Calling for the Lord's Aid - 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 108:10-13,

"Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Is it not you, God, you who have rejected us and no longer go out with our armies? Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies."

David implores the Lord for his aid, his help, to bring victory over the Edomites. It recalls the counsel of his father, Solomon, in Proverbs 21:31, "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord."

I am reminded that in spite of whatever confidence I may have within myself, nothing I can muster begins to compare with what the Lord can do. David speaks of a military situation in this psalm, but as I consider the reality of God's ability and willingness to bring us aid, even in the midst of our weaknesses I find an assurance that trumps any confidence I may have.

I notice that David entreats the Lord in the context of the Lord no longer aiding them. I suspect it was that very lack of aid that drove David to his knees as his felt need for the Lord was rekindled. The Lord has his ways of gaining our attention...

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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Where To Go For Relief - 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 107:6,

"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered
them from their distress."

We find this phrase (or close to it) repeated four times in this
psalm. In addition to the verse quoted above we read:

"Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from
their distress." Verse 13.
"Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from
their distress." Verse 19.
"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them
out of their distress." Verse 28.

In each of these accounts we see people helpless to find relief for
themselves. They cried out to the Lord and it resulted in relief from
their circumstances.

At my age I look back and see we all experience trouble, circumstances
we need relief from. I am reminded of Paul's words in Romans 8:20,
"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." It is my perspective
that Paul is not taking about the inanimate here or the animal
kingdom, but us, people, when he speaks of the frustration brought to
the creation. I believe we all experience trouble and distress in this
life, "frustration."

What I learn from in this psalm is that those who call out to the Lord
find relief for themselves as he responds. It appears to me that the
Lord is drawing us to himself and that "drawing" can be painful, but
its appointed end is that we find our relief in the Lord.

Of course the greatest relief we can find for ourselves is the
redemption the Lord provides us from his own judgment of people for
their sins. I suspect the Lord is teaching us of this through the
troubles he himself may bring our way in this life and how he will
respond if we call out to him.

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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me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are
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Tell the Story! - 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 107:2,

"Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story..."

Psalm 107 encourages those who have been helped by the Lord to tell their story. Then, the psalm offers five stories that could be told. Wanderers in desert wastelands, those chained in darkness, fools that became afflicted because of their iniquities, sailors as merchants on the "mighty waters", and wanderers in a trackless waste.

Here is the theme in each of these five sample stories:

Wanderers in desert wastelands: the Lord delivered them from their distress, verse 6.
Those chained in darkness: the Lord saved them from their distress, verse 13.
Fools that became afflicted because of their iniquities: the Lord saved them from their distress, verse 19.
Sailors as merchants on the "mighty waters": the Lord brought them out of their distress, verse 28.
Wanderers in a trackless waste: the Lord lifted the needy out of their affliction, verse 41.

Distressed and afflicted people find relief and more in the Lord. They need to tell their story so that others in like condition can find the same. If we are honest about the sinful condition of our lives (we all share in that condition), and recognize the looming judgment of God following this age, all of us should feel the angst of distress and affliction. Embracing Jesus Christ in faith is the way to find our deliverance and relief from that horrific judgment.

It certainly is a story for each of us believers to tell.

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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Faith Impacts Our Choices - 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 106:6-7,

"We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea."

In this psalm the psalmist recounts the many ways in which Israel sinned against the Lord as they were delivered from Egypt, given the promised land and the manner in which they comported themselves in the land.

In addition to the indictment above, here are some other observations the psalmist made:

They soon forgot what the Lord had done when he delivered Israel from Egypt, verse 13, 21-22.
They tested God by doubting he could provide for them in the wilderness, verses 14-15, 32-33.
They became envious of Moses and Aaron and challenged God's choice of them to lead the nation, verse 16.
They exchanged their worship of God for idols, verses 19-20, 28, 36-39.
Israel despised the land God gave them, verse 24.
They didn't believe in his promise, verse 24.
Israel grumbled against the Lord and disobeyed him, verse 25.
They engaged in wicked deeds, verse 29.
Israel disobeyed the Lord by not destroying the peoples previously in the promised land, 34-35
They engaged in child sacrifice, verses 37-39.
They rebelled against the Lord, verse 43.

