Psalm 8 (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

1O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

where to start?

So where do we start in all of this?

"...When all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing. Assemble the people - men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns - so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law" (Deut 31:11-12).

The Word of the Lord.
Meditating on His law.
And learning - truly - who He is.

A life-long journey. And a beautiful one.

the fear of GOD

Society today likes to remedy our problem of fearing man (see yesterday) with the suggestion to love ourselves more.
Well-meaning Christians try to solve the issue with the call to remember that God loves us more than we know.

Neither solution gets at the root of the problem.

The root of the problem is that we humans are still at the center of the picture.
The place where God needs to be.

"The most radical treatment for the fear of man is the fear of the Lord" (19).

We need to think about ourselves less often and about God more often. This will change our perspective of ourselves, of others, of "our" time / gifts / etc, and our relationship with the Lord.

(Ideas paraphrased from Welch's book pages 18-19).

The Fear of Man

Choosing what to post first from Edward Welch's When People are Big and God is Small was not an easy task. The danger with book excerpts is that they can be misread / misinterpreted. I think this gives a good basis to the issue though. Tomorrow will be a look at the various ways to deal with this problem. TS

"I suddenly realized that I had mutated into a walking love tank, a person who was empty inside and looking for a person to fill me....Since those days I have spoken with hundreds of people who end up at this same place: they are fairly sure that God loves them, but they also want or need love from other people - or at least they need something from other people.

"As a result, they are in bondage, controlled by others and feeling empty...an epidemic of the soul called, in biblical language, 'the fear of man.' Although they were avowed worshippers of the true God, below the surface they feared other people" (13-14).

precious

Precious.

My cousin's new little baby boy that I had the honour of meeting today.

I couldn't help but diverge from my latest theme to post this picture!

And yet, it is not really a diversion.

A new life - one more testimony to the faithfulness of the Lord and His incredible, creative, awe-inspiring majesty. The amazing, intricate miracle of life....!

"it's all about me"

Teens are often accused of being eco-centric.
And sometimes they are.
But lately I’ve been struck me how they're not the only guilty ones.

It shocks me and saddens me how often "we adults" also act, talk, and think in ways that show our thoughts revolving around "self." I know I'm guilty too.
Adults are sneakier about it though. Or maybe just unaware.

Self-centered thoughts can be disguised in extroverted affection for others; they can be crowned with false humility; they can be mingled with continual spiritual talk.

But when it comes down to it, most of us think way too much of ourselves, in two ways: too highly and too often.
Our sin nature is rooted deep. Very deep.

It is a good reminder to get our eyes off of ourselves (again) and to fix them on Christ, where they belong.

Don't get me wrong. Self-depreciation is unhealthy and ungodly as well. But I think most of us tend to live in the fear of man rather than the Fear of the Lord.
In the following days, I'll try to follow up this post with some quotes from an excellent book by Ed Welch: When People Are Big and God is Small.

It's good to be blogging again. Yet… sometimes I wonder if this, too, is just another outlet for self-talk for me. Or at the very least, a time zapper that distracts me from other real-time things that should be dealt with.

Kind of rambling.
Guess that happens from time to time.
But I’m going to try to work on this direction-of-the-eyes-thing. Although it’s really a heart-thing, isn’t it?!

Word

The beauty of God's revealed Word is incredible.
Convicting, encouraging, directing, humbling, shedding light, inspiring awe....the Word of God is powerful, active, and alive!

We must be immersed in its wisdom,
upheld by its truth,
and guided by its instruction,
praying all the while that the Spirit of God would enlighten our dull minds and hearts.

"To understand God's Word we must meditate on it, return to it again and again, and roll it around in our minds. Like the ancient believers, we must enjoy the work of searching the Scriptures and enjoying their riches and depths."

~ Godrey, W. R. God's Pattern for Creation. Phillipsburg, NJ: R & P Publishing, 2003.

Psalm 131

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.

2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore.