Our Ever-Present God

Psalms 139:7-8 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

Where in all the universe can we go, where God is not present? The psalmist tells us that there is absolutely no place we can go where God is not present. That can be both comforting and disturbing. It can be disturbing to those who seek to do wrong, because their wickedness is always before the eyes of God. However, for us who are called by His Name, this should bring us a great deal of comfort. When those who perform their wicked deeds perform them so that we are affected, God sees it. He promises to take vengeance on our behalf. When God sends us on our way to serve Him in areas that may not be the safest, He is there to protect us. (Hebrews 13:6) When we walk the lonely paths of life, the Greatest Companion we could ever ask for walks with us, because Jesus is always present. When we feel distressed and alone, the Spirit of God is ever-present, because He is our Comforter who will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). No matter where we are or what we are doing, our God is there. Wherever we find ourselves, as we pray and read His Word, He is there. How marvelous it is to know that wherever we find ourselves, day or night, from the most populated location to the most isolated, our loving God, our Savior and Lord, the One who indwells us, is always there. He is our Ever-Present God.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 7:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).

Too Wonderful to Comprehend

Psalms 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.

How overwhelming it is for our minds to comprehend just how much God loves us and knows us! The Lord knows us far better than we know ourselves. He knew us even before we were conceived. Before we rise, He already knows the thoughts we will think; and even understands those thoughts when we do not understand them ourselves. Before we utter a word, He already knows what we will say. He knows what we will do, and knows the motivation behind what we do. He engulfs us in His embrace, and desires that we draw near to Him. In spite of knowing the darkest secrets that lurk in our hearts, and in spite of knowing how sinful we are, He loves us. In spite of knowing all our failures, long before we fail, He loved us to the point of giving His life for us. Can any of us ever truly understand such love with these carnal minds of ours? I say, "No, we cannot." How overwhelming is the thought that this same God, who knows us so well, wants to have an intimate relationship with us? How is it that this holy, righteous, and perfect God, loves us so much that He not only died for us, but was willing to adopt us into His family and give us eternal life? How can we ever truly understand the love of our Savior Jesus Christ? How is it that we do not make the effort to truly know the One who already knows us so well? Why would we want to put anything before Him? Why would we make Him second to anything or anyone? Do we not understand the honor and privilege we have in Christ to have an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father? What is in the way of that in our lives? What needs to be reprioritized in, or eliminated from, our lives so that Jesus is first? So many years wasted on things, desires, and activities, that led us down the path of sin, and did nothing but bring dishonor to the Name of Jesus. When will we wake up to the fact that we have a God who loves us, knows us, and in spite of knowing us still desires that we walk with Him every day? The thought is so wonderful, that the knowledge of it is truly too high for us to comprehend.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 7:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).

Jesus, the Glory of God

Psalms 138:1-2 I will praise You with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing praises to You. I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your Name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your Word above all Your Name.

In today's Psalm, our attention is directed toward the God who answers prayer. The psalmist lifted his voice in praise, because the Lord answered him in his time of trouble and distress. What I would like us to take notice of is that the psalmist turned his attention toward God's holy temple when he worshipped. In other words, he turned his attention toward the place where the glory of God was once found. When Daniel prayed, while in captivity, in Daniel 6:10, he prayed facing Jerusalem. We are told in Exodus 40:34-35 that when the glory of God filled the Tabernacle, Moses was not able to enter therein. In 2 Chronicles 7:1-2, after Solomon prayed, the glory of God filled the Temple, and the priests could not enter therein. Today, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we praise and worship the Lord, where do we direct our attention? Where, or Who, is the glory of God? John 1:14 tell us, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." It is this Glory, that we are told in Romans 3:23 that we fall short of. Do we truly understand what that means? When the glory of God filled the Tabernacle or the Temple, sinful man, regardless of his role as priest, could not enter therein; and the only way he could enter to fulfill his priestly duties was to enter in the specific way that God determined and instructed. Today, we are told that we who worship must worship God in spirit and truth. Knowing that the Spirit indwells us, and that the Glory of God is Jesus, should we not take care to examine carefully how we approach our time of prayer? Praise be to God that it is Jesus' righteousness that allows us audience with the Father. What an awesome privilege we have to enter the throne room of God, by way of the One who is God's glory; all because of the grace we have been given in Christ Jesus. It is only by Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, that we can come to our Heavenly Father. (John 14:6) Today, as we pray, praise, and worship the Lord, let us not approach Him haphazardly. Let us praise and worship God, always in the Name of the One who is the Glory of God, Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 7:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).

Why Are We Mourning?

Psalms 137:1-2 By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it.