No doubt I missed a couple, but look at this indictment against Israel! There is one outstanding and common thread to each and every one of these ways in which Israel sinned: an absence of faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I feel it would behove us to recognize that if we live a lifestyle of sin, we express a clear lack of reverence in and fear of the Lord. This can only be if we fail to embrace him in faith. When we embrace the Lord in faith, James tells us it will impact our life choices in the light of knowing him. Otherwise, we are just fooling ourselves.

Israel had all of the experiences they needed with the Lord to embrace him in faith, yet they failed to do so. Since the only way we can enter into eternal life is through faith in Jesus Christ, we best look at the choices we make to see if they reflect a true faith in him.

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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Replacing 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 106:19-22,

"At Horeb they [Israel, after they left Egypt] made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea."

As the psalmist recalls Israel's history, he points out how Israel had the proclivity of exchanging what they knew about God for "fake religion". God had done wonderful things for Israel and yet they turned to their own imaginations to replace him.

In this regard Israel demonstrated the corruption of the human heart we all have. It has not been only Israel to exchange God for something invented- all mankind has and does this. Consider Paul's comment in Romans 1:21-23, "For although they [fallen mankind] knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles."

The proclivity of mankind to turn from his Creator is an amazing thing. The drive to deceive ourselves in this regard is nothing short of stunning. It is all about us today. All kinds of religions, -isms and schisms, fake science, fake history, foolish philosophy that never satisfies, politics as the answer to life, and often, just simple distraction we allow into our lives to keep us from wrestling with the truth about God and his looming judgment.

What a feature of mankind's fallen nature!

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 God of All Nations - 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 105:1,

"Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done."

Psalm 105 recounts Israel's history, and particularly her history relative to other nations. In verses 12-15 the psalmist speaks of the Lord not allowing other nations to oppress the fledgling family of Jacob prior to their sojourn in Egypt where they became a sizeable nation. Of that history in Egypt, a recounting is made of God's judgments that eventually prompted Egypt to let Israel eventually leave. At the end of the psalm we read of the lands of other nations God gave Israel, they "fell heir to what others had toiled for", verse 44.

However, what catches my eye this morning is that the psalmist's call to praise the Lord, in light of the Lord's history with Israel, is to make known "among the nations" what God has done. The Lord is not just the Lord of Israel, but of all the nations. The Lord wants all nations to know of him.

I am reminded of the doxology at the end of Paul's letter to the Roman church, "Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen." Romans 16:25-27.

God wants not just Israel to know him, but all the Gentiles as well! All the nations!

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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Why Was Israel Enslaved in Egypt? - 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 105:23-25,

"Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land of Ham. The Lord made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes [the Egyptians], whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants."

Here is a history lesson in the book of Psalms.

Jacob moved his family down to Egypt to escape a famine. His son, Joseph, had established himself in Pharaoh's court and became a prominent man in Egypt so the way was prepared for Jacob's move.

During the four centuries Israel lived in Egypt, they became a massive nation within Egypt. We read in the above passage that it was the Lord that turned the Egyptians against the Jews who enslaved them, making their lives miserable.

Why would the Lord do that? It is my thought that the Lord engineered Jacob's move to Egypt through the circumstance of a famine to provide Jacob and his family a cocoon of protection within the major world power of Egypt so that Israel would grow to be a fruitful and prosperous people. God had his designs for Israel as his chosen people to provide a vehicle for his plan of redeeming all mankind.

When Israel had grown sufficiently for the Lord's purposes, he prepared his people, as well as the Egyptians, for his people to now return to the land promised Abraham. A part of that preparation was to make them so unhappy in Egypt that they would be willing to leave it. They needed to leave the cocoon.

