Psalm 95

Get your crew together. For what? To sing. …sing to who? Sing to the Maker. What kind of singing? …joyful noise (happy, celebratory, free, secure – – – to THE ROCK! The rock? What kind of rock? *The Rock of our salvation! But what if I don’t need saving? …Hmmmmmmmm – well I suppose then you probably wouldn’t be making much of a joyful noise – but for LZ and the other dudes who finally saw relief – they made a joyful noise! Where are we going to be doing this? *In the presence of God! But won’t we be terrified? *Good question – – – we will be thankful, I know that much; and then more of the joyful noise with songs of praise type of stuff!

Why?

Because the Lord is a GREAT GOD! …and a Great King above all gods!

Say more.

In His had are the depths of the earth!

Hold up! …how big is this God!?

Massive! …the heights of the mountains are His also!

“His”? …like you’re saying He owns them? …they belong to Him? He patrols them authoritatively???

Yep! and Yeppers! And… The SEA! …The sea is His, for He made it!

Bu…

Hold on, there’s more – – – > the dry land (which I realize includes mountains, but you see the reason for making some “dry land distinctions” right?)! His hands formed it all!

I’m not really sure what to do with all of this.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! …for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

We are? We belong to Him? …I don’t know about this. I mean – if you’re telling me this God owns all this other stuff, that’s one thing, but for Him to claim authority and Mastership over MY life, that’s not okay in my book.

Actually, it’s NOT OKAY if you’re NOT His. You’ll be miserable if you’re not His, but in a manner of speaking (a very significant manner) – you’re welcome to try independence and autonomy if you like. Would you like to?

IDK – I’m thinking I might not.

Today if you hear His voice (do you?) do not harden your hearts as at Meribah as on the day at Massah in the wilderness.

PAUSE – tell the story of Meribah & Massah!

…when your fathers put Me to the test and put Me to the proof (*interesting phrase?), though they had seen my work.

• – – > HOW DID GOD FEEL ABOUT ALL THIS?
• For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.” Therefore I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”

Wow!? – He sounds “mean”?

Now the person who is a person of God’s pasture has the option to reply to this “mean” comment or not…

Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul

Full Hymn Text (39 verses)
Anne Steele HYMN IV. “Redeeming Love”

1. Come heavenly love, inspire my song With thy immortal flame,
And teach my heart, and teach my tongue The Savior’s lovely name.

2. The Savior! 0 what endless charms Dwell in the blissful sound!
Its influence every fear disarms, And spreads sweet comfort round.

3. Here pardon, life, and joys divine In rich effusion flow,
For guilty rebels lost in sin, And doomed to endless woe.

4. In our first parent’s crime we fell; Our blood, our vital breath,
Deep tinged with all the seeds of ill, Sad heirs to sin and death.

5. Black o’er our wrath-devoted heads Avenging justice frowned
While hell disclosed her deepest shades And horrors rose around.

6. Wrapt in the gloom of dark despair, We helpless, hopeless lay:
But sovereign mercy reached us there, And smiled despair away.

7. God’s only son, (stupendous grace!) Forsook his throne above;
And swift to save our wretched race, He flew on wings of love.

8. Th’ Almighty former of the skies Stooped to our vile abode;
While angels viewed with wondering eyes, And hailed the incarnate God.

9. The God in heavenly strains they sung, Arrayed in human clay:
Mysterious love ! what angel tongue Thy wonders can display?

10. Mysterious love, in every scene, Through all his life appears:
His spotless life exposed to pain, And miseries and tears.

11. What blessings on a thankless race? His bounteous hand bestowed!
And from his tongue what wondrous grace, What rich instruction flowed!

12. The dumb, the deaf, the lame, the blind Confessed his healing power;
Disease and death their prey resigned, And grief complained no more.

13. Infernal legions trembling fled, Awed by his powerful word;
And winds and seas his voice obeyed, And owned their sovereign Lord.

14. But man, vile man, his love abused Blind to the noblest good
Blasphemed his power, his word refused, And sought his sacred blood.

15. Still his unwearied love pursued Salvation’s glorious plan;
And firm the approaching horrors viewed Deserved by guilty man.

16. What pain, what soul-oppressing pain, The great Redeemer bore;
While bloody sweat, like drops of rain, Distilled from every pore!

17. And ere the dreadful storm descends Full on his guiltless head,
See him by his familiar friends Deserted and betrayed!

18. While ruffian bands the Lord surround, Relentless, murderous foes;
Meek, as a lamb for slaughter bound, The patient sufferer goes

19. Arraigned at Pilate’s impious bar, (Unparralled disgrace!)
See spotless innocence appear In guilt’s detested place!

20. When perjury fails to stain his name, The mob’s envenomed breath
Extorts his sentence, “Public shame And painful lingering death.”

21. Patient, the cruel scourge he bore; The innocent, the kind!
Then to the rabble’s lawless power And rudest taunts consigned

22. With thorns they crown that awful brow, Whose frown can shake the globe;
And on their king in scorn bestow The reed and purple robe.

23. Ah! see the fatal cross appears, Heart-wounding, dreadful scene
His sacred flesh rude iron tears, With agonizing pain.

24. Exposed with thieves, to public view Could nature bear the sight?
The blushing sun his beams withdrew, And wrapped the globe in night!

25. Then, Oh! what loads of wrath unknown The glorious sufferer felt;
For crimes unnumbered to atone, To expiate mortal guilt!

