Psalm 75

I thought I cancelled our prayer meeting yesterday… well, until I get a text from one of our folks asking where I was. Left Mom at home and drove off, to two of our core members who were waiting patiently for me. The poor old ladies gave away the food we were supposed to have for dinner, and they were all dressed and ready to leave. Glad I made it in time.

We prayed, we scrounged food together for a quick dinner, and, since the rest of the folks who usually prayed with us were practicing as part of the team leading worship in our upcoming church anniversary, we decided to wait for them to finish.

While waiting, we were discussing things here and there – prayer items for their own personal lives, travel plans, travel experiences, and – it couldn’t be avoided – situations that didn’t seem to have clear solutions.

Around this time I thought, and I shared to them: The list of things that we can only really just pray about is growing bigger and bigger with every day.

I’m not going to go into deep detail but the list contains, but is not limited to the following:

Matters impacting families – issues between husbands and wives, issues between parents and children.

Matters impacting relationships – conflicts between friends, literal cases against entire families concerning real estate.

Personal matters – Realizing the impact of past actions, the pressure of reforming while regret is still the only consequence. Living life after losing everything, financially, and relationally.

Church stuff – Upcoming events. Career matters – Powering through this new sales stint, or jumping into something new (which I’ve decided as of late is something that MUST happen soon).

This weekend we also remember something that happened 25 years ago, in New York.. 2977 souls losing their lives in a horrible terrorist attack – still an event, which, as a Manang (elder sister) says, is something which people have not fully learned from; still an event without a clear solution.

Still, a prayer item that splits into even more prayer items…

And the more we have on the list, the more we are… humbled. Well, I am, anyway.

Through all this we have more and more cause to submit to God, and to resist the devil.

We have more and more cause to run to the Father by way of prayer, revel in Christ and all He’s done, by way of worship, and just allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, through the Holy Spirit, who directs us to the living Word.

Thanksgiving for God’s Righteous Judgment

To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

We submit to God, we resist the devil. The devil flees from us. The angels minister to us, and we are duly reminded: God is our good Father who never stepped away. Even as the devil tormented us, even as we were tempted… God’s presence never left – and His presence, as Israel Houghton sings, is heaven – treasure of our hearts and of our souls.

1 We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.

Indeed, the mere fact that we breathe, that we woke up this morning, that I’m able to write this, and that we’re all able to read this – considering all the crazy possibilities in this wild wasteland of sin-infested reality, these seemingly trivial things that we do are all STILL by God’s grace, and are of His wondrous works.

The mere fact that our hearts continue to beat in spite of all the flaws and degradation inflicted against our physical bodies… That we still have internet connectivity, electricity, running water, fuel still within tolerable rates – all of it, I must insist, serves as a reminder, not only of God’s grace and goodness, but also, that He is present – He is near.

Even now, as I write, He is here. He is with me. Ministering to my heart, my mind, my body, my soul, and my spirit – as, I imagine, He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient – ministering also to you, dear reader, and all that concerns you, and all that you’re concerned about.

The Father is just THAT good, Christ’s finished work is just THAT full and complete, and the Spirit is THAT faithful to each and every one of us – God is good, full, complete, faithful, and He is here. He is with us.

Indeed, as Asaph writes… we give thanks to You, Lord. We give thanks.

2 “When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly.

3 The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved; I set up its pillars firmly.

Selah

And, indeed, our good and faithful God is as just and holy – fully righteous, fully great. Sure as the Holy Spirit convicts the entire world of judgment, so we are reminded, here, and now, through this exhortation, that (1) the enemy of our souls will have his judgment, the devil will be fully dealt with by Christ, who is infinitely superior; and (2) part of the Father’s complete judgment is the full dissolution of creation; indeed, we shall move from conceptualizing, to witnessing the old passing away, and all things becoming new.

It is as much God’s judgment as it is a demonstration of His everlasting love; It is as much a demonstration of God’s greatness, as it is God’s grace and goodness.

4 “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’ And to the wicked, Do not lift up the horn.

5 Do not lift up your horn on high; Do not speak with a stiff neck.’ ”

6 For exaltation comes neither from the east Nor from the west nor from the south.

All this continues to remind us, in spite of all that we find ourselves praying for, and as we do see the list of our prayers growing longer by the day – That our God is faithful and true.

We pray, and we pray more, knowing that the salvation we received by believing in Christ is truly complete and absolute; We give thanks, understanding that through Christ, we have been reconciled to an infinitely powerful and eternally wise God, we have been reconciled to the one true God, so much so that we are able to call Him our Father;

Indeed, we are humbled, we see no reason to exult ourselves more than we lift God’s name on high;

We see no reason to lift our own names, more than we find our boasting in Christ, and in Christ alone – for through Him, we have been filled with His Spirit, who continues to remind us of said salvation, and is faithful in moving with us in this world, as the Father is with us, and we are with the Father, forever.

7 But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.

8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, And the wine is red; It is fully mixed, and He pours it out; Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth Drain and drink down.

Here I’m reminded that when Christ said He would drain the cup down to the dregs, He dealt with sin completely… and He dealt with sin by BECOMING sin; The Lamb of God became the wicked of the earth, draining the cup, drinking down the dregs.

Thank You, Jesus – in spite of all that’s going on in our lives, in all that I’m thinking about, in all that’s to come, both this coming week and for the rest of this year… That You became sin that we would become Your righteousness. That, by our reconciliation, we have peace, even in this life, knowing that we can run to our God, and our Father.

Thank You, Jesus – that Your Spirit causes us to look beyond our own performance, that we would move prompted by Your finished work.

9 But I will declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

10 “All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”

There’s more for me to write; I took something I started September 11, and finished it today, September 13. Just draining the brain, and allowing thoughts to move and the Spirit to flow through.

We give our God the glory, knowing that He is in the midst of us, and is going through all we bring ourselves to pray for, one by one.

He is present in the impossible. Amen.

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