We read in Exodus 16:3 of the Jews grumbling about having left Egypt and a desire to return, "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death." This illustrates the need the Lord had to provide motivation, both positive and negative to get his people en route to the land the Lord intended them to possess as he prepared them for the eventual coming Messiah.

I find the workings of the Lord to be just fascinating!

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: Clothed With Splendor and Majesty! - 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 104:1-4,

"Praise the Lord, my soul.
Lord my God, you are very great;
    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
    he stretches out the heavens like a tent
     and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
    and rides on the wings of the wind.
He makes winds his messengers,
    flames of fire his servants."

Here is a breathtaking view of the Lord! As the psalmist meditates on the work of God's creative hand, he sees God as very great, clothed in splendor and majesty!

Merriam-Webster defines splendor as "great brightness of luster: brilliancy". Magnificence, pomp (a show of magnificence and splendor), something splendid. Augustness, brilliance, gloriousness, grandeur, magnificence, majesty, nobility, resplendence stateliness, stupendousness and superbness are all synonyms of splendor. Such is our Lord!

Merriam-Webster also defines majesty as sovereign power, authority or dignity. Royal bearing, grandeur, greatness or splendor of quality of character. Again, augustness, kingliness, royalty and stateliness are all synonyms of majesty. And, again, such is our Lord!

The psalmist has these qualities and attributes in mind as he meditates on our Creator God. What a sweeping and breathtaking view of our Lord God! 

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 and His 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 104:31-32,

"May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works— he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke."

The view in this psalm is all about God's creation. It showcases God as the Creator of all things and the Sustainer who maintains the creation. The psalm is all about those things we see around us: the earth and its watery depths, springs, wildlife, the birds, grass, food and drink that is produced from the earth's fields, trees, the moon, the sun, nighttime, daytime, sea creatures and on and on.

I am reminded of what the writer of Hebrews said about the creation and maintenance of the earth as well as the cosmos, "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son [Jesus Christ], whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." Hebrews 1:1-3.

The view of God's creation is all anyone needs to find God, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20. And, the view of God's creation is all anyone needs to find cause to worship God as this psalm does.

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's Benefits - 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 103:2,

"Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits..."

So, just what are the Lord's benefits?

He forgives, verse 3.

He heals, verse 3.

He redeems, verse 4.

He crowns with love and compassion, verse 4.

He satisfies with good things, verse 5.

He renews youth, verse 5.

He provides righteousness and justice for the oppressed, verse 6.

He is compassionate, verse 8.

He is gracious, verse 8.

He is slow to anger, verse 8.

He abounds with love, verse 8.

And... the list goes on from there! How many benefits of the Lord can you find in this psalm? Given such a bountiful array of benefits, no wonder we find David here praising the Lord!

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David: Commanding His Soul To 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 103:1-5,

"Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."

Just how wonderful would someone be if they provided these things for us:

Forgives all sins!
Heals diseases!
Redeems from judgment!
Crowns with love and compassion!
Satisfies desires with good things!
Renews youthfulness!

That is a phenomenal list! Just how wonderful would One be that would provide those things for us?!

I think that One would be worthy of all the praise I could muster. And, that is just what David does in this psalm. He begins and ends the psalm, just like bookends, with the same command to his soul, "Praise the Lord, my soul".

David invites the angels to join in his praise of the Lord, all the heavenly hosts, all the Lord's works. Might we do the same?

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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David's Lifestyle of Worship - 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 101:2,

"I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart."

David knew the Lord and worshipped him in many ways. This psalm itself is an expression of his worship. However, within it he enumerates many other ways he will worship the Lord. In the spirit of Paul's encouragement to us all, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." Romans 12:1, David commits himself to a variety of ways to worship the Lord with his life:

He will be careful to live a blameless life, verse 2.
He will conduct the affairs of his house with a blameless heart, verse 2.
He will not look with approval on anything vile, verse 3.
He hates what faithless people do and won't participate with them, verse 3.
He will keep the perverse of heart far from him, verse 4.
He won't have anything to do with what is evil, verse 4.
He will silence slanderers, verse 5.
He will not tolerate arrogant and haughty people, verse 5.
He will keep his focus on the faithful and dwell with them, verse 6.
He will only allow those "whose walk is blameless" to serve him as king, verse 6.
He will not allow those who practice deceit or speak falsely to dwell with him or stand in his presence, verse 7.
He will put to silence the wicked, verse 8.
He will expel evildoers from Jerusalem, verse 8.

