I'm gonna make this quick because I just got back from the Lipka Christmas Party and I'm BEAT. Lugging all those presents home for the boy is hard work :)
But wanted to mention a little something I saw today that was kinda cool. If you play Farmville you know what a wonderful day today is :-) Since I also handle Ethan's farm I opened up about 250 presents. And then someone else sends one every couple minutes after that so I have been inundated with presents all day!
Well, after my clicking frenzy to open up all those pixelated gifts, I read a verse that seemed very appropriate at that moment:
"We all live off of His generous bounty, gift after gift after gift." (John 1:16 The Message)
Ya, so a couple hundred gifts from Farmville on Christmas Eve is pretty nice - but take notice of all the gifts God gives every day - "gift after gift after gift". (try saying that 5 times fast, by the way).
My son woke up all nice and happy - Gift #1. In the dreadful heat that should be illegal on Christmas Eve I was able to crank on the air conditioning - Gift #2.
You get the idea. Merry Christmas and Thank God for His Unspeakable Gift (HUG - 2 Corinthians 9:15)
Good night!!!!
Ruthy H
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Some Thoughts At Christmas
Why is it so difficult to get at the people with the most power to help you in your time of need? You will not easily get into the presence of the President of the United States. Kings and queens down through the ages have been even less accessible. Esther feared for her life when she dared to come before the king - and he was her husband! Anyone who came before him had to be personally invited to do so or their lives were in serious risk. It was common for lowly subjects of old to never see their ruler at all or see him atop a balcony far away. Large gates and strong guards have kept the common man from his rulers for centuries.
But there is one with which this is not so. His palace is more glorious, his power stronger and his person more worshipful than any ruler who has ever lived. In fact, he is the King of all other kings. Where are the guards that forbid entrance into his presence? Some of his friends thought they may act as his guards and turned some children away who wanted to be near their King, but the King quickly relieved them of their self-appointed positions. Where are the gates that bar access to Him? Over His gates a banner flies with the call, “For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Charles Spurgeon told a story about a hospitable neighbor in a village. He made it known through his village and others that all were welcome in his home. Any poor may come and be fed. Any hurt may come and be mended. But, this man had a yard full of vicious dogs. And they were all loose so that nobody was able to get near the house. So all of the help the man may have been able to give was no help to anyone.
But, as Spurgeon says so forcefully, “It is not so with our Master! Though he is greater than the greatest and higher than the highest, he has been pleased to put out of the way everything which might keep the sinner from entering into his halls of gracious entertainment. From his lips we hear no threatening against intrusion, but hundreds of invitations to the nearest and dearest intimacy.”
And though I did not mention any sleigh bells or reindeer, this is what Christmas is all about. Do not ever think you can get to God on your own. His mountain is too high for you to climb and his depths too deep for you to dive. His demands for holiness is far beyond your capabilities. You need a mediator - someone to stand between you and God. Jesus Christ did that. To be a mediator he had to put his hand upon both parties. “To be a perfect mediator between God, he must be able to come to God so near that God shall call him his fellow. And then he must approach to man so closely that he shall not be ashamed to call him brother. This is precisely the case with our Lord.”
Max Lucado has a Christmas book called “God Came Near”. Who would have thought you could summarize Christmas so perfectly in three little words! Yes, Jesus was born to die to save our souls and pay the price to ransom our freedom from the slavery of sin - but he came for much more, if you can imagine anything more! Jacob’s ladder reached to heaven but what if the ladder did not reach entirely to the ground and missed the bottom dozen steps. It would be no good to us. But no, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came all the way down to us. David saw this great mercy of God before he saw its incarnation in Jesus, “Who is like the Lord our God, the one who sits enthroned on high? He who stoops to look down upon the heavens and the earth. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy out of the ash heep.”
There’s three more little words to describe Christmas, “He Who Stoops”. From his grand, holy, fleshless heaven God stooped down and was not content to see the poor in the dust, but with a human power he raised them from the dust. With human vocal cords he said, “Be clean!” and then with a human hand he touched an unclean man suffering with leprosy and healed him.
He came so that he could be approachable! He is not the philosopher who wrote above his door, “Let no one who is ignorant of geometry enter here.” No, our Lord has never refused a wayward seeker, a helpless child, a hopeless sinner or a trial-beaten saint. Because of his great mercy that caused him to come down and be born of a woman like every other human for ages, we can boldly come to God the Father.
Merry Christmas! And Joy to the World - our way to God has finally come!
- Ruthy H
Beginning was a rough paraphrase from "The Approachableness of Jesus" by Charles Spurgeon
But there is one with which this is not so. His palace is more glorious, his power stronger and his person more worshipful than any ruler who has ever lived. In fact, he is the King of all other kings. Where are the guards that forbid entrance into his presence? Some of his friends thought they may act as his guards and turned some children away who wanted to be near their King, but the King quickly relieved them of their self-appointed positions. Where are the gates that bar access to Him? Over His gates a banner flies with the call, “For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Charles Spurgeon told a story about a hospitable neighbor in a village. He made it known through his village and others that all were welcome in his home. Any poor may come and be fed. Any hurt may come and be mended. But, this man had a yard full of vicious dogs. And they were all loose so that nobody was able to get near the house. So all of the help the man may have been able to give was no help to anyone.
But, as Spurgeon says so forcefully, “It is not so with our Master! Though he is greater than the greatest and higher than the highest, he has been pleased to put out of the way everything which might keep the sinner from entering into his halls of gracious entertainment. From his lips we hear no threatening against intrusion, but hundreds of invitations to the nearest and dearest intimacy.”
And though I did not mention any sleigh bells or reindeer, this is what Christmas is all about. Do not ever think you can get to God on your own. His mountain is too high for you to climb and his depths too deep for you to dive. His demands for holiness is far beyond your capabilities. You need a mediator - someone to stand between you and God. Jesus Christ did that. To be a mediator he had to put his hand upon both parties. “To be a perfect mediator between God, he must be able to come to God so near that God shall call him his fellow. And then he must approach to man so closely that he shall not be ashamed to call him brother. This is precisely the case with our Lord.”
Max Lucado has a Christmas book called “God Came Near”. Who would have thought you could summarize Christmas so perfectly in three little words! Yes, Jesus was born to die to save our souls and pay the price to ransom our freedom from the slavery of sin - but he came for much more, if you can imagine anything more! Jacob’s ladder reached to heaven but what if the ladder did not reach entirely to the ground and missed the bottom dozen steps. It would be no good to us. But no, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came all the way down to us. David saw this great mercy of God before he saw its incarnation in Jesus, “Who is like the Lord our God, the one who sits enthroned on high? He who stoops to look down upon the heavens and the earth. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy out of the ash heep.”
There’s three more little words to describe Christmas, “He Who Stoops”. From his grand, holy, fleshless heaven God stooped down and was not content to see the poor in the dust, but with a human power he raised them from the dust. With human vocal cords he said, “Be clean!” and then with a human hand he touched an unclean man suffering with leprosy and healed him.
He came so that he could be approachable! He is not the philosopher who wrote above his door, “Let no one who is ignorant of geometry enter here.” No, our Lord has never refused a wayward seeker, a helpless child, a hopeless sinner or a trial-beaten saint. Because of his great mercy that caused him to come down and be born of a woman like every other human for ages, we can boldly come to God the Father.
"Because I cannot bear what in myself I see
How black, how vile I must look, most Holy God to Thee.
But since my Savior stands between in garments dyed in blood
‘Tis He instead of me that’s seen when I approach to God."
Merry Christmas! And Joy to the World - our way to God has finally come!
- Ruthy H
Beginning was a rough paraphrase from "The Approachableness of Jesus" by Charles Spurgeon
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Excerpt from Chapter 4
David had friends, armies, mighty men of valor, captains, generals, weapons, fortresses, horses, chariots, national allies and at times his own entire nation fighting on his behalf. But he knew his weapons were harmless against his enemies if not wielded by God: “I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not give me victory; but You give us victory over our enemies.” (44:6,7)
His shields would be flimsy defenses if God did not stand behind them: “You are a shield around me, O Lord.” (3:3) “My shield is God Most High.” (7:10)
His fortress would slide back like sand were not the Rock of Ages its foundation: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.” (18:2)
And though there were many of his comrades who dearly loved him, David was aware that even their greatest intentions were shaky and undependable: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in men.” (118:8)
“Through Thee we shall the victory gain,
Though hosts of hell oppose:
Thou art our God and Thou shalt reign
And conquer all our foes.
We trust not in our bow or sword:
For weakness is our power:
In Thee we trust, Almighty Lord,
Through every dangerous hour.”
We have seen in the previous chapter that God’s eye sees us, His ear hears us and now we see that his mighty arm saves us! No one and nothing else can but Him. Therefore, do not doubt that He alone can save! Let God be true and every man on earth a liar – He will fulfill His promises because He is the only one in existence who can.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
I Can Because I AM - Part 3
Omnipresence and Omniscience of God
“Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch His breath.
And He knows everything inside and out.”
Isaiah 40:28, The Message
Now, it is a fine line that separates the boundaries between omnipresence and omniscience. Omnipresence leads to omniscience just as “being at the park” leads to “seeing the lake”. “Being” and “seeing” are not the same, but one does lead to the other and afterwards they occur simultaneously. So because of the overlaps and lines that are too fine for my poor eyes to see I will be merging the two in this chapter. I hope that it will be only a minor distraction. If the truth is being told then I am not so worried that that truth is in the wrong chapter format.
Remember why we’re covering the omnipresence and omniscience of God: In our main text, Psalm 113, God gives some pretty big promises but before He does that He first proves who He is that He can make such claims. We’ve seen that He can “raise the poor out of the dust”, but what if He doesn’t know that I am poor and need to be raised? Notice know does imply omniscience (hence that fine line raises up for the first of many times) but before we cover that we have to see how He knows.
A strong man may promise me that he will be my help when I need him. I trust him thoroughly – he is a strong man and I’ve seen him help many others. But what if he is never near me? How would he know whether I need his help or not? All of the muscle in the world will not help me if he is not first aware of my need for him.
This is what God’s omnipresence promises us: we are always under the watchful eye of God. He is constantly aware. He always sees. Nothing happens without His seeing every intricate detail.
Again, when considering the omnipresence of God we cannot think on human terns. Of what person – even the smartest and mightiest person on earth – can you say:
“Today, recognize and keep in mind
That the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below;
There is no other.”
(Deut 4:39)
An Expensive Footrest
When David had settled in as king and finally had peace on every side he took a moment to look around and he noticed something, “Look, I am living in a cedar house while the ark of God sits inside tent curtains.”
When the children of Israel left Egypt a couple hundred years before, they were on the move. They were in the wilderness for 40 years and, because they were constantly on the move, they couldn’t build a temple for God. So they built a tent or “tabernacle”. It could easily be moved from campsite to campsite, so to speak. But after they settled in the Promised Land, when all the people stored their tents away and built good, solid houses for themselves, God was still living in a tent.
No wonder God called David a man after His own heart. He seemed to be the only one for hundreds of years who was sensitive to God’s desires. And so he decides to build a lavish temple for Him.
But, to make a long story short God says no. Not because He doesn’t want a temple – He does – and he says that David’s son Solomon can build it. But David has been a man of war since before he became king and God said, “You are not to build a house for My name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before Me.” It may sound harsh for such a noble intent, but God understands and tells David that though he can’t build a house for God, God would build a house for him. Read about that in 1 Chr. 17.
Well, David goes to Solomon, his son, and tells him the news. David had gone out of his way to collect all the materials needed. He drew out intricate, detailed and well thought-out architectural plans. He collected 3,775 tons of gold. 37,750 tons of silver. The bronze and iron couldn’t even be weighed because there was so much of it. He had collected timber, stone, stonecutters, masons and carpenters.
All this for what? This is what David tells his son, “It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the Lord’s covenant and as a footstool for our God.” (1 Chr 28:2)
David knew what Solomon eventually figured out:
“But who is able to build a temple for Him, since even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Him?
(2 Chr 2:6)
Perhaps that’s why David later wrote two songs encouraging the saints to “worship at his footstool”. (Psalms 99:5 and 132:7) The temple was His footstool! He was aware of the immensity of God. This God was so big that this enormous, elaborate temple would only house His feet!
