God Is Hiding

Posted on by korgrocker

“O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble? The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor. Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others. For they brag about their evil desires; they praise the greedy and curse the Lord.”
Psalm 10:1-3 NLT

The Psalmist wasn’t afraid to make his complaint to God. He had no fear of a lightning bolt from Heaven because of his audacity in questioning God’s motives. But he merely expressed what we all do sometimes – where is God when the going gets tough? As we know ourselves, it is easy to praise God when the blessings flow towards us, but not so easy when we are in trouble. 

The Psalmist was reflecting on his own troubles, but he followed his questions with, once again, his observations of wicked people. How do they get away with their evil ways? Asaph, another Psalmist, expressed similar sentiments in Psalm 73. In fact, he writes that the prosperity of the wicked almost caused him to lose his faith. Psalm 73:3-5, “For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong. They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.” He continued in verse 16, “So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!”‭‭ In Matthew 5:45b we read a little snippet from Jesus, that perhaps provides a reason. “ …  For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike“. It is a ludicrous thought that God would perhaps stop the sun shining on all those people who ignore Him, coming under the Psalmist’s “wicked” definition. Imagine a largely dark world punctuated by pools of sunlight as Godly people went about their business. God’s blessings of life apply to everyone, wicked or not, but the difficult thought for the Psalmists was that the wicked seem to have more than their fair share.

But back to the times of trouble. We read about what happened to Paul and Silas in Philippi. Through the name of Jesus, they had removed the power of divination from a slave girl, upsetting her masters. A riot ensued and Paul and Silas ended up severely beaten, and imprisoned with their feet in the stocks. They were in trouble, without a doubt. And then we come to Acts 16:25, “Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening“.  We would have thought that they would have been crying out to God, wailing their complaints and asking why He hadn’t been there for them when they were in so much trouble. They had been abused and incarcerated in a stinking jail, their backs sore, their movement severely restricted. And yet they were praising God. How could they do that? God wasn’t there for them when they needed Him, some might think. The wicked people in Philippi had imposed their vengeance. But no external act of wicked people was ever going to stop Paul and Silas praising God.

James wrote in his epistle, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow” (James 1:2-3). The sad thing is that becoming a Christian doesn’t mean that we won’t have to experience troubles anymore. In fact, Jesus said, ” …Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). So when the Psalmist questioned God’s motives in times of trouble and questioned why the wicked people got away with their wickedness, and when we do the same, we instead should turn to the Lord, expressing our thanks and praise. God isn’t hiding from us. He is always there when we need Him. But in those dark days when the Heavens seem like brass and our prayers don’t seem to get to God, we need to press in, worshipping and praising. We so often want to hide from God when troubles beset us. So on a Sunday morning we stay at home when we should be at church. We don’t pick up our Bibles and read His words of comfort. We stop praying. God hasn’t gone away but we have. God knows all about the wicked people who seem to prosper. He will deal with them one day if they persist in their sin. But in the mean time He provides an opportunity for them to repent and turn to Him. One day the scales of justice will be balanced but in this life we have a mission and that includes pressing through our troubles and keeping short accounts with God. Oh, and by the way, we tell the wicked about Jesus, and His saving grace.

Dear God. You had a plan for the salvation of mankind. And we deeply thank You for Jesus, Your precious Son, for forgiving us our sins. Amen.

Merely Human

Posted on by korgrocker

“But the needy will not be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed. Arise, O Lord! Do not let mere mortals defy you! Judge the nations! Make them tremble in fear, O Lord. Let the nations know they are merely human.”
Psalm 9:18-20 NLT

David brings Psalm 9, what is to many a difficult Psalm, to an end. Its references to wicked people, enemies, judgement, and nations that ignore God, are not uplifting reading. But they are a sobering reminder that we live in an evil and sinful world that, particularly here in the West, and if the news media reports are to be believed, is set on ignoring God. David doesn’t forget the poor and needy in his society however, and he possibly feels despair that poverty is present. But his confidence in God is such that the “hopes of the poor” together with the cries of the needy will “not be ignored forever”. One day the scales of justice will be balanced, as we saw from the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16). 

David looked around his society and the adjacent nations from his kingly perspective and expressed his frustration that God didn’t seem to be doing anything about the injustices of life. The poor continued to be poor. His enemies continued to defy God. And David continued to pray, even cry out, to God for justice. Not some time in the future, but now. 