26. The Father’s blissful smile withdrawn, In that tremendous hour;
Yet still the God sustained the man With his almighty power,

27. “Tis finished,” now aloud he cries, “No more the law requires”
And now, (amazing sacrifice!) The Lord of life expires.

28. Earth’s firm foundation felt the shock, With universal dread;
Trembled the mountain, rent the rock, And waked the sleeping dead!

29. Now breathless in the silent tomb, His sacred body lies:
Thither his loved disciples come, With sorrow-streaming eyes.

30. But see the promised morn appear Their joy revives again;
The Savior lives; adieu to fear, To every anxious pain.

31. His kindest words their doubts remove, Confirm their wavering faith;
He bids them teach the world his love, Salvation by his death.

32. Triumphant he ascends on high, The glorious work complete
Sin, death, and hell, low vanquished lie Beneath his awful feet.

33. There, with eternal glory crowned, The Lord, the conqueror, reigns;
His praise the heavenly choirs resound In their immortal strains.

34. Amid the splendors of his throne, Unchanging love appears;
The names he purchased for his own, Still on his heart he bears

35. Still with prevailing power he pleads Their cause for whom he died;
His Spirit’s sacred influence sheds, Their comforter and guide.

36. For them, reserves a radiant crown, Bought with his dying blood;
And worlds of light, and joys unknown, For ever near their God.

37. 0 the rich depths of love divine! Of bliss, a boundless store:
Dear Savior, let me call thee mine; I cannot wish for more.

38. I yield to thy dear conquering arms, I yield my captive soul:
0 let thy all-subduing charms My inmost powers control!

39. On thee alone my hope relies: Beneath thy cross I fall,
My Lord, my life, my sacrifice, My Savior and my all.

Oh Baby – U cuts me deep

As George MacDonald put it, “Sometimes I wake and, lo, I have forgot.” Sleep is like a reset button and my hunger is misdirected often. I think I’m hungry for the finite, but I’m really hungry for God. To remember, we need to taste daily, deeply and constantly of the goodness of God. So let us turn together, and feast rightly.

…resonates …I can relate

 

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. – G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

PipeBong

#Worship=Joyfully-Wholeheartedly-ReflectingBack2GodTheRadianceOfHisWorth

 

#Worship=TheHighestMoralAction-a-CreatureCanPerform

 

Worship=most hedonistic experience of life & we must not dilute it with disinterest

 

Worship is the feast of Christian hedonism …the Feast of the bride of Xs

 

Himalayas chalet …shades …slides of Mount Mitchell

 

LAST HOUR OF YOUR LIFE – – – >

You desiring to see God …to be in His presence …to be with Him. Are these the PLEASURES you seek when expressing concerns to a friend about their adoption. Is it your fear and selfishness talking, or is it you gluttonous hunger for God talking? Is it a desire to feel in control and in command of your life talking, or is a desire to live radically reliant upon God. Is it that YOU don’t want to be encroached upon with inconvenience, or is it that you’re trying to save me from real radical reliance upon God? Would I regret this one iota if it were the last hour of my life? … Remember God took you to that marina. Remember God showed you that boat. Remember God untied it from the dock. Remember He pushed you in, and set your rowing. Remember you live in warzone and God is pleased to regenerate your zombie corpse and make you a participant on the plundering team. Remember Jesus was tempted NOT to do the infinitely difficult thing. Remember, Satan used Scripture to “substantiate” his “concerns.” Remember, you live in a broken fallen place, and it is no longer you who live.

“Resolved, never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.” – JE

Narcissist

Joel wasn’t in the mood to go, but he didn’t want people to think he was lazy or negligent. So he found himself unenthusiastically attending the event. Once he arrived he quickly coerced himself into character; for though he denied it, he desperately craved the approval of the people gathered (even in spite of the fact that he had seen no one important as of yet). There were occasional fleeting moments when Joel would become acutely aware of the deplorable delicacy of his desires …he covertly loathed himself for forfeiting the goal of getting people to admire him, and it was not without bitterness that he had now settled into a chronically discontent routine of simply aiming for people’s piddling approval.

Deep in the dim depressing fog of his own self-loathing he hadn’t even remotely realized who it was that had just hailed him with a hearty and earnest greeting. What he had been oblivious to was the salutation of the most preeminent and reputable member of the society wherein Joel had his credentials! This man of renown had just breezed past saying, “Joel! Great to see you! …I’ve gotta take this call, but I’ll circle back to touch base with you.” He was made of aware of what had just occurred by a complete stranger asking him the awe-filled questions, “You know him!? …You’re on a first name basis!?”

Something like an instantaneous narcissistic sugar rush occurred inside Joel. A deluge of ecstasy flooded his ego. But the moment vanished almost as quickly as it had arrived, for he had failed to conceal his elation. It is not that Joel had paraded his egotistical glee about the room, but certainly a handful of people had seen the smug smile unintentionally register on his face. He was humiliated, for he assured himself that everyone had heard the words of the important man, and subsequently they had seen Joel beam with pride upon being made aware of the greeting bestowed on him. And though no one had the audacity to call him out on it, he knew they must all now know of his self-congratulatory conceit. As subtly as he could manage, Joel slowly drifted to the periphery and then with painstaking pride-imbued effort he excused himself from the gathering.

As he walked home, he goaded himself for this episode of involuntary honesty. He had worked and strategized so determinedly to keep it concealed… this most vulnerable and embarrassing truth about himself, and now the whole world knew of his disgusting habit of making himself the center of the universe.