Found out I’m talking to the Compassion kids and crew tomorrow. I have a couple points here and there in mind. Oh, and I haven’t even started on my main point this coming Sunday, but it looks like it’ll be with the ascension of Christ in mind, as I stumbled upon posts telling me that other denominations actually celebrate that.
Seems like a good thing to keep in mind, considering we’re celebrating Pentecost on the 24th of May. Indeed, what comes down must go up, first.
Thank You, Lord, for the reading of Your Word.
Psalm 104
Praise to the Sovereign LORD for His Creation and Providence
(cf. Gen. 1:1–31)
I’m not denying that there is the tendency for all of us in humanity, whether we be believers in Christ or not, to see, especially in this season, that we may very well be approaching the opposite edge of time.
We can see it in all levels and perspectives. There are the wars that we know of (between the USA, Israel and Iran), the wars that we’re told to forget about (between Ukraine and Russia, between Pakistan and India), and then there are the conflicts and the global-level crises that the world system doesn’t want us to know about… yet. Yes, I’m talking about that scam they’re calling the Hantavirus.
There are the continental events – the USA visit to China, something we’re made to learn was unheard of. There’s the instability in Myanmar. Our issues with Scarborough Shoal, not only impacting us but also China, Vietnam, and Thailand, at least.
There are the national issues – that whole circus show of shadows and bullets happening in one of the supposedly most secure and critical government buildings in the Philippines. There’s also your daily montage of cell-phone/body-cam videos of motorist incidents involving ‘sweet-potato’ drivers all over the country, peppered with political commentary posts we never asked for.
There are the local issues – national issues with electricity production have made their way to our homes, literally – we’ve had on and off electricity in the entire city throughout the day. There’s also the (proper) attention being given to ‘restaurants’ all over the city that are just fronts for gambling dens.
There are the issues within our circles of influence, which are mostly in the form of folks who post the passing of their loved ones, or posts on missing people, or posts of people asking for financial help for keeping loved ones alive. I’ve seen one too many folks changing their profile pictures to black and/or photos of lighted candles in the recent weeks.
Then there are the personal issues. The stuff we’re hesitating to tell others. The stuff we tell ourselves that we could handle on our own.
Oh, and by the way, this is just the present. We haven’t talked about events in the past on global, continental, national, local, influential, personal levels, that we’re feeling the impact of up unto this moment.
We also haven’t talked about projected events on global, continental, national, local, influential, personal levels that we need to be anticipating.
So that’s just from my point of view, and I haven’t necessarily covered everything there. Imagine, all this being fed into our brains from our screens. Feels as if the entire system has been engineered to keep us overthinking and working our minds on all cylinders, all the time.
(could this be why I’m binge-playing Shogun 2? Or am I just justifying all the hours I put into my personal 19th century conquest of Japan?)
Anyway. With all this being thrown at us, we probably shouldn’t be wondering why folks are talking about mental health more and more these days. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I don’t think the upcoming generations are as ‘soft’ as we see them – we’re truly living in times as described by Daniel.
Men truly are running to and fro, and knowledge is increasing, for the better we’re still conceptualizing, but absolutely for the worst.
We can go through all of these things that are contributing to this reality’s speedy descent on the downward spiral. I mean, we shouldn’t deny all these things are happening; Can’t say ‘this is fine’ as the rest of the house is on fire, can’t say we can’t feel the overwhelming pull of gravity as we’re drawn that much closer to the middle of the black hole, the singularity, the oblivion.
…But, hey – If I’m not reminding us, the Holy Spirit definitely will – all these reasons to lose hope are actually reasons for us to praise our God.
Yes, in the face of all issues, domestic and foreign, past, present, and future, we continue to say, ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul!‘ – and by the cadence of this composition, we’re reminded that as we praise, not only are we seeing the Lord move in our midst, reminding us of the blood-bought benefits we revel in even in this wretched reality…
Just as we’re reminded of Christ’s finished work, through our meditations of Him we are also brought back to remembering the good works of our Father, ranging back to the very beginning of time.
I mean, just look. This has been quite the intro already.
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind,
4 Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
5 You who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever,
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; The waters stood above the mountains.
7 At Your rebuke they fled; At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8 They went up over the mountains; They went down into the valleys, To the place which You founded for them.
9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, That they may not return to cover the earth.
10 He sends the springs into the valleys; They flow among the hills.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 By them the birds of the heavens have their home; They sing among the branches.
