Old Sandals

Clouds and darkness surround Him.  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. A fire goes before Him, and burns up His enemies round about…Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

God is love, yet his name is holy.  He dwells in unapproachable light, yet clouds and darkness surround Him.  We are to fear the Lord, even as we rejoice!

For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. For all the  gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

This is an eternal reality.  A brilliant light—ever shining—yet dimmed in this world by sin and death.  We are by nature pathetic cave-dwellers, as it were, afraid of the light and irrationally drawn to darkness.

The Lord is great.  He has wrought for us “so great a salvation”.  Come to the Light!

For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

God is a God of love.  But the word ‘love’ can connote weakness, a sort of easy-going disposition that results from a lack of strongly-held convictions.

God’s love is not that kind of love.  He is compassionate, but He is certainly not without convictions.  Wrath is not an empty word.

Understand, you senseless among the people; And you fools, when will you be wise?
He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge?
The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.

There is no seeing,  there is no knowing,  there is no life apart from the Lord.  To think otherwise is futile.  It is foolish, unrealistic.

 

The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; The floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters,  than  the mighty waves of the sea.

Life comes at you, sometimes in overwhelming fashion, like the mighty waves of the sea.  But knowing that our God is an ever-present help in trouble, and that He is mightier than the mighty waves of the sea, our perspective should not be darkened. As the poet, William Cowper, has written, the [waves] “are big with mercy and shall break with blessings on thy head.”

Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me.

The Lord swears by His holiness.  He is faithful because He is holy.

And now, in my old age, don’t set me aside.  Don’t abandon me when my strength is failing.

This is one to remember.  My God is a God who is near.  Ever near. Even when I’m too weak and frail to realize it.

May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere.

This prayer of the Psalmist has been repeated by countless saints down through the centuries. As well it should be.

We went through fire and flood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance.

It is so important to remember that the Lord is with us even when (especially when) we are going through fire and flood. He is not just a good-time God. If, as the Scriptures say, an earthly brother is born for adversity, how much more our Heavenly Father?

For you are God, my only safe haven…

The Christian’s eternal security is in a real, personal relationship with the true and living God. What assurance is there in looking back to a decision made for Christ years ago, when there has been little or no movement in His direction since?

The true Christian is one who has believed (pesteusas), who now believes (pistuon), and who goes on believing (pepisteukos).