Transcendent Praise

Isaiah 66: 1 – 3 This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hands made all these things, and so they came into being? ” declares the Lord. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

Do you find yourself pondering about the wave of refugees transiting the oceans to find safety and work in various other nation states? Are you puzzled by this and the frequency and magnitude of other mind-boggling events in nature as well as political upheavals taking place around the world in our time? These suggest to me that a divine re-structuring is taking place. Is it possible that we live in an age when mankind takes no account of the Lord God – a God who is sovereign over everything and has his own agenda for the future of his creation?

Job was a good man who suffered severe trials and loss, all of which was permitted by God. At the end God appeared to Job to remind him that he is the Creator. God re-educated Job about his might and majesty and asked him, “Who then is able to stand against me? Who has a claim against me that I must pay?” (Job 41:10b) and declared “Everything under heaven belongs to me.” (Job 41:11). In Job’s response to God he acknowledged, “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)

In the Book of Exodus we read about God’s intervention to bring his chosen people, the Israelites, out Egypt after four hundred years of slavery. That process brought deliverance to God’s people but was fatal to the Egyptians. God covenanted himself to the Israelites though they were a rebellious lot. He often allowed them to reap the results of their disobedience but even in their failure, he would fulfill his promises to them for his own name’s sake.

In Matthew 24 Jesus gave an exhaustive list of events which would unfold in the end times on a magnitude “unequaled from the beginning of the world until now.” I firmly believe that God still intervenes in individual lives and in human history to fulfill his own agenda. God’s righteousness is the defense of his own name. Whatever is predicted in the Bible will become true as time passes. At the end of my meditation, the Holy Spirit spoke to me:

“There are times when I take it upon myself to intervene for my Holy Name’s sake. Thus I display my sovereignty and totally disrupt the actions of mankind in such a way that they cannot fail to see my hand of righteousness. In this way I create the kind of change that I require to satisfy my divine prerogatives. It is not incidental that some events which are occurring on the world stage have never been seen before. These are events of great magnitude that cannot escape the attention of the whole world. I am still the Almighty Sovereign Lord and I will not share my glory with any man. There are things that only I can do.”

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For the Christian community worldwide Easter brings focused concentration on the sufferings of Jesus. On what we call Palm Sunday we are reminded that Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey.  He was greeted by a crowd which welcomed him by throwing their cloaks and palm branches in his path and shouting loudly “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” (Read the full account in Luke 19: 28 – 44).

By the end of that week Jesus had been betrayed, arrested, tried, mocked and beaten and the refrain of the crowd had changed to “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Luke 23:20). Fickle humanity! So the Son of God was crucified, hanging from a cross while his blood streamed from his forehead, his hands, his side and his feet. In earth’s darkest hour it seemed briefly that the created had triumphed over their Creator. But, no, because it was on that cross Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34). And in that moment not even the religious leaders, who supposedly had studied prophecy, believed that Jesus would be raised from the dead on the third day. But he did! God’s salvation’s plan for mankind was complete.

It seems to me that since Adam sinned, God has been on repeated rescue missions for mankind and every time that happened, blood had to be shed. In the Garden of Eden, an animal had to die so that the Lord could provide covering for Adam and Eve. When God entered into the covenant of circumcision with Abram, blood had to be shed. When he was about to rescue the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, the blood of the Passover lamb had to be shed. And later the blood of bulls and goats had to be shed repeatedly so that sin could be cleansed.  A couple of  months ago, I was reading in Genesis 17 where God told Abram that not only should the circumcision apply to him and his descendants, but that it should include those born in his household or bought with money from a foreigner – those who were not his offspring. That caught my attention and I wondered why they were included. The answer is simply that God is not willing that any should perish but that all men should come to him. His salvation plan has always been inclusive. The Holy Spirit witnessed to me in that moment:

“My covenant with Abram was inclusive as a matter of principle. All people whom I have created have access to me. They, like Israel, can come to me to be forgiven. My love for them is no less if they will humble themselves and bow to my Son. It is his blood that cleanses from sin.”

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This is a verse that assures us that God delights in his children. This alone should allow us to rest like babies at night and wake up with total excitement about how God will direct our day. Instead, for some of us, we sit down and conjure up in our minds all the things that could possibly go wrong tomorrow and the days after that, exhibiting a total lack of faith in God.

At the other end of the spectrum, some of us put plans together with a great deal of optimism and think we have it all figured out with our “to do” lists, updated calendars, appointments, reminders, flow charts and graphs.  We become confident that because we have taken care of every possible detail, things will go exactly as we have planned it. Sometimes they do, but every so often things ‘go up in smoke’ and we are left with the realization that so far as the future is concerned, we are in charge of absolutely nothing. Am I saying we shouldn’t plan anything? Of course not! Planning creates an orderly course for moving forward if circumstances permit.

