Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Psalm 149:2, NIV*
“Let the people … be glad in their King” – not just praise who He is, but be glad in Him – be confident in Him, sure of His power, glad that He has rescued me and adopted me into His kingdom. Not repressed or fearful because of my circumstances or limitations, but vibrant and secure because of the character of my God.
Praise God salvation is more than just going to Heaven when we die – it’s also the joy we can have with Him on the journey.
Father, please forgive us for the times we take You for granted. May You fill our hearts, souls and minds with the light of who You are, and teach us to be truly glad in You.
Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity. Psalm 93:2, NIV*
I wonder what the psalmist was thinking when he wrote Psalm 93. In just five verses, he contrasts God’s majesty and sovereignty with the full power of the sea, and he concludes that God’s rule – and His holiness – will endure for endless days.
Had he seen a miraculous deliverance? Or was he reaffirming his faith in the midst of an overwhelming situation?
The ocean in destructive mode is awesome and terrible. Think of a hurricane making landfall, a tidal wave, or a mid-sea storm devouring a boat. But the psalmist affirms that no matter how bad things get, nothing can shake God’s throne: His authority, strength and rule. Whether we see Him or not, He hasn’t disappeared.
Scripture often uses the sea as a metaphor for the nations who don’t know God, and perhaps that’s what the psalmist meant. Israel saw enough attacks from their enemies.
At our time in history, although there are Christ-followers all around the earth, the world seems made up of “the nations” who don’t know God. Including my own Canada and the United States, which were founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
Godlessness is on the rise, and I don’t mean “people of a different faith than mine.” I mean a system of belief that tries to deny any deity or higher authority. A system that discards morality and holiness.
That may be what prompted the psalmist to meditate on God’s power and to write these verses. The psalm ends with this:
Your statutes stand firm;
holiness adorns your house
for endless days. Psalm 93:5, NIV*
Natural sea waves don’t ever threaten to bring down God’s rule. Godlessness, either through direct attack or subtle erosion, do.
Father, thank You that Your statutes stand firm. You are eternal and so is Your rule over the earth. You are our Creator King. Please help me keep my eyes on You and my confidence in You, and not be terrified by the waves. You are God, You are at work, and someday the whole earth will see Your glory.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6, KJV*
David Crowder talks about “living the rescue” in his book, Praise Habit: about how accepting God’s gift with open arms, embracing it and living it, is praise to the Giver. (page 40)
As I was praying this morning, it seemed to me that when I live confident in God, that’s praise, because it’s a testimony to His trustworthiness and power. That was how the God wanted the people of Israel to live, in the Old Testament. And its how the early Christians lived: openly dependent on God. If He let them down, they’d fall. Of course, He didn’t. But the point is, they were living examples, testimonies, God’s “Exhibit A”.
God has been reminding me that I need to see what He does, and to praise Him with my words, both private and public, spoken and sung. Today I’m realizing that public praise may not involve words.
If I’m living confidently, secure in God’s hand, that says something. I can tell people who ask (“always be ready to give the reason for the hope that is within you,” says 1 Peter 3:15) and I can speak naturally about God, but it’s the living by faith – calm and at peace – that’s going to demonstrate God’s power. It’s living proof of God’s goodness.
Father, please help me understand this and apply it even in the deepest levels. Help me walk by faith, trusting in You with all my heart, and help me not lean on my own understanding. Help me to acknowledge You in all my ways. Thank You that You will direct my path – please help me walk in it by faith, not by my limited sight. Because of Jesus, who rescued me. Amen.
Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! … Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem, praise your God, O Zion. Psalm 147:1, 12 NIV*
Verses 2 – 6 say, “The LORD builds… gathers… heals… binds up… determines… names… sustains… casts down.”
Our God is worthy of praise. Something within us needs to praise Him—was made to praise Him.
We need to praise Him privately, adoring Him and growing our trust and confidence in Him.
But we also need to praise Him publicly. We need to tell others what He has done, because
He deserves it,
it strengthens other believers’ faith,
it shows His reality to those who don’t believe, and
it strengthens our own faith as we re-tell what He has done.
Sometimes church feels to me like a spectator sport. I go, reminding myself “let us not give up meeting together…” (Hebrews 10:25, NIV) but I wonder: are we meeting together? Exchanging stories to encourage our faith? Sharing and bearing one another’s burdens? Or are we putting on our nice faces for a visit to our faith club, then going back into our world powerless and unchanged?
