How Majestic Is Your Name

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

You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

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

Psalm 8 NRSV

Crashing To The Ground

"Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon,
   with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest;
it towered on high,

   its top above the thick foliage." 

“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height, I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside, and the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys; its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it. All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches.

                                                                 (Ezekiel 31:3,10-13 NIV)

Pharaoh is to be warned. Even though Egypt stands tall like a tree towering over everything; Assyria once stood even taller. But, for its pride it came crashing down at the hand of God. So shall Egypt fall.

There was a huge pine, over 80 feet tall, not many feet from our home on Huron Bay. It was a beautiful tree that towered high above all of the others. It existed until a couple of summers ago. It had grown so big and so tall that we knew that if it ever fell that there would be nothing left to our home. It had grown too big and had become a danger to us. God's people (and governments) get too big... When we become dangerous to the well-being of others we ought not be surprised if God's will is to cut us down to size or let us crash where we can do no harm to others.

Again, those who have ears, hear the warning from Proverbs: "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov 16:18)

God's Peace - Pr. J

High Places

"The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

    he enables me to tread on the heights."

(Hab 3:19 NIV)

"The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."

(Hab 3:19 KJV)

It has been many years since I read, "Hinds Feet On High Places," an allegory, written by Hannah Hurnard. The journey of Much-Afraid and her friends Sorrow and Suffering, as they follow Shepherd to the high places, where they will walk as on hinds' feet, takes them through many dangers.  It is a long journey. They must have patience. They must have persistence. But, in the end, they (we) will dance in the presence of God. 

This is a familiar story to many of us as, daily, we journey through many difficult times with anticipation and the hope of the promised land.

Just as Habakkuk prayed and waited patiently for the LORD to deliver God's people from the enemy, from the many dangers that surround them; we, too pray and wait patiently (sometimes not as patiently as at other times) for the LORD to deliver His people from the turmoil and dangers they encounter as they journey through the dark shadows of the valley of death.

The Lord is our strength. With Him we shall walk through dark valleys to the high places where the light does surely shine. 

God's Peace - Pr. J

Death

 

 

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.

In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;

let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

                                                                   (Isa 25:6-9 NIV)

 

This morning I received a message (we don't have cell service or phone in Aura) that my mother-in-law, Lillian, died last night. Death is inevitable. It comes to us all. Isaiah paints a picture in words. It is a picture of the great banquet feast that the Lord has prepared for his people. It reminds us that through Jesus Christ, the power of death has been overcome. Death has been swallowed up forever! Although, we die; all who believe; yet, we shall live. There will be no more sorrow or pain. There will be no more reason for tears. (See Rev 7:17, 21:4) And all God's people will say: "“Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” Yes, it's worth repeating! Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation! 

 

Thanks be to God! God's Peace - Pr. J.