How blessed we are!

When we some times look back on our lives we just realize that God has made in an amazing way our dreams a reality and has given us far more that we could have dreamed of! On days like that we can only bow down in adoration before the Lord and cried out:

How abundant are the good things
that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,
on those who take refuge in you (Ps 31:19)

Human wisdom

^{If we keep in mind that all our cleverness and human wisdom is nothing more than foolishness in God's eyes we will do better rather to pray:}

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps 19:14)

Relax: God rules.

No newspaper makes mention of Gods power and the mighty ways in which he rules and governs this world. We only read day after day how the nations of this world struggle, fight and wage war and all these endeavours is about power and money. In this never ending power struggle millions and millions of people in fear and anxiety get crushed each year.  In a similar situation the prophet Isaiah comforts the despairing Israelites in Babylonian exile who did not believe that they will ever gain their freedom:

No, for all the nations of the world
are but a drop in the bucket.
They are nothing more
than dust on the scales.
He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand (40:15)

Word-in-Pictures: The God who seeks us

Word-in-Pictures: The God who seeks us

Light in darkness

Friday 23 July 2010

 Although our Father has transferred us from darkness to the light of his salvation the way of the cross can take us through dark periods in our live of sickness, financial difficulties, loneliness, desperation, etc. The creator God who has said: "Let there be light" (Gen 1:3) can bring light in our darkness in the most extraordinary ways. That was the experience of this Psalter. Therefore he says:

He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains (Ps 107:4).

God is our only refuge

Tuesday: 20 July 2010

One of the most basic needs of mankind is safety and security. In this world where we are exposed each day to the elements of the wind, rain and snow, but also mankind's craving for economic and political power and survival, there is at the and of the day no real safety and security. Generations come and generations go. Only God is elevated above time and space. The Psalmist of Psalm 90 has probably realized that and therefore he prays: Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

No more chains!

If you page through the newspapers and magazines today and you read all the sad stories of bitterness, unforgiving, hatred, murder, war, enslavement, witchcraft, satanism, theft, sexual immorality and money laundering it is very clear that mankind is locked in a lot of chains. 

God has heard the Psalter's prayer to save him from the cord of death that has entangled him.   Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross to free us from the chains of sin and misery. If we understand that mercy we can only confess with the psalter: O Lord, truly I am your servant......you have freed me from my chains (Ps 116:16).