Tag: over all

Most high over all the earth

Psalms 97:1  The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light 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 the peoples see his glory.  All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O LORD.  For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.  O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.   Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.  Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

I am not sure of the author but I was intrigued (and convicted once again) by this short conversation and his comments on this Psalm. Why do I grumble at the circumstance I am in?  Why do I not trust God in all things? Why do I speak of His power, might, strength and control over all there is and then fall into the trap of not believing it?  Forgive me.

When Bulstrode Whitelock was embarked as Cromwell’s envoy to Sweden, in 1653, he was much disturbed in mind, as he rested at Harwich the preceding night, which was very stormy, as he thought upon the distracted state of the nation. It happened that a confidential servant slept in an adjacent bed, who, finding that his master could not sleep, at length said: —

“Pray, sir, will you give me leave to ask you a question?”

“Certainly.”

“Pray, sir, do you think God governed the world very well before you came into it?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“And pray, sir, do you think that He will govern it quite as well when you are gone out of it?”

“Certainly.”

“Then pray, sir, excuse me, but do not you think you may trust him to govern it quite as well as long as you live?”

To this question Whitelock had nothing to reply; but turning about, soon fell fast asleep, till he was summoned to embark. –G.S. Bowes, in “Illustrative Gatherings.” 1862. The reign of the Lord in the saints.

First, This kingdom that God is now setting up is his everlasting kingdom. It will not be administered by the weakness of man, but by the power of God; not by the folly of man, but by the judgment of God. God will, in this kingdom, nakedly manifest his own righteousness, his own compassion and pity; his own love, his own peace: he will do all things immediately by his own self. And therefore all the pride and ambition, all the oppression and tyranny, and miscarriages that have been in the government of men, shall be wholly taken away. Pure righteousness and judgment and equity shall be infallibly dispensed; and infinite power, strength, holiness, goodness, and authority shall shine forth nakedly in the face of God; and that shall be the judge of all men. We shall no longer be abused and oppressed by the will of men, by the lusts of men. The poor people shall no longer groan under the burden of men’s lusts, nor sweat for the pleasure and contents of men; nor their faces any longer be ground by the hardness of the spirit of men; but they shall be under the protection of God. The great cry now of the people is, “Let’s have a King!” Ye shall have one, one that will “reign in righteousness”, the LORD himself.

For Whom we exist

“ yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”

“ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

““Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

Malachi 2:10  Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Isaiah 63:16   For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.

Matthew 3:9    And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Luke 3:8    Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

John 8:39     They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,

Job 31:15     Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

Psalms 100:3    Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Acts 17:25   nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

It is good to be reminded and know life, breath, and everything is from God and we are His!  He made us and we are His people.  He has redeemed us.  We exist for Him through Jesus Christ.  Because of this we are to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey.  This will have different meaning to each of us.  Yet I have to wonder if we truly believe that He has given us everything and we exist for Him alone.  Our culture lends itself to leading us down paths without God.  We trust in forgiveness but walk in sin with no thought of whom we exist to serve.  We rely on our conscious to direct us but feed it very little with His word.  We shut our ears to His leading and expect Him to bless, protect, guide, love, and answer our weak prayers.  The thing is we are no different than those of which history speaks.  We, like them, get easily distracted by things of this world, lusts of our flesh, and covet what we see with our eyes.  These paths of the world should not be those we walk.  Our path is the path for whom we exist.  To know this path, to walk this path, and to stay on this path we need to continually grow our desire to know and serve Him.  Stay in His word each day – serve, follow and obey His leading.