Monday, December 9, 2013
Looking Up
This morning as I was thinking about discouragement and encouragement. When the troubles seem overwhelming as we look at them, we become discouraged. But I think there is more in that statement than we might see at first. It is the part about looking at our troubles. When we look at our troubles, we are not looking at our God. We begin to contemplate and meditate on how large the troubles are. Let’s say our troubles are financial or sickness. Is there any doubt that in a single moment God could remove any sickness we have, or send a blessing to take care of our financial distress? The difficult part, the really hard part, comes when we are hit head on with these things and have to wait for God to deliver us. It goes back to the beginning of this post where we discussed looking at the problem instead of at our God (notice I did not say ignore the problem). There are several interesting scriptures that address this.
Psalms 96:7 Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
It is interesting here that we are to give God glory and strength. The glory here is the word for weight as in something of substance or very large (in a positive way) and strength means stout as in unmovable. But how do we give these things to God, because, well, doesn’t He already have them? The answer is in our praise, which is what this entire psalm speaks about repeatedly. Our praise about His greatness and immovability resonates with creation, and in that resonating cathedral that is His creation, God shows up to do what He does best – love us and deliver us.
Prayer
Father, we praise and exalt You as the Most High God, great and immovable. Let all of the heavens shout, and since praises to Your name. Let all the earth and all that are in it shout and praise Your name. Let us all rejoice! Father, in Your great power move today on behalf of Your people. Deliver them mightily, heal the sick, bless financially and substantively those that are in lack, and comfort the widows, the fatherless, and the poor. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.