David ends his Psalm with the request for the nations to be put in their place. Point out to them that they are “merely human” is his request of God. Of course, God will one day answer David’s prayer in every generation, but anyone can compare his status with that of God right now. The evidence is all around us everywhere. Elihu, one of Job’s friends, said the following about God, “He repays people according to their deeds. He treats people as they deserve. … He doesn’t care how great a person may be, and he pays no more attention to the rich than to the poor. He made them all. In a moment they die. In the middle of the night they pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand” (Job 34:11 19-20). And then, in Job 38:1-7 we read, “Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” 

There is no doubt that human beings are “merely human”. But the arrogance of mankind is endemic. It was in David’s day and it still exists today in 21st Century societies and nations everywhere. People everywhere ignore God and even invent theories that try and explain origins and how the world was formed. Even in the Church, some men and women stand up and in their arrogance they declare the thoughts of the Lord as though they live almost on His plane and have a special hot-line to His very throne. They well might have, but where is the reverence and awe of the One who created the universe? Where is the acknowledgement of the One to whom all glory and honour is due? Where is the humility of those God has created? It is just as well that God has not answered David’s prayers for justice and punishment because there would not be a single human being left on this planet.

But we pilgrims worship at God’s footstool. We are there in awe of the One who gave His life for those who are “merely human”. Let’s not ever forget that.

Dear Father God. Sometimes we assume too much from our relationship. Please forgive us when we step over the mark. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Fate of Nations

Posted on by korgrocker

“The nations have fallen into the pit they dug for others. Their own feet have been caught in the trap they set. The Lord is known for his justice. The wicked are trapped by their own deeds. … The wicked will go down to the grave. This is the fate of all the nations who ignore God.”
Psalm 9:15-17 NLT

‭It is not just the wicked who end up in a grave, of course. We will all die one day and our physical remains will ultimately end up either in a grave or our ashes scattered where our families decide. Cheery subject to start the day, I know, but one that cannot be avoided, no matter how hard we try. So when David wrote about the “fate of all the nations”, he was stating the obvious. But other Bible versions substitute “grave” for “hell” or “Sheol”, and this makes more sense in the context of these verses. David writes that there are consequences for individuals and nations who “ignore God”, in that they will be trapped by the very tactics they use against others. I suppose the last world war comes to mind, with a militarily-aggressive Germany ultimately ending up as a defeated nation and its evil leader dead. The Nazi programmes against the Jews and others put the German government well into the “wicked” bracket and even those like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who vocally opposed the evil being promoted, failed to turn round the wickedness present in that nation and at that time. The AMP version of Psalm 9:17 reads, “The wicked will turn to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), Even all the nations who forget God”. 

But what is this “Sheol” (or “Hades” in the Greek), called the place of the dead? If the wicked nations end up there, will believers join them in the same place? Simplistically, Christian thought is that when we die, our spirits end up either in hell or Heaven. The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16 gives some credence to this thought, with Lazarus, the poor man ending up with Abraham eating at the Heavenly banquet, and the Rich Man in a place of torment. Luke 16:23 (AMP), “In Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom (paradise)”. But whatever we believe, it is inconceivable that a wicked person or nation will ever end up in a place called Heaven or paradise, and that is what David wrote about the “fate of all nations who ignore God”. 

We UK residents are living in an increasingly secular society with Christians being marginalised by legislation at variance with what God has ordained in His Word. But there are also green shoots of a new move of God starting to emerge. In my home town of Dunfermline, in Scotland, there are some exciting things happening with new Christian groups emerging and some existing churches growing almost weekly with new converts and baptisms. And we thank God for His grace and favour, with believers providing a ground-swell of opposition to the ideologies and laws that promote rebellion against God but will not end well for their adherents and promoters. One day they will find themselves in Sheol, in the company of the Rich Man, even desperate, like him, to send a warning back to those they left behind, colleagues or family members living a life ignoring God.

We pilgrims probably will never fully appreciate the impact we have on our societies as we continue as salt and light, beacons of hope in a Godless nation. We look to Jesus, as we read in Hebrews 12:2a, “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith …”. And we extend God’s love and grace to those around us, who are journeying to a lost eternity.