Want a little illustration of the phrase “beyond imagination”? The truth of the matter was that God was even bigger than David imagined. God Himself said to Isaiah, “Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool!” Just when we think our minds have Him figured out … we have no idea.
Never hidden. Never in secret.
“Man may not see thee do an impious deed;
But God thy very inmost thought can read.”
- Plutarch (46 AD – 120 AD)
The bible teaches that we are always in the midst of a “great cloud of witnesses”. Spirits both evil and good are at our sides to hinder and to help. The spirits of the saints who have gone before us peer down at us and encourage us in this long, grueling race to our intended goal. And even in our own realm, we are never fully aware of the eyes that see us. When we believe we are hidden or in the darkness, we are never alone – never hidden. But with all the eyes set upon us for good or for ill, there is one pair of eyes that see far deeper:
“’Can anyone hide in secret places where I can’t see him?
Don’t I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah 23:24 (NIV)
“The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,
keeping watch on the evil and the good.”
Proverbs 15:3 (NIV)
May we never be comfortable in our sin. Charles Spurgeon said, “We are – whether we will it or not – as near to God as our soul is to our bodies. This makes dreadful work of sin; for we offend the Almighty to His face, and commit acts of treason at the very foot of his throne.” We sin to His face and at his very feet. We are never isolated and obscured from the rest of the universe. We hide in the dark solitude of our house or the lonely alleyway plotting revenge or hoping for an opportunity to sin – every step and every breath and every dark thought is being seen.
And not only in our solitude – but in a multitude We may escape to where many people are so that we can get “lost in the crowd”. Such a thing cannot happen with God. He is no man that his attentions may be divided. Even in a great hall of 10,000 people, he is as aware of each man’s thoughts as if he were the only person in the room.
Does this make you a bit uneasy? Good. We are still living in a carnal world in carnal skin with carnal people thinking carnal thoughts which lead to carnal deeds. As Spurgeon put it, “Men of God are still men.” Sin still finds its way into our daily lives and we are called on and our inner spirits deeply desire to put a halt to sin’s march toward our hearts by whatever means necessary. If that means to constantly remind ourselves of the truth of God’s all-seeing eye, then so be it. Perhaps it will turn off the constant dripping of the tap that is our bad habits. The things we do without a thought when we are all alone – though we are never alone.
Does this make you uneasy? Good. Perhaps it will magnify God in our sight a bit more. To “magnify” is to make something bigger as if looking at it through a magnifying lens. God is not fenced in by the clouds of His heaven nor is his attention diverted to one conflict or other in the world. God is beyond measure, beyond human limitations, and beyond our imaginations. An old hymn put it very nicely:
“My thoughts, scarce struggling into birth,
Great God! are known to thee:
Abroad, at home, still I'm enclosed
With thine immensity.”
Look up!
Charles Spurgeon once told a story, “A man once took his child with him while he went out to steal from a neighbour's stack, and he said to the boy, "Look about you for fear anybody should see your father." The boy had read the Scriptures, so, having looked all round, his father said, "Have you looked all ways?" He said, "No, father, there is somebody looking." "Who is it?" "Father, you have not looked up, and there is God looking down upon you." The man's conscience was pricked. Sinner, you look round you, there is no one in the chamber, you perpetrate the crime. Look up!”
Again I ask does this make you uneasy? Good. But if you are a child of God, look deep inside yourself and you will find that it also brings sweet relief, for the penetrating eyes that alone can judge our sin can also see the pain in our heart, the confusion in our mind and the trials that have weighed us down. The ears that have heard every word of gossip and complaint that have come out of our mouths have also heard every word that we have whispered to Him in prayer.
We spoke earlier about complaining vs. prayer. His ears are more attentive, His heart more compassionate, His eyes more understanding and His help is far mightier than anyone else in your circle. Bring your prayers to Him. Let us look to God in the midst of our temptation, yes. But let us also look to him in the midst of our trials. As Charles Spurgeon said, “Look up!”
The Eye of the Lord
We have seen how God’s all-seeing eye can and does see us in the dark solitude of our sinful intents, but what about the dark solitude of loneliness when we deeply desire God’s eye? And in that moment when we do feel lost in the crowd, are we really? Is it possible that God has forgotten about us like everyone else has? Is it possible that his attention is diverted elsewhere? Is it possible that we have sinned one too many times and the Lord has turned a blind eye to us?
Let me reassure you: no, it is not possible. Would you expect a man to roll in the mud of a pig pen? Would you expect a woman to bury her head in the sand as an ostrich does? Of course not, and if we don’t expect mankind to be like the animals why do we expect God to be like mankind? The distance separating God and mankind is a universe wider than the distance separating mankind and animals. Yes, we have been betrayed, forgotten, looked-over, dismissed, ignored and left behind by so many people, but please remember that God is not a man that he should lie. He has said:
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and His ears are open to their cry.”
Psalm 34:15
You have His eyes and ears at all times. He has promised and He will do it. Every tear you’ve cried – He’s kept them in a bottle (Psalm 56:8).
Luke tells a quick little story about a woman on the side of the road who had been crippled for 18 years. And that’s pretty much all we know about her. She didn’t say anything to Jesus who happened to be passing by. We’re not even sure she even saw Him – but He saw her. “When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then He put His hands on her and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” (13:10)
She didn’t say a word, but He knew her need and met it.
Most of us know the story of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. Jesus was their best friend, and one day Lazarus dies. And in this story, found in John 11, many of us heard the shortest verse in the bible while we were still children: “Jesus wept” (vs 35). Why did Jesus weep? Was it because Lazarus had died? I do think that was partly why, but Jesus had known that for four days and it didn’t mention any tears. And the truth is that Jesus knew Lazarus would die before he even got sick. But Jesus didn’t even rush to be by his side. Verse 6 says that when Jesus heard Lazarus was sick He stayed where he was for a couple days.
Was there something else that made Jesus weep? I think we have to go back two verses: “When Jesus saw her [Mary] weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.”
“The Son of God in tears
The wondering angels see:
Be thou astonished, O my soul;
He shed those tears for thee.”
Isaiah put it perfectly, “In all their distress, He too was distressed.” (63:9) God is love and compassion in the flesh. Yes, His justice demands a watchful eye on our sin, but His patient mercy allows that constant eye to be on us in the midst of the valley of death. Even David doubted this wonderful truth and asked himself:
“Will the Lord reject me forever?
Will He never show His favor again?
Has His unfailing love vanished forever?
Has His promises failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has He in anger withheld His compassion?
Then I thought, ‘To this I will appeal:
The years of the right-hand of the Most High.”
Psalm 77:7-10
David’s recollection of the years of the right-hand of the Most High – the wonderful works that God had done down through the ages – is brought up in the following 13 verses. It is a good habit for us to follow: when we doubt His presence, when we question whether God really is for us and not against us, when we give in to our feelings of loneliness and give up on the promise of His presence – let us stir each other up with memories of His mighty works!
David said he “meditated” on all His works and then he remembered how God redeemed Israel and led her like a flock into the Promised Land. He never left His Beloved for a moment and he never will. He has promised and He will perform it:
“Never will I leave you!
Never will I forsake you!”
Hebrews 13:5
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
Seeing the Danger, But Not the Deliverance
Under the all-seeing eye of God we stand at all times. David racked his brain in his 139th Psalm to think of a place he could go where God would not be able to see him. Heaven? Of course, God would be there. Hell? Yep, He’s there, too. What if he flew like a bird to the far side of the sea? God is there. Well, surely if he found a place dark enough, perhaps in a dungeon underground where no light had ever shown? David realized that night is as bright as day to God.
One glance of Thine, Eternal Lord,
Pierces all nature through.
Nor heav’n, nor earth, nor hell afford
A shelter from Thy view.
Though this may seem a dreadful thought to the unbeliever, to us who are being saved it is a sweet relief. Because His eyes and ears are always on us, we have a constant security in God:
“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry …
The Lord hears them and delivers them out of their troubles.”
Psalm 34:15, 17
“The Lord is near to all who call on Him
To all who call on Him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him;
He hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love Him.”
Psalm 145:18-20
Don’t see Him around anywhere? When you walk through the waters do you raise your arms to the sky and ask, “Where are You?” When you go through the fire is He not as visible to you as He was to Nebuchadnezzar? In the burning flames do you look around and see no one and yell to God, “Where are You?” Does the darkness in your life seem to be too dark for God’s eyes to penetrate? In the blinding darkness where you can see and feel no one by you, have you whispered, “God, where are You?”
You’re not the only one who has felt this way:
Elisha had made an enemy of the King. “’Go find out where he is,’ the king ordered, ‘so I can send men and capture him.’
The report came back, ‘He is in Dothan.’
Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh, my lord, what shall we do?’ the servant asked.
‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’”
The text does not say what the servant said or did but I know what I would have done. I would have looked around and saw that there was only the old man and me again the King’s countless army. I would have remembered the times when God saved the man of God, but I would have looked around anyway and said to God, “Where are you now?”
Perhaps that’s what the servant did. What we do know is that he doubted. He thought that what he saw with his eyes was the end of the story. It was the end-all be-all, so to speak. He saw the king’s army and so it was. He did not see Elisha’s army and so it was not. As Spurgeon put it, “He could see the danger, but not the deliverance.”
“Then Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
That poor servant thought he knew what was going on. He thought he had it all figured out – but he forgot there is more to know than the world we see. There is a realm of spiritual things and beings that surround us at all times. And though we can’t see God with our eyes, his army is protecting us, his hand guiding us, his eyes watching us and ears listening for our cries, He has promised all of these things. He has promised never to leave us.
“Fear not – I am with you; O be not dismayed!
I, I am your God, and will still give you aid.
I’ll strengthen you, help you and cause you to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand!”
The Ear of the Lord
1 Samuel begins with the story about a woman named Hannah. She was married to a good man named Elkanah. He had another wife named Peninnah. Peninnah had many children and Hannah had none but, as in the story of Abraham and Sarah, Elkanah was very much in love with Hannah. This isn’t too surprising considering the little that we know of Peninnah. Because she had so many children she would rub it in and constantly remind Hannah that God had not given her any children. Eventually the dam bursts under the pressure and Hannah goes to the one person who can help: God. If it was God who was not giving her children, then He was the one who could give her children.
She goes to the temple and prays, but in the anguish of her heart she doesn’t even have the strength to give voice to her prayers. Her lips moved but she prayed in her heart. Eli, the priest who was nearby, saw her lips moving but nothing coming out and accused her of being drunk.
Hannah tells him, “Not so, my Lord. I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
Eli corrects his mistake by saying, “Go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him.”
Eli was standing right next to her and he didn’t know what Hannah had asked of God, but he knew someone was even closer to her. Eli didn’t pray for Hannah to have a son and Hannah never spoke a word to God about a son. But God knew her deepest thoughts. That’s how close God is to us. Charles Spurgeon once said that God is as near to us as our soul is to our bodies. He must then know the very whisper on our lips.
“He will hear their cry and save them.”
Psalm 145:19
Unspoken
In my Sunday School classes when I was a kid the teacher would ask if we had any prayer requests and, the shy little girl that I was, I never raised my hand. But then she asked the question I had been waiting for, “Who has an unspoken request?” I haven’t heard that term in years, but I remember how eagerly I would raise my hand when she asked. Even if my request to God was to heal my dog or help me in a kickball game, I loved the feeling of having a secret that only God and I knew about.
Oh, to have that simple faith again. It was an easy thing to believe that God knew my inmost thoughts without my having to utter a word. But with growing age comes growing doubt and growing effort to try to get into the presence of God and feel that my prayer is heard.
But God is no man that I must struggle to get his attention or entertain him with fancy, intelligent conversation to keep him interested. His attention is always on us. We are the prodigal son walking home racking our brains to figure out a way to get into our father’s presence again – while He has been waiting for us to show up and runs to us when we approach.
