Bandaged

 

Friday, February 5, 2021

Praise the Lord!  How good to sing praises to our God!  How delightful and how fitting!  The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing the exiles back to Israel.  He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.  He counts the stars and calls them all by name.  How great is our Lord!  His power is absolute!  His understanding is beyond comprehension!

This Psalm was written in the wake of the joyful return of exiles from Babylon.  It would be hard to underestimate the thankfulness God’s people experienced.  They had been defeated captives; now they were going home.  There is something about being bandaged up and encouraged when you’ve been beaten to a pulp!  Freedom is sweet enough to make even those who can’t sing praise God in joyful song. 

This week I (literally) had my eyes opened once again to that reality.  These old, badgered eyes saw everything as sepia-toned, dull, no vibrant colors or definition.  Blurry-drab was the focus of my lens, until the surgeon did his thing with the laser to remove the cataract.  Now whites are dramatically-white, and are becoming clearer every day.  I feel like the brokenhearted, having been bandaged and healed. 

It was no surprise that John Newton’s hymn, Amazing Grace, came to mind after eye surgery.  That hymn proclaims, once I was blind, but now I can see!  Of course my healing this week was merely physical; Newton’s words announce the spiritual truth of a soul’s redemption, the healing bandage of salvation.

The returning exiles cried out How great is our Lord…His power is absolute!  We believe every word of that, and not just because seeing clearly is a euphoric reminder of how bad my vision had gotten. 

We believe it because this little reminder of God’s healing mercy is only a portent of things to come, when faith becomes sight in every delightfully possible way as God banishes sin, sorrow, death, and removes even the memory of pain, wiping away every tear.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:4

This is the glorious bandaging up of the brokenhearted, badgered, and beleaguered…the eternal balm of Gilead for those who walked in great darkness, but now see beyond the pain to the glory of God’s majestic throne, where sits the King of Glory.

For You Today

It has been said that the stuff and events of our lives are an example of Scripture’s hope for us, and that Scripture, in every way, explains our lives.  One preacher said it this way:  a preacher ought to stand before his flock with a Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other.  If we read that right, it means you can open the Book of Books to any page and you’ll read about what’s going on in your life.

That’s so; like I trusted my surgeon this week to open my physical eyes, let the Great Physician open yours…his Scalpel is sharper than a two-edged sword.[1]

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

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

For another post on Psalm 147 see City of David 

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[1] Hebrews 4:12

 

City of David

[1]

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Praise the Lord!  How good to sing praises to our God!  How delightful and how fitting!  The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing the exiles back to Israel.  He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.  He counts the stars and calls them all by name.  How great is our Lord! His power is absolute!  His understanding is beyond comprehension!  Psalm 147:1-5^(NLT)

Representing the people of the United States, last month President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the Capitol of Israel.  That unexpected announcement raised more than a few eyebrows around the world; it created a controversy storm that will have tsunami-like waves of criticism and pushback for the foreseeable future.  Now, that’s not unusual for America’s most controversial president since…well, the last administration.  Controversy is the medium in which world politics swim, and some political fish have bigger gills than most.

Now, I’m not a politician, per se; neither am I a political science scholar.  What I am this morning is a man sitting at his keyboard in the wee hours of the morning considering the actions and words of another controversial, historic leader, Nehemiah, who led Israel to rebuild Jerusalem following the Babylonian captivity.  Nehemiah’s words in Psalm 147 are an outburst of praise from a heart so overflowing with gratitude and emotion you can just about feel the release of joy and unburdening of his heart. 

It is easy to get all excited about a comeback.  Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonian Empire.  The city walls were in ruins and those carried away had spent seven decades in prison camp.  Just the idea of re-construction was like a dream.  Yet it happened.  In Nehemiah’s account we read that because of the people’s willingness to work, the project was completed in less than two months[2].  With today’s labyrinth of building codes, permits, and labor issues you can hardly build a doghouse in that time.

Now, I’ve never found any place in Scripture where the United States of America is listed.  I see nothing in prophecy about anyone named Trump (unless, perhaps there is a play on words for the instrument Gabriel will use to signal the end of times J). 

But what we do see in Scripture and history is a constant, continual, immutable commitment of God to His promises.  And those promises center on His special people and the city of Jerusalem.  Given the President’s lack of familiarity with Scripture and faith issues, or even the rudiments of theology, it is an oddity to see him willingly spend his political capital to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.  However, if you look at some of the other surprises in Holy Writ concerning the City of David and how God displays His Sovereignty over the affairs of humankind, it becomes less surprising that He would use a dumbed-down version of “faith” to remind the world Who is really in charge! 

·       Didn’t God use a floating axe-head to display how nothing is ever lost?  ^{(2 Kings 6)}

·       Didn’t God use the little city of Ai to defeat Israel’s mighty army because one of Israel’s soldiers had secretly sinned?  ^{(Joshua 7)}

·       Didn’t God use a talking donkey to startle a prophet?  ^{(Numbers 22)}

Who is to say God didn’t inspire a flamboyant politician to focus our attention once more on what will be the center of the end of this evil age?

For You Today

Someone wise once said that the Kingdom of God was already a present reality. 

It is the job description of every follower of Jesus Christ to build that Kingdom as if He’s not coming back for a thousand more years…and to live each moment as if He is coming back today.

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

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[1] Title Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Nehemiah 6:15 is specific – 52 days