Most all of this psalm is comprised of a listing of the many ways David had determined to worship the Lord and express his heart for him in the way he conducted his life. Note that David was a man of great faith, listed among the great heroes of faith in Hebrews 11:32, a man after God's own heart, Acts 13:22. What David committed himself to do in this psalm was not an effort to earn or obtain the Lord's acceptance of him, or to establish himself as worthy of God in any way. David's commitment here was an expression of his love, adoration, reverence and faith in the Lord. David worshipped the Lord with his life.

David truly exemplified the kind of faith James speaks of, "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds." James 2:18.

Is the Lord due anything less from any one of us?

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: Love 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 101:1,

"I will sing of your love and justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise."

In this psalm David says he will worship the Lord and live his life in a way that supports his worship of him. I count 14 ways David says he will back up his worship of the Lord with choices he makes. Can you identify them? Count them, maybe I'm off a bit!

In any event, David points to the two chief qualities the Lord wants us to know of him: his love and his justice. These key attributes of the Lord show up over and over again as the Lord reveals himself to us in the pages of Scripture.

Here is a key passage for me that expresses what the Lord wants us to know of him, "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." Jeremiah 9:24.

Another passage is when Moses asked the Lord to reveal himself to him. The Lord passed in front of Moses and said, "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." Exodus 34:6-7. The Lord's love and justice are on full display in this revelation of himself through Moses to us all.

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 Compulsion to Worship 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 100:1-5,

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
    Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations."

This is Psalm 100 in its entirely - a short 5 verses. It begins with a call to worship the Lord. 

What I love about this psalm is its expression of what the normative emotions, passion, excitement and ardent affections are that should be found in our worship as we focus on the Lord.

Joy expressed in joyful songs, gladness, thanksgiving, an irresistible felt compulsion to praise. 

The psalmist provides the grounds for this passion to praise the Lord as being due to the Lord's own compelling and evocative qualities: the Lord is our Creator God and so we belong to him. He is good, his love endures forever and his faithfulness has no end. Think about those things!

I find this beautiful psalm to be a real jewel in the pages of Scripture!

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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All Are Invited! - 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 100:1-3,

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture."

I can't think of a more wonderful invitation that has been extended to all peoples everywhere, to "all the earth"! It is an invitation to worship the God who has made all of us. It brings to mind Peter's words, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9.

All have been invited! All are desired and wanted by God! As Paul has written, "This [prayer] is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people." 1 Timothy 2:3-6a.

Don't fall for the impoverished theology that God only wants a few and that Jesus' payment for sins was only for a few. God's redemption of mankind extends to all! Jesus Christ's death on the cross paid for all the sins of every last person who has ever lived.

All he asks of us is to embrace him in faith! "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:12.

What a grand invitation! No matter who you are, what you have done, how successful or not you have been in life, the Lord wants you! He wants us all!

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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How Many Nations Belong To 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 99:1-2,

"The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations."

A nation exists as a group of people that inhabit a certain geography within a distinct timeframe. We learn from the apostle Paul that God is the creator of all 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. From this passage we see that God's purpose in creating all the various nations is to draw all people to himself, "so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him."

God uses the interactions of nations to create an environment that prompts people to seek him. I often correlate this passage with another from Paul, "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. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." Romans 8:20-22. Here we see that the difficulties found within the coexistence of the differing nations is a tool the Lord uses to draw mankind to him - a coexistence of frustration, and at times desperation. 

That message seen on those "Coexist" bumper stickers we have all seen will never come to fruition. That, and John Lennon's song "Imagine" are antithetical to the purposes and workings of God - never going to happen.

As we learn about God's purposes for all the nations, we see that God has created all the nations for those purposes.

