Saturday, April 20, 2013

A SONG WORTH SINGING!


What does our song sound like as we go about our day? 
Is God walking with us? Are we discouraged and defeated? 
Have we lost sight of the one who is in control?
If God did not spare His son and gave us eternal life by grace, 
will He not take care of our daily needs?



Psalm 124
            If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—
                        let Israel now say—
            if it had not been the LORD who was on our side
                        when people rose up against us,
            then they would have swallowed us up alive,
                        when their anger was kindled against us;
            then the flood would have swept us away,
                        the torrent would have gone over us;
            then over us would have gone
                        the raging waters.
            Blessed be the LORD,
                        who has not given us
                        as prey to their teeth!
            We have escaped like a bird
                        from the snare of the fowlers;
            the snare is broken,
                        and we have escaped!
            Our help is in the name of the LORD,
                        who made heaven and earth.

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side…” Can you imagine walking back to Jerusalem singing and rejoicing, remembering what God had done? It sounds like a victory song: a victory song that Paul repeats in a different way, as he writes to the Romans.

Romans 8:31-39
            What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
            “For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
                        we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
            No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

David writes: “Blessed be the LORD” and at the end: “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth”.

The creator of the universe, the One who, when Moses asked what His name was, said: Exodus 3:14   God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

It was good for the Israelites to rehearse these truths as they returned to Jerusalem. Difficulty and enemies were all around them, but so was their God: I AM, the one who had brought them out of Egypt and had walked with them and blessed them and cared for them.

What does our song sound like as we go about our day? Is God walking with us? Are we discouraged and defeated? Have we lost sight of the one who is in control? If God did not spare His son and gave us eternal life by grace, will He not take care of our daily needs?

The reason God inspired David to pen the words of this psalm was certainly because He knows that human beings tend to forget what God has done, is doing, and has promised to do.

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Why do we worry? Why do we get discouraged? Why do we ever feel alone? Why are we so easily upset? I know why I am… Because I lose sight of the presence of God, I forget His promises, and I don’t have an eternal perspective.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. God has set His affection upon us from eternity past and will continue to love us, because of His grace and His ongoing faithfulness.

The Creator of the universe cares about me! He has chosen me! I don’t know why, but I know it’s true because He has given me the gift of saving faith in His Son!

What will your song look like today? What will people hear me sing today?

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

THIS IS A SONG WORTH SINGING ALL DAY LONG!

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