Job said that God never takes His eyes off the righteous (36:7). The truth is that though we may feel we are the ones that hope God is there when we come to Him, it is actually God who is always waiting for even a sign to come and fellowship with us. He said that if we knock on His door He’ll open it gladly. If He sees you starting to look for Him, as two best friends would in a crowded room – you’ll find Him. All you have to do is ask – and you’ll receive. Ask Him to join you, talk with you, walk with you throughout your day – and He has promised that you’ll get what you ask. (Matthew 7:8)
“Within thy circling power I stand
On every side I find thy hand.
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad
I am surrounded still by God.”
Jehovah Shammah
I’ve lived in Tampa my whole life, but I recently heard of a city I think I’d at least like to visit. Mainly, because of the name of this city. The name conjured up images of peace as if the city was called “Rest”. It brought a feeling of protection as if it was called “The Fortress”. But it was better than even these names. The name of the city? Ezekiel will tell you:
"And the name of the city from that time on will be:
THE LORD IS THERE.”
[Or in the Hebrew: Jehovah Shammah]
Ezekiel 48:35
The name of the city was “The Lord is There.” And while I speak facetiously of wanting to visit this city, the truth is that our own homes and lives are called “Jehovah Shammah”: “Let the Lord dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)
As are our individual churches and fellowships: “And in Him you, too, are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:22)
And in this wonderful City of His Presence we need never fear of being driven out for Jesus, the King of the City has said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37)
Now, remember that our King is not a man to be beset with our own limitations. Though He is King of the whole city, yet He “stoops down” as our main text in Psalm 113 says. He stoops down from his lofty heavenly throne and fellowships with us individually.
And from the very beginning of this city the Lord has fellowshipped with His people. Moses once said of God, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” (Psalm 90:1)
Are you starting to get the feeling that God wants to be with His people? We’ve already seen that he has been with His people throughout all generations, but what about future generations? His plans have never changed. Very near the end of the Bible when God speaks of a future New Jerusalem He says, “Now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21: 3)
God seems to be very stubborn. He has had this plan since before He created Adam and Eve and walked and talked with them. He is eager to populate this city, so to speak. He is eager to welcome new citizens and the truth is, if you are a child of God, you are a citizen. Read John 6:37 again: if you are a believer then the Father has chosen you to be in His presence at all times. Remember, Job said that He never even takes His eyes off the righteous.
God is with you.
Where is God not?
Now when I say God is there or with that person, it does beg the question, “Where is he not?” For instance, we may sing at church, “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in This Place”, but isn’t He outside the church as well?
We’ve already seen that, yes, God is everywhere. His eye is on everyone - the righteous and the unrighteous. So why is it a big deal when God says that He is with you?
Think of a mother who is at the park or party or wherever with her child. She watches closely, helps when needed, has a constant eye on everything and if something happens that she doesn’t want to happen – she steps in and makes it right. But the child is busy playing with friends, laughing at games or slides and just basically living his own life.
But when they get home the mommy is the one who gets to play and talk and tickle and joke with the child. She spends time with him without sitting on the boundaries watching him do whatever he does.
This is like God. His eye is on everyone in every place, but there are places and people, particularly His house and His people, that He is more with, so to speak. I think that's why the bible says simultaneously, "The heavens cannot contain You, much less this temple I've built!", but also says, "I pray that God will dwell in your hearts.”
We as His children have his special attention. Let’s not take that for granted, but invite Him to come and talk and laugh and spend time with us and our families.
Aware of everything?
Now, we have seen that God can bring about what He promises and that he is aware of His childrens’ needs to meet. But there may be one obstacle toward believing that God will do what He has promised for you. And this deals directly with the omniscience of God: Would God give such beautiful promises to me if He knew my past? I don’t deserve to be raised from the dust. I don’t deserve the blessing of children.”
I know I have felt at times that I had to be very careful while reading God’s words because I felt that some were for me and some weren’t. Yes, God has promised mercy, but certainly not to someone who has taken it for granted as many times as I. Yes, He has promised blessings, but surely not to someone who squandered them one too many times.
This may be a good time to share one more thing about the nature of God. Not only is he infinite in power, size and knowledge … but he is infinite in time.
“Only I [God] can tell you what is going to happen even before it happens.”
Isaiah 46:10 NLT
Even before something has started, God has already declared what the end of it will be. Before Jesus had even come to earth to die for your sins, He knew you would curse Him. He told Peter straight out, “Tonight you’ll disown me three times.” And despite Peter’s loving shoo-shooing of such thoughts, what Jesus said came to pass. But we must take notice that Jesus knew Peter would deny him three years before when He called Peter to be His disciple. When He made Peter one of the three disciples He was closest with, He always knew Peter would betray him.
God is never surprised by our sin. Not only because He knows our very thoughts before we think them (Psalm 139), but also because He knows who we are and what we’re made of:
“As a father has compassion on His children,
So the Lord has compassion on those that fear Him;
For He knows how we are formed,
He remembers that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:13-14
Our God is a God of grace. What do you say then? Should we keep sinning so that we can get more and more grace? God forbid! (Rom 6:1,2) We should not live any longer in it! Fight against sin. Draw closer to God and He’ll draw closer to you. But keep in mind what Paul wrote, “My little children, I write this to you so you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1 John 2:1)
At the very moment you believed the lie that God’s love reached only so far towards you because of your past, this truth was begging your attention:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”
Romans 8:35
In other words, nothing can separate us from God’s love. He will always be true to His word, though we may not.
“If we are faithless, He will remain faithful.”
2 Timothy 2:13
When I was a kid we used to sing a simple song that became more and more complex as I got older. But I encourage you to read it with the faith of a child:
"Every promise in the Book is mine.
Every chapter, every verse, every line.
I am standing on His word divine,
Every promise in the Book is mine!"
We’re going to talk soon about the promises that God has given to us. Prepare your heart to receive it. There is no sinner so low that He cannot stoop down and lift him out of the dust. There is no heart so dirty that his blood will not cover it completely. Every promise is yours. Take it into your heart happily.
"Since therefore I can hardly bear what in myself I see
How vile, how black I must appear, most Holy God to thee!
But since my savior stands between in garments dyed in blood
‘Tis He, instead of me, who’s seen when I approach to God."
“Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch His breath.
And He knows everything inside and out.”
Isaiah 40:28, The Message
Now, it is a fine line that separates the boundaries between omnipresence and omniscience. Omnipresence leads to omniscience just as “being at the park” leads to “seeing the lake”. “Being” and “seeing” are not the same, but one does lead to the other and afterwards they occur simultaneously. So because of the overlaps and lines that are too fine for my poor eyes to see I will be merging the two in this chapter. I hope that it will be only a minor distraction. If the truth is being told then I am not so worried that that truth is in the wrong chapter format.
Remember why we’re covering the omnipresence and omniscience of God: In our main text, Psalm 113, God gives some pretty big promises but before He does that He first proves who He is that He can make such claims. We’ve seen that He can “raise the poor out of the dust”, but what if He doesn’t know that I am poor and need to be raised? Notice know does imply omniscience (hence that fine line raises up for the first of many times) but before we cover that we have to see how He knows.
A strong man may promise me that he will be my help when I need him. I trust him thoroughly – he is a strong man and I’ve seen him help many others. But what if he is never near me? How would he know whether I need his help or not? All of the muscle in the world will not help me if he is not first aware of my need for him.
This is what God’s omnipresence promises us: we are always under the watchful eye of God. He is constantly aware. He always sees. Nothing happens without His seeing every intricate detail.
Again, when considering the omnipresence of God we cannot think on human terns. Of what person – even the smartest and mightiest person on earth – can you say:
“Today, recognize and keep in mind
That the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below;
There is no other.”
(Deut 4:39)
An Expensive Footrest
When David had settled in as king and finally had peace on every side he took a moment to look around and he noticed something, “Look, I am living in a cedar house while the ark of God sits inside tent curtains.”
When the children of Israel left Egypt a couple hundred years before, they were on the move. They were in the wilderness for 40 years and, because they were constantly on the move, they couldn’t build a temple for God. So they built a tent or “tabernacle”. It could easily be moved from campsite to campsite, so to speak. But after they settled in the Promised Land, when all the people stored their tents away and built good, solid houses for themselves, God was still living in a tent.
No wonder God called David a man after His own heart. He seemed to be the only one for hundreds of years who was sensitive to God’s desires. And so he decides to build a lavish temple for Him.
But, to make a long story short God says no. Not because He doesn’t want a temple – He does – and he says that David’s son Solomon can build it. But David has been a man of war since before he became king and God said, “You are not to build a house for My name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before Me.” It may sound harsh for such a noble intent, but God understands and tells David that though he can’t build a house for God, God would build a house for him. Read about that in 1 Chr. 17.
Well, David goes to Solomon, his son, and tells him the news. David had gone out of his way to collect all the materials needed. He drew out intricate, detailed and well thought-out architectural plans. He collected 3,775 tons of gold. 37,750 tons of silver. The bronze and iron couldn’t even be weighed because there was so much of it. He had collected timber, stone, stonecutters, masons and carpenters.
All this for what? This is what David tells his son, “It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the Lord’s covenant and as a footstool for our God.” (1 Chr 28:2)
David knew what Solomon eventually figured out:
“But who is able to build a temple for Him, since even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Him?
(2 Chr 2:6)
Perhaps that’s why David later wrote two songs encouraging the saints to “worship at his footstool”. (Psalms 99:5 and 132:7) The temple was His footstool! He was aware of the immensity of God. This God was so big that this enormous, elaborate temple would only house His feet!
Want a little illustration of the phrase “beyond imagination”? The truth of the matter was that God was even bigger than David imagined. God Himself said to Isaiah, “Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool!” Just when we think our minds have Him figured out … we have no idea.
Never hidden. Never in secret.
“Man may not see thee do an impious deed;
But God thy very inmost thought can read.”
- Plutarch (46 AD – 120 AD)
The bible teaches that we are always in the midst of a “great cloud of witnesses”. Spirits both evil and good are at our sides to hinder and to help. The spirits of the saints who have gone before us peer down at us and encourage us in this long, grueling race to our intended goal. And even in our own realm, we are never fully aware of the eyes that see us. When we believe we are hidden or in the darkness, we are never alone – never hidden. But with all the eyes set upon us for good or for ill, there is one pair of eyes that see far deeper:
“’Can anyone hide in secret places where I can’t see him?
Don’t I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah 23:24 (NIV)
“The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,
keeping watch on the evil and the good.”
Proverbs 15:3 (NIV)
May we never be comfortable in our sin. Charles Spurgeon said, “We are – whether we will it or not – as near to God as our soul is to our bodies. This makes dreadful work of sin; for we offend the Almighty to His face, and commit acts of treason at the very foot of his throne.” We sin to His face and at his very feet. We are never isolated and obscured from the rest of the universe. We hide in the dark solitude of our house or the lonely alleyway plotting revenge or hoping for an opportunity to sin – every step and every breath and every dark thought is being seen.
And not only in our solitude – but in a multitude We may escape to where many people are so that we can get “lost in the crowd”. Such a thing cannot happen with God. He is no man that his attentions may be divided. Even in a great hall of 10,000 people, he is as aware of each man’s thoughts as if he were the only person in the room.
Does this make you a bit uneasy? Good. We are still living in a carnal world in carnal skin with carnal people thinking carnal thoughts which lead to carnal deeds. As Spurgeon put it, “Men of God are still men.” Sin still finds its way into our daily lives and we are called on and our inner spirits deeply desire to put a halt to sin’s march toward our hearts by whatever means necessary. If that means to constantly remind ourselves of the truth of God’s all-seeing eye, then so be it. Perhaps it will turn off the constant dripping of the tap that is our bad habits. The things we do without a thought when we are all alone – though we are never alone.
Does this make you uneasy? Good. Perhaps it will magnify God in our sight a bit more. To “magnify” is to make something bigger as if looking at it through a magnifying lens. God is not fenced in by the clouds of His heaven nor is his attention diverted to one conflict or other in the world. God is beyond measure, beyond human limitations, and beyond our imaginations. An old hymn put it very nicely:
“My thoughts, scarce struggling into birth,
Great God! are known to thee:
Abroad, at home, still I'm enclosed
With thine immensity.”
Look up!
