Our God Is An Awesome God
2010-07-05

I may actually miss a couple of days this week. Or maybe only one. I'll have to see how things work out. We're taking a mini-vacation later this week, and I may not have any Internet access for a couple of days. I will still take my devotional materials with me, though, and, if necessary, hand-write an entry or two. I don't have to have the Internet to "talk to God."


From The Valley of Vision
THE MOVER

O Supreme Moving Cause,

May I always be subordinate to you,
be dependent upon you,
be found in the path where you walk,
and where your Spirit moves,
take heed of estrangements from you,
of being insensible to your love.
You do not move men like stones,
but endue them with life,
not to enable them to move without you,
but in submission to you, the first mover.
O Lord, I am astonished at the difference
between my receivings and my deservings,
between the state I am now in and my past gracelessness,
between the heaven I am bound for and the hell I merit.
Who made me to differ, but you?
for I was no more ready to receive Christ than were others;
I could not have begun to love you had you not first loved me,
or been willing unless you had first made me so.
O that such a crown should fit the head of such a sinner!
such high advancement be for an unfruitful person!
such joys for so vile a rebel!
Infinite wisdom cast the design of salvation into the mold of purchase and freedom;
Let wrath deserved be written on the door of hell,
But the free gift of grace on the gate of heaven.
I know that my sufferings are the result of my sinning,
but in heaven both shall cease;
Grant me to attain this haven and be done with sailing,
and may the gales of your mercy blow me safely into harbor.
Let your love draw me nearer to yourself,
wean me from sin, mortify me to this world,
and make me ready for my departure hence.
Secure me by your grace as I sail across this stormy sea.



From A Musician Looks At the Psalms, by Don Wyrtzen
Psalm 77:10-14

10 Then I said, "I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High." 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.

Asaph remembers that God is a God of miracles, both in the past and in the present day. He is delivered from despair. And joy comes forth when he raises this question, "What god is great like our God?" This reminds me of a repeated line in a song that we sang in worship yesterday (Days of Elijah), "There is no god like Jehovah!" (I realize Jehovah is a non-biblical, made-up word, but really don't mind it that much. It's not a bad English rendering of "JHWH.") As we sing that line in that song, intensity builds to the point that we are joyfully proclaiming, at the top of our lungs, "There is no god like our God!!" Just like Asaph in this Psalm. Although stated as a question, it's one of those questions that's really more of a proclamation.

Asaph proceeds to recall the events of the Exodus in the remainder of the psalm. "Meditation on these miracles prompt him to praise God for His incomparable holiness and majesty."

"The Lord has consistently met the needs of His people. The implication is that He will again rescue and deliver them. Hence, Asaph moves from a diatribe of despair to a doxology of hope."

One of the best ways that we can get ourselves out of despair is to do as Asaph did here; to remember the mighty acts of the Lord and assume that he will act mightily again.



From Tabletalk Magazine, "God-Moving Prayer"
Genesis 18:16-33

This is the famous passage in which Abraham is trying to convince God to not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. In verse 26, God responds with, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

This reading affirms something that I have believed for many years. Can prayer change the mind of the Almighty?

The answer is a resounding NO! Numbers 23:19 says "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" "What He has ordained in His eternal decree cannot be altered, and the Lord always knows what He will do, what we will do, and how He will respond before we pray." Consider the words of John Milton in Paradise Lost: "Prayer against his absolute decree/No more avails than breath against the wind/Blown stifling back on him that breaths it forth:/Therefore to his great bidding I submit."

We have to understand the big picture. Our God knows the beginning from the end. He has decreed what will come to pass. He is sovereign over all, and he does respond to prayer. We are not to be fatalistic in this. God has not revealed to us his decrees. We read in Deuteronomy 29:29 that the secret things are hidden from us and belong to God alone. (We were told in Seminary that someone tried to use Deuteronomy 29:29 as an answer to a test question once. He was not given credit.) "Still, what the Lord has told us is for us to know forever, and He has revealed in Scripture that He uses our prayers to accomplish His will. Our prayers move Him to act, which is, of course, due to the fact that He ordains even our intercession. But that is not our focus in prayer. Instead, we are to implore Him to act, knowing how He delights to hear from us and to grant our requests as they align with His purposes (1 John 5:14)."

I realize that all sounds very confusing. But it is exactly what I have believed for years. Prayer does not change God's mind. But if it aligns with his will, it will strengthen our faith.



Father, I am very glad that you are sovereign and in control of all things. It would be very bad if all your decisions were subject to the actions of men. If you never acted until we prayed...what a terrible life this would be. I praise you that you are sovereign God; that you know the end and the beginning of all things and that what you have decreed will come to pass. I pray that your Holy Spirit will help me to line up with your decrees, and that I would always pray in line with your will. I seek not to change your mind. I seek to change my desires so that I might pray what has already been decreed.

When I am in the middle of despair, always help me remember the mighty deeds that you have done so that I will be inspired, once again, to praise you and see your might power in my life. I may moan about circumstances, but I will always praise you in the end. I will tell you my troubles, but I will finish with praise, because I know you have it all under control. You acted mightily in the past and I know you will act again. I also have faith that you work out all circumstances for my good. Help me, though, to see what is "good."

Like the Puritan prayer writer, I, too, and astonished at the difference between what I receive and what I deserve. And I stand amazed thinking that "such a crown should fit the head of such a sinner!" And it's there that I stop, for I can say nothing else.

Praises be to you, Most High God!



From the Presidential Prayer Team site:

THE WAR

Afghanistan�s government and Pakistan�s military and intelligence services are moving forward toward possible
reconciliation, cutting deals with senior Afghan insurgents, �filling a vacuum created by American skepticism.�

Rep. Nita Lowey (New York), chair of the House committee responsible for foreign aid, said she is stripping $3.9
billion in funding for Afghanistan as they probe the amounts leaving that country in possible corrupt schemes.

Pray for General David Petraeus as he has been approved to lead the war effort in Afghanistan.

I add a prayer that our troops be brought home.



If you are tempted to be in despair, or if you already are, take a cue from Asaph and remember God's great works, either in your life, or just read through some of the great miracles in the Bible. It will lift your spirits and bring praises from your lips.

Grace and peace, friends.



0 comments so far

hosted by DiaryLand.com