e martë, 8 janar 2008

Passage:
Isaiah 25
Praise to God
1 O LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made a city a ruin, a fortified city a ruin, a palace of foreigners to be a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore the strong people will glorify You; the city of the terrible nations will fear You.
4 For You have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You will reduce the noise of aliens, as heat in a dry place; as heat in the shadow of a cloud, the song of the terrible ones will be diminished.

Journal: This is the beautiful song of the redeemed, the humble praise of the remnant of God. The previous chapter was heavy and full of righteous judgment. Here, the child of God can exhale in glorious praise. As Ruth gleaned the small portion from the field of Boaz, her kinsman redeemer, so our redeemer gleans us from His field of judgment. It is not the size of the chorus that brings God His glory, but it is the depth of the praise and the unison of the song. Indeed, the Lord "[has] done wonderful things; [His] counsels of old are faithfulness and truth."

God is the only One who speaks that which is utterly faithful. There is no falsehood in Him. He is a shelter in the storm of Satan's world, a world fraught with deception. As I write this, I am hearing thunder and rain; yet, I am safe and dry in the shelter of my home. God is that great shelter for His remnant. God is that great storm for the rebellious. It is the judgment of God that reflects the justice of God. Thus, He is either the storm or the shelter. He is both the judge that condemns and the witness that saves. ["For You have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall."] The character of God is immutable; it cannot change. Thus, the holy word of God, His constitution, needs no amendment. It reflects His character, and is righteously complete. It's completeness reaches out to His child, His remnant. The grasp of His scarred hand epitomizes unwavering strength, and His children are forever secured.

Heard 'Round the House:
My wife gave me a wonderful surprise for Christmas and sent me to the Gator Bowl with a couple of buddies to watch Tech play for the national championship [I say this to emphasize the point that God speaks with complete truthfulness while guys like me tend to exaggerate here and there]. I had told my buddies that I couldn't go this year since we were saving our pennies for the adoption of Dean from China, but Jill arranged the whole thing behind my back so to speak. Tech won the game, but had been trailing for most of it and really didn't play that great. When I return, Jill tells me how she and Luke [age 12] were watching the game and, while Tech was playing poorly, were modeling for one another how I was standing with my arms crossed, tapping my right foot, with a tight lipped intense expression and blank stare on my face. Jill then does the "stance" and "look" for me. Luke is nodding in agreement. That is just wrong. Spot on, but just wrong . . .