Of God, Humankind, and Ants

 

Friday, January 8, 2021

Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings; honor the Lord for his glory and strength.  Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.  Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.  The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.  The God of glory thunders.  The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.  The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.  The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf; he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.  The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning.  The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare.  In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”  The Lord rules over the floodwaters.  The Lord reigns as king forever.  The Lord gives his people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace.  Psalm 29:1-11

I’m a good bit larger than an ant.  And that’s not just because of pounds gained over the holidays, or coronavirus boredom eating; it’s just the nature of humans and ants. That is also the kind of relationship between humankind and God; we are a lot smaller than the I AM.

It’s easy enough for a human to crush an ant without much effort.  After all, at my post-holiday length, girth, and mass, it would take around 45,000 ants to equal the space I take up on this planet.  Still, if given a choice, I do not squash ants; they are God’s creatures, and you don’t mess with that.  Unless they sting you!  Or infest your picnic.  Or start gnawing the beams that hold your house up.  Then you call the exterminator.  As part of humanity my benevolence towards ants does have a limit. 

There is also a correlation in this with our relationship to our Creator.  He doesn’t smash us like unwanted bugs; His benevolence and patience extend to humankind on a much deeper level than ours does toward ants (and each other). 

Aside from the fact that God’s understanding of us is much greater than our understanding of anything, God also has limitless capacity for grace and mercy.  It is a good thing that is true, because we wouldn’t stand a chance of surviving otherwise.

And that is where my astonishment about we humans leaps to the foreground.  I am amazed at how lightly humankind presumes upon God’s grace and mercy by treading on His holiness.  It is almost like an ant invading the picnic and staring the human in the face and saying, I’m taking that slice of gooey German chocolate cake, buddy…and what’re YOU gonna do about it?  I can tell you, an ant with an attitude like that would be a stain on the checkered tablecloth in a heartbeat.

The Psalmist tells us our attitude towards God should be that of honor and worship.  That is a far cry from the reality of today’s world.  There are so many who deny even the existence of God, let alone His preeminence.  Many acknowledge God’s existence, but their lack of honor and worship disdains His rightful place in our lives.  For too many humans, worship is reduced to a ritualistic nod of acquiescence to custom, or simply doing what one must to cover the bases just in case God might notice their naughtiness and take away their toys.  We humans can be arrogant and petulant enough to make nursery school children look like Harvard scholars.  We seem to be as thankless to our Creator as ants raiding the picnic.

Unfortunately, it has always been thus.  The first thing Adam did upon hearing there was nothing forbidden him, except that one tree in the middle of the garden, was to hunt up a ladder to pick the highest cherry on the limb.  Our first parents literally ate themselves right out of house and home.  There is nothing like forbidden fruit to ensure we humans will make another stupid choice.

To the point for today’s Psalm…this poetic reminder of God’s majesty, holiness, and power, and the call to worship Him with all reverence and fidelity, is no suggestion; it is the sound of the ram’s horn, an alert that we stop being petulant ants at God’s picnic, and line up to serve the King of Kings.

For You Today

Here’s a good question at the start of another year:

What will you do differently this year to keep your worship of God genuine, fresh, and holy?  He is that important, you know.

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 other posts on this text see The Voice of God and Kicking the Hornet's Nest      

 

Honor the Lord

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Thursday, January 9, 2020

Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings; honor the Lord for his glory and strength.  Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.  Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.  The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.  The God of glory thunders.  The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.  The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.  The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf; he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.  The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning.  The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare.  In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”  The Lord rules over the floodwaters.  The Lord reigns as king forever.  The Lord gives his people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace.                          Psalm 29:1-11

The old story has it that the elderly woman is walking out of church after worship and says to the pastor, I hope you didn’t take it personally, Reverend, when my husband walked out during your sermon.

The preacher replied, I did find it rather disconcerting.

It’s not a reflection on you, sir, insisted the church goer.

Arthur has been walking in his sleep ever since he was a child.

If you Google the phrase sleeping in church, you’ll come up with 69.3 million web hits…most of them either funny, and/or referring to the lukewarm sleepy church in Laodicea. 