Charles Spurgeon once told a story, “A man once took his child with him while he went out to steal from a neighbour's stack, and he said to the boy, "Look about you for fear anybody should see your father." The boy had read the Scriptures, so, having looked all round, his father said, "Have you looked all ways?" He said, "No, father, there is somebody looking." "Who is it?" "Father, you have not looked up, and there is God looking down upon you." The man's conscience was pricked. Sinner, you look round you, there is no one in the chamber, you perpetrate the crime. Look up!”
Again I ask does this make you uneasy? Good. But if you are a child of God, look deep inside yourself and you will find that it also brings sweet relief, for the penetrating eyes that alone can judge our sin can also see the pain in our heart, the confusion in our mind and the trials that have weighed us down. The ears that have heard every word of gossip and complaint that have come out of our mouths have also heard every word that we have whispered to Him in prayer.
We spoke earlier about complaining vs. prayer. His ears are more attentive, His heart more compassionate, His eyes more understanding and His help is far mightier than anyone else in your circle. Bring your prayers to Him. Let us look to God in the midst of our temptation, yes. But let us also look to him in the midst of our trials. As Charles Spurgeon said, “Look up!”
The Eye of the Lord
We have seen how God’s all-seeing eye can and does see us in the dark solitude of our sinful intents, but what about the dark solitude of loneliness when we deeply desire God’s eye? And in that moment when we do feel lost in the crowd, are we really? Is it possible that God has forgotten about us like everyone else has? Is it possible that his attention is diverted elsewhere? Is it possible that we have sinned one too many times and the Lord has turned a blind eye to us?
Let me reassure you: no, it is not possible. Would you expect a man to roll in the mud of a pig pen? Would you expect a woman to bury her head in the sand as an ostrich does? Of course not, and if we don’t expect mankind to be like the animals why do we expect God to be like mankind? The distance separating God and mankind is a universe wider than the distance separating mankind and animals. Yes, we have been betrayed, forgotten, looked-over, dismissed, ignored and left behind by so many people, but please remember that God is not a man that he should lie. He has said:
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and His ears are open to their cry.”
Psalm 34:15
You have His eyes and ears at all times. He has promised and He will do it. Every tear you’ve cried – He’s kept them in a bottle (Psalm 56:8).
Luke tells a quick little story about a woman on the side of the road who had been crippled for 18 years. And that’s pretty much all we know about her. She didn’t say anything to Jesus who happened to be passing by. We’re not even sure she even saw Him – but He saw her. “When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then He put His hands on her and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” (13:10)
She didn’t say a word, but He knew her need and met it.
Most of us know the story of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. Jesus was their best friend, and one day Lazarus dies. And in this story, found in John 11, many of us heard the shortest verse in the bible while we were still children: “Jesus wept” (vs 35). Why did Jesus weep? Was it because Lazarus had died? I do think that was partly why, but Jesus had known that for four days and it didn’t mention any tears. And the truth is that Jesus knew Lazarus would die before he even got sick. But Jesus didn’t even rush to be by his side. Verse 6 says that when Jesus heard Lazarus was sick He stayed where he was for a couple days.
Was there something else that made Jesus weep? I think we have to go back two verses: “When Jesus saw her [Mary] weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.”
“The Son of God in tears
The wondering angels see:
Be thou astonished, O my soul;
He shed those tears for thee.”
Isaiah put it perfectly, “In all their distress, He too was distressed.” (63:9) God is love and compassion in the flesh. Yes, His justice demands a watchful eye on our sin, but His patient mercy allows that constant eye to be on us in the midst of the valley of death. Even David doubted this wonderful truth and asked himself:
“Will the Lord reject me forever?
Will He never show His favor again?
Has His unfailing love vanished forever?
Has His promises failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has He in anger withheld His compassion?
Then I thought, ‘To this I will appeal:
The years of the right-hand of the Most High.”
Psalm 77:7-10
David’s recollection of the years of the right-hand of the Most High – the wonderful works that God had done down through the ages – is brought up in the following 13 verses. It is a good habit for us to follow: when we doubt His presence, when we question whether God really is for us and not against us, when we give in to our feelings of loneliness and give up on the promise of His presence – let us stir each other up with memories of His mighty works!
David said he “meditated” on all His works and then he remembered how God redeemed Israel and led her like a flock into the Promised Land. He never left His Beloved for a moment and he never will. He has promised and He will perform it:
“Never will I leave you!
Never will I forsake you!”
Hebrews 13:5
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
Seeing the Danger, But Not the Deliverance
Under the all-seeing eye of God we stand at all times. David racked his brain in his 139th Psalm to think of a place he could go where God would not be able to see him. Heaven? Of course, God would be there. Hell? Yep, He’s there, too. What if he flew like a bird to the far side of the sea? God is there. Well, surely if he found a place dark enough, perhaps in a dungeon underground where no light had ever shown? David realized that night is as bright as day to God.
One glance of Thine, Eternal Lord,
Pierces all nature through.
Nor heav’n, nor earth, nor hell afford
A shelter from Thy view.
Though this may seem a dreadful thought to the unbeliever, to us who are being saved it is a sweet relief. Because His eyes and ears are always on us, we have a constant security in God:
“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry …
The Lord hears them and delivers them out of their troubles.”
Psalm 34:15, 17
“The Lord is near to all who call on Him
To all who call on Him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him;
He hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love Him.”
Psalm 145:18-20
Don’t see Him around anywhere? When you walk through the waters do you raise your arms to the sky and ask, “Where are You?” When you go through the fire is He not as visible to you as He was to Nebuchadnezzar? In the burning flames do you look around and see no one and yell to God, “Where are You?” Does the darkness in your life seem to be too dark for God’s eyes to penetrate? In the blinding darkness where you can see and feel no one by you, have you whispered, “God, where are You?”
You’re not the only one who has felt this way:
Elisha had made an enemy of the King. “’Go find out where he is,’ the king ordered, ‘so I can send men and capture him.’
The report came back, ‘He is in Dothan.’
Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh, my lord, what shall we do?’ the servant asked.
‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’”
The text does not say what the servant said or did but I know what I would have done. I would have looked around and saw that there was only the old man and me again the King’s countless army. I would have remembered the times when God saved the man of God, but I would have looked around anyway and said to God, “Where are you now?”
Perhaps that’s what the servant did. What we do know is that he doubted. He thought that what he saw with his eyes was the end of the story. It was the end-all be-all, so to speak. He saw the king’s army and so it was. He did not see Elisha’s army and so it was not. As Spurgeon put it, “He could see the danger, but not the deliverance.”
“Then Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
That poor servant thought he knew what was going on. He thought he had it all figured out – but he forgot there is more to know than the world we see. There is a realm of spiritual things and beings that surround us at all times. And though we can’t see God with our eyes, his army is protecting us, his hand guiding us, his eyes watching us and ears listening for our cries, He has promised all of these things. He has promised never to leave us.
“Fear not – I am with you; O be not dismayed!
I, I am your God, and will still give you aid.
I’ll strengthen you, help you and cause you to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand!”
The Ear of the Lord
1 Samuel begins with the story about a woman named Hannah. She was married to a good man named Elkanah. He had another wife named Peninnah. Peninnah had many children and Hannah had none but, as in the story of Abraham and Sarah, Elkanah was very much in love with Hannah. This isn’t too surprising considering the little that we know of Peninnah. Because she had so many children she would rub it in and constantly remind Hannah that God had not given her any children. Eventually the dam bursts under the pressure and Hannah goes to the one person who can help: God. If it was God who was not giving her children, then He was the one who could give her children.
She goes to the temple and prays, but in the anguish of her heart she doesn’t even have the strength to give voice to her prayers. Her lips moved but she prayed in her heart. Eli, the priest who was nearby, saw her lips moving but nothing coming out and accused her of being drunk.
Hannah tells him, “Not so, my Lord. I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
Eli corrects his mistake by saying, “Go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him.”
Eli was standing right next to her and he didn’t know what Hannah had asked of God, but he knew someone was even closer to her. Eli didn’t pray for Hannah to have a son and Hannah never spoke a word to God about a son. But God knew her deepest thoughts. That’s how close God is to us. Charles Spurgeon once said that God is as near to us as our soul is to our bodies. He must then know the very whisper on our lips.
“He will hear their cry and save them.”
Psalm 145:19
Unspoken
In my Sunday School classes when I was a kid the teacher would ask if we had any prayer requests and, the shy little girl that I was, I never raised my hand. But then she asked the question I had been waiting for, “Who has an unspoken request?” I haven’t heard that term in years, but I remember how eagerly I would raise my hand when she asked. Even if my request to God was to heal my dog or help me in a kickball game, I loved the feeling of having a secret that only God and I knew about.
Oh, to have that simple faith again. It was an easy thing to believe that God knew my inmost thoughts without my having to utter a word. But with growing age comes growing doubt and growing effort to try to get into the presence of God and feel that my prayer is heard.
But God is no man that I must struggle to get his attention or entertain him with fancy, intelligent conversation to keep him interested. His attention is always on us. We are the prodigal son walking home racking our brains to figure out a way to get into our father’s presence again – while He has been waiting for us to show up and runs to us when we approach.
Job said that God never takes His eyes off the righteous (36:7). The truth is that though we may feel we are the ones that hope God is there when we come to Him, it is actually God who is always waiting for even a sign to come and fellowship with us. He said that if we knock on His door He’ll open it gladly. If He sees you starting to look for Him, as two best friends would in a crowded room – you’ll find Him. All you have to do is ask – and you’ll receive. Ask Him to join you, talk with you, walk with you throughout your day – and He has promised that you’ll get what you ask. (Matthew 7:8)
“Within thy circling power I stand
On every side I find thy hand.
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad
I am surrounded still by God.”
Jehovah Shammah
I’ve lived in Tampa my whole life, but I recently heard of a city I think I’d at least like to visit. Mainly, because of the name of this city. The name conjured up images of peace as if the city was called “Rest”. It brought a feeling of protection as if it was called “The Fortress”. But it was better than even these names. The name of the city? Ezekiel will tell you:
"And the name of the city from that time on will be:
THE LORD IS THERE.”
[Or in the Hebrew: Jehovah Shammah]
Ezekiel 48:35
The name of the city was “The Lord is There.” And while I speak facetiously of wanting to visit this city, the truth is that our own homes and lives are called “Jehovah Shammah”: “Let the Lord dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)
As are our individual churches and fellowships: “And in Him you, too, are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:22)
And in this wonderful City of His Presence we need never fear of being driven out for Jesus, the King of the City has said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37)
Now, remember that our King is not a man to be beset with our own limitations. Though He is King of the whole city, yet He “stoops down” as our main text in Psalm 113 says. He stoops down from his lofty heavenly throne and fellowships with us individually.
And from the very beginning of this city the Lord has fellowshipped with His people. Moses once said of God, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” (Psalm 90:1)
Are you starting to get the feeling that God wants to be with His people? We’ve already seen that he has been with His people throughout all generations, but what about future generations? His plans have never changed. Very near the end of the Bible when God speaks of a future New Jerusalem He says, “Now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21: 3)
God seems to be very stubborn. He has had this plan since before He created Adam and Eve and walked and talked with them. He is eager to populate this city, so to speak. He is eager to welcome new citizens and the truth is, if you are a child of God, you are a citizen. Read John 6:37 again: if you are a believer then the Father has chosen you to be in His presence at all times. Remember, Job said that He never even takes His eyes off the righteous.
God is with you.
Where is God not?
Now when I say God is there or with that person, it does beg the question, “Where is he not?” For instance, we may sing at church, “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in This Place”, but isn’t He outside the church as well?
We’ve already seen that, yes, God is everywhere. His eye is on everyone - the righteous and the unrighteous. So why is it a big deal when God says that He is with you?
Think of a mother who is at the park or party or wherever with her child. She watches closely, helps when needed, has a constant eye on everything and if something happens that she doesn’t want to happen – she steps in and makes it right. But the child is busy playing with friends, laughing at games or slides and just basically living his own life.
But when they get home the mommy is the one who gets to play and talk and tickle and joke with the child. She spends time with him without sitting on the boundaries watching him do whatever he does.
This is like God. His eye is on everyone in every place, but there are places and people, particularly His house and His people, that He is more with, so to speak. I think that's why the bible says simultaneously, "The heavens cannot contain You, much less this temple I've built!", but also says, "I pray that God will dwell in your hearts.”