Dear Father God. Not for us to be a part of a Godless people who will end up in a place they don’t want to be. Please encourage and empower us to spread Your Gospel each and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Lord’s Mercy

Posted on by korgrocker

“Lord, have mercy on me. See how my enemies torment me. Snatch me back from the jaws of death. Save me so I can praise you publicly at Jerusalem’s gates, so I can rejoice that you have rescued me.
Psalm 9:13-14 NLT

The negative words in these two verses – torment, enemies, death – are countered and balanced by three more – mercy, save and praise. And in a nutshell, that sums up the amazing love and grace of our God. Every challenge and fiery dart from our enemy the devil is deflected by the mercy of God. We are not left unprotected on our own, powerless in the face of our enemy’s attacks. David prays for the Lord’s mercy in the face of hostile attacks so that he can once again praise God “publicly at Jerusalem’s gates” and “rejoice that [God] has rescued [him]”. 

David’s picture is perhaps one of a capricious God, to whom a request has to be made to see if He would do something to help him. David appeals to God by presenting to Him his situation (as though God doesn’t already know) in the hope that David praising Him publicly would be enough to get Him to act. Of course, in our season of God’s grace, we know differently. We know a God who is so full of mercy that He wants to act on our behalf in the face of the devil’s attacks, if we let Him. He has provided all the resources we need to protect ourselves from our enemies and has promised to bring us home to Him one day. The rest is up to us.

David’s prayer is one that we would all do well to emulate in our own lives. How did we feel when we woke up this morning? What was on our minds? Were we struggling to get up and face the day, one perhaps we fear will be riddled with difficulties and negatives? Instead, our minds must realign themselves through God’s mercy so that we can praise God for His salvation and for rescuing our thoughts from the attacks of the enemy. 

So as we lay in bed, the alarm having just gone off, the day full of real or imagined terrors, depression lapping at the fringes of our minds, we have a choice. God’s mercy is there for the taking and it will turn us around to start the day with praise and rejoicing, because He has already defeated the enemy that so often torments us. So instead of reaching for the news or social media reports on our phones or tablets, we instead must reach for the Good News that deflects the devil’s attacks. The writer to the Hebrews wrote this, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16). Whatever we have done, there is a place of forgiveness in God’s presence, and, once there, we will find the peace Paul wrote about in Philippians 4:7, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus”. 

Dear God. Your mercy knows no bounds and we thank You for Your loving kindness, so freely available to Your children. Amen.

Unforgettable Deeds

Posted on by korgrocker

“Sing praises to the Lord who reigns in Jerusalem. Tell the world about his unforgettable deeds. For he who avenges murder cares for the helpless. He does not ignore the cries of those who suffer.”
Psalm 9:11-12 NLT

The problem about what people do in their lives is that most of them are forgettable. They quickly disappear into the mists of time, with very few lasting legacies. Occasionally a “deed” is remembered and is recorded in the history books. Something like Sir Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin. Or when Martin Luther affixed a document with his 95 Theses to a church door in Saxony over five hundred years ago, starting the Protestant Reformation. Florence Nightingale is remembered for her compassionate deeds caring for wounded soldiers in the Crimean war. But there are dark and wicked deeds that are remembered today. Deeds committed by evil men such as Hitler or Stalin. 

But what about God’s “unforgettable deeds”? The most well remembered deed committed by God was the time when His Son Jesus was crucified two thousand years ago in propitiation for our sins. Jesus took on Himself the punishment for the sins committed by human beings, past, present and future. A single act of love and grace that has secured the future of the human race as God intended – in His presence for eternity. Of course, this is only if people respond to this “unforgettable deed” in faith, confessing and repenting of their sins and receiving God’s forgiveness. And that is the issue for any of God’s “unforgettable deeds” – it is the way we respond to them. If we read about all that God has done for us and then walk away with a “that’s nice” and promptly forget what He has done, then there will be consequences that could affect us for ever. The Bible is packed full of God’s “unforgettable deeds”, and it is only as we read about them and believe them, that they will benefit us and bring about an ever closer alignment between God and ourselves. 

The Psalmist, David, continued to declare God’s righteousness and compassion. Those who commit murder will face consequences because He cannot, because He is righteous, allow such a crime to go unpunished. We think of all the murders that are committed every day in the UK, with unborn children having their lives terminated at the whim of parents, an act of murder carried out by medical professionals. David wrote that God “cares for the helpless” and He will avenge their murder. A truly sobering thought. And regarding people who have already been born, Open Doors has recorded that 4476 Christians world-wide were murdered for their faith last year. And that’s the ones they know about. God “cares for the helpless” and He will avenge their murder. In our sin-ridden world, God’s care extends beyond the grave and one day the murderers will be held to account.

