Morning Praise

 

Friday, June 4, 2021

I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart; I will sing your praises before the gods.  I bow before your holy Temple as I worship.  I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.  Psalm 138:1-2

This is one of my favorite Psalms.  It is David, the king, former shepherd-boy, giant-killer, musician to, and defender of, Israel’s King Saul, adulterer, murder-conspirator, warrior, coward, hero, humble object of Samuel’s long, boney pointing finger of accusation, pennitent sinner-turned saint, who became the model for those who would be a man after God’s own heart.

David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’  Acts 13:22b

Why is this one of my favorites?  With all of David’s resume’ he stands not on his accomplishments.  He doesn’t sing along with Frank Sinatra, I did it MY way; David takes a deep breath, stands before all the [so-called] lesser gods of the universe and points his soul and all that’s within him towards Heaven’s throne and leaves no doubt about Who deserves praise.  David bows before JHWH’s throne and declares he has chosen to serve Almighty God, Jehovah-jirah, the King of Heaven’s Hosts.  David validates what the world cannot deny…every promise of God is backed by the honor of His name.  And there is no other name, given among men whereby anyone can be saved![1] 

David views God as his omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent King of Kings, the God who cannnot fail.  David is content to serve that God alone, no matter what anyone else may say to him, or do to him.

·       Some people have always denied this. 

·       Some deny it rather emphatically, even calling such a claim exclusionary, arrogant, or just plain dull-minded stupidity, to place entire trust in the God of David. 

Some say there are many different approaches to finding spiritual health.  It is known by many names, elightenment, finding truth, uncovering god in you, and even becoming the god you really are. 

But David would take exception to anything but bowing humbly before the one, true, living God.

When Joshua was about to lead God’s people, the new nation of Israel, across Jordan into the Promised Land he told them to choose.  He made it specific.  He said: 

“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly.  Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone.  But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve.  Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates?  Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live?  But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:14-15

For You Today

When it comes to God you only get one choice; one of those choices will be right, and all the others wrong.  That’s why Jesus said there is a broad road that leads to destruction, and a very narrow road which leads to life.[2]

Choose wisely!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

---

[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

[1] There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by 

       which we must be saved.”   Acts 4:12

[2] See Matthew 7:14

You Alone are God

 

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Psalm 86:8-10

No pagan god is like you, O Lord.  None can do what you do!  All the nations you made will come and bow before you, Lord; they will praise your holy name.  For you are great and perform wonderful deeds.  You alone are God.

The Old Testament (Hebrew) Scriptures declare that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph is one God, and He is alone in that…there is no other true God. 

The Shema is like the Christian affirmation of faith, what we believe about God.  It is the basic prayer every orthodox Jew prays; it begins this way;. 

“Listen, O Israel!  The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  Deuteronomy 6:4 

Image via WikimediaCommons

                            

Jesus affirmed that first tenet of faith to the Pharisees who came to question him:

Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.  Mark 12:29 

And, now for the part that gets every Christian preacher in deep, and very hot water, for being faithful to the veracity of the Word of God:

To believe this…that only Yahweh is God, and there is no other; that He, alone, is God, makes God an EX-clusive God, as opposed to IN-clusive.

To say it one other, perhaps more offensive way:  to believe that ONLY Yahweh, Jehovah God, is the true God, and there is no other, is to say since Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and the Father Jesus said he came from…if that God isn’t your God, you have a false God.

Hello!  I’m Russell, and I’m a 21^st century cultural outcast, because I believe in an exclusive relationship with God, and that begins with the claim that Yahweh, is alone the Creator and Sustainer of all life.  He alone is God, and persons who will not acknowledge Him as Lord of all, will not receive eternal life; they will be lost forever.

So, what does this kind of thinking, that there is one and only one God exclude?  Well, it excludes at least these few realities:

1.     It excludes all religions that do not worship the triune God (Father, Son, Spirit) as sovereign, in charge, and to be obeyed and worshipped.

2.     It excludes all faith that is universal, supposing that God approves of all persons, regardless of faith and practice.

3.     It excludes all faith that includes God, but does not worship Him with all heart, mind, soul, and strength.

4.     It excludes all faith that makes the cross of Christ less than necessary for the forgiveness of sin, which is entirely necessary for every human being’s redemption.

Now, that’s not very ecumenically-welcoming, or politically-palatable these days, but I hold to these statements like the great reformer, Martin Luther, said when accused that his faith statements were heretical,

Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience.  Here I stand.  I can do no other.  God help me. Amen!

That got Luther defrocked, stripped of his clergy credentials, and excommunicated (kicked-out of) the church.  The church leaders wanted to have him executed, so he was hunted like a criminal heretic for the rest of his days. 

I have a word for his persecutors (in hindsight)…how’s that working for ya?  It’s only been 500 years, and grace alone is still standing!

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, you require your people to be faithful.  We understand that from Scripture which shows us every ill that befell Israel was because of their unfaithfulness.  And just as warfare requires faithfulness on earth, so the spiritual battles that are conducted in prayer require our steadfast commitment to the truth that You are God, alone.  Not only are we not God, nobody else is either!

For You Today

In this pluralistic 21^st century everyone’s faith and ideas are valued as equal…and the Christian that falls for that will never stand for anything else in God’s Kingdom.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO                                                                                                                  

Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Psalm 86 see Asking and Reaction Time  and The Justice in Mercy