While You Sing Over Me
2010-07-02

Got going a little earlier today. And I have an interview at 10:30 today for a dispatching job at a metal recycling place. It's on the low end of my pay range, though. We shall see.


From The Valley of Vision

GOD THE SOURCE OF ALL GOOD

O LORD God, who inhabits eternity,

The heavens declare your glory,
The earth your riches,
The universe is your temple;
Your presence fills immensity,
Yet you have of your pleasure created life,
and communicated happiness;
You have made me what I am, and given me what I have;
In you I live and move and have my being;
Your providence has set the bounds of my habitation,
and wisely administers all my affairs.
I thank you for your riches to me in Jesus,
for the unclouded revelation of him in your Word,
where I behold his Person, character, grace, glory, humiliation, sufferings, death, and resurrection;
Give me to feel a need of his continual saviourhood,
and cry with Job, 'I am vile',
with Peter, 'I perish',
with the publican, 'Be merciful to me, a sinner'.
Subdue in me the love of sin,
Let me know the need of renovation as well as of forgiveness,
in order to serve and enjoy you for ever.
I come to you in the all-prevailing name of Jesus,
with nothing of my own to plead,
no works, no worthiness, no promises.
I am often straying,
often knowingly opposing your authority,
often abusing your goodness;
Much of my guilt arises from my religious privileges,
my low estimation of them,
my failure to use them to my advantage,
But I am not careless of your favor or regardless of your glory;
Impress me deeply with a sense of your omnipresence, that you are about my path, my ways, my lying down, my end.

If we were truly aware of and truly believed in the omnipresence of God, would it affect the way we behave when we think no one is looking? Would we curse at that driver that got in our way? Or would we, perhaps, pray for them?



From A Musician Looks At the Psalms, by Don Wyrtzen
Psalm 75:2-8

2 "At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. 3 When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah 4 I say to the boastful, 'Do not boast,' and to the wicked, 'Do not lift up your horn; 5 do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck.'" 6 For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, 7 but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. 8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

God makes it known that he hates arrogance and boasting. "God Himself will judge our performance. It is He who promotes and demotes, exalts and diminishes. It is only by His touch that any life produces the kind of music that is pleasing to His ear."

We can have the utmost confidence that God will judge, but it will be "at the set time." He will judge with "equity," but in his own timing, not ours.



Today's Tabletalk reading, "The Lord's Song Over His People," quotes Zephaniah 3:17. he LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Years ago, contemporary psalmist Dennis Jernigan translated Zephaniah 3:17 himself. This is what he came up with: The eternal self-existent God, the God Who is three in one; He Who dwells in the center of your being is a powerful and valiant warrior. He has come to set you free, to keep you safe, and to bring you victory. He is cheered and He beams with exceeding joy and takes pleasure in your presence. He has engraved a place for Himself in you and there He quietly rests in His love and affection for you. He cannot contain Himself at the thought of you and with the greatest of joy spins around wildly in anticipation over you...and has placed you above all other creations and in the highest place in His priorities. In fact, He shouts and sings in triumph, joyfully proclaiming the gladness of His heart in a song of rejoicing! All because of you!

From Tabletalk: "Such joy points to the deep affection our Father feels for His children, not on account of our worthiness but because of the simple fact that God has chosen to set His love on us (Deut. 7:6-8). It is our Lord's nature to love His children; this is who He is. O. Palmer Robertson comments, 'Delight, joy, and singing on God's part underscore the mutuality of emotional experience felt by God and the redeemed' (The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, p. 339)."

I do disagree with one point in the reading that seems to say that this rejoicing mentioned in Zephaniah 3:17 specifically happens at the moment of salvation. While I do believe that our God does rejoice at our salvation, I also believe that this state of rejoicing carries on beyond that.

Our Father sings over us! I have understood this, thanks to the ministry of Dennis Jernigan, for years, now. It is an indescribable feeling to know that the God of the universe is singing over me. One of our favorite Jernigan songs, "When the Night Is Falling," puts it like this:

When the night would hide my way
I will listen until I hear You say,
"How I love you, child, I love you;
How I love you, child, I love you;
How I love you..."

When this life is over,
And the race is run,
I will hear you calling, "Come..."
and I will come....
While you sing over me.

At the end of the song, if you listen carefully, you can hear the piano delicately sounding the melody of of "Jesus Loves Me."



Father, I'm almost speechless with emotion this morning as I write this prayer. The thought of you singing over me, even after all this time, continues to carry such weight that I almost can't stand up. It is such a blessed feeling! My spirit rejoices, as it hears the song that you sing over me! I feel such joy right now, which is ironic, because I'm close to tears. But joy is funny that way. Thank you, Lord, for the song that you sing over me. I thank you that you rejoice over me, that you "spin around wildly" over us who are believers in your Son! If we would only ponder that truth more often; make it a daily part of our lives; what effect would it have on our daily lives? How would I live, if I lived every moment in the knowledge of the truth that you are singing over me?

I have nothing, Lord, to bring to you. Nothing. Yet you have chosen to bring me into your Family, anyway. You have made me what I am and given me everything that I have. Let me know today, Lord, that your presence is all around me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. Before a word comes out of my mouth, you know it. Just like the psalmist, such knowledge is too wonderful for me!

I know you will be with me today. I pray for this interview. I pray for your will to be done.

I continue to pray for others that I know that are unemployed. May your grace be sufficient to all of us.

I pray for our pastor and his family as they travel this weekend. Give safe passage to all who will be on the roads this holiday.



From the Presidential Prayer Team site:

PRAY FOR OUR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS

Rep. Steve Scalise (Louisiana) wanted to fly 10 lawmakers down to the Gulf of Mexico to see the damage caused by
the BP oil spill, but was told he would not be able to use his congressional spending allowance for such a trip.

Rep. John Boehner (Ohio) has �floated� raising the retirement age to 70 in an effort to make Social Security more
solvent in the coming years.

Pray for our members of Congress as they seek for ways to reduce spending and the deficit.

With all due respect to Rep. Scalise, the last thing the gulf needs is 10 more politicians gawking at the scene.



As the theme of rejoicing continues, note that, today, the perspective has shifted slightly. We still rejoice, but today, we see the Father rejoicing over us! Take comfort today knowing that our Father literally sings over us! Try to find a place today to get quiet and "listen" for that song.

Grace and peace, friends.



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