In some cultures there is a phrase which people will add once they have voiced what they intend to do even the next day or some other point in time. In English we say “God willing” and in Spanish “Si Dios quiere”. Some people use these phrases with great meaning and some just out of habit, but it is an acknowledgment of the fact that they are aware that they do not control the future, God does.

For believers there should be no room for gloom when we think about the future because that would mean that we have already accepted defeat. Instead, let us believe our Father that he has everything well in hand, that he rules in the affairs of men, and that his canopy of love is over the lives of those who trust in him.

“Yes, I alone know the end from the beginning. I know how all things will turn out. For this reason I urge all men to trust in me and commit their ways to me for safekeeping. I am the only one who can garrison and protect my children from harm in the worst circumstances. For it depends on my plans for them. For whatever I have ordained for each of my children only I can preserve them that my plans for them come to pass. I desire only that they walk with me and listen to my voice to do as I command at the time and place I command it. I am the Almighty God.”

Philippians 1: 23 – 24 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

We all have people in our lives that we love dearly, and we cannot bear the thought of ever being separated from them. The inconvenient truth however is that at some point we will be, because their destiny is separate from our own.  We do not own our loved ones although we use the possessive pronoun “my” when we refer to them. Paul was very conscious of his mortality and every so often in his writings to various groups of believers he would remind them of the fact that the earth is not the believer’s final destination. In Romans 8 he reminds us of the future glory which awaits each believer. In his letter to the Philippians we see his own conflict with the idea of having to choose between continuing to live here with those whom he loved deeply and being ready to depart to be with Christ. He concluded that to be with Christ is far better but that while he still lived there was much work for him to do.

Sometime ago I received news of the passing of a young woman in our church family. She had not been married for very long and had been ill for several months. Her church family had prayed and prayed and everyone believed she had been healed. She testified that she had been and was feeling very well. All the tests the doctors ran after treatment were normal and she was looking forward to returning to work. Then she began to experience headaches but decided she would bring that up at her next follow-up appointment. Two days prior to that appointment she was suddenly struck down by an aneurism of the brain. Naturally the news of her passing shook everyone. When I received the news I was sitting at my dining table sobbing and trying to wrap my mind around it. I thought of her husband and her Mom in particular and I prayed: “Holy Spirit, help us understand.” The Holy Spirit responded immediately with two words: “far better”. I reached for my Bible and found the reference in the verse quoted above.

The dilemma certainly is that we want our loved ones to be with us but when they become gravely ill, do we want them to be here to continue suffering? Of course we are conflicted. Some will pass on as this young lady did. In her case, when the initial stabs of our pain had subsided and our confusion dissipated, we were able to remember that in the months before her passing she had become like a shining light and seemed more confident of her faith in God than ever before. She had ministered to other patients in hospital and to her visitors as well. She had smiled often and looked beautiful in the variety of head wraps that she wore. And now she has been translated into the kingdom of light in the presence of her God. Far better for her! So yes, our tears did flow but not as those who have no hope.

Judges 6: 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

God does not see your circumstances the way you see them and he certainly does not see you as you see yourself. There are so many wonderful aspects to this record of Gideon’s encounter with the Lord that would need a great deal more space to explore than this blog will allow so we are going to focus on Gideon himself.

Gideon is the son of Joash who belonged to the Abiezrite clan of the tribe of Manasseh. This is one of the twelve tribes of Israel, God’s chosen people. You would think this alone would make him a proud and confident man. Instead we hear him in Judges 6:15 explaining to the angel of the Lord that he cannot save Israel from the Midianites who were oppressing them because he    considered himself to be the least in his family which was the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh.

Compare his perception of himself with the greeting of the angel of the Lord: “The Lord is with you mighty warrior!” He must have looked around to see if someone else was present, and wondered “Are you speaking to me?” Yes, actually. God had destined him to be an instrument in his hand with a divine assignment.  And that is true of every child of God. There are specific things that God wants you to do. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10). Spend quiet time in the Word and be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. You might not be called to go to war, but you are called to demonstrate God’s love to the people you meet every day and to be much more than you ever dreamed simply because God is with you.

Philippians 2: 9 – 11 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Have you been learning how to worship the God you love? I hope so because nothing will unite you with Him more. His Spirit is in you and helps you, creating a thirst for ways to worship Him. Make time to be in His presence whether in a group or by yourself. Begin to praise Him for being the God of the whole earth and heaven. Acknowledge Him as the Creator, the One who created the galaxies out of nothing, who put the sun, moon and stars in the sky; who created the seas and placed the fish and other life forms in them and the dry land with plants and animals, who sends rain to grow our food, who created the flowers for us to enjoy and trees to give us shade from the sun.  Then just say to your Father that for this moment you have come needing nothing for yourself. You have simply come to worship Him. Thank him for your salvation first of all, for his love and protection, for preserving your life, for deliverance from danger or schemes that the enemy may have plotted against you, and so on.

