us.

I am reminded of an interesting observation Paul makes about God's interaction with both patriarchal Israel and his new entity, predestined before the creation of the earth, the church, "As far as the gospel is concerned, they [Israel] are enemies for your [the Gentile church] sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable." Here is an amazing confession of the faithfulness of God, in this case to Israel.

Likewise, God's faithfulness is found to be the basis for confidence for the the church in Corinth, and by extension, all of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith, "He 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."

It is due to that faithful nature of God that all believers can have confidence that nothing will ever separate us from the love of Jesus Christ. This is how Paul puts it in Romans 8:33-39 in an astonishing proclamation of the confidence we should all have due to God's faithfulness:

"Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

God's enduring faithfulness!

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..

What is God Worthy Of? - 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 48:1,

"Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain."

This psalm, by the Sons of Korah, has as its focus the strength and beauty of Jerusalem. Here are some of the noteworthy observations made of Zion back in their day:

It is the city of God as pointed to in verse 1, "his holy mountain". (Jerusalem sits atop a mountain in Israel.)
It is beautiful in its loftiness, verse 2.
It is the "joy of the whole earth", verse 2.
God's temple resided there.
God himself is Jerusalem's "fortress", verse 3. He makes her "secure forever", verse 8. Although destroyed by the Babylonians and Romans, Jerusalem will always have its place for all eternity.

It was God himself that made Jerusalem's transcendent status what it was. And, so, it is the observations about God, that this city derived its greatness from, that captures my attention this morning.

The psalm begins with an observation about the greatness of God himself, who is "most worthy of praise", verse 1. The unique and transcendent love of God is observed as being unfailing, verse 9. God's hand is seen as being filled with righteousness, in verse 10, a righteousness that he will give to all those who embrace him in faith, as we learn of in passages like Romans 3:21-22, "But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."

It is that first verse that has me thinking this morning. The Sons of Korah declare that God is "most worthy of praise". It has me thinking of just what all God is worthy of in reference to my own life.

Is God worthy of me giving my life for him? Is God worthy of me living my life for him? Is God worthy of my time, my attention, throughout the day, throughout the week? How do I express that? How do I live that?

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 Exalted Ascension to the 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 47:9,

"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."

While I recognize that the Lord is the God of all nations today, pursuing his agenda of building his kingdom in this age through his interaction with both individuals as well as nations, this psalm appears to me to prefigure the ascendancy of God the Son over all the nations at the end of this age. "God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. 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." Psalm 47:5-7.
The picture of the ascendancy of the Lord over the nations brings to mind a couple of passages for me. "With justice he [Jesus Christ] judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.'"

The end of that passage is a quote from Psalm 2:7-9 where we read the Father's statement to the Son, Jesus Christ, "You are My Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel." NKJV.

In Psalm 2 we see the nations in rebellion against God. However, the culmination of the ages sees Jesus Christ's defeat of sinful mankind and his enthronement with the "ends of the earth" his possession as spoken of in Revelation 19. So it is today as in Psalm 2, with Team Cain, lost in its rebellion against God and his Son, the heir of all the nations of the earth. We are told in Psalm 2:4 that God laughs at mankind's rebellion against him as he lets them know, "I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain." Psalm 2:6.

As we may feel distressed over the sinfulness of all the nations, be reminded that God in heaven laughs, because he knows what he has in store for them. One day, following God's judgment of sinful mankind, all the nations will gather as "the people of the God of Abraham", exalting him with cries of joy, just as is pictured here in Psalm 47!

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..