Brain cleanse.
Before the draw of this world closes in again, and before any vulnerabilities are exploited… Let there be a brain cleanse.
It’s just timely. The car is being cleaned as I type, and I just dropped off what appears to be a month’s worth of laundry to be washed… Only while the exterior is being water-blasted and wiped, and while the interior is being vacuumed… while the shirts, socks, and other unmentionables are being soaped and rinsed, here, well, this brain is being decluttered. This mind is having everything placed back where they should be, and everything that shouldn’t stay, I pray just flows out of here, as I keep on typing.
Speaking of typing, let’s go back at it, yet again:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to an end.
His mercies are new every morning.
For purposes of melody and tempo, the composer of the Psalm’s contemporary adaptation repeats, they are new every morning. And it is well, for we ought to be reminded, twice over, that in this crazy world that tries relentlessly to keep us occupied, flustered, cluttered, dirty and unmaintained as well-driven cars, grimy and stinky as used clothes – In all the efforts of the world to steal our rest, it is such a good Truth to lean on – to know that God has mercies for us with every morning; and take note: NEW every morning.
That resonates with me today, and I suppose it’s just as natural as it always is for us to immediately follow this up by proclaiming, as the writer of Lamentations did: Great is Your faithfulness, oh Lord.
And won’t you look at that – the said composer does repeat that His mercies are new every morning… but He also does have everyone who sings his song repeat… Great is Your faithfulness.
Twice great is a thrice holy God.
Quite the math computation. Certainly one that can be kept as a ‘mantra’ of sorts, with all the calculating we perform from the inside out, in anticipation of all that happens from the outside in… a futile effort, may I add, considering that we can only know so much, and certainly not everything about anything that happens to us and all around us.
We’re anxious trying to figure everything out, even if we know it’s all in vain… and this sorrowful default state of mankind ought to bring us to realizing, that in our giving up, we would do well to give in to the One who DOES know everything there is to know about us and everything that happens in and around us, all that concerns us.
And in our giving in, I would have us, as the composer would, repeat:
Twice great is a thrice holy God.
Imagine, a human composer proclaims, that God surpasses us and is just that much more superior to us – not merely absolutely great, as many men have gone so far as to kill to get to, in vain – we would consider agreeing with the composer when he proposes that God is not merely absolutely great, but they are impossibly, not merely MORE than absolutely great, but TWICE so. Far and beyond anything we could ever achieve as creations.
Imagine, the first mention of a holy God, was from the proclamation of the heavenly host – the angels sang, that God was not merely holy – that is, ‘set apart’…
See, this is how I perceive it now. If we were to try to ‘analyze’ the gap of superiority, the gap of His being ‘leagues’ beyond us, we would not come to a conclusion, simply because He is infinitely set apart, infinitely holier than we are. BUT the thing is, God is not merely TWICE holy; see, I’d like to think the angels are set apart this way. Just basing it on how, say, Joshua was visited by an Angel of the Lord – He was instructed to take his sandals off, because the ground he was stepping on in the Angel’s presence was holy ground. This leads me to believe that (1) it’s only by grace that we are able to witness, much less interact with holiness, but more importantly, (2) these angels are holy in that they are set apart as well. This begs the argument, the point that God, who is twice great – He is THRICE Holy, simply because although the angels are holy in their own right, it’s only God who can have the title, simply because He is Creator and set apart over ALL creation – man and angel alike.
You’re welcome to disagree with those musings, but I suppose I’m writing all this speculation with the purpose of just having a clearer picture of just how awesome of a God we have. And, that’s the thing – This God who I claim is twice great and thrice holy? Well, He loves us. And I know this because of Christ, who is not only the greatest manifestation of God’s twice-greatness, and thrice-holiness in the flesh (which, when you think about it, is a miracle in itself); Christ is also the expression of God’s love. God’s perfect love.
He loves us so much that He gave us His Son, Jesus Christ, so that if we would believe in Him, we would not be on our way, as the rest of the world is on its way to death and oblivion and entropy as a result of sin – God gave us Jesus Christ, that if we believe in Him, we would not perish, but have everlasting Life – That is, through Christ, we are so reconciled to God, that we are one with the twice great, thrice holy God.
The legendary Don Moen had the church of the 80’s and 90’s singing,
God with us, so close to us,
God with us, Emmanuel!
And today, we just celebrate that song with much more vigor that we used to… in appreciation of a God who loves us with a perfect love, His Son who in His perfect obedience saved us perfectly, and His Spirit who constantly reminds us of our perfect righteousness – that is, our absolute right-standing with the Creator of the Universe, SO absolute that we can call Him (as Christ calls Him) ‘Abba, Father!’
I feel better today, more than the past few days. Just to have had so much done today – in terms of workouts, cleaning, catching up with my reading, and now this: Writing. Much cause to celebrate, beyond the cleansing this musing brought me.
Gosh, that was an old song. But with so much value, especially today as I think about it. Just sharing the verses he composed, in closing.
He walked where I walked
He stood where I stand
He felt what I feel
He understands
He knows my frailty
Shared my humanity
Tempted in every way
Yet without sin
One of a hated race
Stung by the prejudice
Suffering injustice
Yet He forgives
Wept for my wasted years
Paid for my wickedness
He died in my place
That I might live
God with us, so close to us,
God with us, Emmanuel!
Father, Twice Great, Thrice Holy… Thank You for everything. Thank You for today. We continue to trust in You, in these crazy days.
Until the next post, God bless you.
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#BenefitsOfSalvation #DonMoen #GodsGreatness #HolySpirit #JesusChrist #Reconciliation #TheSuperiorityOfGod #Worship #AbbaFather
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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