Praise Him because He is the one who sets up kings and kingdoms and brings them down as he pleases. He is the One who brings an end to the reign of despots, who hears the plight of the oppressed and the desperate. He delivers those whom he loves, binds up their wounds and restores them over and over again. He is the one who is faithful to His people Israel and will continually defend them. He is the Eternal God, knowing the end from the beginning and will not fail to redeem those who love and honor His Son who is coming again in great glory. It is all about his Son!

“Oh the glory and power of Almighty God! He speaks and the earth melts. For who shall stand in the great and terrible day when his wrath breaks forth in the earth? It shall be like nothing anyone has seen or can contemplate. There are things which He has chosen to keep in his own knowledge alone. Men need only fear and reverence him and believe He is who He says He is. Above all reverence his Son for your future eternal life depends only on your response to His great love and sacrifice for you. Only then can you be safe from the wrath to come. So says the Lord who is the Amen, Faithful and True.”

Luke 14: 26 – 27 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

These are harsh words coming from the lips of Jesus the Savior. It never occurred to me that He would tell us to hate anyone. Yet the very people we are likely to love the most, those are the ones he is telling us cannot have first place in our lives because that position is His alone. Ouch! And on top of that he says that you can’t be number one either, because you can’t choose your life over him if the challenge should arise. This is serious business! In short, discipleship can cost us everything.

He then continues to tell us that anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Him cannot be his disciple. So the rejection of those we love, or the reordering of our priorities to make Jesus first is to be followed by new discipline in our lives. How are you going to figure this out? By listening to his voice! Jesus said he is the Good Shepherd because he laid down his life for his sheep – that is you and me. “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.” (John10:27).

Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them together in perfect unity.

God alone is holy. Absolutely true! But as believers we are also called to holiness. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, chapter 3 in particular, he is very specific about our responsibility to actively construct a holy life. The relationship we have entered into with Christ has to impact our thinking and manifest itself in our conduct. He entreats us to set our hearts and our minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, not on earthly things.  We have to begin to see things through new lenses and as we change our focus, we must start killing off the negative behaviors: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language. Wow! All these to be replaced by the qualities listed in verses 12-14.

The ultimate purpose is unity – in the family, in relationships and in the body of Christ and with the Lord. As Jesus was saying farewell to his disciples, he prayed for all who would believe on his name in the future: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21).

John 6:40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

These were the words of Jesus. Do you believe what he has said?  In his testimony about Jesus, John the Baptist concludes his statement with the following: “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3: 35 – 36).

It is God’s eternal purpose that everyone who believes in the Son can begin to experience eternal life now by their knowledge of him (John 17:3 refers) and be in his physical presence in eternity. Faith in the Son gives you the capacity to realize that eternity is real and that the Word of God is true. It does not matter therefore whether we live or die, we are God’s.

In Mark 9, Jesus took Peter, James and John up to the top of a high mountain. In his presence they saw him in the light of glory, completely changed before their eyes. It is as if Jesus wanted to provide them with evidence that everything he had been teaching them about his Father and heaven and about his own mission were true. Not only that, he wanted them to see that people like Elijah and Moses who had walked with God, heard his voice and done his will, were already  transformed and experiencing eternal life in God’s kingdom. They were not forgotten. This is the bedrock of our faith, that the God who saves us will redeem us even from the grave and ensure that we will live in his presence forever.

“The glory of God transformed the atmosphere and brought back visibly Elijah and Moses so believers might understand that death is not the final end. Fellowship with divinity follows because God keeps his promise that those who believe in him even though they die will live again.”

Joshua 2: 12-13 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.”

You have been saved for a purpose. You may not have come from a Christian background but you have been saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and you alone know the depth of the change that has occurred in your life. But rest assured your family and friends have noticed the difference. Some may view it as positive; others may now see you as an object of ridicule. However it is being interpreted by others, you must view it as a position of privilege to live out your new found faith. You might be the first or the only one in your family to experience this deliverance and freedom and peace and it needs to be shared.

Read the first two chapters of the Book of Joshua. In the second chapter you will encounter a woman named Rahab. She was not an Israelite and you will learn that she was a prostitute. Say what? Yes, the Word of God is full of surprises! And the amazing fact is that God saves and uses anyone who will acknowledge him as Lord to fulfill his ordained plans. I am amazed at the depth of this woman’s knowledge and insight. Clearly, the Lord had given her revelation knowledge for she said to the spies “I know that the Lord has given this land to you ….” In the light of what she knew, she yielded herself as an instrument in God’s hands to the saving of the lives of Joshua’s spies and, as a result, saved the lives of her entire extended family.

Yield your life to God and begin to pray for the salvation of your family and loved ones.

“Indeed the Lord looks upon acts of faith and honors them. He keeps his promise to save households because of the faith of one in that household.”