We as His children have his special attention. Let’s not take that for granted, but invite Him to come and talk and laugh and spend time with us and our families.
Aware of everything?
Now, we have seen that God can bring about what He promises and that he is aware of His childrens’ needs to meet. But there may be one obstacle toward believing that God will do what He has promised for you. And this deals directly with the omniscience of God: Would God give such beautiful promises to me if He knew my past? I don’t deserve to be raised from the dust. I don’t deserve the blessing of children.”
I know I have felt at times that I had to be very careful while reading God’s words because I felt that some were for me and some weren’t. Yes, God has promised mercy, but certainly not to someone who has taken it for granted as many times as I. Yes, He has promised blessings, but surely not to someone who squandered them one too many times.
This may be a good time to share one more thing about the nature of God. Not only is he infinite in power, size and knowledge … but he is infinite in time.
“Only I [God] can tell you what is going to happen even before it happens.”
Isaiah 46:10 NLT
Even before something has started, God has already declared what the end of it will be. Before Jesus had even come to earth to die for your sins, He knew you would curse Him. He told Peter straight out, “Tonight you’ll disown me three times.” And despite Peter’s loving shoo-shooing of such thoughts, what Jesus said came to pass. But we must take notice that Jesus knew Peter would deny him three years before when He called Peter to be His disciple. When He made Peter one of the three disciples He was closest with, He always knew Peter would betray him.
God is never surprised by our sin. Not only because He knows our very thoughts before we think them (Psalm 139), but also because He knows who we are and what we’re made of:
“As a father has compassion on His children,
So the Lord has compassion on those that fear Him;
For He knows how we are formed,
He remembers that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:13-14
Our God is a God of grace. What do you say then? Should we keep sinning so that we can get more and more grace? God forbid! (Rom 6:1,2) We should not live any longer in it! Fight against sin. Draw closer to God and He’ll draw closer to you. But keep in mind what Paul wrote, “My little children, I write this to you so you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1 John 2:1)
At the very moment you believed the lie that God’s love reached only so far towards you because of your past, this truth was begging your attention:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”
Romans 8:35
In other words, nothing can separate us from God’s love. He will always be true to His word, though we may not.
“If we are faithless, He will remain faithful.”
2 Timothy 2:13
When I was a kid we used to sing a simple song that became more and more complex as I got older. But I encourage you to read it with the faith of a child:
"Every promise in the Book is mine.
Every chapter, every verse, every line.
I am standing on His word divine,
Every promise in the Book is mine!"
We’re going to talk soon about the promises that God has given to us. Prepare your heart to receive it. There is no sinner so low that He cannot stoop down and lift him out of the dust. There is no heart so dirty that his blood will not cover it completely. Every promise is yours. Take it into your heart happily.
"Since therefore I can hardly bear what in myself I see
How vile, how black I must appear, most Holy God to thee!
But since my savior stands between in garments dyed in blood
‘Tis He, instead of me, who’s seen when I approach to God."
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Little Excerpt from Part 3
In my Sunday School classes when I was a kid the teacher would ask if we had any prayer requests and, shy little girl that I was, I never raised my hand. But then she asked the question I had been waiting for, “Who has an unspoken request?” I haven’t heard that term in years, but I remember how eagerly I would raise my hand when she asked. Even if my request to God was to heal my dog or help me in a kickball game, I loved the feeling of having a secret that only God and I knew about.
Oh, to have that simple faith again. It was an easy thing to believe that God knew my inmost thoughts without my having to utter a word. But with growing age comes growing doubt and growing effort to try to get into the presence of God and feel that my prayer is heard.
But God is no man that I must struggle to get his attention or entertain him with fancy, intelligent conversation to keep him interested. His attention is always on us. We are the prodigal son walking home racking our brains to figure out a way to get into our father’s presence again – while He has been waiting for us to show up and runs to us when we approach.
Job said that God never takes His eyes off the righteous (36:7). The truth is that though we may feel we are the ones that hope God is there when we come to Him, it is actually God who is always waiting for even a sign to come and fellowship with us. He said that if we knock on His door He’ll open it gladly. If He sees you starting to look for Him, as two best friends would in a crowded room – you’ll find Him. All you have to do is ask – and you’ll receive. Ask Him to join you, talk with you, walk with you throughout your day – and He has promised that you’ll get what you ask. (Matthew 7:8)
Oh, to have that simple faith again. It was an easy thing to believe that God knew my inmost thoughts without my having to utter a word. But with growing age comes growing doubt and growing effort to try to get into the presence of God and feel that my prayer is heard.
But God is no man that I must struggle to get his attention or entertain him with fancy, intelligent conversation to keep him interested. His attention is always on us. We are the prodigal son walking home racking our brains to figure out a way to get into our father’s presence again – while He has been waiting for us to show up and runs to us when we approach.
Job said that God never takes His eyes off the righteous (36:7). The truth is that though we may feel we are the ones that hope God is there when we come to Him, it is actually God who is always waiting for even a sign to come and fellowship with us. He said that if we knock on His door He’ll open it gladly. If He sees you starting to look for Him, as two best friends would in a crowded room – you’ll find Him. All you have to do is ask – and you’ll receive. Ask Him to join you, talk with you, walk with you throughout your day – and He has promised that you’ll get what you ask. (Matthew 7:8)
“Within thy circling power I stand
On every side I find thy hand.
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad
I am surrounded still by God.”
Monday, November 9, 2009
Another quick thot
You know, if I keep posting these little thots then when I'm done with this chapter everyone will think, "Ya, we've heard that before." Well, as I tell my little boy, "Tough-a-roni, Honeycake." This is something I've never noticed before and its just really cool. So I'm gonna post it.
So in this chapter of "The Omnipresence of God" that I'm still working on, I wanted to write about Solomon's comment: "Who is able to build a temple for Him, since even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Him?" (2 Chr 2:6) And while reading Kings and Chonicles and all that stuff I noticed something really interesting. I wanted to get this quote from Solomon because I didn't think David made any such comment about God being too big. But he did. He just had a different perspective: "It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the Lord's covenant and as a footstool for our God." (1 Chr 28:2) He, too, was well aware that God was so big that this enormous, elaborate temple would only house God's feet!
So ... in two Psalms (99 and 132) when David says, "Let us worship at His footstool" he is talking about the physical house of God. I always thought he was speaking figuratively about an intimate moment with God, but it seems he was speaking literally about a communal moment with God and the saints. Fascinating. Never thought of that before.
Want a perfect little example of the phrase, "beyond imagination". The truth is that God was even bigger than David imagined. God himself said to Isaiah, "Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool." Just when we think our minds have figured Him out ... we really have no idea.
So in this chapter of "The Omnipresence of God" that I'm still working on, I wanted to write about Solomon's comment: "Who is able to build a temple for Him, since even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Him?" (2 Chr 2:6) And while reading Kings and Chonicles and all that stuff I noticed something really interesting. I wanted to get this quote from Solomon because I didn't think David made any such comment about God being too big. But he did. He just had a different perspective: "It was in my heart to build a house as a resting place for the ark of the Lord's covenant and as a footstool for our God." (1 Chr 28:2) He, too, was well aware that God was so big that this enormous, elaborate temple would only house God's feet!
So ... in two Psalms (99 and 132) when David says, "Let us worship at His footstool" he is talking about the physical house of God. I always thought he was speaking figuratively about an intimate moment with God, but it seems he was speaking literally about a communal moment with God and the saints. Fascinating. Never thought of that before.
Want a perfect little example of the phrase, "beyond imagination". The truth is that God was even bigger than David imagined. God himself said to Isaiah, "Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool." Just when we think our minds have figured Him out ... we really have no idea.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
A Quick Thot
Ya, no pages long theses here. But I wanted to post something I've been thinking about. The next section of my little writing project is on God's omnipresence. It's been so fascinating, I haven't even written anything yet, there's been so much to read and outline on it.
So after a little study I'm pretty convinced God is in all places at all times. My co-writer, Charles Spurgeon said, "His circumference is nowhere, but His centre is everywhere." Psalm 113, 2 Chr 2:6, 1 Kings 8:27, Deut 4:39, Isaiah 66:1 are just some of the scriptures telling of the omnipresence of God.
Well, I've also thought its interesting that there are places where it is said, "God was there." For instance, the term Jehovah-Shammah (God is There) is used in Ezekiel to speak about Jerusalem. Or we read about how God was with this person or another.
But if God is everywhere and with everyone, why does the bible say specifically "God was there," or "God was with him"? For instance, we sing at church, "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place," but he is outside that place, too.
Well, I was pondering this when a thought came to me. It is an analogy that stars a mommy, as most of my analogies do lately for obvious reasons. It is like a mommy who is at the park or party or wherever with her child. She watches closely, helps when needed, has a constant eye on everything and if something happens that she does not want to happen - she steps in and makes it right. But the child is busy playing with friends, laughing at games or slides and just basically living his own life.
But when they get home the mommy is the one who gets to play and talk and tickle and joke with the child. She spends time with him without sitting on the boundaries watching him do what he does.
I think this is like God. His eye is on everyone at every place. (this is what the next section is about, so I'm not going to expound on that right now), but there are places and people, particularly His house and His people, that He is more with, so to speak. I think that's why the bible says simultaneously, "The heavens cannot contain You, much less this temple I've built!", but also says, "I pray that God will dwell in your hearts."
We as His children have his special attention. Lets not take that for granted, but invite Him to come talk and laugh and spend time with us and our families. That's what I'm gonna do this morning.
So after a little study I'm pretty convinced God is in all places at all times. My co-writer, Charles Spurgeon said, "His circumference is nowhere, but His centre is everywhere." Psalm 113, 2 Chr 2:6, 1 Kings 8:27, Deut 4:39, Isaiah 66:1 are just some of the scriptures telling of the omnipresence of God.
Well, I've also thought its interesting that there are places where it is said, "God was there." For instance, the term Jehovah-Shammah (God is There) is used in Ezekiel to speak about Jerusalem. Or we read about how God was with this person or another.
But if God is everywhere and with everyone, why does the bible say specifically "God was there," or "God was with him"? For instance, we sing at church, "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place," but he is outside that place, too.
Well, I was pondering this when a thought came to me. It is an analogy that stars a mommy, as most of my analogies do lately for obvious reasons. It is like a mommy who is at the park or party or wherever with her child. She watches closely, helps when needed, has a constant eye on everything and if something happens that she does not want to happen - she steps in and makes it right. But the child is busy playing with friends, laughing at games or slides and just basically living his own life.
But when they get home the mommy is the one who gets to play and talk and tickle and joke with the child. She spends time with him without sitting on the boundaries watching him do what he does.
I think this is like God. His eye is on everyone at every place. (this is what the next section is about, so I'm not going to expound on that right now), but there are places and people, particularly His house and His people, that He is more with, so to speak. I think that's why the bible says simultaneously, "The heavens cannot contain You, much less this temple I've built!", but also says, "I pray that God will dwell in your hearts."
We as His children have his special attention. Lets not take that for granted, but invite Him to come talk and laugh and spend time with us and our families. That's what I'm gonna do this morning.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
I Can Because I AM - Part 2
The Omnipotence of God
I want to remind you that our goal in looking at the omnipotence of God is not simply a character study. Our goal is to believe with confidence and unerring faith every single word that comes out of God’s mouth. Before he gives such words he provides evidence for who he is that he can make such claims, whether those claims be for our protection, redemption, or a number of other wonderful promises. If we can truly see how “qualified” – so-to-speak – our God is, we will be more apt to trust what he says.
I have a fanciful imagination at times and when I play with my niece it really comes out. I tell stories and play games with characters larger than life – a magic fairy who is able to make all the flowers start singing. Or perhaps a tiny caterpillar who drinks a potion and gets bigger and bigger until he crawls easily from planet to planet!
The truth is our minds are fascinated with things outside our humanly finite box of existence. The seemingly impossible being done opens our eyes and mind to the possibility that there may be more than that box after all.