So we pilgrims pick up our Bibles and read, and read. It is an amazing Book packed full of God’s “unforgettable deeds” and the Holy Spirit will reveal to us time and time again all that God has done for us. Of His goodness and mercy there is no end. David started verse 11 with the exhortation to sing praises to the Lord. One day the Lord Jesus will rule and reign in Jerusalem – we know that because we have read to the end of the Book. Will we be counted in the New Jerusalem’s population? Of course we will and we praise the One who made it all possible by the most famous of all of God’s “unforgettable deeds”.

Dear God. Thank You for Your Son Jesus, who has indeed done it all for us. Amen.

God Our Refuge

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.”
Psalm 9:9-10 NLT

In our natural thoughts, we read these verses today and immediately reflect on a place of safety. It could be our home once we have closed and locked the front door.  It could be the thought of a castle like Eilean Donan in Scotland’s Kyle of Lochalsh, or Edinburgh Castle, places thought to be almost impregnable when they were built. Then there was Masada, the last place of safety for the Jews after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. And I’m sure David, when he wrote this Psalm, had something similar in mind. Psalm 9:9 mentions the “oppressed”, implying that these were people who were under attack of some kind. Perhaps it was some sort of religious persecution, or difficulties with a landowner or landlord. Even a military source or a thief. In David’s day, there wasn’t the societal cohesion that we enjoy (most of the time) in our Western communities. The “times of trouble” can have many guises. Another Psalmist picked up this theme in Psalm 46:1-2, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea”. In this case, the Psalmist expands on the thought that God is someone to whom we can turn when there are natural disasters. 

Today, we can find ourselves, though, in places of oppression from our enemy the devil. He will find our weak spots and will often waken us with worrying thoughts in the early hours of the morning. Perhaps there is an unpaid bill worrying us, or a family situation that is proving difficult to resolve. Of course, none of these things can be escaped from. We live in a natural world with its rules and regulations, difficulties and challenges, a world degraded by sin. But our enemy will maximise our discomfort because that is what he does. The same old lie from the Garden is still on his lips today, “Surely God did not …”

An 18th Century prayer for children was, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, Watch and guard me through the night, and wake me with the morning light“. The picture emerges of God’s protection extending over little ones, easily frightened by events or noises around them. Another verse that reassures us of God’s enduring protection can be found in Deuteronomy 31:8, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you”. 

God is indeed a refuge for us, a stronghold impregnable to the attacks of the enemy or anyone else. He will keep our spirits safe forever. There is a Psalm I have turned to in the past when faced with a problem, seemingly insurmountable. Psalm 91:4 contains a wonderful word picture of a mother hen guarding her chicks. But God is far more than that and I can remember one time, when the company I was working for was facing financial difficulties and redundancies were threatened, that God took me to Psalm 91:7, “Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.”

But whatever our situation, God “is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble“. He is always there for us. And sometimes, if He allows something to happen to us regardless of our prayers, He knows of something better coming along. Our God is a wonderful caring and loving God. He will always be there for us, and has our highest interests at heart. Oh – by the way – I wasn’t made redundant although others were. God is good!

Dear Father God. You are our wonderful Protector in all circumstances. We may still walk through the valley of death, but You are indeed always with us. Thank You. Amen.

Our Forever God

Posted on by korgrocker

“But the Lord reigns forever, executing judgment from his throne. He will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness.”
Psalm 9:7-8 NLT

A small child’s question “Who made God?” is understandable from a natural perspective, as young minds grapple with difficult issues in life. Everything around us has been made at some time or another. Our natural world emerged in the Genesis account of creation, our material world of houses and cars and so on contains objects created by human beings. But then comes along the scientific distortions based on the largely unsubstantiated views and “research” by scientists like Darwin and others, bring confusion and contradictions, and media journalists propagate reports of a world formed a very long time ago when some geological discovery is made. But I lack the faith to believe in a world that is populated through a chance meeting of molecules many billions of years ago, or was formed by an apparent celestial explosion even further back into history. And none of these scientists have ever explained where all the matter that formed the universe came from in the first place. So a young mind, perhaps through a Sunday School lesson or teacher’s comment, and unable to make sense of the enormous amounts of data available, intuitively believes that there must be a Creator, and asks where God came from.