13 He waters the hills from His upper chambers; The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth,
15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man, Oil to make his face shine, And bread which strengthens man’s heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are full of sap, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,
17 Where the birds make their nests; The stork has her home in the fir trees.
18 The high hills are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19 He appointed the moon for seasons; The sun knows its going down.
20 You make darkness, and it is night, In which all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 The young lions roar after their prey, And seek their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they gather together And lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to his work And to his labor until the evening.
As we give the Lord all the glory, and as we take time to praise Him intentionally, we are brought to recognizing His glory in all places, His grace at all times, even extending back to Creation.
We give God the glory, and consequently thank Him, for as He is the Rock on whom we stand, He was the One who established the foundations of the earth from the beginning; What this means for me at this moment is that even if we experience literal earthquakes, I have reason to believe that there will not be shaking so awful as to split the entire planet… Sure as the Lord promised there would be no more world-ending floods by way of the rainbow, so I’m led to consider there’s a promise of no earthquake too catastrophic… by way of the foundations which He Himself established.
Not adding to His words there, just saying that His grace and glory can be seen that deeply as we recall creation.
We worship the Father, who, by His creation and by His word, guided His angels and His ministers; And we have no doubt that as we see His glory in all of creation, so we also see His wisdom and guidance by the thunder of His voice, and by the land He assigns to us, by the boundaries He sets for us.
And we can go on here, see – We aren’t ignoring the awful facts of reality, but we choose to give thanks for the Truth of God’s goodness and glory manifesting more.
And right now, I’m actually rebuking myself because I’m so quick to catalog all the bad things that are happening all around the world, down to the personal level, and categorizing things as past, present and future – BUT, well, we ought to let the Spirit remind us of the Lord’s faithfulness through it all, AND the Lord’s trustworthiness in coming through for us with His grace and greatness – on global, continental, national, local, influential, personal levels, in our past, present and future, and so on.
24 O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions—
25 This great and wide sea, In which are innumerable teeming things, Living things both small and great.
26 There the ships sail about; There is that Leviathan Which You have made to play there.
27 These all wait for You, That You may give them their food in due season.
28 What You give them they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
29 You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth.
How manifold are Your works, Lord.
For all across the world, even if we in the body of Christ are being butchered wholesale in countries where we are the minority, and the camera lenses don’t seem to work… Your Spirit continues to move, in us, around us, within us, for us and not against us; Convicting one and all of the sad state of the world, the only solution being reconciliation, and the eventual fate of all that steals, kills and destroys.
I was going to drill down again starting from the global level but it just seems that the sort of moves our Father makes have infinite and intimate impact, unto entire galaxies down to the smallest of subatomic particles.
Take, for example, what I just mentioned – the conviction of the Holy Spirit is freely spoken and distinctly heard from the most powerful of cabals to the lowliest of prisoners; from gatherings of millions of people, to the solitary, lonely cripple seemingly devoid of understanding; from the beginning to the end of time.
Crazy to imagine how the Gospel of grace, salvation and reconciliation offered and guaranteed by One (of many) crucified on a cross in the outskirts of Jerusalem, reached the ears of the highest Caesars, Khans, Emperors and Kings, and of the furthest hermits and tribes – The Holy Spirit speaking through the Body, and convicting by way of the Father’s glory being seen in all creation, that all are without excuse.
And so I speak the same verse again:
30 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth.
For all the failures of the flesh, You have sent forth Your Spirit – that we would believe in the Son, and that we would not perish, but have everlasting life.
Oh, may it be so… as it is happening.
For on a personal level, I’ve shifted from resisting temptation, to recognizing who I am now, and what I want now, in the light of the Father’s glory and grace. Indeed, the power of sin is broken, for the body of Christ is under grace – just as it has always been, since His ascension.
And I believe this grace of God, seen through Christ, bursts forth – here, on a personal level; On a relational, influential level, that even those who have cut contact with us, without closure, are beholding His sheer glory and deep grace, just as much as it is exposed to each and every one of us in the body of Christ.
This grace bursts forth in our communities. In our cities. In our countries. In Asia, and in the rest of the world.
All because of the goodness of our Father, the finished work of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit Spirit.
All for the unity of His body, for the expansion of His kingdom, and the glory of His name.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; May the LORD rejoice in His works.
32 He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the hills, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34 May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the LORD.
35 May sinners be consumed from the earth, And the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!
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