My niece is very aware that those stories are made-up. She learned early that stories that tell of things and people and deeds that she didn’t see or do in her daily life were “fiction”. They were fascinating to think about but, with each passing year, become less and less believable. She is told that a man flies through the air on his sleigh of reindeer and then slides down people’s chimneys to give presents to every home – every home in the world! – in the course of a few minutes right there at midnight. The day came when nobody had to tell her that Santa Clause was a fake. It’s pretty obvious. His deeds are impossible. Gravity disallows his flying reindeer. The space-time continuum (harking back to my Star-Trek days) disallows his speed. And simple physics disallows the big belly sliding down little chimneys.
And so we learn very early to distrust anything that is wondering outside our box of physical rules and laws. Good! God set up those physical rules and laws for a reason. Not everything is possible for us. We may watch a movie on how Superman flew around the world so quickly he actually reversed time, but please do not attempt to soar off of your roof in hopes of accomplishing the same thing. The physical world around us is not as subject to us as we may think. We should be – and generally are – taught these things while still very young.
But we should also be taught that though not everything is possible with us humans, everything is possible for God! The Creator has power over everything that His hands have molded into being. Because it is all we know, we tend anthropomorphize God a little too often. Anthropomorphize simply means – to give human attributes to something not human. In high school I had to read a book called “Watership Down” about a society of rabbits, each with separate and distinct personalities, desires, goals even religions. I will tell you what I would tell my niece: Rabbits don’t really do that, honey.
Regardless of what authors have told us down through the years, cats do not smile big and speak in riddles, hares and tortoises do not race each other to see who is fastest and a barn full of animals never plotted a mutiny against their owner.
In the same vein, God has never been frustrated by a tree that has fallen in the road. He has never missed a call from one of his children while talking to another. He has never been tired! Though He has been lied to He has never been deceived. His plans have never been foiled by one obstacle or another. His attentions are never too divided that he becomes neglectful: He is as aware of the tear on your cheek as he is the sparrow on the other side of the world that fell from his nest.
I am … and I’m not
Isaiah 40 has a very similar format as our main text, Psalm 113. In this verse He makes a beautiful promise to His people:
“He protects His flock like a shepherd;
He gathers the lambs in His arms
A carries them in the fold of His garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.”
Isaiah 40:11
You could say that God was anthropomorphizing himself. He gave himself human attributes so that we could understand his love better. We can understand God’s concern when he compares himself to a shepherd who carries a sick lamb in own clothes, against his own chest. He “protects”, “gathers”, “carries” and “gently leads”. His people needed to see that with their own eyes and when they looked across their field at a David-like shepherd, their God came into view and they knew Him that much more intimately.
BUT God does not stop there because though he is a loving shepherd he is by no means just a loving shepherd! He is God! - and he quickly changes gears to assure His people that, unlike the shepherd they see traversing the hillside, the Lord is no such human!
“Who has scooped up the ocean in his two hands
or measured the sky between his thumb and little finger?
Who has put all the earth’s dirt in one of his baskets,
Weighed each mountain and hill?”
Isaiah 40:12
Matthew Henry said, “Though it was said, ‘He protects His flock like a shepherd,’ yet these condescensions of grace must not be thought of with any diminution to the trascendencies of his glory.”
In other words, though God stoops down low (as it says in our main text) to meet us where we are and compares himself to a lowly human to help our lowly minds understand his lofty character a bit better – this by no means lowers his power and glory one iota. The shepherd who protects his flock and holds him in his garment also has the power to scoop up the ocean in his hand.
Presumption
Keep your mind vigilant and always aware of this, one of the human mind’s most common and dangerous follies: presuming something about God that is not so – just because our minds cannot imagine that he is as big as he is. Oh, a million volumes could be filled with all the times I’ve done this. And truth be told, the bible itself is full of characters who presume that God is like a man and that there is some kind of boundary to his power. Yes, he is powerful, but there must be things God can’t do. And when a task is too great for us we assume it is too big for God, as well.
Moses did exactly that. Because he and all the children of Israel were complaining of hunger, God said that he would give them all meat every day for a month until they were sick of it. Moses didn’t believe God. He said, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you promise them meat for a whole month! Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea would that be enough?”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Is there any limit to my power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!”
Later in the chapter He sent a wind that carried enough quail for the people to eat for a month.
Now, it could be easily debated that we really should give Moses a break. If he were in the quiet solitude of Mount Horeb watching over the flock in the cool of the day as he was a couple years before when he first met God in the burning bush, maybe his response would have been different. But he was in the wilderness with millions of complaining, hungry people all looking to him to do something about it. Also he was having problems in his own family. The next chapter tells the story of his own brother and sister stirring up rebellion because they didn’t like the woman Moses had married!
I have had many days in these younger years where I have sat in my home with my new, loving husband and young, healthy son and thought what the old-timers have said for so many years, “God is in his heaven and all is right in the world!”
But one day my boy will be older and will make his own choice for God. What if he chooses the wrong one? What if disease strikes my perfect little family? What if money is scarce? What if friends are gone? What if depression hits? What if the burdens of life are piled on my back one boulder at a time? When God speaks his promises of protection and provision to me will I, like Moses, see the many impossibilities of those words?
The truth is, Moses’ (and my own) problems did not affect the omnipotence of God at all. And in seeing all the impossibilities of God’s promise, Moses then spoke in ignorance, “Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, that wouldn’t be enough!” Yes, it would. There’s more than enough fish in the sea to feed everyone in the world, but even if there wasn’t God could create more fish with just a word! Or He could have given Moses 3 fish and multiplied it to feed the multitude.
We know He could because His Son did the same thing later on in the Book.
Tough Questions
God asks questions that demand we throw out our finite expectations when dealing with Him.
In the book of Job we have another example of a man who is walking through the midst of the troubles and horrors of his life. His home, livelihood and servants were either stolen or destroyed and then came the worst – his children. All ten of his children were killed at once when the house they were in collapsed. While Job grieved his many losses he was then struck with boils – large, messy sores from his head to his toes.
When his three friends came to visit him they couldn’t believe what they saw – they couldn’t even recognize him. They each cried and tore their clothes and threw dust on their heads. They sat with him on the ground for 7 days before anyone spoke a word “because they saw that his suffering was very intense.”
That’s pain. That’s misery. Whether his friends really try to comfort him is up for another debate at another time, but they certainly don’t seem to be helping Job out very much. Nevertheless, early in the conversation with his friends, Job is still well aware of the power of God:
“God is wise and all-powerful.
Who has opposed Him and come out unharmed?
He removes mountains without their knowledge
Overturning them in His anger.
He shakes the earth from its place
So that its pillars tremble.
He commands the sun not to shine
And seals off the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens
And treads on the waves of the sea.
He makes the stars; the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades
And the constellations of the southern sky.
He performs great and unsearchable things, wonders without number …
Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my judge for mercy …
For He is not a man like me
That I can answer Him,
That we can take each other to court.”
(9:4-10, 15, 32)
But as time goes on and he hears more and more “comforting words” from his friends, his attitude changes a bit. Perhaps because God refrains from replying to him just then, Job forgets that “He is not a man like me that I can answer Him”. In fact, amidst the many profound things that he reminds himself of periodically, he also starts saying things about God that are simply not true:
“From the city, men groan;
The mortally wounded cry for help,
Yet God pays no attention to this crime.”
(24:12)
"You [God] have turned against me with cruelty;
You harass me with Your strong hand.”
(29:21)
“His [God’s] anger tears at me,
and He harasses me.
He gnashes His teeth at me.
My enemy pierces me with His eyes.”
(16:9)
God’s answer to all of these accusations? The Message bible puts it this way, “Why do you confuse the issue? Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?”
Job refuses to answer God and just says, “I’m speechless, in awe – words fail me. I should never have opened my mouth! I’ve talked too much, way too much. I’m ready to shut up and listen.”
But after God asks him more questions in the same vein, Job gets down to the heart of the problem. “Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (42:3)
Again, God’s ways are so far above ours. In our pain or discomfort or whatever situation we find ourselves in, we question God and when we don’t hear a response we make up the answers ourselves. We presume things about our God that are not so. We think of Him as any other man. Job presumed God to be a cruel betrayer. It was the only way for Job’s limited mind to explain his hardship. But in the reality of God’s infinity, His real reasons were far higher than Job could ever understand.
Words Without Knowledge
And, in His own good time, God asks some questions of His own. Questions that silence Job and remind him of the power of God.
“Who is it that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you shall answer Me.
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions?
Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set or who laid its cornerstone
While all the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
(38:2-7)
And while I print here only 6 verses, there are 3 chapters worth of questions, all with the same answer, “Not me, God!” All of the questions demanded that Job compare his own ignorance with God’s omniscience and his own weakness with God’s omnipotence.
While I quoted verse 2 earlier from the Message bible, the NIV (above) says the same thing but with three words I’d like to bring out: “Words without knowledge”. Job admits this in chapter when he says to God, “I spoke of things I don’t understand!”
Again, His ways are so far higher than our ways. His thoughts atmospheres over our own thoughts. Heavenly thoughts and human minds don’t meld together very easily. This ignorance leads to complaining and complaining never fixed anything. (How many times have you said that to your children?)
In our pain, in our sadness, in our discouragement and doubt let us endeavor to keep our mouths shut.
Not in prayer: “I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies!” (2 Sam 22:4)
Not in song: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” (Psalm 150:6)
Not in self-encouragement: “Why are you downcast, O may soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 42:5)
But let us be silent in our ignorant complaints. Job refused to keep silent and said, “Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul!” (7:11)
As we’ve seen, he regretted that later, “I am unworthy – how can I reply to You? I put my hand over my mouth.” (40:4)
Too many times we have spoke of things we don’t understand, as well. We spew false accusations or insinuations about God in the false belief that He is a man that he can be accused by us mere humans. But once we see Him for ourselves and hear the truth about his great deeds and power – let us close our mouths and repent.
God never told Job why he had to go through everything he did. It was enough that Job knew that nothing was outside God’s attention and scope of power. All things are done under His watchful eye and set about my His purposeful hand.
Like we saw before with the Apostle Paul, it didn’t matter that he didn’t see a way out of his pain, or ever knew the “why” of his trials – it was enough that he knew in whom he believed.
Complaining vs. Prayer
A quick note on the difference between complaining and prayer may be in order here. I believe the main difference between the two is the audience. Charles Spurgeon once said, “We may complain to God but not of God.”
Psalm 42:2 says, “I poured out my complaint before Him.” We are able, free and encouraged to pour out our hearts to God – in His presence, not anyone else’s. Charles Spurgeon again puts it so nicely, “Note that we do not show our trouble before the Lord that he may see it, but that we may see him. It is for our relief, and not for his information that we make plain statements concerning our woes: it does us much good to set out our sorrow in order, for much of it vanishes in the process, like a ghost which will not abide the light of day.”
Fringes
The bible is full of illustrations of the power of God (a list is included at this end of the chapter). David said, “I lie awake thinking of You, meditating on You through the night.” (Psalm 63:6) What a good habit to get into. Reminding ourselves and others of the power of God to do all the things He has said He would do increases our faith in Him and His promises.
But always keep in mind one little thing that Job noticed:
“He spreads out the skies over empty space;
He suspends the earth over nothing.
He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
Yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
He covers the face of the full moon,
Spreading His clouds over it.
He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
For a boundary between light and darkness.
The pillars of heaven quake, aghast at His rebuke.
By His power He churned up the sea;
By His wisdom He cut Rahab to pieces.
By His breath the skies became fair
His hand pierced the gliding serpent.
And these are but the outer fringe of His works
How faint the whisper we hear of Him!
Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
(26:7-14)
It becomes our duty, our help and our fortress to remind ourselves of God’s power but always know that because of these earth-trapped, limited minds we can only truly understand the very “minor things” of God’s power, as the NLT puts it. But I do prefer the NIV (and others): “Outer fringes”. That word brings to my mind an ornate persian rug. Following that analogy, Job says that we can not possibly see the entire, beautiful, complex designs – only the outer fringe of it. But what beautiful things even that outer fringe promises for us. We may not see and know the limitless possibilities of His power – we may not see the grandiose art of the rug – but we know the Designer.
And knowing Him demands we throw all of our expectations out the window and prepare ourselves for something far above what we could ever dream up.