The psalmist records a very sad time in Zion. The Israelites were in bondage to the Babylonians who, based on the psalmist's account, were extremely cruel to them. But why were they in captivity once again? It was their own doing, for their disobedience to the Lord's command to let the land rest on the seventh year. For this reason they found themselves in captivity for seventy years. Nonetheless, it is a valuable lesson for us today, when we find ourselves in the midst of the consequences stemming from our own disobedience. Do we truly repent and mourn? James reminds us that we must humble ourselves, "Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom." (James 4:9) Jesus told us in Matthew 5:4, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Notice the contrast in times of suffering. If we suffer for Jesus' sake, for the sake of doing what is right, and as a result end up being persecuted; then we are to rejoice, and turn to Jesus to find peace and joy. However, if our suffering comes as a result of our own disobedience and choice to sin, then the Lord tells us to mourn in repentance; for only then will we find true comfort. Sadly, most of us claim to repent, but in reality we are only sorry that we got caught. We mourn, not because we sinned against God, but because we lost something we held more dear to us than the relationship we have with Jesus. Although we are to seek forgiveness from, and reconciliation with, the people we sin against; most importantly we must seek to get right with, and be reconciled to, the Lord. We must stop playing the "I'm sorry" game, and start repenting, confessing, and truly mourning our sins. When we find ourselves here, which inevitably we will, we need to ask ourselves, "Why are we mourning?" If it is anything less than mourning for sinning against God and how it hindered our relationship with Jesus...then we are mourning for the wrong reason, and there is likely no true repentance.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 7:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).

Enduring Mercy

Psalms 136:1-3 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of Lords! For His mercy endures forever.

"In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18) Can the Lord be any clearer about what His will is for each of us? So many ask, "What is God's will for my life?" Well, if we open our Bibles, we can easily find God's will for each of us. Every time we read a command from God, that is His will. His plan will be revealed as we obediently live out His will. In today's Psalm, we see that the psalmist begins with God's will, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord." Why are we called to give thanks? Because the Lord is good. Note that the psalmist did not say to give thanks because God gives us riches, or because He never allows us to suffer. He did not say to give thanks because we will live a comfortable life. No, we are to give God thanks because regardless of our circumstances, He remains goods. He goes on to tell us that God's mercy endures forever. The word mercy means kindness, beauty, favor, pity. Psalm 103:13 tells us, "As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him." As we give God thanks and praise, in all circumstances, and in all things, with reverent fear, He promises that His mercy will endure forever; meaning that His mercy is eternal. We do not serve a God who is "wishy washy" about who He is. His goodness toward us, His children, is unchanging. Sometimes, His goodness toward us comes in the form of discipline. Hebrews 12:7-11 explains that the Lord will chasten His children, and even though it may be a painful process, in the end it "yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." The bottom line is that no matter what happens in life, no matter what God allows us to experience, good or bad, it does not change the fact that He is good. "For His mercy endures forever."

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 7:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).

Let's Be Like Him

Psalms 135:15, 18 The idols of the nation are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.

The one thing we will discover while reading God's Word is that He does not hold back. In today's verses, the Lord makes it very clear what He thinks of idolatry (those who make idols, as well as those who worship them). What are people who make and worship idols like? Verse 16 tells us that they have mouths, but speak not. They have eyes, but they see not. Verse 17 tells us that they have ears, but hear not; and have mouths, but there is no breath in them. There are many who are lost and have been deceived into thinking that these statues they are worshipping are actual gods, when in fact they are deaf, blind, mute, and incapable of doing anything other than being an ornament, paperweight, or door stop. Sadly, there are some of us believers who have created idols in our lives too. We worship self, money, and material things, such as our houses, cars, hobbies, etc., as if any of those things have the ability to give us lasting joy, peace, or happiness. Like the idols described in this Psalm, those who worship these gods are mute. They have mouths, but they do not truly pray, because they pray to objects that cannot hear or answer. They have mouths, but do not speak truth, because they have eyes that are blind to the truth. They have ears, but their ears are deaf to the voice of the Lord, because in all reality, like their idols, they are dead. This being so, why would we, who know the Lord, stoop to the level of making something else or someone else our god(s)? God reminds us, today, that we are just like the idols (whatever they may be) we worship. Let us strive to be like the One True God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; and let His light shine brightly through us, in this dark and deceived world.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 7:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).

Bless the Lord!

Psalms 134:1-2 Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who by night stand in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.

How can the blessed bless the One from whom blessings come from? How is it possible that we, who can do nothing in and of ourselves, bless God? The psalmist tells us to bless God with lifted hands. He makes reference to those who by night stand in the house of the Lord. This is a reference to the priestly and Levitical ministry, which entailed some duties in the Tabernacle during the night. The lifting of hands was both a posture of prayer and praise. What a beautiful picture we have of how we, the church and each of us as individual saints, can bless the Lord! We can certainly lift our hands in prayer, and follow God's command to pray without ceasing; not just to bring our shopping list of needs and wants, but to seek God's face and intimate fellowship with Him. We can certainly lift our hands in praise to the Lord for who He is, and who He is in our lives. We can lift up our hands and voices in praise and thanks for His undeserved goodness toward us, in all things. Because we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, we can pray and praise the Lord in the day, as well as in the night. We can praise Him during the best of times, and also during the worst of times. We can praise Him when He lifts us to the mountaintop, and while He walks with us in the valley. Nothing blesses God more than when the creatures seek and praise their Creator. Today, let us bless the Lord by seeking Him in prayer, and praising Him, with lifted hands.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 7:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).