In the end, we also see from Psalm 99 that all nations will exalt him in recognition of who he is and what he has done.

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 is Holy! - 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 99:1-3,

"The Lord reigns,
    let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
    let the earth shake.
Great is the Lord in Zion;
    he is exalted over all the nations.
Let them praise your great and awesome name—
    he is holy."

Merriam-Webster defines "holy" as, "... exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness".

That definition is clearly Illustrated in this psalm. The NIV breaks down this psalm into four stanzas, three of which end in the refrain, "he is holy."

The psalmist declares the Lord is exalted over all the nations in verse 2. In verse 4 he tells us the Lord (the King) is mighty, that he loves justice and has established equity, that he has done what is right and just in Jacob. We also learn that the Lord was forgiving toward Israel, verse 8, and yet he punished them for their sins.

The Lord is the same today as he has ever been. Worthy of our worship, he remains mighty, just, forgiving and yet a God of judgment. He forgives the sins of those who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith, while having his Son die on that cross to take the vicarious punishment for those sins.

Truly, the Lord is holy!

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 Righteousness 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 97:1-2,

"The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne."

The Lord clearly wants us to know that he is both righteous and just. Listen to what the Lord said in Jeremiah 9:24, "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."

Merriam-Webster defines righteousness as "acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin." Whatever is consistent with God's character and nature is righteous. When I say God is righteous, what I am saying is that he is simply consistent with himself, in every case at any time.

Real justice is something we all have an innate understanding of. The same dictionary defines justice as "the quality of being just, impartial, or fair". These days the term has been hijacked by those with political axes to grind. God's justice and our own innate understanding of true justice and fairness have nothing to do with the meaninglessness, unfounded nature of, and baselessness of this perverse use of the term (usually coupled with another term such as "social" or "economic" or whatever fancies the demagogue employing it.)

1 John 4:16 tells us that God is love. But, as we see in the Jeremiah passage, there is more to know of God than only his love. As the psalmist points out in Psalm 97 and as we read in Jeremiah, the foundation of God's throne and what he delights in is justice and righteousness.

It was God's very sense of justice that placed Jesus Christ on the cross. In his desire to make a people for himself to spend eternity with he determined to satisfy his own strong sense of justice by having our sins paid for by Jesus Christ to provide us a righteous standing with him.

That payment for our sins gets credited to our account with God only by embracing him if faith in this life. How thankful I am that God loved us so much and wants us for himself so much that he gave his one and only Son to pay the penalty for our sins. providing for himself satisfaction of his sense of justice and providing for us a righteous standing with him!

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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Seeing the Lord's Glory - 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 97:2-6,

"Clouds and thick darkness surround him [the Lord]; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all peoples see his glory."

Here is a description of the Lord, rich in beauty and splendor with reference to his creation. As we view his creation, we gain a reflection of what he is like. Like all creators, a creation says something or points to something or reflects something of its creator.

In this psalm, the psalmist makes these observations relative to his creation:

Clouds and thick darkness surround the Lord, verse 2.
Fire goes before him (consuming his foes), verse 3.
The Lord's lightning lights up the world (the earth sees at trembles at it), verse 4.
Mountains melt like wax before the Lord, verse 5.

Also observed by the psalmist:

The Lord reigns, verse 1.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne, verse 2.
The heavens proclaim the Lord's righteousness, veres 6.
All peoples see his glory, verse 6.
The Lord's judgments brings rejoicing and gladness, verse 8.
The Lord is the "Most High over all the earth", verse 9.
The Lord guards and delivers his faithful ones, verse 10.
The Lord's name is holy, verse 12.

These truly are wonderful observations about the Lord. A comment the psalmist makes has me wondering though, "all peoples see his glory." I am quite certain every last individual who has ever lived will see the Lord's glory at some point. Some, who refuse to recognize the Lord's glory in this life will do so in the next. "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.'" Romans 14:11.

However, there are many of us who chose to see the Lord's glory in this life. How blessed we are!

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.