“How faint the whisper we hear of Him,
Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
I want to remind you that our goal in looking at the omnipotence of God is not simply a character study. Our goal is to believe with confidence and unerring faith every single word that comes out of God’s mouth. Before he gives such words he provides evidence for who he is that he can make such claims, whether those claims be for our protection, redemption, or a number of other wonderful promises. If we can truly see how “qualified” – so-to-speak – our God is, we will be more apt to trust what he says.
I have a fanciful imagination at times and when I play with my niece it really comes out. I tell stories and play games with characters larger than life – a magic fairy who is able to make all the flowers start singing. Or perhaps a tiny caterpillar who drinks a potion and gets bigger and bigger until he crawls easily from planet to planet!
The truth is our minds are fascinated with things outside our humanly finite box of existence. The seemingly impossible being done opens our eyes and mind to the possibility that there may be more than that box after all.
My niece is very aware that those stories are made-up. She learned early that stories that tell of things and people and deeds that she didn’t see or do in her daily life were “fiction”. They were fascinating to think about but, with each passing year, become less and less believable. She is told that a man flies through the air on his sleigh of reindeer and then slides down people’s chimneys to give presents to every home – every home in the world! – in the course of a few minutes right there at midnight. The day came when nobody had to tell her that Santa Clause was a fake. It’s pretty obvious. His deeds are impossible. Gravity disallows his flying reindeer. The space-time continuum (harking back to my Star-Trek days) disallows his speed. And simple physics disallows the big belly sliding down little chimneys.
And so we learn very early to distrust anything that is wondering outside our box of physical rules and laws. Good! God set up those physical rules and laws for a reason. Not everything is possible for us. We may watch a movie on how Superman flew around the world so quickly he actually reversed time, but please do not attempt to soar off of your roof in hopes of accomplishing the same thing. The physical world around us is not as subject to us as we may think. We should be – and generally are – taught these things while still very young.
But we should also be taught that though not everything is possible with us humans, everything is possible for God! The Creator has power over everything that His hands have molded into being. Because it is all we know, we tend anthropomorphize God a little too often. Anthropomorphize simply means – to give human attributes to something not human. In high school I had to read a book called “Watership Down” about a society of rabbits, each with separate and distinct personalities, desires, goals even religions. I will tell you what I would tell my niece: Rabbits don’t really do that, honey.
Regardless of what authors have told us down through the years, cats do not smile big and speak in riddles, hares and tortoises do not race each other to see who is fastest and a barn full of animals never plotted a mutiny against their owner.
In the same vein, God has never been frustrated by a tree that has fallen in the road. He has never missed a call from one of his children while talking to another. He has never been tired! Though He has been lied to He has never been deceived. His plans have never been foiled by one obstacle or another. His attentions are never too divided that he becomes neglectful: He is as aware of the tear on your cheek as he is the sparrow on the other side of the world that fell from his nest.
I am … and I’m not
Isaiah 40 has a very similar format as our main text, Psalm 113. In this verse He makes a beautiful promise to His people:
“He protects His flock like a shepherd;
He gathers the lambs in His arms
A carries them in the fold of His garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.”
Isaiah 40:11
You could say that God was anthropomorphizing himself. He gave himself human attributes so that we could understand his love better. We can understand God’s concern when he compares himself to a shepherd who carries a sick lamb in own clothes, against his own chest. He “protects”, “gathers”, “carries” and “gently leads”. His people needed to see that with their own eyes and when they looked across their field at a David-like shepherd, their God came into view and they knew Him that much more intimately.
BUT God does not stop there because though he is a loving shepherd he is by no means just a loving shepherd! He is God! - and he quickly changes gears to assure His people that, unlike the shepherd they see traversing the hillside, the Lord is no such human!
“Who has scooped up the ocean in his two hands
or measured the sky between his thumb and little finger?
Who has put all the earth’s dirt in one of his baskets,
Weighed each mountain and hill?”
Isaiah 40:12
Matthew Henry said, “Though it was said, ‘He protects His flock like a shepherd,’ yet these condescensions of grace must not be thought of with any diminution to the trascendencies of his glory.”
In other words, though God stoops down low (as it says in our main text) to meet us where we are and compares himself to a lowly human to help our lowly minds understand his lofty character a bit better – this by no means lowers his power and glory one iota. The shepherd who protects his flock and holds him in his garment also has the power to scoop up the ocean in his hand.
Presumption
Keep your mind vigilant and always aware of this, one of the human mind’s most common and dangerous follies: presuming something about God that is not so – just because our minds cannot imagine that he is as big as he is. Oh, a million volumes could be filled with all the times I’ve done this. And truth be told, the bible itself is full of characters who presume that God is like a man and that there is some kind of boundary to his power. Yes, he is powerful, but there must be things God can’t do. And when a task is too great for us we assume it is too big for God, as well.
Moses did exactly that. Because he and all the children of Israel were complaining of hunger, God said that he would give them all meat every day for a month until they were sick of it. Moses didn’t believe God. He said, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you promise them meat for a whole month! Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea would that be enough?”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Is there any limit to my power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!”
Later in the chapter He sent a wind that carried enough quail for the people to eat for a month.
Now, it could be easily debated that we really should give Moses a break. If he were in the quiet solitude of Mount Horeb watching over the flock in the cool of the day as he was a couple years before when he first met God in the burning bush, maybe his response would have been different. But he was in the wilderness with millions of complaining, hungry people all looking to him to do something about it. Also he was having problems in his own family. The next chapter tells the story of his own brother and sister stirring up rebellion because they didn’t like the woman Moses had married!
I have had many days in these younger years where I have sat in my home with my new, loving husband and young, healthy son and thought what the old-timers have said for so many years, “God is in his heaven and all is right in the world!”
But one day my boy will be older and will make his own choice for God. What if he chooses the wrong one? What if disease strikes my perfect little family? What if money is scarce? What if friends are gone? What if depression hits? What if the burdens of life are piled on my back one boulder at a time? When God speaks his promises of protection and provision to me will I, like Moses, see the many impossibilities of those words?
The truth is, Moses’ (and my own) problems did not affect the omnipotence of God at all. And in seeing all the impossibilities of God’s promise, Moses then spoke in ignorance, “Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, that wouldn’t be enough!” Yes, it would. There’s more than enough fish in the sea to feed everyone in the world, but even if there wasn’t God could create more fish with just a word! Or He could have given Moses 3 fish and multiplied it to feed the multitude.
We know He could because His Son did the same thing later on in the Book.
Tough Questions
God asks questions that demand we throw out our finite expectations when dealing with Him.
In the book of Job we have another example of a man who is walking through the midst of the troubles and horrors of his life. His home, livelihood and servants were either stolen or destroyed and then came the worst – his children. All ten of his children were killed at once when the house they were in collapsed. While Job grieved his many losses he was then struck with boils – large, messy sores from his head to his toes.
When his three friends came to visit him they couldn’t believe what they saw – they couldn’t even recognize him. They each cried and tore their clothes and threw dust on their heads. They sat with him on the ground for 7 days before anyone spoke a word “because they saw that his suffering was very intense.”
That’s pain. That’s misery. Whether his friends really try to comfort him is up for another debate at another time, but they certainly don’t seem to be helping Job out very much. Nevertheless, early in the conversation with his friends, Job is still well aware of the power of God:
“God is wise and all-powerful.
Who has opposed Him and come out unharmed?
He removes mountains without their knowledge
Overturning them in His anger.
He shakes the earth from its place
So that its pillars tremble.
He commands the sun not to shine
And seals off the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens
And treads on the waves of the sea.
He makes the stars; the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades
And the constellations of the southern sky.
He performs great and unsearchable things, wonders without number …
Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my judge for mercy …
For He is not a man like me
That I can answer Him,
That we can take each other to court.”
(9:4-10, 15, 32)
But as time goes on and he hears more and more “comforting words” from his friends, his attitude changes a bit. Perhaps because God refrains from replying to him just then, Job forgets that “He is not a man like me that I can answer Him”. In fact, amidst the many profound things that he reminds himself of periodically, he also starts saying things about God that are simply not true:
“From the city, men groan;
The mortally wounded cry for help,
Yet God pays no attention to this crime.”
(24:12)
"You [God] have turned against me with cruelty;
You harass me with Your strong hand.”
(29:21)
“His [God’s] anger tears at me,
and He harasses me.
He gnashes His teeth at me.
My enemy pierces me with His eyes.”
(16:9)
God’s answer to all of these accusations? The Message bible puts it this way, “Why do you confuse the issue? Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?”
Job refuses to answer God and just says, “I’m speechless, in awe – words fail me. I should never have opened my mouth! I’ve talked too much, way too much. I’m ready to shut up and listen.”
But after God asks him more questions in the same vein, Job gets down to the heart of the problem. “Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (42:3)
Again, God’s ways are so far above ours. In our pain or discomfort or whatever situation we find ourselves in, we question God and when we don’t hear a response we make up the answers ourselves. We presume things about our God that are not so. We think of Him as any other man. Job presumed God to be a cruel betrayer. It was the only way for Job’s limited mind to explain his hardship. But in the reality of God’s infinity, His real reasons were far higher than Job could ever understand.
Words Without Knowledge
And, in His own good time, God asks some questions of His own. Questions that silence Job and remind him of the power of God.
“Who is it that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you shall answer Me.
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions?
Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set or who laid its cornerstone
While all the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
(38:2-7)
And while I print here only 6 verses, there are 3 chapters worth of questions, all with the same answer, “Not me, God!” All of the questions demanded that Job compare his own ignorance with God’s omniscience and his own weakness with God’s omnipotence.
While I quoted verse 2 earlier from the Message bible, the NIV (above) says the same thing but with three words I’d like to bring out: “Words without knowledge”. Job admits this in chapter when he says to God, “I spoke of things I don’t understand!”
Again, His ways are so far higher than our ways. His thoughts atmospheres over our own thoughts. Heavenly thoughts and human minds don’t meld together very easily. This ignorance leads to complaining and complaining never fixed anything. (How many times have you said that to your children?)
In our pain, in our sadness, in our discouragement and doubt let us endeavor to keep our mouths shut.
Not in prayer: “I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies!” (2 Sam 22:4)
Not in song: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” (Psalm 150:6)
Not in self-encouragement: “Why are you downcast, O may soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 42:5)
But let us be silent in our ignorant complaints. Job refused to keep silent and said, “Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul!” (7:11)
As we’ve seen, he regretted that later, “I am unworthy – how can I reply to You? I put my hand over my mouth.” (40:4)
Too many times we have spoke of things we don’t understand, as well. We spew false accusations or insinuations about God in the false belief that He is a man that he can be accused by us mere humans. But once we see Him for ourselves and hear the truth about his great deeds and power – let us close our mouths and repent.
God never told Job why he had to go through everything he did. It was enough that Job knew that nothing was outside God’s attention and scope of power. All things are done under His watchful eye and set about my His purposeful hand.
Like we saw before with the Apostle Paul, it didn’t matter that he didn’t see a way out of his pain, or ever knew the “why” of his trials – it was enough that he knew in whom he believed.
Complaining vs. Prayer
A quick note on the difference between complaining and prayer may be in order here. I believe the main difference between the two is the audience. Charles Spurgeon once said, “We may complain to God but not of God.”
Psalm 42:2 says, “I poured out my complaint before Him.” We are able, free and encouraged to pour out our hearts to God – in His presence, not anyone else’s. Charles Spurgeon again puts it so nicely, “Note that we do not show our trouble before the Lord that he may see it, but that we may see him. It is for our relief, and not for his information that we make plain statements concerning our woes: it does us much good to set out our sorrow in order, for much of it vanishes in the process, like a ghost which will not abide the light of day.”
Fringes
The bible is full of illustrations of the power of God (a list is included at this end of the chapter). David said, “I lie awake thinking of You, meditating on You through the night.” (Psalm 63:6) What a good habit to get into. Reminding ourselves and others of the power of God to do all the things He has said He would do increases our faith in Him and His promises.
But always keep in mind one little thing that Job noticed:
“He spreads out the skies over empty space;
He suspends the earth over nothing.
He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
Yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
He covers the face of the full moon,
Spreading His clouds over it.
He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
For a boundary between light and darkness.
The pillars of heaven quake, aghast at His rebuke.