It may be a difficult concept to believe, but our God, the Lord, “reigns forever”. God has always been present. Jesus said in Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End“. So the answer to the small child’s question “Who made God?” is “No-one – He has always been there”. And there is something special about that knowledge, that our Creator God, the One who loves us and has graciously saved us, has always been there. And there is more – Ephesians 1:4, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes”. Such knowledge elevates us into Heavenly places that are unseen with our physical eyes but home to our spirits.

David also declared that God has always been there and His righteousness prevails through His judgement and fairness. And there is coming a time when He will rule the nations. We can only pray that this will happen soon, as the world around us seems to descend further and further into depths of evil and depravity. But instead of getting depressed we look up to the One who made it all. The One who created our world and populated it with human beings made in His image. The One who holds all things together – Colossians 1:17, “He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together”. By looking up we get God’s perspective and receive the assurance that He is holding back the full potential of the forces of evil.

Paul continues in Colossians 1:19-20, “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross”. Perhaps a better question should be “How could the One who has always been there send His Son as a human being, to save us from our sins?” The answer to such a question we will never fully understand until we meet the One who made it all possible. But we are so grateful for Jesus. Perhaps John 3:16 doesn’t really fully communicate the heart of God and His love for you and me. We will never get our minds around what it must have cost Him. God wants to be involved intimately in the affairs of His creation, and in response we feel our hearts lift within us, a warm glow flushing away the thoughts of a sad and bad world. We want to shout out our praises to the One who has done it all. Jesus!

Dear God. You have always been present, because that is what eternity means. Thank You that Your love and grace is eternal and present with us today and every day. Amen.

Trouble and Strife

Posted on by korgrocker

“My enemies retreated; they staggered and died when you appeared. For you have judged in my favour; from your throne you have judged with fairness. You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have erased their names forever. The enemy is finished, in endless ruins; the cities you uprooted are now forgotten.”
Psalm 9:3-6 NLT

Why is it that so many of the Psalms contain references to “enemies”? David often brought his enemies before God with a request that they be judged and dealt with, leaving him vindicated. And he continued to pray for judgements and punishments to extend beyond his boundaries into the adjacent nations. The political situation in David’s days was volatile and has continued unchanged right up to the 21st Century, with the Middle East being a hot bed of factions and different political interests, with nations, and even people groups within the nations, striving with each other and at times descending into extremes of violence. External influences stoke up the flames of discord and hatred, raising them to intolerable levels, with violence viewed with puzzlement by peoples in other parts of the world. The nations and borders might have changed since David was king in Israel but the strife has continued across the generations almost as though the very ground in that part of the world is cursed. 

Of course, the glib answer to the Middle East’s problems is laid at the door of sin, and the enemy who introduced it to the world, in the Garden, itself being located in an adjacent area, so some have thought, near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Southern Mesopotamia. But whatever the geography, the very fact that there are people regarded as “enemies” indicates that sin is present. David expected God to be his arbiter and rule in his favour, and his writings describe both real and imagined Godly judgement, with punishments meted out on his “enemies” and even their infrastructure.

It is true that God has judged sin and wickedness in the past – think about the situations in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Noah – but does He do that today? Paul wrote in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard”. From that perspective, does God therefore favour one people over another, and bring judgement to bear in these modern times? But introduce into that scenario the following verses in Romans 3, “Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26). Sinners have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and now stand righteous in God’s presence. This elevates us into a different kingdom, God’s Kingdom, and introduces a different emphasis, as we read in Ephesians 6:12, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places”. Two kingdoms emerge, the kingdom of the world which contains all unredeemed peoples wherever they live, and God’s Kingdom where His people are united through His love and grace. We have weapons of defence and one of offence, all of which can keep us safe from our enemies, should we choose to use them as God has ordained. 

We pilgrims read what David wrote all those years ago and superimpose over his words the principles and perspectives of the Kingdom of which we are a part. We have a Judge who rules with righteousness and love, with mercy and grace, and who will ultimately deal with the sin and sinful people that has polluted this world. We might not see a solution to the battles taking place in the Middle East in our earthly lifetime, but we will one day see all wickedness and evil being dealt with, and banished forever. 

Dear God. You are the righteous Judge, who will fairly deal with all human beings one day. We pilgrims thank You that, although sinners, we have been redeemed by Your Son, Jesus, and can come before You covered over with Jesus’ righteousness. Thank You for the miracle of Your grace and love. Amen.

Praise the Lord!

