Hallelujah!

Psalm 146 begins the last five songs of Psalms and they are referred to as "The Hallelujah Psalms."  It begins with "Praise the Lord!" and ends with "Praise the Lord!"  Thus, we sing "Hallelujah," which translates into "Praise the Lord."

In our culture of this day, most people have no clue that when they use this word, they are actually saying "Praise the Lord!"  As Jesus was entering Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago, many of those who knew of Him were shouting, Hallelujah.  To this the Pharisees were telling Jesus to tell these people to be silent, yet "He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:39-40) 

Now we see this coming true as even pagans unknowingly are shouting His praises by saying and singing "Hallelujah."  Most likely, many of them would be astounded by the revelation of what they were saying.  Whether it is the profane golfer who finally hits a hole-in-one; or, the crooked business person who makes a big profit off of a shady deal; or, a college student who gets a grade of "A" when he knows he didn't deserve it; they all cry out "Hallelujah" never knowing what they are actually saying.  Yet, God says the stones...even the hard-hearted unbeliever...will cry out words of praise.

Do you remember the movie "Shrek" where the theme song is titled "Hallelujah?"  This animated movie, though funny for the most part, has nothing to do with God, yet there it is as if the rocks beside the road were Praising God. They sing it out because God alone is worthy of praise and He, as the choir-director, instructs all to praise Him.

When the church comes together, it is for one purpose and one alone...to sing praise to the Creator God.  One of many favorites of all the hymns, at least in my mind, is this refrain:

"To God be the Glory"

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

 

The litany of praises from the voices of the congregation of the people of God as they stood before the Temple, led by the Levitical choir, are songs of worship directed heaven-ward in thanks for who He is and for what He has done.  He had chosen them from among the nations as a people set apart unto Himself and as an example and light of the truth to the surrounding peoples.

 

There is a place for the children of Israel in the millennial kingdom as God fulfills His promise to Abraham, but for now, in the age of the church, the people whom God has chosen...you and me...are called out to lift voices high in praise to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who said, "When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."  Let us lift Him up in praise!

 

Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord!

 

KNOWING GOD

In Revelation 1, John the Apostle of Jesus, was privileged to see his Lord and ours.  In Exodus 33, Moses was allowed to see the Glory of God pass by in front of his eyes.  These, and other experiences throughout Scripture, show us that God wants us to draw near to Him, see Him, and know Him.

Psalm 19 is a great description of God's glory being revealed to us.  The panoply of the expanse above and the unique simplistic creation below show us the greatness of our God.

John 1 tells of the creative acts of Jesus, as God, in eternity past.  To know Him as creator is extremely important in our understanding of just who our God is. This begins with a confident belief in a God "who can do anything, who knows everything, and who is present everywhere."  Warren Wiersbe said, "The Jewish people were forbidden to worship the objects in the heavens, nor were they allowed to practice astrology.  They worshipped the Creator, not the creation (Rom 1:25).  The existence of a creation implied the existence of a Creator, and the nature of the creation implied that He was wise enough to plan it and powerful enough to execute His plan and maintain what He made."

"The heavens declare the glory of God ..." Ps 19:1) are the first thoughts of the psalmist, king David, as he poured over in his heart and mind his understanding of the majesty and glory of God...the One whom he served...the One whom we serve...the One whom all creation shall bow before throughout eternity.

Take a glimpse of God's glory displayed in the heavens which do declare that beautiful and wonderful glory.

Have you ever really sought to comprehend the complexity of our galaxy, called the Milky Way. This picture above is a slice of this huge example of God's artistry.  Somewhere in the midst of this galactic compilation of stars,  our sun can be found and is just one of 200 billion other stars in this typical barred-spiral galaxy that is about 90,000 light years in diameter. (A light year is a unit of astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year, which is nearly 6 trillion miles.)  Did I say comprehend???  Yet, God spun them out into space by the very thought of His mind.

I am overwhelmed by the immenseness of our God, and yet the personal level of "love" which He extended to you and to me as He left the glory of heaven to pay the price for our "failure" to live up to His standards.

Some day, those of us who have believed on His name and placed our trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, will have the privilege of living in eternity with Him in His home.

Let's just stop for a moment and worship as we listen to David Phelps bring us into the presence of the same God that David does in Psalm 19.  Click on the following link to YouTube and turn up the volume on your speaker then sit back and glory in our God.

David Phelps singing "We Shall Behold Him"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBvGzrnirT8

HOPE IN THE MIDST OF DESPAIR

Jeremiah was the last of the prophets of God who spoke on behalf of the Lord to challenge the kings and people of Judah to repent a...nd turn back to the Lord their God, the Lord Almighty.

 Yet Judah chose to follow their own way and worship idols, false gods ... therefore, they experienced "OR" of the "Either/Or" equation. They were conquered by Babylon, destroyed and burned to the ground with the temple of God being desecrated.

 In the midst of this downfall, Jeremiah wept bitterly and penned the words of "Lamentations" wherein he described the utter vileness left by the Babylonians. Yet, in the very middle of his brokenheartedness...in the middle of what we see as five chapters...in the middle of chapter three, verses 21-26, the old prophet was reminded of the "hope" that we have in God.

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

In the difficulties of life which we experience today, some of us even feel that we have been abandoned by the Lord, it is during this time that we need to read into the heart of Jeremiah and with him recall the "hope" which we have in Christ Jesus. Just remember, He is our Compassionate, Loving Savior who has promised the He "will never abandon us!"