LORD, I need to praise You more, to build my trust and confidence in You by thinking and talking about what You do. Help me see Your hand at work around me, and help me share it with others. I’m not the only silent one. Please wake Your body and loosen our tongues to declare Your glory.
Lots of artists have sung “God of Wonders,” written by Steve Hindalong and Marc Byrd, but my favourite rendition has to be by Third Day:
I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever. Psalm 145:1-2, 21 NIV*
The active words in this psalm include “tell, speak, commend, meditate, proclaim, celebrate, sing, praise, extol.” And it’s all about God: His works, splendour, majesty, goodness, righteousness, graciousness, compassion, faithfulness, love, help, nearness, justice….
King David says he’ll praise God every day and declare His praise for ever and ever. The Apostle John says if we tried to write down everything Jesus did on earth, the world couldn’t hold all the books. (John 21:25)
This psalm first caught my attention before we went on holiday, and I was glad to find a copy of David Crowder’s book, Praise Habit, in a New York City Borders. More about the book later, but this is what he says about praise: “We have put on Christ. We are found dressed in His rescue, redemption, and righteousness and, aware of this rescue, we spew forth praise. We wear this very rescue into our relationships, into our interactions….”**
That’s how I want to live. Thanking Him for my daily food, enjoying solitude with Him, are part of it but not enough. I want to not only meditate on what He has done, but tell others—and hear them tell me what He’s done in their lives. That encourages our faith and invites others to trust Him.
Father, I don’t praise You enough. Please forgive me and change me. Please help me focus more on who You are and what You do—and help me share You with others. Open my eyes to see Your touch around me. Give me a delight in You that is natural and irrepressible and contagious. And bring glory to Your Name through the praise of Your people.
This week’s song is “Be Unto Your Name“, written by Lynn DeShazo and Gary Sadler and performed here by Robin Mark.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:19-21, NIV*
Seen… not seen…. But I have seen God, at least His character: in the ways he cares for me, in His Word, in creation around me. I love Him because He’s already proven His love for me.
And I’ve also seen my brothers’ and sisters’ characters in what they do. Some generate an automatic response of love. Others, my instinctive response is avoidance… perhaps even dislike.
John calls us to an active love: “let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18, NIV) It’s not “feel love for,” it’s “show love to,” perhaps even “serve.”
I’ve told my sons many times over the years, “you don’t have to like one another, but it’s your job to love one another.” Maybe that’s the point of this command to love.
John goes on to say “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.” (1 John 5:3,4a, NIV) And he says we overcome the world by believing in Jesus, the Son of God. (1 John 5:5).
With loving my brothers and sisters in mind, I wonder about this overcoming the world. Maybe in part it means overcoming or breaking free of the world’s default mindset. Taking on the perspective of Jesus, learning to see like He does. Learning to love the unlovable because He sees something in them—in us—that is lovable: we are designed and created by the God of the universe, and He deems us worthy of love.
In the strength and grace of Jesus, I can find what I need to show love to the difficult ones who come my way. They need it most.
Father, please forgive my hard-heartedness—there is still so much world in me to overcome. Please help me see people as You see them. And give me not only love and compassion, but wisdom too, because with the demanding ones, sometimes what they want isn’t what You would give. Help me to depend on You and not trust my own instincts.
I’ve been feeling a bit frazzled this week, anxious about a few things even though I’m sure God will work them out. I’ve been praying about them, but the waiting to see God work them out has stressed me.
Monday’s post on the Captured by God blog, “Seek God First,” reminded me how we can slip into desiring what God will do more than desiring Him for who He is. Praying about it this morning, my thoughts kept circling. How can I come back to that intimacy with God as God, and leave my concerns in His hands?
The harder I try, the harder it gets. But as I was telling Him how helpless I am to do this, a verse from the other day came to mind: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15, NIV)
That stopped me. Lots of times I’m not sure if what I want to ask is His will, but this is a no-brainer. He wants me to come to Him like a child, in trust and confidence, just to be with Him. That’s what the Gospel is about: restoring relationship with God.
So I’ve asked, and I can be confident it’s His will. And I can trust that the Holy Spirit is interceding where my words aren’t enough.
My spirit is still, hope has returned, and I feel better already just from the stillness and the promise that God will draw me back to Himself.
Yesterday I was praying to see glimpses of God taking care of me, so I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed. Today I just want to see glimpses of Him—just to know He’s near.