Posted on by korgrocker

“I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvellous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.”
Psalm 9:1-2 NLT

Another Davidic Psalm from the Bible’s song and prayer book. These two verses contain words such as “praise”, “tell”, “filled”, “joy”, and “sing”. These are all words that are not very common in the secular society around us. Unbelievers won’t experience the joy of being able to praise God. They won’t appreciate the “marvellous things” God has done. They won’t be making their ways to work this morning humming a hymn tune or singing His praises in their hearts. I can remember some years ago walking through an underpass under the River Thames in London and many people were hurrying the other way, heading for work. I was struck by the tight and drawn look on the faces of most of them. No joy visible. No lightness and freedom present. The best efforts of a busker largely ignored. Just people existing in a Godless environment, shackled to a secular world where there is no God worthy of praises, able to fill them with joy. 

In 1 Kings 8:23, Solomon starts his prayer of dedication with, “ … O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven above or on the earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion”. The Psalmists were scathing about those who denied the existence of God. Psalm 52:1, “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!” It is so sad that all those people who do not know God, who have not ever experienced the joy of salvation, who have never seen the marvellous works created by God, and who have no song of praise to sing, just exist without hope, heading for a lost eternity.

At the start of this day, we pause and step through the door into another Kingdom, where we find God in all His glory. Where we focus on praising Him. Where we feel His joy filling our hearts. Where we feel His touch and His Spirit bringing reassurance and guidance for the day ahead. And as our time with Him draws to an end, we step back into our monochrome world but bringing the colour of knowing God into the dark places of hopeless souls. People with no hope who are desperate to hear some Good News. Where the “marvellous things” of God will be able to penetrate their hardened hearts. In the Old Testament we read about Moses having to wear a veil, because His face radiated the glory of God. “When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the Lord. … But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the Lord had given him, and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the Lord” (Exodus 34:29, 34-35). As we pilgrims emerge from our time with God, do we have radiant faces. Are we glowing with the presence of the Lord? Perhaps those around us will see God in us, in our faces, and will feel within themselves something lighten up. And they might even ask us why. Why are we so joyful when circumstances dictate otherwise? We have an answer to that question, in the person of Jesus. Only He has the words of eternal life. Only He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And we pilgrims, shining like beacons in a dark and dismal world, can introduce the hopeless and depressed around us to our wonderful Saviour.

Dear Lord Jesus. We praise and worship You, the Giver of life to the lifeless, the Giver of hope to the hopeless, and the Giver of salvation to all who come to You in faith and repentance. Thank You. Amen.

In God’s Image

Posted on by korgrocker

“what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honour. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.
Psalm 8:4-8 NLT

David wrote that human beings are entrusted with the care of all that God has made. If we read Genesis 1 we find just that mission in verse 26. “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground’”. We also find from this verse that God created mankind in His image. But when we look around us and see the unlimited and infinite extent of God’s creation, and all made from nothing by the way, we wonder what being made in God’s image really means. In so many ways, mankind is no different from the other created animals around us. We are of a family of mammals, that produce living young. We are bounded by constraints imposed by our physical abilities. Although we have a much enhanced mental capacity, when compared with other animals, there are still limits. God has no boundaries, either with who He is, or what He can do.

According to Genesis, human beings are supposed to be caring for the rest of God’s creation, but looking around us we see a world abused and even destroyed in places by man’s selfish ambitions. Sin has corrupted the very essence of God’s plans and left us a long way from what should have been. And then God is Spirit, exposing another difference. But we do have to accept that we are in part a reflection of God in our moral and mental capacities. For example, God loves us, and we can love others. God is righteous and we can make righteous choices. God is caring and compassionate and we can look at our families and neighbours, our hospitals and charities, and be caring and compassionate people. 

We read Genesis 1:26, and see a very significant word – “our”. Mankind was made by our plural God, and in Genesis 2:18 we read, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him””. With the advent of Eve, and the concept of marriage we continue to be socially reflecting God in His image. 

Sin, introduced in Genesis 3, marred what God intended for those created “in His image” and corrupted both mankind and God’s creation, which, as we read in Romans 8:22 is struggling under the weight of sin. “For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”‭‭. But God had a plan of redemption for human beings through Jesus and we read about this in Ephesians 4:24, “Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”. By choice, and thanks to Jesus, we are able to return to what God originally intended. What a gracious God we serve! In spite of our rebellion and sin, He still reaches out to us with love and grace, with mercy and compassion, and we can still function “in His image” if we so choose. 

Dear Father God. Please help us to make right choices in our lives and put us on the path to return to the state You originally intended for us, in Your image. Please forgive us for our sins we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.