By His power He churned up the sea;
By His wisdom He cut Rahab to pieces.
By His breath the skies became fair
His hand pierced the gliding serpent.
And these are but the outer fringe of His works
How faint the whisper we hear of Him!
Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
(26:7-14)
It becomes our duty, our help and our fortress to remind ourselves of God’s power but always know that because of these earth-trapped, limited minds we can only truly understand the very “minor things” of God’s power, as the NLT puts it. But I do prefer the NIV (and others): “Outer fringes”. That word brings to my mind an ornate persian rug. Following that analogy, Job says that we can not possibly see the entire, beautiful, complex designs – only the outer fringe of it. But what beautiful things even that outer fringe promises for us. We may not see and know the limitless possibilities of His power – we may not see the grandiose art of the rug – but we know the Designer.
And knowing Him demands we throw all of our expectations out the window and prepare ourselves for something far above what we could ever dream up.
“How faint the whisper we hear of Him,
Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
I Can Because I AM - Part 1
Psalm 113:4-9
“The Lord is exalted above all the nations.
His glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God –
The One enthroned on high,
Who stoops down to look
On the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the needy from the garbage pile
In order to seat them with nobles
With the nobles of His people.
He gives the childless woman a household,
Making her the joyful mother of children.
Hallelujah!
I’d like to write a book on verses 7-9 of this psalm. In my own paraphrase, those verses share with us how God lifts the needy out of the dirt. How he gives children to the childless. How he raises the poor to be seated with nobles and are we surprised that the writer finishes those thoughts with a “Hallelujah!” We all need to hear those wonderful promises of God’s protection, blessing and deliverance. The children of God would do well and would find great peace and growing faith to be daily reminded of God’s promises.
But this passage is one of those rich banquets in the bible that promises a feast and not just desert. Behind, beneath and all around the sweetness of those verses are truths that, when digested bring complete satisfaction and greater appreciation for these truths. God does not seem to be content to just pat you on the back and assure you that you are cared for. No, he wants your mind convinced and your heart standing rock-solid on the faithfulness of your God. He wants you to know how he will save you, why he will save you and who he is that he can save you. And when those truths are fully known (as fully as we can know, at least) it will not be some flimsy faith with which you leave. A spring in your step will not be impeded with the first obstacle your foot finds.
When He wrote to his friend Timothy while sitting in a dark, damp jail, Paul may have had doubts. Don’t hold it against him! John the Baptist did, too, and Jesus said he was the best man who ever lived! No, it’s not impossible that in that lonely cell Paul may have questioned God’s promises. But even if he did there is one thing he did not doubt: the Promiser. He said, “I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.”
There may be days when you will doubt that deliverance is on its way. You may see the fire and find it impossible to believe that you will come out unburnt. The needy laying in the dirt may doubt that they will ever rise out of it. The childless woman may be sitting in her empty nursery one day too many. But in those moments when the words promised to us seem to get dimmer and dimmer and everything we thought we knew is now clouded in confusion I pray that we can still say:
“I may not know what tomorrow holds.
I may not know why I must suffer.
I may not know when deliverance will finally come.
I may not see where my next step will lead me.
But I DO know in whom I have believed!”
Who is this God of ours that He can make such outlandish promises to us? Zephaniah said, “He will save!”
Tell that to the lost. See if doubt doesn’t somehow seep through.
“He will rejoice over you with joy!”
Tell that to those living with the guilt of their past. It’d be nice to believe, but the pain is just a little stronger than the hope of those words.
“He will calm all your fears!”
Tell that to the father of four whose job security is shaky. Or the grandmother whose children are away from the Lord. Or the unloved orphan. Or the new widow.
… or just about any of us from time to time.
When words are hard to believe, God does not come at us with a rebuke. “He knows how we are formed, he remembers we are but dust.” (Psalm 103:14) It is no shock to him that you may doubt His words. We are dust and he is spirit. We are earth-bound and he is infinite in size and scope.
“My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
And we think that once we become a Christian every one of these heavenly words will be automatically taken with %100 assurance? Of course these promises are wonderful and we’d LOVE to believe, but our human minds aren’t able to believe at times. If a man in tattered and dirty clothes came to me and said, “Ma’am, I’m going to give you a billion dollars,” I’ve gotta admit I wouldn’t believe him. Not only because his clothing goes against what my mind usually associates with wealth, but a billion dollars is slightly out of my range of believability.
The only way for this man to convince me of his promise is to convince me that he is a man who is able to do what he says. He could show me his bank account, his home, his education. He could introduce me to people he has given to before. He could bring me to the buildings and parks and other projects he has created. And eventually I would believe. NOT because I trust the words “I’m going to give you a billion dollars,” but because I now trust the person who said those words.
I mentioned briefly about John the Baptist. I think it’s a good time to bring him up again. John the Baptist lived his life for Jesus … in an extreme kind of way. Matthew said he wore clothes of camel hair, lived in the wilderness and ate locusts and honey. Have you heard of these kinds of people? They’re the kind that finds one thing in life that totally consumes them to the point that they care about nothing else. His life is so radically devoted to God that when his ministry begins he doesn’t have to go out and search for people to preach to – they come to him! This man was actually prophesied about hundreds of years before he was around. Jesus said that Isaiah spoke about John the Baptist.
And yet, even John the Baptist had his moments of doubt. He was eventually arrested for his faith and imprisoned. He heard from his own disciples that Jesus was in Galilee so he sent them with a question for Jesus: “Are you really the Messiah we’ve been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?” (Mat 11:13).
Jesus was well aware of what a far-fetched claim that was to our feeble minds, so he didn’t say, “Look. I said it. That settles it. It’s your job as a Christian and my prophet to believe what I say so what’s wrong with you? You should be praying more or something. I don’t know but you’ve obviously neglected reading your bible this week, haven’t you? What a disappointment you are!”
No, no, no. There is no rebuke. Jesus is always more than ready to back up his claims. Not with inspirational platitudes that may satisfy for a moment but dries up when the heat comes back. No, he gives evidence as to who he is that he can make such a claim. He said, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor.”
In essence, Jesus said:
If it’s hard to believe what I’ve said then take a look at what I’ve DONE!
And this is his way in our main scriptures, Psalm 113. Before he tries to convince you that he is your protector, your redeemer and the lifter of your head he reminds you of who is he that he can make such a claim:
“The Lord is exalted over the nations, his glory above the heavens.”
And we will do the same. Before we delve into the promises of verses 7-9, we’re going to establish from scripture just who God is and what He has done to prove that what he says will come about. The next section will be about the “omnis” – God’s omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence.
If we are convinced that God can do anything he wants it will be a small thing to trust anything and everything that comes out of His mouth.
“The Lord is exalted above all the nations.
His glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God –
The One enthroned on high,
Who stoops down to look
On the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the needy from the garbage pile
In order to seat them with nobles
With the nobles of His people.
He gives the childless woman a household,
Making her the joyful mother of children.
Hallelujah!
I’d like to write a book on verses 7-9 of this psalm. In my own paraphrase, those verses share with us how God lifts the needy out of the dirt. How he gives children to the childless. How he raises the poor to be seated with nobles and are we surprised that the writer finishes those thoughts with a “Hallelujah!” We all need to hear those wonderful promises of God’s protection, blessing and deliverance. The children of God would do well and would find great peace and growing faith to be daily reminded of God’s promises.
But this passage is one of those rich banquets in the bible that promises a feast and not just desert. Behind, beneath and all around the sweetness of those verses are truths that, when digested bring complete satisfaction and greater appreciation for these truths. God does not seem to be content to just pat you on the back and assure you that you are cared for. No, he wants your mind convinced and your heart standing rock-solid on the faithfulness of your God. He wants you to know how he will save you, why he will save you and who he is that he can save you. And when those truths are fully known (as fully as we can know, at least) it will not be some flimsy faith with which you leave. A spring in your step will not be impeded with the first obstacle your foot finds.
When He wrote to his friend Timothy while sitting in a dark, damp jail, Paul may have had doubts. Don’t hold it against him! John the Baptist did, too, and Jesus said he was the best man who ever lived! No, it’s not impossible that in that lonely cell Paul may have questioned God’s promises. But even if he did there is one thing he did not doubt: the Promiser. He said, “I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.”
There may be days when you will doubt that deliverance is on its way. You may see the fire and find it impossible to believe that you will come out unburnt. The needy laying in the dirt may doubt that they will ever rise out of it. The childless woman may be sitting in her empty nursery one day too many. But in those moments when the words promised to us seem to get dimmer and dimmer and everything we thought we knew is now clouded in confusion I pray that we can still say:
“I may not know what tomorrow holds.
I may not know why I must suffer.
I may not know when deliverance will finally come.
I may not see where my next step will lead me.
But I DO know in whom I have believed!”
Who is this God of ours that He can make such outlandish promises to us? Zephaniah said, “He will save!”
Tell that to the lost. See if doubt doesn’t somehow seep through.
“He will rejoice over you with joy!”
Tell that to those living with the guilt of their past. It’d be nice to believe, but the pain is just a little stronger than the hope of those words.
“He will calm all your fears!”
Tell that to the father of four whose job security is shaky. Or the grandmother whose children are away from the Lord. Or the unloved orphan. Or the new widow.
… or just about any of us from time to time.
When words are hard to believe, God does not come at us with a rebuke. “He knows how we are formed, he remembers we are but dust.” (Psalm 103:14) It is no shock to him that you may doubt His words. We are dust and he is spirit. We are earth-bound and he is infinite in size and scope.
“My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
And we think that once we become a Christian every one of these heavenly words will be automatically taken with %100 assurance? Of course these promises are wonderful and we’d LOVE to believe, but our human minds aren’t able to believe at times. If a man in tattered and dirty clothes came to me and said, “Ma’am, I’m going to give you a billion dollars,” I’ve gotta admit I wouldn’t believe him. Not only because his clothing goes against what my mind usually associates with wealth, but a billion dollars is slightly out of my range of believability.
The only way for this man to convince me of his promise is to convince me that he is a man who is able to do what he says. He could show me his bank account, his home, his education. He could introduce me to people he has given to before. He could bring me to the buildings and parks and other projects he has created. And eventually I would believe. NOT because I trust the words “I’m going to give you a billion dollars,” but because I now trust the person who said those words.
I mentioned briefly about John the Baptist. I think it’s a good time to bring him up again. John the Baptist lived his life for Jesus … in an extreme kind of way. Matthew said he wore clothes of camel hair, lived in the wilderness and ate locusts and honey. Have you heard of these kinds of people? They’re the kind that finds one thing in life that totally consumes them to the point that they care about nothing else. His life is so radically devoted to God that when his ministry begins he doesn’t have to go out and search for people to preach to – they come to him! This man was actually prophesied about hundreds of years before he was around. Jesus said that Isaiah spoke about John the Baptist.
And yet, even John the Baptist had his moments of doubt. He was eventually arrested for his faith and imprisoned. He heard from his own disciples that Jesus was in Galilee so he sent them with a question for Jesus: “Are you really the Messiah we’ve been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?” (Mat 11:13).
Jesus was well aware of what a far-fetched claim that was to our feeble minds, so he didn’t say, “Look. I said it. That settles it. It’s your job as a Christian and my prophet to believe what I say so what’s wrong with you? You should be praying more or something. I don’t know but you’ve obviously neglected reading your bible this week, haven’t you? What a disappointment you are!”
No, no, no. There is no rebuke. Jesus is always more than ready to back up his claims. Not with inspirational platitudes that may satisfy for a moment but dries up when the heat comes back. No, he gives evidence as to who he is that he can make such a claim. He said, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor.”
In essence, Jesus said:
If it’s hard to believe what I’ve said then take a look at what I’ve DONE!
And this is his way in our main scriptures, Psalm 113. Before he tries to convince you that he is your protector, your redeemer and the lifter of your head he reminds you of who is he that he can make such a claim:
“The Lord is exalted over the nations, his glory above the heavens.”
And we will do the same. Before we delve into the promises of verses 7-9, we’re going to establish from scripture just who God is and what He has done to prove that what he says will come about. The next section will be about the “omnis” – God’s omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence.
If we are convinced that God can do anything he wants it will be a small thing to trust anything and everything that comes out of His mouth.
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