However, there is nothing humorous about being disrespectful to the Lord.  This Psalm has 11 verses with a total of 20 references to God or LORD as relates to His majestic power, beneficent kindness, or sovereign control of the universe.  There is nothing about God that suggests we ought to be bored in His presence.

I have seen my share of boredom in churches.  Some of it is age or attention-span related, or getting too close to the nap hour, or medication, or simply having stayed out too late on Saturday night.  Truth be told, though, I would have gone to sleep during some of my sermons.  However, that is on the preacher, and should never be used as an excuse for a child of God to let others’ failings become their downfall when it comes to honoring the Lord.

I’ve been in a lot of churches over the years and listened to a lot of sermons; more than a few could’ve used a little more preparation by the parson.  But I’ve never come away from a worship service without a sense of having been in the presence of the holy.  And I believe that’s because I was seeking His presence when I went there.  King David advised his son to treat his relationship with God that way:

“And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.                 1 Chronicles 28:9

For You Today

Worship – for the life of your soul is as important as breathing – for the life of your body.  Fighting through boredom when it tries to dismember your spiritual life is as much Kingdom warfare as any prayer you’ve ever lifted.  And the stakes are high; don’t let Satan laugh over the joke you become when you’re sleeping on the worship job.

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

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

The Voice of God

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Friday, May 25, 2018

Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings; honor the Lord for his glory and strength.  Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.  Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.  The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.  The God of glory thunders.  The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.  The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.  The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf; he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.  The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning.  The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare.  In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”  The Lord rules over the floodwaters.  The Lord reigns as king forever.  The Lord gives his people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace.  Psalm 29:1-11^NLT)

The Psalmist describes the voice of God as mighty and cataclysmic – something not to be denied or ignored.  His voice echoes above the sea, splits gigantic cedars, shakes the mountains as if they’re dancing in reply, sends lightning flashes, and stirs quakes in the quiet wilderness, making everything shout-out the glory of God.

After all that imagery the poet peels back the façade of storms and natural disaster to reveal the majestic Lord reigning as king forever, the One who gives his people strength and…peace!

Peace?  How does peace enter into all that earth-shaking and shattering?  Where is the peace in all the clammor of today’s constant arguing, partying, and killing?  Peace?

I cannot imagine anyone not wanting to live at peace, and in peace.  Of course this assumes people who are mentally healthy.  Anger, conflict, confrontation, and a general sense of in-your-face attitude are so alien to what my soul craves, it makes me cringe just to think about all that.  I don’t want to be around people who are at war, literally, or merely in their own minds; they spill-out bile and vengeance into their relationships.  There is little sense of peace or well-being there, or even just considering that picture.

I heard it said once that there are two types of people who are on the positive side of peace; there are peace-lovers, and there are peace-makers.  For me that’s too simple. 

Here’s what I mean:  Loving peace and making peace are as night and day different as passive and active.  Loving peace only requires an attitude – a desire to not have a fight going on.  Making peace sometimes (even often) requires the willingness to have a fight in order to end the fight.  Again, that’s too simple.

The complexity that enters this picture is when people who really aren’t in a healthy place enter the equation (people who are not sound of mind).  These are terrorist-seeds looking for a place to root.  Their literature claims peace as the motive for their “holy war” but goes no farther than throwing-off the blame for their warring ways on the higher power.  There is really not a desire for peace; there is only a lust for aggression.

So, how can you tell the difference between a really strong soldier whose target is peace, and a really strong terrorist who only craves the frenzy of war?  There are lots of variables in the answer to that question, such as the peace-making soldier who loses sight of peace being his target.  But my insides tell me the one true test is whether or not one is willing to trust.  Trust is the ability to lay-down the weapons and engage with words.  That is a first step in moving towards peace; without that first step, there is no chance to go anywhere but to the grave.

And isn’t that the crunch?  War and graves go hand in hand; only those who trust, people who are willing to lay down their anger, war and hurt are candidates for peace.  You need a quiet moment to hear the voice of the Lord.

For You Today

True peace lovers are also peace makers; and the other way around too.

Are there any weapons in your arsenal that need laying-down?

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

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy Pixabay.com