Father, I love You. Thank You for Your grace, Your love and Your mercy to your scatter-brained and easily-distracted child. Draw me close to You.
Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity.
‘Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.’ Isaiah 46:1-4, NIV*
The gods made by the Babylonians are burdens: not only are they powerless to help the people who made them, but those people expend energy trying to care for and protect them, to the point where they get carried into captivity.
What a contrast with God: He carries us, sustains us. Where the Babylonians end in captivity, Israel (and us) who have been in captivity for a time because of not cooperating with God, will be rescued.
God goes on in this chapter to say that nothing will thwart His purposes, and that He will do what He planned: including “I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendour to Israel.” (Isaiah 46:13b)
Idols burden the people; God’s people are a burden He faithfully carries. People can’t even keep their idols safe; God keeps His people safe. Idols come to a bad end and the people get dragged along; God promises a good end for His people, guaranteed by His own integrity and power.
Now… how many lifeless things have I poured my treasure into and tried to bring to life and lug around? Plans, attitudes, dreams that aren’t from God or for this time?
Father, please forgive my wayward spirit. I get distracted, or I pick up junk to carry. Please help me recognize anything I need to take out of my pockets and dump at the side of the road. Help me rest in You as You sustain me. Help me trust Your leading and value You. Thank You for valuing me.
I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours! 1 Peter 1:1-2, MSG*
How many believers were scattered during the persecution? How many of us feel scattered or alone today?
Not one of us is missing or forgotten. There’s no one falling through the cracks with God. He has His eye on us, He has plans for us – including plans to help us fulfill His plans.
He hasn’t sent us out on assignment with only our wits and resources. Remember, He’s given us the Holy Spirit as Counsellor, Comforter, Reminder of His Word.
The one thing I find lacking in this translation is it omits what the NIV** renders “sprinkling by [Jesus’] blood.” Speaking only of “the sacrifice of Jesus” misses a reference to the Old Testament priesthood.
The priests were sprinkled by the blood of the sacrifice as part of their commissioning. If we’re sprinkled by Jesus’ blood, not only are we cleansed, but we’re consecrated into the holy position of priests.
We’re to be the go-betweens for Jesus and those who don’t know Him yet. Peter comes back to this: The Message puts it “Chosen for the high calling of priestly work… God’s instruments to do His work and speak out for Him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference He made for You—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.” (1 Peter 2:5, MSG)
So no matter how I feel today, I am not alone. I’m not lost or forgotten. God has a tender eye on me—He is “most careful with” me.
He has plans and a purpose for me, and as I follow Jesus’ example of being “content to let God set things right” (1 Peter 2:23, MSG) I can rely on His Spirit’s help in fulfilling my role of “priestly work… to tell others of… the difference He has made…” (1 Peter 2:5, MSG)
Father, I praise You for Your love, mercy and power to save. It’s comforting to know You see us all – not one is hidden or forgotten. And how could You forget us? You’ve engraved us on the palms of Your hands. What love – what an amazing God You are! Help me give my whole heart to You in trust, confidence and love.
Our song this week is Jeremy Camp’s I Still Believe. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNqw2ssYXC8]
Live carefree before God; He is most careful with you. 1 Peter 5:7, MSG*
Carefree: not because we’re careless, but because we know and trust God’s character and have committed to Him all the things that would weigh on our hearts and minds.
“Most careful.” The first image I get is fine china being carefully wrapped and tucked securely in a box.
But elementary school children have to be “most careful” with the hatching chicks and emerging butterflies. “Helping” them, making their journey easier, will damage or kill them.
A chef is “most careful” in the measurements and quality of ingredients, but they get chopped and mixed and exposed to the right amount of heat for the proper time.
Nor should we listen to the lie that God doesn’t care. He is “most careful” with us. He knows our limits. After all, He made us.
He also knows His limits. Well, He knows He has no limits. There’s nothing, however bad, that He can’t heal if we’ll trust Him. Nothing that can keep us from His love and care.
Remember, one of the aims in the trials is that our faith “be proved genuine and result in praise, glory and honour” (1 Peter 1:7, NIV**). There’s no hint here of disproving or disqualifying. As we experience the power of God to sustain and care for us – we prove to ourselves that He is enough – not only do we know what before we simply believed, but those around us can see God’s power and acknowledge it with praise and honour to Him.
Father, thank You that You are indeed most careful with us. Thank You that You are fully trustworthy. Please help us learn to give You our cares and not to carry them ourselves.
